The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-03-30
NEWS OF TIE BOOK WORLD

Among the Blacks by His Daughtor-A
Very Practical Man Who Was d Thoro
IdeaIIst-Work OF General Samuel Chap
man Armstrong; River Story for
Boys.
1T pays to follow ones best light--to
put God and country first, ourselves after
ward. Samuel Chapman Armstrong.
There from his own pen is the key to
the life OF the founder Of Industrial edu-
cation among the nesroes, the man who
made Hampton Institute.
General Armstrong was the son Of: a
missionary to Hawaii. His mother was
strict Puritan. AS a boy he got his edu-
cation with the royal children Of Hawaii.
He was later sent to Williams college to
finish his education. Thence he went into
the army, and when the war was over he
secured employment with the Freedmen's
Bureau. being assigned to district in
Virginia with headquarters at Hampton
and special erintendence Of things edu-
cational. b =.
Here then was the beginning of his
work Of education among the blacks. It
led soon to his setting about to establish
a permanent and adequate school for the
freed slaves and their children He thus
described the basis Of the system he in
augurated there:
Constant work for wages and discipline is the
foundation OF our Industrial and academic sys-
tenn. At Hampton the students must have some
tning 10 to eat before they can be taught 50 we
Day them Tor their work. We must make not
ideal articles, but things we can sell and eat,
or 1t Will be all up with us.
1t is with some surprise that it is dis
covered that a nan whose life was given
to such practical effort was a thoro ideal
1st. But his biographer his daughter, so
tells US. She says:
He lived, mentally and spiritually, in a world
OF 1mmaterial things, tho his daily contact was
with the most practical sides Of life. All thru
his crude youthful years he was maturing deep
er conviction that spiritual facts were the only
realities. .-7
diary Of his early life in Hawaii shows
| the generals s. sense of hu1nor and at the
same time gives an interesting glimpse OF
Hawaiian legislation: ~ -.
The burning question of Hawaiian politics was
| the dog tax (dogs being luxury and nuisance,
were taxed a dollar head). Any man who would
election to the Hawaiian legislature Torrents OF
eloquence We're poured out this subject, and
one country member, Ukeke, nearly gained i'm.
| mortality by bill to abolish the tax on good
dogs and tax only bad ones. It goes without
| saying that every subterfuge was resorted to by
| the owns. and remember my favorite method
OF detection was, with my escort, to gallop furi.
| ously up to the house and halt suddenly, making
such racket that the ours would bark and be.
tray themselves in their hiding places, inside cal
abashes, under the dresses Of their squatting mis-
tresses, and: tied to distant trees. Then began
pleading Don't count that dog; we are going
to eat him Tomorrow 'That one is too little
etc.. 1t was Il tiresome work, but often very
funny. i
The life OF the general ana the work he
accomplished Certainly warranted a dis.
regard for his wish that no biography O.
himself be written, and it is fortunate thai
the work should have been undertaken b1
one so in sympathy with the subject