Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-03-24
AT TUSKEGEE.
Character Building the Key
note of the VIZ.
Variety Of Occupations for Which
Pupils Are Prepared.
The Great School Which Booker Wash
inston Has Built.

| Character building Is the Keynote q
the work at Tuskegee. Although tn
means to this end have been often de
scribed, the story is never old, for tn
activities of the Institute are constant
ly expanding. So much has been sal
IN the public prints about Booker I
! Washington and the Tuskegee 1nsti
tute that a visitor comes here with higl
Expectations; but unless he looks TO
/ plant like that at Harvard or some o
| the older northern schools, he Will fin
that the reality far exceeds his hopes.
| TuSkcgee lies some five miles from
the main line of the railroad between
| Atlanta and Montgomery, connected
| with this great outlet of southern trafii
| oy a little branch line. The country i
rolling, without any high hills in tn
immediate neighborhood. There is
considerable amount of woodland ant
swamp. At this time of year, of course
| the landscape is bare and brown, like
our northern landscapes in March OF
November. The streams have cut deeI
| ,ullies, starting red slashcs across the
/ fields, and the waters flow turbulent
and red sfrOm the spring rains. The
| loads are heavy with red mud-a fresh
1 ClllHlUCl W al VII tTdNGl tHtIIl, VI
| even see them from q car window, that
| n urging the construction of good high
| Ways Mr.. Washington is trying to meet
)nc of the imperative needs Of the
| ,Outh.
OF the land here, some fairly fertile
| md some sandy and sterile, the Insti-
ute possesses about 1900 acres, practi-
| ally in one block. On this tract the
students can practise all the processes
If agriculture permitted by the climate.
| They breed the usual varieties of farm
| ;tock-horses, cattle. hogs, sheep, goats,
| poultry, and also bees. They have op-
)Ortunities for wood cutting, stump
! rubbing, and clearing; for experiment.
nS with a wide range of soils, and for
'aising such products as cotton, corn,
vegetables, berries. peaches, pears, and
,ther fruits. The farm is cultivated so
is to supply the Institute as fully as
possible. 1t thus feeds the students,
provides them with training school,
md furnishes them a chance to earn
money and pay their way. More than
his, the farm work serves as a model
md inspiration for the whole region.
The dairy, the cattle and horse barns,
he pig pens, the poultry yards, are all
nexpensively but we'll constructed, an
Example of what may be done with
mall capital but unusual skill. The
-alue of the Agricultural Experiment
station has been touched on in form
r letter. 1t is enough to say that the
lirectOr and his assistants analyze soil
md give scientific instruction as to
Methods of improving it by rotation of
rops and suitable fertilizers. The idea
to teach the negro to till his farm
With as much intelligence as is shown
by the best informed whites, north or
outh.
Aside from the material value of the
arm and its direct usefulness to the
school, and indeed to the whole south.
serves the even nobler purpose of in
;tilling into the colored people q notion
# the dignity of labor. A common COM
rlant against the educated negro has
,een that he is TO longer willing to
work. with his hands. In telling of his
'arly struggles at Tuskegee, Mr..
Washington writes in up from Slav-
.ry' that white people had pictured as
he educated negro n man with "a high
nat. imitation gold eye glasses,
'howy walking-stick. kid gloves, fancy
''''tS, ann NIlds ilol-lIl d WOIu, al HILL
Who was determined to live by his
Wits" The education of which such a
'erscn is the product is, in Mr.. Wash
nston's eyes, n failure. zone of the
'addcst things I saw" he says, "was
nigh school, sitting down in a one-room
'abin. with grease on his clothing, filth
I'll around him. and weeds in the yard
md garden. engaged in studying
ington first came to Tuskegee the am
'itiOn of the students was to get an
'ducation so that they would not have
70 work any longer with their hands,"
Many of them had been school teach
crs. and they questioned whether or not
Tearing land would be in keeping with
their dignity" Mr.. Washington ac-
Ordingly led the work himself This is
the lesson which Tuskegee has been
steadily teaching ever since. A man
must be skilled with his hands as well
Us with his brain. Everybody must
work and work hard: and the student
who will not do his share of the daily
manual toll can neither deserve nor win
success.
The buildings show an institution in a
state of transition from wood to brick.
Most of them are grouped on a somewhat
elevated tract which overlooks the sur
rounding region. There are many small
wooden structures; a few that are larger
and more pretentious. and number of
brick. fine enough for any college campus
The little wooden houses are a memory
| Of the day when Tuskegee was desperate
ly poor. but was overcrowded with stu
| dents. Something. anything. had to be
| put up sa a shelter. Of this period Mr..
Washington writes: Might after night |
would roll and toss in my bed, without
sleep, because of the anxiety and uncer-
ta1nty which we were i'm egartiing money
recall that on several occasions | went
| In the middle of the night to the shanties
occupied by the young men. for the pur-
pose of comforting them. Often I found
some of them sitting huddled around a
iire, with the one blanket which we had
been able to provide wrapped around
| them. trying in this way to keep warm
During the whole night some Of them
didn't attempt to lie down." Among the
best of the newer buildings are the Car
negie Library and the Huntington Memo
rial. to be used for recitation and lee
| ture rooms. As fast as possible the poor
er and cheaper houses are being torn
| down to make room for something more
| substantial
/ hn s,,xz IL