The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-06-27

COLORED GIRL FARMERS
Mayesville institutes Efforts In
Behalf Of Young Negroes.

ASSsSssA W Ay0A0 ANV6AVOce
The woman farmer 10 not yet 50
common as not to be an object Of con-
siderable interest to the public. Never
theless, there is q large class Of woman
farmers In the South that has escaped
attention. The Mayesville educational
and industrial institute q school for
cOlOred boyse and girls at Mayesville,
8. G., is turning them out by the score
every year, and they make splendid
farmers. Agriculture is a regular part
of the curriculum here, and the girls
do everything that the boys do except
ploughing. They love 1t, too, and when
they. go home they revolutionize the
methods of farming employed by their
fathers and brothers.
The principal of the institute, Miss
Emma ]. Wilson, who Is now in New
+ York, is practical farmer and her
greatest delight is the farmers con-
ference, which meets at Mayesville
every year and to which the colored
people come from far and near. Miss
Wilson is the president of the confer
ence, and the most expert of the
farmers acknowledge her their mis-
tress. Miss Wilson does not know how
she came to be such good farmer.
She supposes 1t must have come
naturally to her. for she never learn
ed. She began her agricultural and
( pedagogical career at the same time,
one her return from Scotia Seminary.
+ When l came back to our poor
little cabin" she told Tribune re-
porter, II was ashamed of it. told my
mother that wished we had nicer
place to live in, and she said we could
not afford anything better. I didn't
believe that, SO went to work to
cultivate the little land we had. AS I
was able to l got more land, and be-
fore long was able to build house.
/ carried on the farm for six years,
but by that time my school was TAX
ing 80 much Of my time that had to
give it up.
The school l started at the same
time as did the farm. l expected
eventually to become missionary, but
! saw that this work needed to be
done, and decided to do 1t while
waited. I never saw the time, how
ever, when / was ready to give 1t up.
l began with ten pupils in shed, and
for years no one ever knew where to
find us, for. the reason that we were
always moving. We went where we
could get quarters rent free, and some
times we would be notified in the
evening that we must move next day.
But 1 never closed the doors for a
day, and from 1882 to 1882 I carried
on the work alone.
Then we had chance to get a
house and farm of sixty-seven acres,
and little later we were incorporated
as the Mayesville Educational and
Industrial Institute"
It is good thing for the institute
that 1t has farmer for It's principal,
for 1t has never attracted the at
tention Of any wealthy philanthropist
and the farm goes long toward pay
a means of education to the pupils.
The running expenses last year were
only $4,000, and this paid the salary
Of twenty teachers, exclusive Of the
principal, who gets no salary. Miss
Wilson says that II the school only
had all the building and equipment
that 1t needs 1t could be entirely self
supporting, and she has now come
North for the purpose of getting these
things. At present the school Is ter
ribly handicapped for lack of room and
tools to work with. During the last
year 145 pupils had to be refused
admittance and the girls dormitory
has grown so small that the smaller
pupils are sleeping three in a bed,
or, in times of unusual stress, four in
bed. The woman teachers, too, must
make this their home, an arrangement
which not only takes up room that
the girls need, but Is a great incon-
venience otherwise. Miss Wilson
would like to build new wing to the
dormitOry this summer, and could do
SO for $4,000, for the boys would do
the greater part Of the work. A thou
sand dollars Is wanted to enlarge the
main building and $4,000 for
teachers home. Five hundred Of the
latter amount has already been raised,
considerable part Of the sum having
been contributed by the white people
of Mayesville.
Besides this, Miss Wilson wants inn
proved machinery for the new brick
yard, and she greatly longs for print
ing press so that the school can publish
a little paper and keep its work con-
stantly before the public. She can
also use almost anything in the way
of clothing or household furnishings,
no matter how useless things may
seem to persons accustomed to plenty.
sGs SOme lHluh tUaC tnlnSS are not
good enough to send to u.s." she said
to friend who had refrained from
making contribution for this rea-
son. I'VE can use anything"
The work at Mayesville Is conduct
ed on much the same line as that Of
Tuskegee. but developed quite inde-
pendently.
The school simply grew out Of the
conditions" Miss Wilson says, "and /.
saw from the beginning that some
thing more than mere book education
was wanted" The enrolment at the
Mayesyille Institute is about Ave hun
dred. most Of the. number being day
pupils. The boys are taught trades Of +
various kinds In addition to the more
ordinary branches Of education, and
the girls are initiated into all the
mysteries Of housewifery. The officers
Of the institute are: Miss Emma j.
Wilson, president, Mayesville, N. c.:
Richard H. Dana, general treasurer
No. So State street, Boston; Robert
#Chamn,s local treasurer, MayesyiIle,
u. c.; DR.. Louis Nopsch. local trea-
surer for New York. No. 50 Bible
house, New York City; the Rev John
g. Simmons, secretary. Mayesville, 8.