Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1908-01-24
bread and milk or bread and "Tom
Fuller" "Tom Fuller" was Z kind OF
hominy boiled until Il was like soup.
rh.. v,,s> !. - fmAsaw Aiah TAttts K n 89 4, ~


work fell to the mother. Until later
| ears the family was iniserably poor
and as they were blessed with many
children the mother had to do the
work OF two men. As Shoales tells
1t, my mother would work hard in tho
deld all day until an hour Of sundown
and then walk three miles to my
grandmother's to milk eighteen or
twenty cows in order to get q gallon
OF milk for her children. She would
get back between 10 and II o'clock,
linding us, with our father, fast asleep.
She would awaken US and give US our
supper Of bread and milk"
Shoales' nrst education came In q
peculiar manner. For plates the fam
lily used the small tin kind with the
alphabet in raised letters around the
edge. II was from these plates that
he learned his letters. Hsi first rec
objection Of counting is OF being
drilled by an elder brother to count
to one hundred. Immediately after the
war his father had taken special les
sons at night and the knowledge thus
gained he passed on to his children in
the evening when the days work was
done.
About this time, IA years old, a mis-
sionary from Tuskegee lectured at Oak
Hill telling Of the chance for educated
men. Shoales was fired with an ambi-
ton to have good education. He had
no money, but the missionary told him
there were many chances to work at
Tuskegee and he decided to become
a student there. He reached Tuskegee
with just Sl.5O in money and his few
clothes in an old satchel. Here was
born the idea to become good agri-
culturist and to 60 back and help his
people get the better things Of life
from the soil. He had to endure many
hardships, recover from setbacks and
overcome natural deficiencies, but he
never lost sight of the great idea and
never gave up his determination to
accomplish it. BY hard work on the
college farm, milking cows at night
and doing odd jobs during spare mo-
ments, he managed to pay expenses.
He says: ~ washed some of the other
boys socks, handkerchiefs and under
wear to pay for my first collars, cutfs
and neckties." s
Beginning his second year he was
made janitor and worked under the
woman principal, Miss Murray, who
afterwards became Mrs. Booker 4,
Washington. Mrs. Washington took :
great interest in him and gave him al
the work she could about the house.
What was Of still more value to the
knowledge hungry young man, sho
gave him free access to their private
library. Here he spent much time
Ireading the things that they read and
studying the books that they studied.
He saws: Il could readily lay my
hands on, the books and easily open
Mrs. Washington. would read ana
read the portions they had studied.
wondering Just what thoughts ana
conclusions they drew from them.
In spite Of the fact that he was
working his way, Shoales found time
somewhere TO take the aricultural
course given there. He speaks in the
highest terms Of the institution and
| its work, saying that it educated his
hands so that he could earn money to
further educate his brain.
As soon as his regular course was
completed he was forced to 60 home
for a time. Six OF the twelve children
were still living, four Of them younger
than he, and, although his craving for
knowledge was far from satisfied, he
felt it his duty to stay at home and
give the others chance.
He reached home late in May and
found things in a deplorable state. He
found that although his brother had
planted cotton crop, it was being
checked out by crab grass and ruined
by lack OF attention. He also found
that poor MANAGEMENT had run the
family in debt $500. It was the Gus
tom Of his mother to 60 In debt each
year all the crop would stand and thus
after harvest they had nothing fol
their labors. Believing this could be
remedied, although still in his teens
he took over the management OF the
farm. In September he started 9
brother and sister in at Tuskegee and
another brother at the Oak Hill Mis-.
sion. #,.
During the fall and winter he turned
his attention to the stock, and BY
spring had it started on a paying basis
In the spring he changed from cotton
to corn, and by applying some Of the
methods he had learned at Tuskegee
he doubled the best yield that had
ever been grown before. He and his
brother were not able to farm all the
land, and part Of It was let to tenants
on shares. BY overseeing them he
taught them better methods than they
had used and the increased crop amply
repaid him. As an indication Of
the success, OF his new tangled ideas
all his people in that section are nov
farming as he taught them.
1 In 1904 affairs at home were in sucf
shape that he could again think Of hi.
own education. He was now twenty.
seven years old, and he had beer
awav from lessons so long that a pre-
paratory course would be necessary
but this did not deter him. Even The
fact that he would need to work hi.
wav did not make him hesitate.
In his work here at Ames, Shoales
has been hampered bv many things
While a good student and standing
we'll in his classes, he is not brilliant
gaining his knowledge only by hard
consistent work. He is the only col
| ored man in his classes, and so is put
with all his natural deficiencies, II
connection with white hovs with bet
ter training and generations Of edu
1 Gated ancestors behind them. Til,
I course at Ames is heavy, and for ont
who must work his way and vet stud!
long for all he gains, there are no
uanv moments for plav. In spite o
ell these obstacles Shoaies stands nea
the head of his classes ard has the re
spect and esteem Of all his instructor
and classmates. .s :3s5