Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1909-05-21

A year had been
promised to him.
and when he and his wife came to
the college building they found a
bare, unfinished structure There
was roof over it and the four walls
but little else. Birds nestled in the I -
rafters. pigs and goats-the character I l -
istie fauna of suburban Austn-quar l@5Es
relied and rooted and butted and slept K3Es
IN the shelter of the still open base M
ment VnnniiGI
There was not stick of furniture ~
In the place. No heat no light. no l@
beds. no Dishes no chairs even. To
add to these material troubles 81 MI -
pills appeared the first day-before
the professor and his wife had had
chance to unlock their trunks OF
this number Al came from out in the -
country. They had to be fed and 5-
lodged as well as taught All these
young negroes had been carried away
Dy the announcement that had run -
from lip to lip all through that region
that the college going to open HaEzz
that day. M&MM@
The new college presidents first
day was strenuous one Probably No
other head of just born university -
ever saw the like. Some of the SIN MWRE
Oehts brought small trunks on their -
shoulders. Others had their posses
s1ons in boxes and sacks The nresi
dent assembled them in one of tba Se0pt
big bare rooms and gave them briaf ~
talk. They sat their trunks and On a. g..
AFTER ne had Gained their fears that tho coIlogo
nieht not De open after all the president left
h anu SCI out 10 get and get quickly some
Vi lne Things tnat We're most needed. The people
VINO HVed near the college responded literally.
The president returned with Jug of molasses
and ID loaves of bread and went hacL n oat . Iit
Tie stove which was the first contribution that
was oHered MIN In the first house he went to-
Inis stove, round, barreLshaped galvanized iron
analr, is still preserved, and treasured though
II is no longer used They built fire for the
evening was chill, and seated on the floor the
college president, his wife and the students ate
their bread and moasses and were undiscouraged
fhat was the beginning-the first lesson that
President Lovnggood who since has become the
Booker Washington of the southwest-had In the
great art OF begging Every college president
from the biggest universities down to the hum.
best, has to be an accomplished beggar The
more money he can get for his college the bigger
man he is in the educational world and the better
fitted to head a university. By what he has ac
complished since Lovinggood has shown that he
possesses in truly remarkable degree this great
est of all the necessary arts-one that stands
higher than any in the curriculum-the art oil
begging.
When the college president and his pupils goi
mp the next morning they found that during the
night some yandals had amused themselves b,
breaking bottles of ink against the walls Of
the building and defacing them Windows haC
been broken and the whole place looked ever
more desolate than it had at first. But Loving
good was undaunted He set about getting a
once the things he needed most He begged
pennies and nickels and dimes from the negro
: population of Austin He organized one social
after another 10 get the furniture that was re
quired. The second evening there was a "cha
social" People desiring to attend had to brint
chair ticket of admission The colleg,
got 81 chairs in this way. A sheet and pillow
case entertainment" dish social" 'laundr,
equipment fair" and lot of other entertainment
to get the supplies they needed followed with thu
shortest of intervals between. Temporary room
for dining hall and kitchen We're prepared Age
colored washerwomen came with bedding an
made beds ready for students with their owl
hands
Saturday after Saturday" says President 10y
inggood these came, each with thei
small earnings tied in little piece of CLOTH d
yded them with the school, knet with me an
prayed for the school and went their way. Wee
after week an aged colored laborer Richar
Woods, came and gave of his meager earnings
He still comes, and his gifts have amounted a
ready to more than $3.50"
Such is the history of the beginning of tn
Samuel Huston college at Austin. Tex.-a schot
for negro youths. To-day SIT students live an
study in group of handsome buildings Eleye
years ago there was neither school nor scholars
only the land and the foundation walls Lovni
goods ability and indomitable courage hay
wrought the change. II is history of hardship
He has done even more than to build up a colleg
His successful solution of the problem in th
center of cotton section larger than New En-
land, where the colored population is more tina
million, is printed on every letter and every b