VISITS TO EUROPE
Washington was a great traveler. He was away from his home at least half
of each year and often more than that. He traveled principally in the
North, making speeches and interviewing people who might help Tuskegee.
While on these trips, he did most of his reading and writing. He was
very fond of newspapers and magazines. When he started on a long
journey, he surrounded himself with a large number of papers and
magazines and books, which he thoroughly enjoyed. History was his
favorite field of reading outside of newspapers and magazines. He was
especially fond of biography—of reading about real men, men of action
and thought and great talents. Much of his greatest inspiration as a boy
came from reading the lives of great men. Lincoln was his greatest hero.
He said that he had read practically every recorded word of Lincoln’s.
Washington also did much of his writing on these trips. He kept his
stenographer with him all the time, and, when he was not reading, he was
usually dictating a speech, or a letter, or an article for a magazine. A
large part of his greatest book, “Up from Slavery,” was written while he
was on the train or waiting at stations between trains. It is remarkable
that he should have been able to accomplish so much under such
circumstances, for traveling was hard work. He often had to get up in
the middle of the night to catch a train and then ride all day, often
without Pullman accommodations. He said that he had slept in three
different beds in one night, so broken was his rest and so often did he
have to change trains in order to keep engagements. Undoubtedly it was
this hard traveling that helped to break down his great strength and
wear him out.
[Illustration:
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, FIRST PRINCIPAL OF TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE
]
In 1899 he made a speech in Boston, and some of his friends noticed that
he seemed extremely tired. He remained in Boston several days. One day
during his stay a friend asked him if he had ever been to Europe. He
replied that he had not. He was asked very casually whether he thought
that he would enjoy a trip to Europe. He said that he certainly would,
but he did not ever expect to have such a pleasure. A day or two later
some of his friends came to him and told him they had a little surprise
for him, that they had made arrangements for him and his wife to go to
Europe in the summer and spend several months on a vacation.
Washington was very greatly surprised. He thanked his friends very
cordially for their interest but told them that he could not afford to
take the trip. Whereupon they told him that all the money for the
expenses of the trip had already been raised, and that it would not cost
him a cent. He thanked them again very sincerely but told them he could
not think of leaving his work that long,—that money had to be raised for
Tuskegee, and that he had to stay right on the job to get it. Then they
told him that a group of his friends had already raised enough money to
keep Tuskegee going until he got back. He then gave another excuse. He
was afraid people would say that he was “stuck up”; that since he had
made some success in the world he was trying to show off and play the
big man. His friends told him that sensible people would not think such
a thing, and that he need not bother about the people who had no sense.
Washington thought, too, that he had no right to quit work so long. He
had worked all his life. There was a world of work yet he had to do. To
go off on a vacation of several months, when there was so much to be
done, and when other people were at work, seemed wrong to him. But he
realized finally that a reasonable amount of rest, when one is tired,
means more and better work in the long run.
So it came about that, on May 10, 1899, Washington and his wife went
aboard the ship _Friesland_ in New York harbor and sailed for Europe. It
was a wonderful experience for Washington. In the first place, as he
went aboard the ship, he received a message from two of his friends
telling him that they had decided to give him the money to build a
magnificent new building at Tuskegee. That was a good “send-off.”
Washington was a bit uneasy about how people would treat him aboard
ship. He knew what unfortunate experiences some members of his race had
had in times past. But the captain received him cordially, and everybody
on board was exceedingly courteous to him and to his wife in every way.
Washington on his way to Europe! It seemed to him like a dream. Again
and again he had thought of Europe,—much as he did of heaven,—a goodly
place, but far away. It had never even occurred to him that he would
ever go to Europe. And now he was on his way! He was like a schoolboy;
he was happy over the prospect of a wonderful trip.
He did not get seasick on the voyage, as most of the passengers did. The
weather was fine, and he had a glorious voyage. But he did not know how
tired and worn out he was until he relaxed. About the second day he
began to sleep, and he says that from then on until they landed he slept
at least fifteen hours every day. He continued the habit of long hours
devoted to sleep all the time he was gone, and it was one of the means
by which he restored his depleted strength.
After a fine voyage of ten days, they landed at Antwerp, a famous old
city of Belgium. Here they spent a few quiet days, finding it extremely
interesting to observe the people with their dress and manners and
customs, different from anything they had ever seen before.
Then they went on a delightful journey through the picturesque country
of Holland. Washington, always interested in farming and especially
dairy farming, was greatly delighted on this trip. On every hand were
the wonderful farms of the Dutch. He had never seen such intensive
cultivation of land. Every foot of ground was used. Vegetables were
grown in boxes, one row above another, on the back porches of the
houses, so precious was the scarce land. Ten or twelve acres was a good
big farm. Coming from a country where land is so abundant and cheap and
so extravagantly wasted and so carelessly cultivated, these beautiful
farms were a delight to him. And the herds of fine Holstein cattle
pleased him immensely. He loved cows; and these seemed to be the finest
herds he had ever seen in his life.
Out of Holland and back into the historic and now heroic Belgium, the
party went, going to Waterloo, the famous battlefield of Napoleon’s
defeat, and to other places of interest; and from here to Paris, the
gayest and brightest of all the cities of Europe, the capital of France.
While in Paris, Washington met a number of distinguished Americans. He
made two or three important speeches and was given a reception by the
American ambassador at Paris. He met ex-President Harrison, General
Horace Porter, our ambassador, Justices Fuller and Harlan, of the United
States Supreme Court, and other distinguished men, all of whom were most
cordial and friendly.
The American whom he found most interesting in Paris, however, was a
negro—Henry O. Tanner. Tanner is an artist, a painter. He is the son of
the beloved Bishop Tanner and was born in America. He showed marked
talent for painting in his youth. When he grew up, he determined to go
to the greatest city in the world for art. He went to Paris and became
so successful in his work that he has continued to live there. He has
several paintings in the Louvre, the greatest and most exclusive art
gallery in the world. A picture cannot be put in the Louvre unless it is
recognized and accepted as a great work of art. Washington spent much
time with Tanner and was greatly pleased to see what marked success had
been won by this American negro. He took it as proof of his contention
that, when a negro proves himself really worthy, he will be recognized
and honored, for Tanner enjoyed the esteem and regard of all his
associates, regardless of race. And they esteemed him because of his
worth, and not because of his color.
From Paris the Washingtons went to London. Here they visited many places
of historic interest,—the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s,
and the House of Commons. They met many interesting people,—the Duke and
Duchess of Sutherland, Joseph H. Choate, American ambassador to England,
Henry M. Stanley, the great African explorer, with whom Washington
conversed at length. They were also received by Queen Victoria, at
Windsor Castle.
It had been a wonderful trip. Washington had learned many lessons from
the Old World. He had seen and talked with men who helped him in the
better understanding of his own great task. He had had a wonderfully
good time. He was thoroughly rested—a new man. He plunged into his work
again upon his return with great vigor and enthusiasm.
Washington made two other trips to Europe during his lifetime. The
second one was largely like the first—a trip for recreation and pleasure
and rest. But the third trip was undertaken with a serious purpose. He
wanted to see how the poor people of Europe lived, and how their living
conditions compared with those of the workingman in the United States.
He was particularly anxious to see how conditions there compared with
those affecting the negro population of the South. He also wanted to see
whether or not he could find anything in Europe that would justify the
system of education he had established at Tuskegee. So this time he left
the usual highways of travel and went far into the interior, visiting
the peasant in his hut, in the remotest regions of the country,—the
miner toiling underground, the laborer in the quarry, and the poor man
at his work whatever it was and wherever he could be found. He visited
the farms in the remote parts of Poland, Austria, and Italy. He went to
the sulphur mines in Campo Franco. At Catania he saw the grape harvest
and the men barelegged, treading the wine press as they did in Bible
times.
In a very remote part of Poland, away up in the mountains, he stopped at
a little thatched-roof cottage. Desiring to see how the place looked on
the inside, he knocked at the door. In response a man opened the door,
and Washington said something to him in English, thinking, of course,
that the man would not understand, but that he would be able to see
inside the hut. To his utter astonishment, the man answered him in
English. Upon further conversation, he found that this man had once
lived in Detroit, Michigan.
When he was in the mines at Campo Franco, Sicily, he by chance met a man
who had once worked in the mines near Malden, West Virginia, where
Washington himself had worked when a boy. The world is not such a big
place after all!
As a result of his observations of conditions in Europe, Washington came
to the conclusion that the negro in the South is, generally speaking, in
far better condition than the peasant of Europe. He also noted that,
wherever conditions were fairly good, where the natives owned the land
and had developed reasonably good farming conditions, there was no
emigration from that region to America. But where conditions were bad,
where farms were not well kept, where the people were not permitted or
encouraged to own their own homes, from such sections there was always
much emigration to America. In other words, good local conditions, land
ownership, good schools, and so on, tended to make the people happy,
contented, and desirous of remaining where they were. In this fact he
saw a great lesson for his own people. He believed that the South is the
home of the negro, that here it is possible for him to do his best. He
was, therefore, tremendously anxious for the negroes to learn how to
cultivate the soil to the best possible advantage, to buy land, to build
schools, to establish churches, and in every way to become real citizens
of the country where they were.
Washington wrote an interesting book describing all that he saw and
learned on this trip. It is called, “The Man Farthest Down.” As stated
before, he pointed out that there were many, many people “farther down”
than the American negro; that compared to most of the people of Europe,
he ought to be exceedingly thankful that his condition is as good as it
is. Of course he did not mean by this that conditions with the negro
were what they ought to be; but that the negro should be thankful for
the progress that he has made; that he should take courage, and go
forward to better things.
The most interesting experience of this trip to Europe was his visit to
the King and Queen of Denmark, at Copenhagen. On his first visit to the
palace he was received by the King. Washington was much impressed by the
King’s cordiality and simplicity, by his knowledge of America, and by
his acquaintance even with the work Washington was doing at Tuskegee. At
the close of the interview, the King invited him to dine at the palace
that night.
Now the invitation of a king is the same as a command, and one is always
expected to accept. Of course Washington was delighted to accept this
invitation.
Washington spent the rest of the day preceding the dinner hour visiting
the country people near Copenhagen. He was late getting home, and he was
terrified when he realized that he might be late for dinner. To keep the
King and Queen waiting would be a terrible offense. He dressed as
rapidly as he could. But in his haste, he pulled his necktie to
pieces,—the only one he had fit for the occasion! He pinned it together
the best he could and put it on; but he says that he was in great
distress throughout the dinner lest the tie come to pieces again.
He reached the palace just in time for the dinner. He was taken directly
to the King, who led him to where the Queen was standing, and presented
him to her. She was very cordial and gracious. She spoke English
perfectly; and Washington was again surprised to find that she, too, was
thoroughly familiar with affairs in the United States, and that she also
knew about Tuskegee.
There was a very distinguished group of people present. The dinner was
given in the magnificent Summer Palace, and everything was truly royal
in its elegance and splendor. Washington says, “As I ate food for the
first time in my life out of gold dishes, I could not but recall the
time when as a slave boy I ate my syrup from a tin plate.”[36]