LIFE AT TUSKEGEE.
In the fall of '87 I told my aunt that I wanted to go to Tuskegee the
next year, and that in addition to her little farm, I wanted to rent an
acre of land and work it for that purpose. She encouraged me in this
idea and said that she wished so much that she could do something for me
that was worth while, but she was poor and could do but little, as she
was now well advanced in years. She said, however, that she would help
me to work my patch.
About this time I learned that my brother Washington, who had been away
for a number of years, was living at Hazen, Alabama, about fifty miles
northeast of Snow Hill. He was working in the bridge-gang on a railroad
and was making good money. I learned also that my father and sister had
died several years before. Now as there were but two of us, and I was
cripple, I thought that I would write my brother and get him to help me
go to Tuskegee. So I started out for Hazen and reached there after two
days' journey on foot. My brother did not seem to care for me and gave
me no encouragement whatever. This was a sore disappointment to me and I
did not remain there more than a few days. I returned to Snow Hill very
much discouraged, but the warmth with which my old aunt greeted and
welcomed me back home, helped me much.
Soon we were all busy getting ready to plant our little farms. That year
there were four of us still living in the one room log cabin, my aunt,
her daughter, her grandson and myself. Each of us had a little farm.
About mid-summer when our provisions had given out, my aunt's daughter
and her son mortgaged their crops for something to eat, and wanted that
we should do the same, but I would not agree to do so. This, of course,
made it hard for me to get anything to eat. My cousin and her son were
perfectly willing that their mother and grandmother should share in
their provisions, but would see to it that I got none. I did not think
hard of them for this, because I felt that I had no right to what they
had. I continued to live on water and bread, and sometimes I would get a
little milk from the neighbors as I had formerly done. I asked them,
however, if I might have the water in which they boiled their vegetables
whenever they had a boiled dinner. We called this water "pot liquor." Of
course, they readily consented to this and sometimes I would get enough
of this liquor to last me two or three days. In fact, I was poorly
nourished all the time.
About this time someone came through the county selling clocks, on
condition that we pay for them later in the fall. I objected to this but
the other members of the family over-ruled my objections and the clock
was bought on the condition stated above. The clock cost $12 and each of
us agreed to pay $3.00 each. When the time came to pay for this clock no
one had any money, and so I paid what I had saved to prepare myself for
Tuskegee. I thought now that I would never get to that school as I had
spent most of my money in paying for a worthless clock. However, I
picked cotton day and night for almost two weeks, and succeeded in
making all the money back which I had spent for the clock. I was now
able to finish paying Dr. Keyser and get a few clothes and start for
Tuskegee. For a long time the people in the quarter did not believe that
I was going, and many tried to discourage me. Had it not been for my
aunt's encouraging words and sincere efforts, I believe that I could not
have overcome the efforts of others to keep me from going. When,
however, they all found that I was determined to go, they all became my
friends and each would give me a nickel or a dime to help me off.
The night before I left for Tuskegee, one of the neighbors told me that
while he did not have anything to give me, he had a contract to get a
cord of wood to the woodyard for the train by six o'clock the next
morning and if I would take his team and haul it, he would give me one
dollar for my services. I agreed to do it and at two o'clock the next
morning I was at his home hitching up the team to haul the wood. I had
to go about two miles for the wood and there was a very heavy frost that
morning. By five o'clock I had hauled the wood and had the team back to
my neighbor's home waiting for my dollar. I thought this to be the
coldest morning that I had ever experienced up to that time. I then got
my few things together and was off for school.
I reached Tuskegee the first day of '89. I found things there very
strange indeed. Hundreds of students were going to and fro. Some were
playing football, others were having band practice, and still others
were going around doing nothing, as the first day of the New Year was a
holiday. I was placed with a crowd of boys from Pensacola, Fla. I
learned afterwards that they were the roughest boys in school. They made
it very unpleasant for me, so much so that I decided to return home. In
going back to the office I met Mr. Washington for the first time. He
wanted to know why I was not satisfied, and after I told him my
troubles, he said that he would remedy them. I was deeply impressed with
him and from that day to this, I loved him as a father. He changed my
room and I found a crowd of very congenial boys.
The next ordeal through which I was to pass, was going into the
dining-room and using knives and forks, but I avoided all humiliation by
simply watching. I have made it a rule of my life to never be the first
to try new things, nor the last to lay old ones aside.
After supper, I was worried about sleeping. I had heard the boys talking
about night shirts and I knew I had none; in fact, I did not know their
purpose. So when time came to retire, one of the boys in my room who had
several, gave me one, then I was undecided just whether it was to go
over my day shirt or over my undershirt, but I did not want to ask how
it should be worn, so I decided to sit up until some one had gone to bed
and by watching him I knew I would learn just how to use mine. In this
way I came through all right. The habit of using the tooth-brush was not
so hard.
The next day the regular routine work of the school began and I was
given my examination. I took examination for the B-Middle class. This is
the second year normal. Miss Annie C. Hawley of Portland, Maine, who was
then a teacher there, gave me the examination. I made the class in all
of the subjects except grammar. Of this subject I knew absolutely
nothing. I did not know what a sentence was. I could not tell the
subject from the predicate, so I was put back two years into what is
called the A-Prep. class.
After my examination I was assigned to my work. I was placed in the tin
shop, which was then being placed as one of the industries, under Mr.
Lewis Adams. I was the first student to work in this shop, but it did
not take two days to learn that I could never be a tinsmith. Next I was
assigned to the printing office, but here too I found that I could never
become a printer; so finally, I was put on the farm and there I remained
during my whole stay at Tuskegee. The farm manager at that time, Mr. C. W.
Green, had charge of the brick-yard, poultry, dairy, landscape gardening,
horticulture, as well as the general farm and truck-farm. I worked some
in all of these departments and enjoyed my work immensely. I considered
the work in the brick-yard as being the hardest of all and that was the
only work which I could not do without suffering great pain because of
my physical condition. Still I was willing to endure suffering if by so
doing I could obtain an education.
I did not go to night school because I was given extra work, such as
keeping the clocks on the campus regulated and making fires in the
girls' buildings, and too, they had a system of electric bells which
were used for the passing of classes, and I kept these in order. In this
way I worked enough each month to pay my board and stay in day school.
Of course, I did not have, or get any money for my work, but I did not
worry about that. Miss Maggie Murray (afterwards Mrs. Washington) kept
me well supplied with clothes from the supply of second hand garments
which came to the school from northern friends.
The remainder of the time that I was at Tuskegee was spent in
practically the same way that I have already described. Many of the
students would complain about the food, but the fact that I was getting
three regular meals a day was enough for me. And too, I was now sleeping
in a bed, something that I seldom had done.
When burning bricks they would pay students cash for working at night,
and it was by this work that I got a little money now and then. It
usually takes from seven to eight days to burn a kiln of brick and
sometimes I would work every night until the kiln had been burned.
The one thing that made the deepest impression on me while at Tuskegee
was Mr. Washington's Sunday evening talks to the students. He used to
tell us that after getting our education we should return to our homes
and there help the people. He said that the people were supporting
Tuskegee in order that we might be able to help the masses of our
people. I could understand every word he said, and too, I felt always
that he was talking directly to me. These talks of Dr. Washington's
changed the course of my whole life and they are responsible for my
being at the Snow Hill School today.
It was when I reached the senior class that I came in personal touch
with Dr. Washington, as he taught that class in two or three subjects.
Here I could study him as I was never able to do before. He had a
thorough grasp upon all subjects he taught and would accept nothing but
the same from his students.
As the time was nearing for my graduation, I was deeply worried about my
Commencement suit. All of the other members of the class were sending
home for their suits or for the money with which to get them, but I knew
that my aunt was not able to help me, so I was at a loss to know where I
should get mine. Finally, I decided to write to Mr. R. O. Simpson of
Furman, Alabama, the man on whose plantation I was reared, and ask him
to loan me fifteen dollars. I prayed during the entire time it took me
to write the letter and when I had sealed it I prayed over it again. In
two days' time I had an answer with the fifteen dollars. So all of my
troubles and worries were banished and I proceeded to get ready for
Commencement. I graduated second, with a class of twenty, on May 17,
1893. Our class motto was "Deeds Not Words."
The morning of May 18th found me packing my few clothes in an old trunk
which one of the young men had given me, and getting ready to return to
Snow Hill. All the while I was thinking of what I could do to live up to
this new training which I had received at Tuskegee, and above all, how
could I make good our class motto: "Deeds Not Words." Although it has
been now well nigh 25 years since my graduation, those words still ring
in my ears: "Deeds Not Words." I should like so to live that when the
summons come for me to join Dr. Washington in the Great Beyond, these
words might be written as an epitaph on my tomb:
"DEEDS NOT WORDS."