heed the lesson of fighting out what you have undertaken, that same
disposition will follow you all through life, and you will get a
reputation, because people will say of you that there is a person who
sticks to whatever he or she undertakes. One of the saddest things
in life is to see an individual who has grown to old age, with no
profession, with no calling whatever from which he is sure of getting
an independent living. It is sad to see such individuals without money,
without homes, in their old age, simply because they did not learn the
lesson of saving money and getting for themselves a beautiful home when
they ought to have done this. And so, all through life, we can point to
many people who have not learned this lesson--that for whatever they
undertake they must pay the price which the world asks of them if they
would succeed. If we are going to succeed we must pay the price for
what we get; and he who accomplishes the most, accomplishes it in an
humble and straightforward way, by sticking to what he has undertaken.
He who does this finds in the end that he has achieved a tremendous
success.
WHAT YOU OUGHT TO DO
It is comparatively easy to perform almost any kind of work, but the
value of any work is in having it performed so that the desired results
may be most speedily reached, and in having the means with which the
worker labours arranged so as to meet certain ends. It is the constant
problem of those organs which have charge of the well-being of the
body, to cause digestion to take place, so that what is nourishing in
the food may reach every part of the body, not only the portions near
the organs in which digestion takes place, but also the most extreme
parts of the different members.
Just so it is the aim of all persons who are accustomed to making
public addresses to try to make those who are far away from them hear
them as well as those who sit near. In this same way, it seems to me
more and more every year, it is going to be the main object of all
our schools in the South to make their influence felt most forcibly
among those who are remote from them. How can we reach the masses
who are remote--I mean remote from educational advantages and from
opportunities for encouragement and enlightenment? The problem in the
rural districts is difficult because of the vastness of the number to
be reached, and of the frequent difficulty of reaching them. We must
keep this fact before us, then; that institutions of this kind are of
little value unless they can pave the way to make the results of their
work felt among the masses of the people who are especially remote from
these institutions.
It is a fact, as most of you know, that we very seldom meet with a
thoroughly well-educated teacher in the rural districts, in spite of
the passing of over thirty years since we became men and women. You
know, too, that the same thing is, in too large a measure, true of the
ministry. The responsibility for reaching these people, for affecting
them for good, rests upon the young men and young women who are being
educated in these Southern institutions to-day.
What are you going to do as your part towards reaching these people,
towards carrying to them the light which they need so much and so
earnestly long for? Difficult as this problem is, it is not a
discouraging one, because these people are ready to follow the light
as soon as they are sure that the right kind of light is set up before
them. You very seldom meet with a coloured man who is not conscious of
his ignorance, and who is not anxious to get up as soon as he finds
himself down. In this respect the problem is encouraging.
One of the ways in which the problem is serious is with respect to
labour. In almost every city and town in the South a large proportion
of the coloured people are shiftless so far as manual labour is
concerned, although I think there is already improvement. The masses of
our people are given to thrift and industry, and to unremitting toil,
in their way. The hard thing about it, the discouraging thing, is that
they do not know how to realize on the results of their toil; because
they have no education and little idea of industrial development, they
do not know how to make their work tell for what it ought to. As a
general thing the people--those in the country especially--do not ask
anybody to come and give them food, clothing and houses; all they ask
is for some person, some honest, upright man or woman who is interested
in their welfare, to come among them and show them how to direct their
efforts and their energy, show them how best to realize on the results
of their work, so that they can supply their own moral, religious and
material needs and educate their children.
And you will find that wherever this institution, Hampton, Talladega,
Fisk, Atlanta or any other, can put in the midst of the people
young men and young women who will settle down among them and make
their lives object lessons for the people--plant a good school and
convince the people that the teacher has settled down there to stay
through encouraging or discouraging circumstances--you will find that
such a teacher will not only be encouraged, but will be supported
materially. In every way there will be an opportunity for that person
to revolutionize the community. That opportunity is open to you. It is
an opportunity which is being opened to no other set of young men and
young women who are being educated anywhere else in the world. Are you
going to appreciate the beauty and grandeur of this opportunity?
I was talking with a gentleman last night who has recently spent some
time in one of the Southern states, and he told me that in hardly any
country district in that state was there a public school which is kept
open longer than four months. He tells me that the average salary in
some of those districts is little more than fifteen dollars a month. In
another state the condition of the people is about the same. In our own
state perhaps the conditions are worse even than in the states referred
to. In some counties in Alabama the people are this year receiving no
money to run their schools more than three and a half months in the
year, except, of course, in the cities and towns. In some counties the
teachers are being paid only twelve to twenty dollars, and there are
possibly some where the teachers get not more than ten dollars from the
state fund.
I was talking with a gentleman from another state not long ago about
the material condition of the people in that state, and he told me that
so far as their industrial life is concerned, the masses are in a very
bad condition this year; that they are too often at the mercy of the
landowners--I refer to the persons who run the large plantations--and
that the same thing is largely true of all of the cotton-raising
states. I need not go on to describe to you the moral results that must
inevitably follow such a condition of things. I need not take your
time to tell you that there can be little morality or religion among
people who are so ignorant as these people, and who do not know where
they are going to get anything to eat. It is needless to describe the
train of moral evils that must follow such conditions as these.
What I have attempted to describe to you as existing to-day in these
country districts may not be very encouraging, but it seems to me that
every young man and young woman who has enjoyed the privileges afforded
by this and by other institutions in the South--I speak especially now
to the members of the next graduating class--should feel that such
conditions as these present one of the most inviting fields possible
for labour. Every young man and woman here is being educated by money
that is given by others. None of you are paying for the education you
are receiving. You might pay for your board, but you would have to do
that elsewhere. Every one must pay for his or her own clothing, but the
cost of buildings, rent, tuition, expenses and other matters pertaining
to the institution you do not pay. Your education, in a large measure,
is a gift from the public, and it seems to me that one of the first
things you should do is to repay, to as large an extent as is possible
with your services, what has been spent in giving you so large a part
of your education.
This is a debt that you owe not only to yourselves, but to our race and
our country. It is a religious debt as well, that you be willing to
go out into these country districts and suffer, as it were, for a few
years, until you can get a foothold, so that you can plant yourselves
in one of these dark communities. I feel sure that you would not have
to suffer very long. I believe that the hardest part of the struggle
would come during the first two or three years. When you can convince
the people that you are in earnest, the battle is won. When you can
convince them that it is cheaper to keep an educated teacher than
to keep one who is ignorant, and when you can once demonstrate your
value to them not only in an educational respect but industrially and
morally, the battle is won, and these people will stand by you and
support you. In many cases, it is my belief, you will eventually find
yourselves better supported financially than you would if you had gone
to work in cities and large towns. No matter from which side you look
at this problem, good is bound to come from it.
And while we are talking about the reward that will come as a result of
your services, let me tell you that no greater satisfaction can come
to any one than that which you will get from the worship and praise
which will come to you from these old mothers and fathers who will be
benefited by your services. I know of instances where teachers have
gone and planted themselves in these country districts who, even if
they do not make such a very great success financially, receive the
love and most sincere worship from year to year, because of the feeling
of gratitude which the people among whom they have settled have for
them on account of their having helped them in so many ways.
This same kind of pioneer work had to be done all over the world
before the right kind of civilization was planted. It was such
work as this that the people did who settled the great West, where
they were deprived of the comforts of life. The people who planted
Oberlin College in what was then a wilderness had to suffer many such
hardships. The men who went to Washington, Oregon, and California and
established what are now large cities there, had to suffer many such
hardships; they had to suffer just what you must and should suffer.
Are you going to suffer for your own people until they can receive the
light which they so much need? If the young men and women before me
have the right kind of stuff in them they will do this. Most certainly
do I hope that you are going to carry out into these dark communities
the light which you receive here from day to day. I hope you will
fill these districts with men and women of education. When you go out
from here with your diploma, whether it be next May or at some other
time, resolve to plant yourself in one community and stay there. No
matter what your work is, you cannot accomplish much if you become the
wandering Jew. Find the community where you think you can use your life
to the best advantage, and then stay there.
[In the time that has elapsed since this talk was given, I think
there has been improvement in many of the country schools in the
South, and in the general condition of the people as described to
me then.--B. T. W.]
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY
I have referred in a general way, before this, when I have been
speaking to you, to the fact that each one of you ought to feel an
interest in whatever task is set you to do here over and above the
mere bearing which that task has on your own life. I wish to speak
more specifically to-night on this subject--on what I may term the
importance of your feeling a sense of personal responsibility not only
for the successful performance of every task set you, but for the
successful outcome of every worthy undertaking with which you come in
contact.
You ought to realize that your actions will not affect yourselves
alone. In this age it is almost impossible for a man to live for
himself alone. On every side our lives touch those of others; their
lives touch ours. Even if it were possible to live otherwise, few would
wish to. A narrow life, a selfish life, is almost sure to be not only
unprofitable but unhappy. The happy people and the successful people
are those who go out of their way to reach and influence for good as
many persons as they can. In order to do this, though, in order best to
fit one's self to live this kind of life, it is important that certain
habits be acquired; and an essential one of these is the habit of
realizing one's responsibility to others.
Your actions will affect other people in one way or another, and you
will be responsible for the result. You ought always to remember this,
and govern yourselves accordingly. Suppose it is the matter of the
recitation of a lesson, for instance. Some one may say: "It is nobody's
business but my own if I fail in a recitation. Nobody will suffer but
me." This is not so. Indirectly you injure your teacher also, for while
a conscientious, hard-working teacher ought not to be blamed for the
failures of pupils who do not learn simply because they do not want
to, or are too lazy to try, it is generally the case that a teacher's
reputation gains or loses as his or her class averages high or low.
And each failure in recitation, for whatever cause, brings down the
average. Then, too, you are having an influence upon your classmates,
even if it be unconscious. There is hardly ever a student who is not
observed by some one at some time as an example. "There is such a
boy," some other student says to himself. "He has failed in class ever
so many times, and still he gets along. It can't make much difference
if I fail once." And as a result he neglects his duty, and does fail.
The same thing is true of work in the industrial departments. Too many
students try to see how easily they can get through the day, or the
work period, and yet not get into trouble. Or even if they take more
interest than this, they care for their work only for the sake of what
they can get out of it for themselves, either as pay, or as instruction
which will enable them to work for pay at some later time. Now there
ought to be a higher impulse behind your efforts than that. Each
student ought to feel that he or she has a personal responsibility to
do each task in the very best manner possible. You owe this not only
to your fellow-students, your teachers, the school, and the people who
support the institution, but you owe it even more to yourselves. You
owe it to yourselves because it is right and honest, because nothing
less than this is right and honest, and because you never can be really
successful and really happy until you do study and work and live in
this way.
I have been led to speak specifically on this subject to-night on
account of two occurrences here which have come to my notice. One of
these illustrates the failure on the part of students to feel this
sense of responsibility to which I have referred. The other affords an
illustration of the possession by a student of a feeling of personal
interest and personal responsibility which has been very gratifying and
encouraging. The first incident, I may say, occurred some months ago.
It is possible that the students who were concerned in it may not be
here now or, if they are, that it would not happen again. I certainly
hope not.
A gentleman who had been visiting here was to go away. He left word at
the office of his wish, saying that he planned to leave town on the
five o'clock train in the afternoon. A boy was sent from the office
early in the afternoon with a note to the barn ordering a carriage to
take this gentleman and his luggage to the station. Half-past four
came, and the man had his luggage brought down to the door of the
building in which he had been staying, so as to be ready when the
team came. But no team came. The visitor finally became so anxious
that he walked over to the barn himself. Just as he reached the barn
he met the man who was in charge there, with the note in his hand.
The note had only just that moment reached this man, and of course no
carriage had been sent because the first person who felt that he had
any responsibility in the matter had only just learned that a carriage
was wanted. The boy who had brought the note had given it to another
boy, and he to someone else, and he, perhaps, to someone else. At any
rate it had been delayed because no one had taken enough interest in
the errand to see that whatever business the note referred to received
proper attention. This occurred, as I have said, several months ago,
before the local train here went over to Chehaw to meet all of the
trains. It happened that this particular passenger was going north, and
it was possible by driving to Chehaw for him to get there in time to
take the north-bound train. If he had been going the other way, though,
towards Montgomery, he would have lost the train entirely, and, as
chanced to be the case, would have been unable to keep a very important
engagement. As it was, he was obliged to ride to Chehaw in a carriage,
and the time of a man and team, which otherwise would have been saved,
was required to take him there.
Now when such a thing as this happens, no amount of saying, "I am
sorry," by the person or persons to blame, will help the matter any.
It is too late to help it then. The thing to do is to feel some
responsibility in seeing that things are done right yourself. Take
enough interest in whatever you are engaged in to see that it is going
to come out in the end just as nearly right, just as nearly perfect,
as anything you can do will go towards making it right or perfect. And
if the task or errand passes out of your hands before it is completed,
do not feel that your responsibility in the matter ends until you have
impressed it upon the minds and heart of the person to whom you turn
over the further performance of the duty.
The world is looking for men and women who can tell one why they can
do this thing or that thing, how a certain difficulty was surmounted
or a certain obstacle removed. But the world has little patience with
the man or woman who takes no real interest in the performance of a
duty, or who runs against a snag and gets discouraged, and then simply
tells why he did not do a thing, and gives excuses instead of results.
Opportunities never come a second time, nor do they wait for our
leisure. The years come to us but once, and they come then only to pass
swiftly on, bearing the ineffaceable record we have put upon them. If
we wish to make them beautiful years or profitable years, we must do it
moment by moment as they glide before us.
The other case to which I have referred is pleasanter to speak about.
One day this spring, after it had got late enough in the season so
that it was not as a general thing necessary to have fires to heat
our buildings, a student passing Phelps Hall noticed that there was a
volume of black smoke pouring out of one of the chimneys there. Some
boys might not have noticed the smoke at all; others would have said
that it came from the chimney; still others would have said that it
was none of their business anyway, and would have gone along. This boy
was different. He noticed the smoke, and although he saw, or thought
he saw that it came from the chimney, and if so was probably no sign
of harm, he felt that any smoke at all there at that time was such an
unusual thing that it ought to be investigated for fear it might mean
danger to the building. He was not satisfied until he had gone into the
building and had inspected every floor clear up to the attic, to see
that the chimney and the building were not in danger. As it happened,
the janitor had built a fire in the furnace in the basement for some
reason, so that the young man's anxiety fortunately was unfounded, but
I am heartily glad he had such an anxiety, and that he could not rest
until he found out whether there was any foundation for it or not. I
shall feel that all of our buildings are safer for his being here, and
when he graduates and goes away I hope he will leave many others here
who will have the same sense of personal responsibility which he had.
Let me tell you, here and now, that unless you young men and young
women come to have this characteristic, your lives are going to fall
far short of the best and noblest achievement possible.
We frequently hear the word "lucky" used with reference to a man's
life. Two boys start out in the world at the same time, having the same
amount of education. When twenty years have passed, we find one of them
wealthy and independent; we find him a successful professional man with
an assured reputation, or perhaps at the head of a large commercial
establishment employing many men, or perhaps a farmer owning and
cultivating hundreds of acres of land. We find the second boy, grown
now to be a man, working for perhaps a dollar or a dollar and a half a
day, and living from hand to mouth in a rented house. When we remember
that the boys started out in life equal-handed, we may be tempted to
remark that the first boy has been fortunate, that fortune has smiled
on him; and that the second has been unfortunate. There is no such
nonsense as that. When the first boy saw a thing that he knew he ought
to do, he did it; and he kept rising from one position to another
until he became independent. The second boy was an eye-servant who was
afraid that he would do more than he was paid to do--he was afraid that
he would give fifty cents' worth of labour for twenty-five cents. He
watched the clock, for fear that he would work one minute past twelve
o'clock at noon and past six o'clock at night. He did not feel that he
had any responsibility to look out for his employer's interests. The
first boy did a dollar's worth of work for fifty cents. He was always
ready to be at the store before time; and then, when the bell rang to
stop work, he would go to his employer and ask him if there was not
something more that ought to be done that night before he went home.
It was this quality in the first boy that made him valuable and caused
him to rise. Why should we call him "fortunate" or "lucky?" I think it
would be much more suitable to say of him: "He is responsible."
GETTING ON IN THE WORLD
It is natural and praiseworthy for a person to be looking for a higher
and better position than the one he occupies. So long as a man does
his whole duty in what he is engaged in, he is not to be condemned for
looking for something better to do. Now the question arises:--How are
you going to put yourself in a condition to be in demand for these
higher and more important positions?
In the first place you should be continually on the lookout for
opportunities to improve yourselves in your present work. You should be
constantly on the lookout for chances to make yourselves more valuable
to your present employer, and more efficient in your work for him.
Suppose you are engaged in the work of milking cows--I think it better
to talk of practical things with which you all are acquainted, although
I know that many of you boys had rather I would tell you how to go to
Congress than how to become successful milkers. Inasmuch, though, as
I suspect a good many more of us will have to milk cows than can go
to Congress, I think it will not hurt us to talk about milking. If the
boy who milks cows now does that thoroughly, by doing it he may lay the
foundation to go to Congress later. The point is, that we want to be
constantly on the lookout for ways of improving whatever work we are
engaged in, whether that work be milking cows or doing something else.
In whatever you are doing, there are a great many improvements which
you want to become acquainted with. If your work is dairying, read the
dairy journals. Get hold of every book or paper that you can which has
anything to do with your line of work. Be sure that you know all--or as
nearly as possible all--there is to be known about milking cows. And
then don't be content with what you get out of books and newspapers,
for that information is only the result of some other person's
experience. By conversing with intelligent and experienced persons, and
by your own experiments, you can get much valuable information about
your work. Never get to the point where you are ashamed to ask somebody
else for information. The ignorant man will always be ignorant, if
he fears that by asking for information he will betray his lack of
knowledge.