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09 - Boys Life of Booker T. Washington by Walter Clinton Jackson · Boys Life of Booker T. Washington

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight of A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Mary Patterson. A Boy's
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  Speaker 1: Life of Booker T. Washington by W. C. Jackson strenuous days.
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  Speaker 1: As Booker Washington began the second year of his school,
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  Speaker 1: he met a new obstacle. That was nothing unusual for him. However,
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  Speaker 1: he was usually facing a hard job. He spent his
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  Speaker 1: life working on difficult tasks, and he never found one
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  Speaker 1: that he did not finish with satisfaction. He tackled this
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  Speaker 1: problem at once and with confidence. There were two parts
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  Speaker 1: to it. In the first place, although he had a
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  Speaker 1: fine farm of five hundred acres, all paid for, he
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  Speaker 1: had no buildings except that old kitchen stable henhouse, and
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  Speaker 1: which to house his students. When school opened in the
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  Speaker 1: fall of eighteen eighty two, there were about one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty students present. These three or four little o'shaks
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  Speaker 1: would not take care of that crowd. What was he
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  Speaker 1: to do? This was his first difficulty. The other problem
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  Speaker 1: was this his school was just outside the town of Tuskegee.
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  Speaker 1: It adjoined the town A great Many people in Tuskegee
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  Speaker 1: thought that this school ought not to be built. Many
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  Speaker 1: were opposed to BOOKA. Washington. Many were opposed to educating negroes,
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  Speaker 1: and they believed that negroes went to school simply to
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  Speaker 1: get out of work, and that an educated negro was
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  Speaker 1: sorry and troublesome. Then there were some who said, this
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  Speaker 1: man means well, but he is just a negro, and
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  Speaker 1: of course he can't succeed. Then there were others who said,
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  Speaker 1: this man Washington is all right. I believe in him
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  Speaker 1: and trust him. He is doing a good thing. He
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  Speaker 1: is going to succeed. I am counting on him. So
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  Speaker 1: his second job was to win the friendship and good
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  Speaker 1: will of all the people in the town and round about,
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  Speaker 1: and not to disappoint those who believed in him. He
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  Speaker 1: worked out these two problems together, as we shall see
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  Speaker 1: from what happened. The very first thing needed by the students,
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  Speaker 1: after all, was not a building, but something to eat.
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  Speaker 1: So the first move Washington made was to start the
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  Speaker 1: students to work on the farm and raising a crop
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  Speaker 1: every day. After the students had studied and recited their lessons,
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  Speaker 1: they would go to the fields and work. We have
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  Speaker 1: already learned how they found out what a chopping bee was.
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  Speaker 1: Now they were working in the field where they had
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  Speaker 1: previously cut down the trees. Some of them did not
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  Speaker 1: like this work at first. They said, we did not
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  Speaker 1: come to school to do work like this. We have
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  Speaker 1: had enough of this at home. But Washington kept right
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  Speaker 1: on working hard by himself and showing his students that
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  Speaker 1: he was not ashamed to do hard work with his hands.
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  Speaker 1: The next thing in order was a building, a good building,
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  Speaker 1: large and comfortable and useful. He began to make plans
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  Speaker 1: for it. He knew he had to have it, and
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  Speaker 1: although he really did not have any money at all
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  Speaker 1: in hand, he went right ahead and planned a fine
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  Speaker 1: building to cost six thousand dollars. He did not know
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  Speaker 1: where he would get the money, but he had a
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  Speaker 1: firm belief that in some way the money would be secured.
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  Speaker 1: When it was learned that he expected to put up
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  Speaker 1: this building, a man who lived near Tuskegee and who
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  Speaker 1: owned a saw mill came to Washington and said to him,
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  Speaker 1: I have been watching you. I know, oh what kind
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  Speaker 1: of man you are. You will keep your word and
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  Speaker 1: you will pay your debts. I see that you need
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  Speaker 1: some help. I just want to say that I will
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  Speaker 1: furnish you all the lumber you need for this building
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  Speaker 1: at once, and you can pay just whenever you are able.
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  Speaker 1: Washington explained that while he hoped to be able to
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  Speaker 1: raise the money to pay for the building, he had
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  Speaker 1: not yet secured any of it. The man replied, that's
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  Speaker 1: all right, your credit is good with me. I will
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  Speaker 1: trust you. We can see from this incident how well
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  Speaker 1: he was succeeding in making friends with his neighbors. As
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  Speaker 1: soon as he had raised a part of the money,
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  Speaker 1: he let the man put the material on the ground.
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  Speaker 1: Then the building was begun, and again the students did
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  Speaker 1: all the work. They first dig the foundations, and some
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  Speaker 1: of them became so disgusted with the work that they
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  Speaker 1: left the place altogether. Washington was sorry that they left,
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  Speaker 1: but he said that anyone who was too proud to
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  Speaker 1: work with his hands and help out at a time
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  Speaker 1: like this did not belong in his school. However, most
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  Speaker 1: of the students remained and were perfectly willing to do
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  Speaker 1: the work. Rapid progress was made. The foundations were finished,
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  Speaker 1: and they were ready for the laying of the cornerstone.
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  Speaker 1: The laying of the cornerstone of this building is an
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  Speaker 1: important event in the history of the education of the Nigro.
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  Speaker 1: There was a great crowd present. Washington, his teachers, his students,
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  Speaker 1: and their parents, and a large number of other Negroes
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  Speaker 1: were there. There were present also a large number of
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  Speaker 1: white people, the mayor of the town, the councilman, the sheriff,
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  Speaker 1: and all the other county officers, and all the prominent
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  Speaker 1: business and professional men of the community. In a way,
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  Speaker 1: the ceremony marx and epoch in Negro history in America.
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  Speaker 1: Just seventeen years before, it was against the law for
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  Speaker 1: a Negro to be taught books at all. In Alabama,
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  Speaker 1: just seventeen years before, the Negroes were slaves. For this
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  Speaker 1: was in eighteen eighty two, and in the Black Belt,
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  Speaker 1: in the very heart of the South. That this large
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  Speaker 1: group of white men should gather with the negroes for
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of dedicating a building to Negro education, shows
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  Speaker 1: what wonderful change of sentiment had taken place. It shows
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  Speaker 1: also how thoroughly Booker Washington had won the confidence of
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  Speaker 1: all the people among whom he was working. All his
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  Speaker 1: students were from Alabama. Most of them were from the country.
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  Speaker 1: He knew that most of them would spend their lives
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  Speaker 1: on the farm or in occupations of some kind. He
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  Speaker 1: wanted them to be practical, to know how to do
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  Speaker 1: well the things they would surely be compelled to do. So,
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  Speaker 1: he determined from the very beginning that his students should
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  Speaker 1: learn how to do practical things as well as learned
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  Speaker 1: from books. He had them clear the land for the school.
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  Speaker 1: He had them farm the cleared land. He had them
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  Speaker 1: do the cooking. He had them make the brick and
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  Speaker 1: build the buildings of the school. He said that his
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  Speaker 1: idea was to teach the students the best methods of
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  Speaker 1: labor and how to derive the greatest benefit from their work.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted them to learn new ways of work, how
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  Speaker 1: to use steam, water, and electricity. He also wanted to
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  Speaker 1: teach them that work was dignified and honorable, and that
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  Speaker 1: no man should be ashamed to do any kind of
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  Speaker 1: honest work. He followed this plan till his death, and
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  Speaker 1: nearly every one of the many buildings that stood at
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  Speaker 1: Tuskegee when he died was built entirely by the students themselves.
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  Speaker 1: They planned to build their first large building, Porter Hall.
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  Speaker 1: They called it a brick, so they went out to
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  Speaker 1: make the brick right there. The students did not like
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  Speaker 1: this work. It was hard and it was dirty. However,
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  Speaker 1: they went at it, and after several trials found some
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  Speaker 1: brick clay. They molded the brick, built the kiln, fired it,
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  Speaker 1: and waited. When the burning was done, they found that
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  Speaker 1: they had made a complete failure. None of the brick
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  Speaker 1: could be used, and once they built another kiln, this
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  Speaker 1: also turned out to be a failure. Some of them
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  Speaker 1: were discouraged at this and said let's quit, but others
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  Speaker 1: said we must succeed. So a third kiln was built.
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  Speaker 1: This kiln seemed to be burning splendidly, when suddenly, on
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  Speaker 1: the last night, it fell. This was surely discouraging, but
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  Speaker 1: Washington was not to be stopped by failure. He was
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  Speaker 1: now without a dollar to continue his work. He happened
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  Speaker 1: to think, however, of a watch he owned. He took
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  Speaker 1: the watch to Montgomery, Alabama, near by, pawned it for
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  Speaker 1: fifteen dollars, and came home. Called the workers together once
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  Speaker 1: more built another kiln, and this time the kiln was
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  Speaker 1: a success. Later, when he went back to get his
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  Speaker 1: watch it was gone, but he never regretted losing it
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  Speaker 1: in such a good cause. Now that he was successful
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  Speaker 1: in making bricks, the work progressed on the buildings, and
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  Speaker 1: soon Porter Hall was finished and the other buildings were started.
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  Speaker 1: There were two other things Washington wanted for his school.
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  Speaker 1: One was a place for his students to board, the
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  Speaker 1: other a place for them to room. Washington said that
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  Speaker 1: he had nothing but the students and their appetite to
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  Speaker 1: begin a boarding department with. However, they got busy, dug
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  Speaker 1: a large amount of earth from beneath Port Hall and
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  Speaker 1: opened this basement up for a dining room. They had
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  Speaker 1: no dishes, no knives, no forks to speak of. At first,
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  Speaker 1: they had poor arrangements of every kind, and they had
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  Speaker 1: bad luck. Something went wrong almost every day. At first,
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  Speaker 1: they would spill the soup, burn the meat, or leave
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  Speaker 1: the salt out of the bread. Meals were served with
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  Speaker 1: no sort of regularity. Washington says that one morning he
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  Speaker 1: was at the dining room when everything went wrong. The
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  Speaker 1: breakfast was a failure. One of the girls who failed
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  Speaker 1: to get any breakfast, went to the well to get
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  Speaker 1: a drink of water and found the well rope broke it.
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  Speaker 1: Washington heard her say, you can't even get water to
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  Speaker 1: drink at this school. He says that remark came nearer
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  Speaker 1: discouraging him than anything that ever happened to him. He
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  Speaker 1: may have been discouraged, but he kept on, and in
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  Speaker 1: a little while things were coming out or right, and
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  Speaker 1: to day one of the greatest sights at Tuskegee is
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  Speaker 1: it's the great dining hall, with its white tablecloths, napkins,
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  Speaker 1: and vases of flowers, with elegant meals served in excellent
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  Speaker 1: style and order, and on time. The next thing was
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  Speaker 1: rooms for the borders. Students were coming from a distance.
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  Speaker 1: There was no place for them at the school. Besides,
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  Speaker 1: Washington wanted them at the school so that he could
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  Speaker 1: help them learn best how to keep their rooms and
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  Speaker 1: live as folks ought to live. They used the cabins
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  Speaker 1: first for sleeping quarters, but they had almost no furniture.
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  Speaker 1: They made mattresses of pine needles. Their bedclothes were so
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  Speaker 1: scanned the first winter that several were frostbedden. Soon a
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  Speaker 1: good house was built, however, for all the students, and
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  Speaker 1: now they began to live as people ought. Among other things,
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  Speaker 1: Washington insisted that they used toothbrushes. He said that perhaps
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  Speaker 1: no one thing meant more in the real training of
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  Speaker 1: the Nigro than the proper use of this article. He
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  Speaker 1: went from room to room himself to see whether the
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  Speaker 1: students had them. We found one room, he says, that
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  Speaker 1: contained three girls who had recently arrived at the school.
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  Speaker 1: When I asked them if they had tooth brushes, one
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  Speaker 1: of the girls replied, pointing to a brush. Yes, sir,
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  Speaker 1: that is our brush. We bought it together yesterday. It
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  Speaker 1: did not take them long to learn a different lesson.
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  Speaker 1: In many ways he was able to help these students
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  Speaker 1: learn the proper way of living, how to sleep properly,
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  Speaker 1: how to care for their bodies, and how to take
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  Speaker 1: care of their clothes. This second year of the school
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  Speaker 1: was truly a strenuous one, and clearing land, raising a crop,
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  Speaker 1: making bricks, building porter hall, starting a boarding department and
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  Speaker 1: a rooming department. Everybody had been busy doing good work,
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  Speaker 1: and everybody was happy. They were making a great beginning.
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  Speaker 1: A very important event of this year was the marriage
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  Speaker 1: of Washington to Fanny M. Smith. They had known each
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  Speaker 1: other back in Malden, and as soon as Washington's work
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  Speaker 1: was well begun they were married. She lived only two
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  Speaker 1: years after her marriage, dying in eighteen eighty four and
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  Speaker 1: leaving a daughter, Portia M. Washington. Several years later, Washington
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  Speaker 1: married Olivia Davidson, the teacher who had been associated with
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  Speaker 1: him in the school almost from the first and who
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  Speaker 1: had done so much to help him in getting the
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  Speaker 1: school started. End of chapter eight