Chapter XVII. Last Words

by Booker T. Washington

　　Before going to Europe some events came into my life which weregreat surprises to me. In fact, my whole life has largely beenone of surprises. I believe that any man's life will be filledwith constant, unexpected encouragements of this kind if he makesup his mind to do his level best each day of his life--that is,tries to make each day reach as nearly as possible the high-watermark of pure, unselfish, useful living. I pity the man, black orwhite, who has never experienced the joy and satisfaction thatcome to one by reason of an effort to assist in making some oneelse more useful and more happy.Six months before he died, and nearly a year after he had beenstricken with paralysis, General Armstrong expressed a wish tovisit Tuskegee again before he passed away. Notwithstanding thefact that he had lost the use of his limbs to such an extent thathe was practically helpless, his wish was gratified, and he wasbrought to Tuskegee. The owners of the Tuskegee Railroad, whitemen living in the town, offered to run a special train, withoutcost, out of the main station--Chehaw, five miles away--to meethim. He arrived on the school grounds about nine o'clock in theevening. Some one had suggested that we give the General a"pine-knot torchlight reception." This plan was carried out, andthe moment that his carriage entered the school grounds he beganpassing between two lines of lighted and waving "fat pine" woodknots held by over a thousand students and teachers. The wholething was so novel and surprising that the General was completelyovercome with happiness. He remained a guest in my home fornearly two months, and, although almost wholly without the use ofvoice or limb, he spent nearly every hour in devising ways andmeans to help the South. Time and time again he said to me,during this visit, that it was not only the duty of the countryto assist in elevating the Negro of the South, but the poor whiteman as well. At the end of his visit I resolved anew to devotemyself more earnestly than ever to the cause which was so nearhis heart. I said that if a man in his condition was willing tothink, work, and act, I should not be wanting in furthering inevery possible way the wish of his heart.The death of General Armstrong, a few weeks later, gave me theprivilege of getting acquainted with one of the finest, mostunselfish, and most attractive men that I have ever come incontact with. I refer to the Rev. Dr. Hollis B. Frissell, now thePrincipal of the Hampton Institute, and General Armstrong'ssuccessor. Under the clear, strong, and almost perfect leadershipof Dr. Frissell, Hampton has had a career of prosperity andusefulness that is all that the General could have wished for. Itseems to be the constant effort of Dr. Frissell to hide his owngreat personality behind that of General Armstrong--to makehimself of "no reputation" for the sake of the cause.More than once I have been asked what was the greatest surprisethat ever came to me. I have little hesitation in answering thatquestion. It was the following letter, which came to me oneSunday morning when I was sitting on the veranda of my home atTuskegee, surrounded by my wife and three children:--Harvard University, Cambridge, May 28, 1896.President Booker T. Washington,My Dear Sir: Harvard University desired to confer on you at theapproaching Commencement an honorary degree; but it is our customto confer degrees only on gentlemen who are present. OurCommencement occurs this year on June 24, and your presence wouldbe desirable from about noon till about five o'clock in theafternoon. Would it be possible for you to be in Cambridge onthat day?Believe me, with great regard,Very truly yours,Charles W. Eliot.This was a recognition that had never in the slightest mannerentered into my mind, and it was hard for me to realize that Iwas to be honoured by a degree from the oldest and most renowneduniversity in America. As I sat upon my veranda, with this letterin my hand, tears came into my eyes. My whole former life--mylife as a slave on the plantation, my work in the coal-mine, thetimes when I was without food and clothing, when I made my bedunder a sidewalk, my struggles for an education, the trying daysI had had at Tuskegee, days when I did not know where to turn fora dollar to continue the work there, the ostracism and sometimesoppression of my race,--all this passed before me and nearlyovercame me.I had never sought or cared for what the world calls fame. I havealways looked upon fame as something to be used in accomplishinggood. I have often said to my friends that if I can use whateverprominence may have come to me as an instrument with which to dogood, I am content to have it. I care for it only as a means tobe used for doing good, just as wealth may be used. The more Icome into contact with wealthy people, the more I believe thatthey are growing in the direction of looking upon their moneysimply as an instrument which God has placed in their hand fordoing good with. I never go to the office of Mr. John D.Rockefeller, who more than once has been generous to Tuskegee,without being reminded of this. The close, careful, and minuteinvestigation that he always makes in order to be sure that everydollar that he gives will do the most good--an investigation thatis just as searching as if he were investing money in a businessenterprise--convinces me that the growth in this direction ismost encouraging.At nine o'clock, on the morning of June 24, I met PresidentEliot, the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, and theother guests, at the designated place on the university grounds,for the purpose of being escorted to Sanders Theatre, where theCommencement exercises were to be held and degrees conferred.Among others invited to be present for the purpose of receiving adegree at this time were General Nelson A. Miles, Dr. Bell, theinventor of the Bell telephone, Bishop Vincent, and the Rev.Minot J. Savage. We were placed in line immediately behind thePresident and the Board of Overseers, and directly afterward theGovernor of Massachusetts, escorted by the Lancers, arrived andtook his place in the line of march by the side of PresidentEliot. In the line there were also various other officers andprofessors, clad in cap and gown. In this order we marched toSanders Theatre, where, after the usual Commencement exercises,came the conferring of the honorary degrees. This, it seems, isalways considered the most interesting feature at Harvard. It isnot known, until the individuals appear, upon whom the honorarydegrees are to be conferred, and those receiving these honoursare cheered by the students and others in proportion to theirpopularity. During the conferring of the degrees excitement andenthusiasm are at the highest pitch.When my name was called, I rose, and President Eliot, inbeautiful and strong English, conferred upon me the degree ofMaster of Arts. After these exercises were over, those who hadreceived honorary degrees were invited to lunch with thePresident. After the lunch we were formed in line again, and wereescorted by the Marshal of the day, who that year happened to beBishop William Lawrence, through the grounds, where, at differentpoints, those who had been honoured were called by name andreceived the Harvard yell. This march ended at Memorial Hall,where the alumni dinner was served. To see over a thousand strongmen, representing all that is best in State, Church, business,and education, with the glow and enthusiasm of college loyaltyand college pride,--which has, I think, a peculiar Harvardflavour,--is a sight that does not easily fade from memory.Among the speakers after dinner were President Eliot, GovernorRoger Wolcott, General Miles, Dr. Minot J. Savage, the Hon. HenryCabot Lodge, and myself. When I was called upon, I said, amongother things:--It would in some measure relieve my embarrassment if I could,even in a slight degree, feel myself worthy of the great honourwhich you do me to-day. Why you have called me from the BlackBelt of the South, from among my humble people, to share in thehonours of this occasion, is not for me to explain; and yet itmaynot be inappropriate for me to suggest that it seems to me thatone of the most vital questions that touch our American life ishow to bring the strong, wealthy, and learned into helpful touchwith the poorest, most ignorant, and humblest, and at the sametime make one appreciate the vitalizing, strengthening influenceof the other. How shall we make the mansion on yon Beacon Streetfeel and see the need of the spirits in the lowliest cabin inAlabama cotton-fields or Louisiana sugar-bottoms? This problemHarvard University is solving, not by bringing itself down, butby bringing the masses up.* * * * * * *If my life in the past has meant anything in the lifting up of mypeople and the bringing about of better relations between yourrace and mine, I assure you from this day it will mean doublymore. In the economy of God there is but one standard by which anindividual can succeed--there is but one for a race. Thiscountry demands that every race shall measure itself by theAmerican standard. By it a race must rise or fall, succeed orfail, and in the last analysis mere sentiment counts for little.During the next half-century and more, my race must continuepassing through the severe American crucible. We are to be testedin our patience, our forbearance, our perseverance, our power toendure wrong, to withstand temptations, to economize, to acquireand use skill; in our ability to compete, to succeed in commerce,to disregard the superficial for the real, the appearance for thesubstance, to be great and yet small, learned and yet simple,high and yet the servant of all.As this was the first time that a New England university hadconferred an honorary degree upon a Negro, it was the occasion ofmuch newspaper comment throughout the country. A correspondent ofa New York Paper said:--When the name of Booker T. Washington was called, and he arose toacknowledge and accept, there was such an outburst of applause asgreeted no other name except that of the popular soldier patriot,General Miles. The applause was not studied and stiff,sympathetic and condoling; it was enthusiasm and admiration.Every part of the audience from pit to gallery joined in, and aglow covered the cheeks of those around me, proving sincereappreciation of the rising struggle of an ex-slave and the workhe has accomplished for his race.A Boston paper said, editorially:--In conferring the honorary degree of Master of Arts upon thePrincipal of Tuskegee Institute, Harvard University has honoureditself as well as the object of this distinction. The work whichProfessor Booker T. Washington has accomplished for theeducation, good citizenship, and popular enlightenment in hischosen field of labour in the South entitles him to rank with ournationalbenefactors. The university which can claim him on its list ofsons, whether in regular course or honoris causa, may be proud. It has been mentioned that Mr. Washington is the first of hisrace to receive an honorary degree from a New England university.This, in itself, is a distinction. But the degree was notconferred because Mr. Washington is a coloured man, or because hewas born in slavery, but because he has shown, by his work forthe elevation of the people of the Black Belt of the South, agenius and a broad humanity which count for greatness in any man,whether his skin be white or black.Another Boston paper said:--It is Harvard which, first among New England colleges, confers anhonorary degree upon a black man. No one who has followed thehistory of Tuskegee and its work can fail to admire the courage,persistence, and splendid common sense of Booker T. Washington.Well may Harvard honour the ex-slave, the value of whoseservices, alike to his race and country, only the future canestimate.The correspondent of the New York Times wrote:--All the speeches were enthusiastically received, but the colouredman carried off the oratorical honours, and the applause whichbroke out when he had finished was vociferous and long-continued.Soon after I began work at Tuskegee I formed a resolution, in thesecret of my heart, that I would try to build up a school thatwould be of so much service to the country that the President ofthe United States would one day come to see it. This was, Iconfess, rather a bold resolution, and for a number of years Ikept it hidden in my own thoughts, not daring to share it withany one.In November, 1897, I made the first move in this direction, andthat was in securing a visit from a member of PresidentMcKinley's Cabinet, the Hon. James Wilson, Secretary ofAgriculture. He came to deliver an address at the formal openingof the Slater-Armstrong Agricultural Building, our first largebuilding to be used for the purpose of giving training to ourstudents in agriculture and kindred branches.In the fall of 1898 I heard that President McKinley was likely tovisit Atlanta, Georgia, for the purpose of taking part in thePeace Jubilee exercises to be held there to commemorate thesuccessful close of the Spanish-American war. At this time I hadbeen hard at work, together with our teachers, for eighteenyears, trying to build up a school that we thought would be ofservice to the Nation, and I determined to make a direct effortto secure a visit from the President and his Cabinet. I went toWashington, and I was not long in the city before I found my wayto the White House. When I got there I found the waiting roomsfull of people, and my heart began to sink, for I feared therewould not be much chance of my seeing the President that day, ifat all. But, at any rate, I got an opportunity to see Mr. J.Addison Porter, the secretary to the President, and explained tohim my mission. Mr. Porter kindly sent my card directly to thePresident, and in a few minutes word came from Mr. McKinley thathe would see me.How any man can see so many people of all kinds, with all kindsof errands, and do so much hard work, and still keep himselfcalm, patient, and fresh for each visitor in the way thatPresident McKinley does, I cannot understand. When I saw thePresident he kindly thanked me for the work which we were doingat Tuskegee for the interests of the country. I then told him,briefly, the object of my visit. I impressed upon him the factthat a visit from the Chief Executive of the Nation would notonly encourage our students and teachers, but would help theentire race. He seemed interested, but did not make a promise togo to Tuskegee, for the reason that his plans about going toAtlanta were not then fully made; but he asked me to call thematter to his attention a few weeks later.By the middle of the following month the President had definitelydecided to attend the Peace Jubilee at Atlanta. I went toWashington again and saw him, with a view of getting him toextend his trip to Tuskegee. On this second visit Mr. Charles W.Hare, a prominent white citizen of Tuskegee, kindly volunteeredto accompany me, to reenforce my invitation with one from thewhite people of Tuskegee and the vicinity.Just previous to my going to Washington the second time, thecountry had been excited, and the coloured people greatlydepressed, because of several severe race riots which hadoccurred at different points in the South. As soon as I saw thePresident, I perceived that his heart was greatly burdened byreason of these race disturbances. Although there were manypeople waiting to see him, he detained me for some time,discussing the condition and prospects of the race. He remarkedseveral times that he was determined to show his interest andfaith in the race, not merely in words, but by acts. When I toldhim that I thought that at that time scarcely anything would gofather in giving hope and encouragement to the race than the factthat the President of the Nation would be willing to travel onehundred and forty miles out of his way to spend a day at a Negroinstitution, he seemed deeply impressed.While I was with the President, a white citizen of Atlanta, aDemocrat and an ex-slaveholder, came into the room, and thePresident asked his opinion as to the wisdom of his going toTuskegee. Without hesitation the Atlanta man replied that it wasthe proper thing for him to do. This opinion was reenforced bythat friend of the race, Dr. J.L.M. Curry. The President promisedthat he would visit our school on the 16th of December.When it became known that the President was going to visit ourschool, the white citizens of the town of Tuskegee--a miledistant from the school--were as much pleased as were ourstudents and teachers. The white people of this town, includingboth men and women, began arranging to decorate the town, and toform themselves into committees for the purpose of cooperatingwith the officers of our school in order that the distinguishedvisitor might have a fitting reception. I think I never realizedbefore this how much the white people of Tuskegee and vicinitythought of our institution. During the days when we werepreparing for the President's reception, dozens of these peoplecame to me and said that, while they did not want to pushthemselves into prominence, if there was anything they could doto help, or to relieve me personally, I had but to intimate itand they would be only too glad to assist. In fact, the thingthat touched me almost as deeply as the visit of the Presidentitself was the deep pride which all classes of citizens inAlabama seemed to take in our work.The morning of December 16th brought to the little city ofTuskegee such a crowd as it had never seen before. With thePresident came Mrs. McKinley and all of the Cabinet officers butone; and most of them brought their wives or some members oftheir families. Several prominent generals came, includingGeneral Shafter and General Joseph Wheeler, who were recentlyreturned from the Spanish-American war. There was also a host ofnewspaper correspondents. The Alabama Legislature was in sessionin Montgomery at this time. This body passed a resolution toadjourn for the purpose of visited Tuskegee. Just before thearrival of the President's party the Legislature arrived, headedby the governor and other state officials.The citizens of Tuskegee had decorated the town from the stationto the school in a generous manner. In order to economize in thematter of time, we arranged to have the whole school pass inreview before the President. Each student carried a stalk ofsugar-cane with some open bolls of cotton fastened to the end ofit. Following the students the work of all departments of theschool passed in review, displayed on "floats" drawn by horses,mules, and oxen. On these floats we tried to exhibit not only thepresent work of the school, but to show the contrasts between theold methods of doing things and the new. As an example, we showedthe old method of dairying in contrast with the improved methods,the old methods of tilling the soil in contrast with the new, theold methods of cooking and housekeeping in contrast with the new.These floats consumed an hour and a half of time in passing.In his address in our large, new chapel, which the students hadrecently completed, the President said, among other things:--To meet you under such pleasant auspices and to have theopportunity of a personal observation of your work is indeed mostgratifying. The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute is idealin its conception, and has already a large and growing reputationin the country, and is not unknown abroad. I congratulate all whoare associated in this undertaking for the good work which it isdoing in the education of its students to lead lives of honourand usefulness, thus exalting the race for which it wasestablished.Nowhere, I think, could a more delightful location have beenchosen for this unique educational experiment, which hasattracted the attention and won the support even of conservativephilanthropists in all sections of the country.To speak of Tuskegee without paying special tribute to Booker T.Washington's genius and perseverance would be impossible. Theinception of this noble enterprise was his, and he deserves highcredit for it. His was the enthusiasm and enterprise which madeits steady progress possible and established in the institutionits present high standard of accomplishment. He has won a worthyreputation as one of the great leaders of his race, widely knownand much respected at home and abroad as an accomplishededucator, a great orator, and a true philanthropist.The Hon. John D. Long, the Secretary of the Navy, said in part:--I cannot make a speech to-day. My heart is too full--full ofhope, admiration, and pride for my countrymen of both sectionsand both colours. I am filled with gratitude and admiration foryour work, and from this time forward I shall have absoluteconfidence in your progress and in the solution of the problem inwhich you are engaged.The problem, I say, has been solved. A picture has been presentedto-day which should be put upon canvas with the pictures ofWashington and Lincoln, and transmitted to future time andgenerations--a picture which the press of the country shouldspread broadcast over the land, a most dramatic picture, and thatpicture is this: The President of the United States standing onthis platform; on one side the Governor of Alabama, on the other,completing the trinity, a representative of a race only a fewyears ago in bondage, the coloured President of the TuskegeeNormal and Industrial Institute.God bless the President under whose majesty such a scene as thatis presented to the American people. God bless the state ofAlabama, which is showing that it can deal with this problem foritself. God bless the orator, philanthropist, and disciple of theGreat Master--who, if he were on earth, would be doing the samework--Booker T. Washington.Postmaster General Smith closed the address which he made withthese words:--We have witnessed many spectacles within the last few days. Wehave seen the magnificent grandeur and the magnificentachievements of one of the great metropolitan cities of theSouth. We have seen heroes of the war pass by in procession. Wehave seen floral parades. But I am sure my colleagues will agreewith me in saying that we have witnessed no spectacle moreimpressive and more encouraging, more inspiring for our future,than that which we have witnessed here this morning.Some days after the President returned to Washington I receivedthe letter which follows:--Executive Mansion, Washington, Dec. 23, 1899.Dear Sir: By this mail I take pleasure in sending you engrossedcopies of the souvenir of the visit of the President to yourinstitution. These sheets bear the autographs of the Presidentand the members of the Cabinet who accompanied him on the trip.Let me take this opportunity of congratulating you most heartilyand sincerely upon the great success of the exercises providedfor and entertainment furnished us under your auspices during ourvisit to Tuskegee. Every feature of the programme was perfectlyexecuted and was viewed or participated in with the heartiestsatisfaction by every visitor present. The unique exhibitionwhich you gave of your pupils engaged in their industrialvocations was not only artistic but thoroughly impressive. Thetribute paid by the President and his Cabinet to your work wasnone too high, and forms a most encouraging augury, I think, forthe future prosperity of your institution. I cannot close withoutassuring you that the modesty shown by yourself in the exerciseswas most favourably commented upon by all the members of ourparty.With best wishes for the continued advance of your most usefuland patriotic undertaking, kind personal regards, and thecompliments of the season, believe me, always,Very sincerely yours,John Addison Porter,Secretary to the President.To President Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Normal and IndustrialInstitute, Tuskegee, Ala.Twenty years have now passed since I made the first humble effortat Tuskegee, in a broken-down shanty and an old hen-house,without owning a dollar's worth of property, and with but oneteacher and thirty students. At the present time the institutionowns twenty-three hundred acres of land, one thousand of whichare under cultivation each year, entirely by student labour.There are now upon the grounds, counting large and small,sixty-six buildings; and all except four of these have beenalmost wholly erected by the labour of our students. While thestudents are at work upon the land and in erecting buildings,they are taught, by competent instructors, the latest methods ofagriculture and the trades connected with building.There are in constant operation at the school, in connection withthorough academic and religious training, thirty industrialdepartments. All of these teach industries at which our men andwomen can find immediate employment as soon as they leave theinstitution. The only difficulty now is that the demand for ourgraduates from both white and black people in the South is sogreat that we cannot supply more than one-half the persons forwhom applications come to us. Neither have we the buildings northe money for current expenses to enable us to admit to theschool more than one-half the young men and women who apply to usfor admission.In our industrial teaching we keep three things in mind: first,that the student shall be so educated that he shall be enabled tomeet conditions as they exist now, in the part of the South wherehe lives--in a word, to be able to do the thing which the worldwants done; second, that every student who graduates from theschool shall have enough skill, coupled with intelligence andmoral character, to enable him to make a living for himself andothers; third, to send every graduate out feeling and knowingthat labour is dignified and beautiful--to make each one lovelabour instead of trying to escape it. In addition to theagricultural training which we give to young men, and thetraining given to our girls in all the usual domesticemployments, we now train a number of girls in agriculture eachyear. These girls are taught gardening, fruit-growing, dairying,bee-culture, and poultry-raising.While the institution is in no sense denominational, we have adepartment known as the Phelps Hall Bible Training School, inwhich a number of students are prepared for the ministry andother forms of Christian work, especially work in the countrydistricts. What is equally important, each one of the studentsworks . . . each day at some industry, in order to get skill andthe love of work, so that when he goes out from the institutionhe is prepared to set the people with whom he goes to labour aproper example in the matter of industry.The value of our property is now over $700,000. If we add to thisour endowment fund, which at present is $1,000,000, the value ofthe total property is now $1,700,000. Aside from the need formore buildings and for money for current expenses, the endowmentfund should be increased to at least $3,000,000. The annualcurrent expenses are now about $150,000. The greater part of thisI collect each year by going from door to door and from house tohouse. All of our property is free from mortgage, and is deededto an undenominational board of trustees who have the control ofthe institution.From thirty students the number has grown to fourteen hundred,coming from twenty-seven states and territories, from Africa,Cuba, Porto Rico, Jamaica, and other foreign countries. In ourdepartments there are one hundred and ten officers andinstructors; and if we add the families of our instructors, wehave a constant population upon our grounds of not far fromseventeen hundred people.I have often been asked how we keep so large a body of peopletogether, and at the same time keep them out of mischief. Thereare two answers: that the men and women who come to us for aneducation are in earnest; and that everybody is kept busy. Thefollowing outline of our daily work will testify to this:--5 a.m., rising bell; 5.50 a.m., warning breakfast bell; 6 a.m.,breakfast bell; 6.20 a.m., breakfast over; 6.20 to 6.50 a.m.,rooms are cleaned; 6.50, work bell; 7.30, morning study hours;8.20, morning school bell; 8.25, inspection of young men's toiletin ranks; 8.40, devotional exercises in chapel; 8.55, "fiveminutes with the daily news;" 9 a.m., class work begins; 12,class work closes; 12.15 p.m., dinner; 1 p.m., work bell; 1.30p.m., class work begins; 3.30 p.m., class work ends; 5.30 p.m.,bell to "knock off" work; 6 p.m., supper; 7.10 p.m., eveningprayers; 7.30 p.m., evening study hours; 8.45 p.m., evening studyhour closes; 9.20 p.m., warning retiring bell; 9.30 p.m.,retiring bell.We try to keep constantly in mind the fact that the worth of theschool is to be judged by its graduates. Counting those who havefinished the full course, together with those who have takenenough training to enable them to do reasonably good work, we cansafely say that at least six thousand men and women from Tuskegeeare now at work in different parts of the South; men and womenwho, by their own example or by direct efforts, are showing themasses of our race now to improve their material, educational,and moral and religious life. What is equally important, they areexhibiting a degree of common sense and self-control which iscausing better relations to exist between the races, and iscausing the Southern white man to learn to believe in the valueof educating the men and women of my race. Aside from this, thereis the influence that is constantly being exerted through themothers' meeting and the plantation work conducted by Mrs.Washington.Wherever our graduates go, the changes which soon begin to appearin the buying of land, improving homes, saving money, ineducation, and in high moral characters are remarkable. Wholecommunities are fast being revolutionized through theinstrumentality of these men and women.Ten years ago I organized at Tuskegee the first Negro Conference.This is an annual gathering which now brings to the school eightor nine hundred representative men and women of the race, whocome to spend a day in finding out what the actual industrial,mental, and moral conditions of the people are, and in formingplans for improvement. Out from this central Negro Conference atTuskegee have grown numerous state an local conferences which aredoing the same kind of work. As a result of the influence ofthese gatherings, one delegate reported at the last annualmeeting that ten families in his community had bought and paidfor homes. On the day following the annual Negro Conference,there is the "Workers' Conference." This is composed of officersand teachers who are engaged in educational work in the largerinstitutions in the South. The Negro Conference furnishes a rareopportunity for these workers to study the real condition of therank and file of the people.In the summer of 1900, with the assistance of such prominentcoloured men as Mr. T. Thomas Fortune, who has always upheld myhands in every effort, I organized the National Negro BusinessLeague, which held its first meeting in Boston, and broughttogether for the first time a large number of the coloured menwho are engaged in various lines of trade or business indifferent parts of the United States. Thirty states wererepresented at our first meeting. Out of this national meetinggrew state and local business leagues.In addition to looking after the executive side of the work atTuskegee, and raising the greater part of the money for thesupport of the school, I cannot seem to escape the duty ofanswering at least a part of the calls which come to me unsoughtto address Southern white audiences and audiences of my own race,as well as frequent gatherings in the North. As to how much of mytime is spent in this way, the following clipping from a Buffalo(N.Y.) paper will tell. This has reference to an occasion when Ispoke before the National Educational Association in that city.Booker T. Washington, the foremost educator among the colouredpeople of the world, was a very busy man from the time he arrivedin the city the other night from the West and registered at theIroquois. He had hardly removed the stains of travel when it wastime to partake of supper. Then he held a public levee in theparlours of the Iroquois until eight o'clock. During that time hewas greeted by over two hundred eminent teachers and educatorsfrom all parts of the United States. Shortly after eight o'clockhe was driven in a carriage to Music Hall, and in one hour and ahalf he made two ringing addresses, to as many as five thousandpeople, on Negro education. Then Mr. Washington was taken incharge by a delegation of coloured citizens, headed by the Rev.Mr. Watkins, and hustled off to a small informal reception,arranged in honour of the visitor by the people of his race.Nor can I, in addition to making these addresses, escape the dutyof calling the attention of the South and of the country ingeneral, through the medium of the press, to matters that pertainto the interests of both races. This, for example, I have done inregard to the evil habit of lynching. When the Louisiana StateConstitutional Convention was in session, I wrote an open letterto that body pleading for justice for the race. In all suchefforts I have received warm and hearty support from the Southernnewspapers, as well as from those in all other parts of thecountry.Despite superficial and temporary signs which might lead one toentertain a contrary opinion, there was never a time when I feltmore hopeful for the race than I do at the present. The greathuman law that in the end recognizes and rewards merit iseverlasting and universal. The outside world does not know,neither can it appreciate, the struggle that is constantly goingon in the hearts of both the Southern white people and theirformer slaves to free themselves from racial prejudice; and whileboth races are thus struggling they should have the sympathy, thesupport, and the forbearance of the rest of the world.As I write the closing words of this autobiography I findmyself--not by design--in the city of Richmond, Virginia: thecity which only a few decades ago was the capital of the SouthernConfederacy, and where, about twenty-five years ago, because ofmy poverty I slept night after night under a sidewalk.This time I am in Richmond as the guest of the coloured people ofthe city; and came at their request to deliver an address lastnight to both races in the Academy of Music, the largest andfinest audience room in the city. This was the first time thatthe coloured people had ever been permitted to use this hall. Theday before I came, the City Council passed a vote to attend themeeting in a body to hear me speak. The state Legislature,including the House of Delegates and the Senate, also passed aunaminous vote to attend in a body. In the presence of hundredsof coloured people, many distinguished white citizens, the CityCouncil, the state Legislature, and state officials, I deliveredmy message, which was one of hope and cheer; and from the bottomof my heart I thanked both races for this welcome back to thestate that gave me birth.