[n.b. - page numbers refer to printed text. Available at https://archive.org/details/blackmansburden0000will ] CHAPTER XIX The founding and maintaining of an industrial and literary institution as a center of influence in a neglected section of the country has been my aim ever since I left school. It seems fitting, therefore, that some summary of the results of my efforts should be given here. In the New York Independent of February 22, 1912, Mr. William Pickens, Professor of Latin in Talladega College, has an article entitled “Utica,)’ which seems to me to serve so well as a summary that I feel justified in giving herewith liberal extracts from it. Mr. Pickens says: “A thing happened in Jackson in the latter part of April, 1911, which caused the people of that city and of many other parts of the State to run their fingers over the map in search of Utica. This incident leads back through a chain of recollections to the first causes which made it possible,—first the incident and then the ante- cedent history. “A Negro club in Jackson decided to promote an ora- torical contest among the various Negro institutions of the State. The contest was held in Jackson last April, and there were offered a first, a second, and a third prize. There were representatives from the various colleges,— Jackson College, Alcorn College, Tougaloo University, THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 213 Rust University, and others,—and among them was rep- resented only one ‘Normal and Industrial Institute,’ that of Utica. After the Utica orator had spoken, the insti- tute band struck up a lively air amid the wildest applause. But, band or no band, the audience was thundering its verdict in favor of the clear superiority of that Utica ora- tion. The judges agreed with the audience, and the rep- resentative of the Normal and Industrial Institute was awarded the first prize and a fitly inscribed gold medal. And what is more, this Utica orator is a little, ordinary- looking, country black girl. “On the following week I was on my way to deliver the commencement address at this Institute, and, hearing in Meridian of the contest, I made the very natural re- mark that it would be hard for a judge to vote against one girl if she did at all well. But doubt vanished from my mind when I heard the oration itself repeated at the Commencement exercises. It was clear, convincing, and in both rhetoric and matter it was of the superior sort, and was delivered with the naturalness, the enthusiasm, and the spontaneity which characterize the birth of thought and dispel all doubt as to its originality. “The faith, the enthusiasm, and the pluck which car- ried this little Black Belt heroine to success is character- istic of the work of which she is the immediate product. Eight years ago, William H. Holtzclaw, a graduate of Tuskegee, after three repeated failures to found a school, being aroused to a fourth effort by the words of some book as the Scotchman was encouraged by the persever- ance of a spider, finally succeeded in starting a ‘normal and industrial’ school with one teacher and twenty pupils, one mile from Utica,—just thirty miles from Major Vardaman and scarcely a longer distance from Congress- 214 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN man Williams. He has now more teachers than he had pupils at first, and the number of pupils has more than squared itself. The Negro population of this section greatly preponderates. “At the original site of the school only one hundred acres of land could be purchased, which soon proved to be very inadequate for the school’s development. With characteristic pluck the principal decided to move the school to a site where land could be bought. This was six miles from the original site, five miles beyond the town in another direction. In the summer of Igr1o the frame buildings were torn down, moved, and put together again on the new site, and students and teachers have put so much work into laying off and beautifying the new location that the stranger would not take it for less than one year old. In recognition of such pluck, friends in the North furnished $25,000 to purchase 1,600 acres of land. It was a great task to accomplish so large a moving in one summer, and the difficulty was increased by having the largest dormitory blown to the ground when it was about two-thirds reconstructed on the new site. “T wish to call attention to the fact that this is the work of young Negroes. These twenty-five teachers, in charge of nearly 500 students, are practically boys and girls themselves, recent graduates of Tuskegee, of Amer- ican Missionary Association schools, and of various smaller schools. The young Negroes are ordinarily re- garded as an appalling problem for the South, but when they are seen in a magnificently useful work such as this at Utica one gets the idea that if the problem is given opportunity and time it will solve itself. The new life brought by the invasion of these young educated Negroes has so vitalized the community that the Negro farmers THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 215 have acquired thousands of acres of land in the last half dozen years. “Another usual representation is that between the young Negro and the white South there is an especially bitter antagonism. I doubt the truth of that as a general statement, but, if it be the rule anywhere else, it is cer- tainly contradicted at Utica, Miss. I have seen many Negro schools of this class and similarly situated in the South, but I have never seen one in the success of which the white people of the community were more interested. Many white citizens in the town of Utica are contributors to this Negro school, some of them offering annual prizes to stimulate industry, scholarship, and manhood among the students. One business man gives annually a gold watch and chain worth $65 as a prize, with no other con- dition than that the faculty shall vote it to ‘the most manly young man of the school.’ That is a thing to con- template: a white man in the state of Mississippi,—where the idea of the Negro’s being a man has for a decade been most vigorously and most eloquently attacked,—that a white man in such a community is offering a valuable prize to call young black men to manhood. And this man’s name is not printed by the newspapers nor his deed advertised; unless we go all the way to Mississippi and talk to black folk there, we should not learn that such a man exists in that state. On April 26 two young white men, scarcely out of their twenties, as members of the trustee board of this independent Negro school, were seated with the Negro trustees and farmers, giving and taking counsel as to the best means of advancing the in- terests of the institution—and somewhere else in Missis- sippi the newspapers were advertising a white man be- cause he had said that Negro education is a mistake. 216 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN Why does the newspaper do this? The probable explana- tion reminds me of a bit of history I have learned about the famous Senator of a Southern State who has made much money and acquired much notoriety by his attacks upon the Negro, especially in the North. He was once asked by a Negro friend of his, who was raised with him from childhood and whom the white man evidently loved: ‘Senator, how is it that you are so affectionate and so kind to me personally and yet say such awful things about my people?’ The chuckling big Senator, in true antebellum fashion, slapped his Negro friend on the back and said: ‘Boy, there’s money in it; the Yankees like to hear it, boy. There’s money in it.’ And then he related how hard he had to work in his senatorial capacity to earn $8,000 a year, but how one spectacular anti-Negro speech, delivered for a few weeks through the North, would bring him $25,000 and no end of publicity. “Tt encourages the heart of a man to see the strong and ambitious Black Belt children that attend this school. Their commencement program was odd, but interesting. They delivered orations and exhibited various manual arts from the same platform, many of the latter taking place simultaneously, to the great entertainment of the audience. Two girls made a hat from start to finish; another cut out from the bolt of calico, sewed, and fin- ished a girl’s waist, while the audience looked on; iron was forged and welded, a horse was brought onto the platform and neatly and quickly shod by two boys, clothes were washed and a ‘farmer’s dinner’ was cooked ; a chicken was killed and cooked ‘scientifically,’ as the young woman explained who performed that part, and then four big farmers and their wives were called to take seats at a table on the platform, to show how to serve a THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 217 dinner, and that chicken and the rest of the food was just as scientifically eaten. One little black girl, who was helping to cook this dinner, like a true farmer's wife, led the whole vast congregation in plantation songs while she worked. She led in the solo parts, and while the audi- ence repeated the chorus she deftly kneaded dough or cut the biscuits or opened the steaming oven. A race that can smile at adversities and season its simple dinners with a song will be ‘mighty hard’ to kill. Their literary per- formances were encouraging to see; often crude, but al- ways prophetic. “These Black Belt children are of strong bodies gnd quick intellects. They are ambitious of attainment, proud of their opportunities, and exceedingly proud of their Negro teachers. I learned from one young man how narrowly he escaped receiving this year’s prize for ‘the most manly young man’ and what a confident determina- tion he has to merit it next year. ‘A conviction has taken me, after much observation of the kind, that Negro students under Negro teachers, espe- cially teachers of the younger generation, seem in all their performances, both physical and intellectual, to display an exhilarating freedom of body and soul. There was a naturalness and spontaneity in all that these boys and girls did. “With what enthusiasm the impartial historian of the future will scan the records of these pioneer efforts of young black men! When he comes across an example like this one at Utica he will fairly gloat over the ma- terial. The personal sacrifice which many of these young builders have suffered simply cannot be told. The ma- terial rewards for Negro educational work in the South are exceedingly poor. But this poverty serves one good 218 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN purpose ; it weeds out all save those who do the work for love and who find life in the work itself.” In the foregoing article Mr. Pickens has shown how Utica Institute,—which has been struggling along quietly, though earnestly, for a dozen years,—is constantly being brought to the attention of the people of Mississippi by the ability of some of its students in some sort of contest. Very recently another incident occurred which brought the school to the attention of the people of Mississippi, both white and black, in a way that it had never been before. It was the occasion of the State Fair in No- vember, 1913. For the first time the Fair management, all white business men, decided that they would set aside two of the ten days of the Fair to be known as Negro days, and that Negroes should be given an opportunity to show the public what they were doing in Mississippi along agricultural and mechanical lines, as well as educational. They especially appealed to the Negro schools of the state to demonstrate their worth. All the leading schools of the state took part and put on excellent exhibits. Utica again was brought to the front by the character of its exhibit and by the work of its students in connec- tion with the Fair. It had on the fair grounds the largest and most comprehensive exhibit of any colored school, and it won all the first prizes offered to schools,—money, medals, badges,—and all the second prizes except one, which went to the State-Agricultural arid Mechanical Col- lege. A dramatic contest between pupils of the variou schools was also a feature of the week. This was won by THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 219 the Utica Institute. And in the oratorical contest, which was held at the same time, Utica won the second prize. The stock raisers of the state were very much sur- prised to find that the pigs exhibited by the Utica Insti- tute were superior to all the others,—the largest one on exhibition, weighing 840 pounds, took first prize and championship. The chickens, ducks, geese, and other live stock from the Institute all took first prizes. The following extract from the Jackson Daily News, written by one of its reporters, will give a clear idea of the exhibit with which this Institution made such an im- pression on the minds of the people: “The exhibits of chief interest (in the Negro division) of course are those of their schools; that from the Utica Normal school with its 560 students, almost all of whom are largely self-supporting, is a revelation. This school was established ten years ago by President Holtzclaw, and has been maintained wholly by his efforts and by the gifts of the people. It is run at an annual cost of about $30,000 and each year is better training the young men and women for their place in life. “ “Book learning’ of course counts there for its full value, but it is in the practical work of the farm and home that they excel. “Educated in the Tuskegee school of Booker Washing- ton, President Holtzclaw is certainly a worthy disciple of his teacher, and is striving to do here what he can toward building up another Tuskegee Institute; and he is suc- ceeding marvelously well. The products shown here were all grown on the school farm, and this year they put up 2,100 gallons of fruits and vegetables, 500 of which were 220 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN in this exhibit. Six thousand pounds of corn and 4,000 pounds of sweet potatoes were used in building these front walls and in making the display, and miles and pe of pea-vine hay was brought up to add to the ex- ibit. “Vegetables, fruits, and so on, are raised here of the best quality, and among other products of the place is the excellent broom corn. On the place they have a broom factory, making their handles and likewise the brooms there, which are of excellent quality. “Well-made shoes, excellent garments of every style, beautifully designed fancy work, and all the dainties known to the most exacting palate are displayed here, with furniture of the best grade, all made by the students of our native woods. “There is shown a bed, which the boys made; a mat- tress, which the girls made; and they had raised the cot- ton with which it was stuffed and the geese from which they had picked the feathers that filled the pillows; and the sheets, comforts, and quilts all were made right there by the girls; thus demonstrating to the students that they can make their things at home, if they desire.” My present life is that of a teacher who finds very little time to teach, as it takes nearly all my time and thought to raise the forty thousand dollars annually that is required to carry on the work of the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute. I have to be away from the school in search of funds a little more than a third of each year. When I am at the school I rise in the morning at 6 o'clock (or seven, according to the time I retire), and, unless there is urgent work to be done at the office, I go THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 221 on horseback to all the different departments; then I go for a long ride over the plantation, to see the boys at their work. I return to breakfast at 8 o’clock, and at 8:40 I am in my office, where I remain until noon. After one hour for luncheon I return to the office, where I wrestle with various problems until 4. Then I have din- ner and recreation, and play with Mary and the children. At 7 p. M. I again return to the office for work and study until 8:40, when I go to the chapel and lead the prayer service, which closes the day’s work for all the school. It is then my habit to read until ten or eleven o’clock. In connection with this schedule, I teach two classes during each day, and teach a general lesson by means of an address to the whole student body every Sunday evening. My favorite recreation is horseback riding. I have never learned to play any games. Poverty made it im- possible for me to do so while I was at school, and I have never had time since. There is just one exception, —croquet,—which I learned to play when I was a boy. And I am proud of knowing how to play that game; I shall never forget C. N. Findlay, my good old Alabama teacher, who had the good judgment to teach his pupils to play as well as to teach them their ‘‘a-b-c’s.” We have a habit-forming routine at the school, which resolves itself into the following schedule: The rising bell rings 5:10 A. M.; 5:50, the first break- fast bell; 6, the breakfast bell; twenty-five minutes for breakfast ; 6:25 to 6:45, preparation for daily inspection of rooms; 6:50, work bell rings; 7:25, morning study hour ; 8:20, school bell rings; 8:25, young men inspected 222 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN on battalion grounds as to their toilet; 8:40, morning de- votion; 8:55, current news period; 9:20, classroom work begins; 12, all work closes; 12:10, dinner; 1:00 P. M., work bell rings; 1:30, class work begins; 3:30, class work ends; 5 :30, bell rings to stop work; 6, supper ; 6:30, study hour; 7, night school begins (for those who work in the day and go to school at night) ; 8:40, evening de- votion ; 9:20, first retiring bell; 9:30, retiring bell. This schedule is varied on Sundays, so as to have both Sunday school and preaching services in the morning, leaving the afternoon open for those who wish to go into the country to do missionary work. _ Of my school life at Tuskegee I have said little for want of space. It would be easy to write a whole book on Tuskegee, covering the eight years that I passed there. And the data that I have given regarding the founding of the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute will serve as a sort of history of the Institute, inadequate though it is. Many changes have taken place since the Institute was started in Mississippi. About six hundred young men and young women have been educated and sent into vari- ous parts of the state, and a large number of them are engaged in teaching in the rural schools, where I think they can do the most good at this time. A very small per cent. of them are engaged in various kinds of domestic service, both in the North and South. Progress has been made, also, in every part of Missis- sippi and the South. Negroes have advanced steadily in various industrial organizations, building schools and churches, improving their home life, buying property, and in many other ways making themselves substantial THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 223 citizens of the state. The whole state, white as well as black, has made tremendous progress during the past twelve years. Let me relate this little incident to show something of the progress that has been made in one par- ticular instance. Some years ago, on a frosty morning, I was standing at the depot of Jackson, the capital of the state, and I saw an emaciated horse trying to draw a cart through Capitol Street, the main street of the city. The mud was so deep and slushy in the middle of the street that the horse went down until only the top of his back and the end of his nose could be seen. A number of Negro men got around him to pull him out; but before they suc- ceeded he was dead. That was on the main street; the same street to-day is one of the most beautiful streets [ have ever seen in any town, substantially paved, as are ~ all the other principal streets in the city. This will give some slight idea of the progress that has been made there. At that time Jackson had a population of seven thou- sand people. Now it has a population of approximately thirty thousand, and the Negroes of that town paid taxes last year on nearly a million dollars’ worth of property. I have mentioned these facts because without them there is danger that my readers would think that I have exaggerated the facts in regard to the progress that has been made by the colored people in the vicinity of Utica, and especially the progress that has been made in estab- lishing an Institution which started in the open air, with no means or influence, and has reached a commanding place in the educational world in a few years, with twenty-five teachers, five hundred students, seventeen 224 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN hundred acres of land, and buildings, apparatus, and property valued at more than a hundred and sixty thou- sand dollars. In what I have said about my work I trust I have not taken too much credit to myself, for I attribute all that I have been able to accomplish to the good fortune that has attended me from the day of my birth. In the first place, in the choice of my mother, I consider that I was one of the most sensible babies ever born; and in the choice of my father, there was surely no mistake. Then, as I have said before, I was early under the influence of some of the best white people I ever knew,—white people who took an interest in me and helped me in many ways. I can never forget “Miss Roberson” (Mrs. Andy Robin- son), the white lady who in my youth gave me such en- couragement and direction as even my mother, because of lack of education, was unable to give. Later, when I was nearly a young man, I came under the influence of that matchless teacher, Booker T. Washington, and also of Warren Logan, “the gentleman of Tuskegee,’ whose character cannot be surpassed ; and when I began my first work as a teacher at Snow Hill, Alabama, after I had finished my course at Tuskegee, I was again blessed by coming in direct personal contact with one of Alabama’s greatest white men, Mr. Ransom O. Simpson, of Fur- man, Alabama,—a man who is devoting his declining years to the development of The Snow Hill Institute for the colored race, to bettering the condition of the Ne- groes on his extensive lands, many of whom were his former slaves; and then my real fortune came when I married the greatest and most lovable woman I ever saw. THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 225 When I came to Mississippi I fell directly in with such great white men as the Hon. A. H. Longino, who was then Governor of the State, and the late Bishop Charles B. Galloway, who, taken at his full value, was perhaps the greatest man Mississippi has produced. Then there were such good men and sympathetic fellow-citizens as Major R. W. Millsaps and Bishop Theodore Dubois Bratton,—men who enjoy the reputation of living many years ahead of their time when it comes to questions af- fecting the South. I have already spoken of Mr. Fergu- son, Mr. Yates, and others (like the Simmons brothers), my fellow-citizens here at home without whose assistance I could hardly have accomplished what I have. I should also mention such consecrated men as Prof. J. B. Leh- man, who, although a Northern man, is in close sympathy with all that is Southern, and who has done and is still doing, as President of the Southern Christian Institute at Edwards, Miss., a telling work for Negro boys and girls of the South. And there are hundreds of other noble white men,—like Doctors Hamlin and Holmes, Dean and President, respectively, of Tougaloo Univer- sity, and still others, in and out of Mississippiimwho have stood by me in all my efforts. I ought to mention the Christian white women of Utica and the surrounding country, some of whom, even though not wealthy, contributed as much as one hundred dollars at a time. When in the early years we were trying to establish a boarding department, these Christian women contributed wash pans, dippers, water buckets, brooms, quilts, and many other useful things to help us forward. 226 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN I have never felt that I have been able to give them any just and adequate returns for their generosity. I have already mentioned my great friend, Mr. Bed- ford, than whom I have never met a greater man nor one more consecrated to the cause of a race other than his own. Among the many colored men who have helped me is the little band of Negro farmers who gathered with me for the first time, ten years ago, and who have met my every call since that time. Then there is Mr. Emmett J. Scott, Private Secretary. to Dr. Washington, of whom some one wrote, “The man who made Booker Washing- ton.” That happy phrase is none too strong to indicate the character of Mr. Scott. There is no doubt that he stands high up in the list of the South’s leading charac- ters. He has watched my every move and helped me when he found an opportunity; and Mr. Charles Banks, capitalist and leader of the Negro colony of Mound Bayou, is ever ready to do something for Utica, as he is for every other good cause. Then there are Elder Charles P. Jones, of Jackson, better known by his followers as “the man of God,” who has helped as a sort of spiritual adviser, his lieutenant Elder W. S. Pleasant, L. K. Atwood, and many others too numerous to mention. All these, to say nothing of the noble and self-sacrificing young teachers who have been connected with the work from time to time, have helped me and made it possible for me to build this In- stitution. Now when we add to this my opportunity to come into contact with some of the best people of the THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 229 Northern states I think it will be agreed that, in many respects, I have been very fortunate. But this is not all. I have a family that is a perpetual source of enjoyment when I can be at home with them. My eldest son, Robert Fulton, now eleven years old, rises in the morning when I rise, at six o’clock, and follows me to the office, where he takes charge of the telephone ex- change until breakfast, at eight, unless he is sooner re- lieved by the regular “hello girl”; then he pounds off letters on the typewriter with more intelligence than one would expect of a boy of his years, or climbs upon the third story of the new building, where he pursues his trade of carpentry. Jerry Herbert, nine years old, gives me pleasure by his antics with the horses and pigs, for which he has a special liking. Then there is Alice Marie, seven, as sedate as you please, quiet and studious, with a love for music and cooking. I must not leave out Ella Adeline, five, who always manages to get into my arms first. And last, and also least, and youngest, is “Bill,”— William Henry, Jr..—three years old. All these add to the sum total of my happiness, and make life worth much more than the living. If anything else were needed to make the life of a Black Belt school-teacher one of pleasure, it would be found in his interest in the student body. I like to watch a girl, who enters school so crude as to seem almost de- formed, pass from one stage to another from year to year, until after a while she stands forth on Commence- ment Day literally transformed in soul and body,—a new creature, because of the new atmosphere in which she has been permitted to live. Or I like to watch the boy who 228 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN comes to school with all his possessions tied up in a ban- danna handkerchief, and many of the petty sins of his lo- cality still tied up in his head. One of these I now have inmind. He had a decided disposition to take unto him- self the things that belongeth to other men. One night he broke into the Commissary and took two dozen boxes of salmon. Being overtaken by the fleet-footed night guard, he was hauled into my office the next day, and when I asked him what county he was from he could not tell me; nor could he tell the name of any officer except the sheriff. Despite the vigorous criticism of the Faculty, the Ex- ecutive Council refused to expel this young man. Plainly, neither he nor the world could be made better by his expulsion. Imagine the joy of one’s heart when several years later such a young man stands before an immense audience, erect as a Sioux chief, and proclaims himself redeemed. All these things have added greatly to my happiness; so much so that I feel like saying to all these young Negro men and women seeking happiness and use- fulness at the same time: ‘Go into the Black Belt of the South, out into the rural districts, and wrestle with her problems. It will prove gymnastics for your body, exercise for your mind, and balm for your spirit.” However, I do not wish to leave the impression that my life has been one round of pleasure. It has not—far from it. I have certainly had my troubles. But always the object before me has loomed so large as to eclipse all minor difficulties. When in traveling in strange and dis- tant cities I have found the hotels “crowded,” I have slept in parks and railway stations, and if my body suf- THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 229 fered, my soul was so aflame with the fire of enthusiasm that it never flagged nor held aught against my fellow- men. When I have had to ride on the open cars for three consecutive days and nights, with no rest and with only such food as might be sold by the sandwich man through the window at way stations, I have suffered little because I have had no time to think of personal ills. My mind was fixed on the cause for which I live and work. I have no time to sing minor notes. I have determined that the tune of my life shall be played on major keys. When I was at school I had considerable reputation as a debater,—never having lost in a public debate during my career as a student. And when I won the Trinity Church Prize,—the most coveted prize awarded at Tuske- gee,—I chose for my subject, ““Education as Related to Prosperity.” Since that time I have retained such abilities as I had because I have had many occasions to exercise them. I have had to speak in public. I have been called upon to be the Commencement speaker at many of the leading schools in this and other states. At the moment I am writing these closing words I have before me nine such invitations, only two of which I can accept on account of conflicting dates. I never speak just to be speaking. I only speak when I see an opportunity to accomplish some good. Only a few weeks ago I delivered an address at Union, Mississippi, where a small race riot had just been “pulled off.” I was surprised, when I reached the little church where I spoke, to see so many white people present. When I rose to speak they came close to the speaker’s 230 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN stand, and there was on their faces anything but a pleas- ant look. I soon thawed them out, however, and when I had finished they came to me in large numbers and shook my hand. One of them said: ‘We came here to raise to-day, but your speech has taken it all out of us. We really feel ashamed of ourselves.” The colored brethren set a good table, and the whites had a good old- fashioned dinner, and all went off well. I am writing these last paragraphs in Natchez, where I have come to deliver the Commencement address at the city school, with its twelve hundred students, and am now in the beautiful home of Professor Brumfield, the principal. I have just finished my address, and Professor Brumfield tells me it was exceedingly good. I spoke be- fore a representative audience of white and colored citi- zens in the same hall where Booker T. Washington was entertained upon his last visit to the city, and at the con- clusion of my address one of the leading white lawyers of Natchez, together with other white citizens, came up, shook my hand cordially, and said: “I want to tell you how I value your address. It was one of the best ad- dresses I have ever heard. This doctrine you preach should be preached all over the South. Blacks and whites alike would be much benefited by it.” And now I must speedily bring this narrative to a close, for I have about overtaken myself. I should sum up, however, that my readers may have a comprehensive view of the whole story. ~ The Utica Normal and Industrial Institute, which I have by great struggle brought to its present standing, THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 231 annually enrolls about five hundred students and employs thirty teachers and officers; besides, through its many kinds of extension work, it reaches and influences an- nually about thirty thousand souls. It now owns seven- teen hundred acres of land, and operates twenty indus- tries, together with its literary work; and its buildings and property are valued at one hundred and sixty thou- sand dollars. It also has its own electric light plant and its water works. Our endowment at the present time is thirty-two thousand and five hundred dollars. We have never been able, for lack of room and current funds, to accommodate more than half of the students that annually clamor at our doors for admittance. As soon as we can secure an endowment fund of, say, five hundred thousand dollars, we shall be in a position to overcome some of the present handicaps and make the work far more useful. I see more clearly than ever before the great task that is before me, and I propose to continue the struggle. It is an appalling task: a state with more than a million Negroes to be educated, with half a million children of school age, thirty-five per cent. of whom at the present time attend no school at all (only thirty-six per cent. in average attendance), a state whose dual school system makes it impossible to furnish more than a mere pittance for the education of each individual child,—yet these children must be educated, must be unfettered, set free. That freedom for which Christian men and women, North and South, have worked and prayed so long must be realized in the lives of these young people. 232 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN This, then, is my task, the war that I must wage; and I propose to stay on the firing line and fight the good fight of faith. THE END.