"
As I returned to Hampton for the purpose of delivering this
address, I went over much of the same ground -- now, however, covered
entirely by railroad -- that I had traversed nearly six years before,
when I first sought entrance into Hampton Institute as a student. Now
I was able to ride the whole distance in the train. I was constantly
contrasting this with my first journey to Hampton. I think I may say,
without seeming egotism, that it is seldom that five years have
wrought such a change in the life and aspirations of an individual.
At Hampton I received a warm welcome from teachers and students.
I found that during my absence from Hampton the institute each year
had been getting closer to the real needs and conditions of our
people; that the industrial reaching, as well as that of the academic
department, had greatly improved. The plan of the school was not
modelled after that of any other institution then in existence, but
every improvement was made under the magnificent leadership of General
Armstrong solely with the view of meeting and helping the needs of our
people as they presented themselves at the time. Too often, it seems
to me, in missionary and educational work among underdeveloped races,
people yield to the temptation of doing that which was done a hundred
years before, or is being done in other communities a thousand miles
away.
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