It was a constant delight to me to note
the interest which the coloured students took in trying to help the
Indians in every way possible. There were a few of the coloured
students who felt that the Indians ought not to be admitted to
Hampton, but these were in the minority. Whenever they were asked to
do so, the Negro students gladly took the Indians as room-mates, in
order that they might teach them to speak English and to acquire
civilized habits.
I have often wondered if there was a white institution in this
country whose students would have welcomed the incoming of more than a
hundred companions of another race in the cordial way that these black
students at Hampton welcomed the red ones. How often I have wanted to
say to white students that they lift themselves up in proportion as
they help to lift others, and the more unfortunate the race, and the
lower in the scale of civilization, the more does one raise one's self
by giving the assistance.
This reminds me of a conversation which I once had with the Hon.
Frederick Douglass. At one time Mr. Douglass was travelling in the
state of Pennsylvania, and was forced, on account of his colour, to
ride in the baggage-car, in spite of the fact that he had paid the
same price for his passage that the other passengers had paid.
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