Several of these festivals were held, and quite a little sum of
money was raised. A canvass was also made among the people of both
races for direct gifts of money, and most of those applied to gave
small sums. It was often pathetic to note the gifts of the older
coloured people, most of whom had spent their best days in slavery.
Sometimes they would give five cents, sometimes twenty-five cents.
Sometimes the contribution was a quilt, or a quantity of sugarcane. I
recall one old coloured women who was about seventy years of age, who
came to see me when we were raising money to pay for the farm. She
hobbled into the room where I was, leaning on a cane. She was clad in
rags; but they were clean. She said: "Mr. Washin'ton, God knows I
spent de bes' days of my life in slavery. God knows I's ignorant an'
poor; but," she added, "I knows what you an' Miss Davidson is tryin'
to do. I knows you is tryin' to make better men an' better women for
de coloured race. I ain't got no money, but I wants you to take dese
six eggs, what I's been savin' up, an' I wants you to put dese six
eggs into the eddication of dese boys an' gals."
Since the work at Tuskegee started, it has been my privilege to
receive many gifts for the benefit of the institution, but never any,
I think, that touched me so deeply as this one.
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