The most of this money
was obtained by holding festivals and concerts, and from small
individual donations.
Our next effort was in the direction of increasing the cultivation
of the land, so as to secure some return from it, and at the same time
give the students training in agriculture. All the industries at
Tuskegee have been started in natural and logical order, growing out
of the needs of a community settlement. We began with farming,
because we wanted something to eat.
Many of the students, also, were able to remain in school but a
few weeks at a time, because they had so little money with which to
pay their board. Thus another object which made it desirable to get
an industrial system started was in order to make in available as a
means of helping the students to earn money enough so that they might
be able to remain in school during the nine months' session of the
school year.
The first animal that the school came into possession of was an
old blind horse given us by one of the white citizens of Tuskegee.
Perhaps I may add here that at the present time the school owns over
two hundred horses, colts, mules, cows, calves, and oxen, and about
seven hundred hogs and pigs, as well as a large number of sheep and
goats.
The school was constantly growing in numbers, so much so that,
after we had got the farm paid for, the cultivation of the land begun,
and the old cabins which we had found on the place somewhat repaired,
we turned our attention toward providing a large, substantial
building.
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