Several of the teachers, however, who had been trained in the
industries at Hampton, volunteered their services, and in some way we
succeeded in getting a third kiln ready for burning. The burning of a
kiln required about a week. Toward the latter part of the week, when
it seemed as if we were going to have a good many thousand bricks in a
few hours, in the middle of the night the kiln fell. For the third
time we had failed.
The failure of this last kiln left me without a single dollar with
which to make another experiment. Most of the teachers advised the
abandoning of the effort to make bricks. In the midst of my troubles
AI thought of a watch which had come into my possession years before.
I took the watch to the city of Montgomery, which was not far distant,
and placed it in a pawn-shop. I secured cash upon it to the amount of
fifteen dollars, with which to renew the brickmaking experiment. I
returned to Tuskegee, and, with the help of the fifteen dollars,
rallied our rather demoralized and discouraged forces and began a
fourth attempt to make bricks. This time, I am glad to say, we were
successful. Before I got hold of any money, the time-limit on my
watch had expired, and I have never seen it since; but I have never
regretted the loss of it.
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