I am glad that we endured all those discomforts
and inconveniences. I am glad that our students had to dig out the
place for their kitchen and dining room. I am glad that our first
boarding-place was in the dismal, ill-lighted, and damp basement. Had
we started in a fine, attractive, convenient room, I fear we would
have "lost our heads" and become "stuck up." It means a great deal, I
think, to start off on a foundation which one has made for one's self.
When our old students return to Tuskegee now, as they often do,
and go into our large, beautiful, well-ventilated, and well-lighted
dining room, and see tempting, well-cooked food -- largely grown by
the students themselves -- and see tables, neat tablecloths and
napkins, and vases of flowers upon the tables, and hear singing birds,
and note that each meal is served exactly upon the minute, with no
disorder, and with almost no complaint coming from the hundreds that
now fill our dining room, they, too, often say to me that they are
glad that we started as we did, and built ourselves up year by year,
by a slow and natural process of growth.
CHAPTER XI
MAKING THEIR BEDS BEFORE THEY COULD LIE ON THEM
A LITTLE later in the history of the school we had a visit from
General J.
Pages:
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164