The only trouble is that I read too many of them.
Fiction I care little for. Frequently I have to almost force myself
to read a novel that is on every one's lips. The kind of reading that
I have the greatest fondness for is biography. I like to be sure that
I am reading about a real man or a real thing. I think I do not go
too far when I say that I have read nearly every book and magazine
article that has been written about Abraham Lincoln. In literature he
is my patron saint.
Out of the twelve months in a year I suppose that, on an average,
I spend six months away from Tuskegee. While my being absent from the
school so much unquestionably has its disadvantages, yet there are at
the same time some compensations. The change of work brings a certain
kind of rest. I enjoy a ride of a long distance on the cars, when I
am permitted to ride where I can be comfortable. I get rest on the
cars, except when the inevitable individual who seems to be on every
train approaches me with the now familiar phrase: "Isn't this Booker
Washington? I want to introduce myself to you." Absence from the
school enables me to lose sight of the unimportant details of the
work, and study it in a broader and more comprehensive manner than I
could do on the grounds. This absence also brings me into contact
with the best work being done in educational lines, and into contact
with the best educators in the land.
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