W.E.B. Du Bois read an original
sketch.
Some of those who attended this meeting noticed that I seemed
unusually tired, and some little time after the close of the meeting,
one of the ladies who had been interested in it asked me in a casual
way if I had ever been to Europe. I replied that I never had. She
asked me if I had ever thought of going, and I told her no; that it
was something entirely beyond me. This conversation soon passed out
of my mind, but a few days afterward I was informed that some friends
in Boston, including Mr. Francis J. Garrison, had raised a sum of
money sufficient to pay all the expenses of Mrs. Washington and myself
during a three or four months' trip to Europe. It was added with
emphasis that we _must_ go. A year previous to this Mr. Garrison had
attempted to get me to promise to go to Europe for a summer's rest,
with the understanding that he would be responsible for raising the
money among his friends for the expenses of the trip. At that time
such a journey seemed so entirely foreign to anything that I should
ever be able to undertake that I did confess I did not give the matter
very serious attention; but later Mr. Garrison joined his efforts to
those of the ladies whom I have mentioned, and when their plans were
made known to me Mr.
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