We wanted
to teach the students how to bathe; how to care for their teeth and
clothing. We wanted to teach them what to eat, and how to eat it
properly, and how to care for their rooms. Aside from this, we wanted
to give them such a practical knowledge of some one industry, together
with the spirit of industry, thrift, and economy, that they would be
sure of knowing how to make a living after they had left us. We wanted
to teach them to study actual things instead of mere books alone. . . .
We wanted to give them such an education as would fit a large
proportion of them to be teachers, and at the same time cause them to
return to the plantation districts and show the people there how to put
new energy and new ideas into farming, as well as into the intellectual
and moral and religious life of the people.
All these ideals and needs crowded themselves upon us with a
seriousness that seemed well-nigh overwhelming. What were we to do?
We had only the little old shanty and the abandoned church which the
good coloured people of the town of Tuskegee had kindly loaned us for
the accommodation of the classes. The number of students was
increasing daily.
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