. This boy, whose name was William, made
known to the plantation hands his wish to go to the Tuskegee school. By
each one "chipping in," and through the efforts of the boy himself, a
few decent pieces of clothing were secured, and a little money, but
not enough to pay his railroad fare, so the boy resolved to walk to
Tuskegee, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles. Strange to
say, he made the long distance with an expenditure of only twenty cents
in cash. He frankly told every one with whom he came in contact where he
was going and what he was seeking. Both white and colored people along
the route gave him food and a place to sleep free of cost, and even
the usually exacting ferrymen were so impressed with the young negro's
desire for an education that, except in one case, he was given free
ferriage across the creeks and rivers.

One can easily imagine his appearance when he first arrived at Tuskegee,
with his blistered feet and small white bundle, which contained all the
clothing he possessed.

On being shown into my office his first words were: "I's come. S'pose
you been lookin' for me, but I didn't come on de railroad." Looking up
the records, it was found that this young man had been given permission
to come several months ago, but the correspondence had long since been
forgotten.

After being sent to the bath-room and provided with a tooth-brush,--for
the tooth-brush at Tuskegee is the emblem of civilization,--William was
assigned to a room, and was given work on the school farm of fourteen
hundred acres, seven hundred of which are cultivated by student labor.
During his first year at Tuskegee William worked on the farm during
the day, where he soon learned to take a deep interest in all that
the school was doing to teach the students the best and most improved
methods of farming, and studied for two hours at night in the class-room
after his hard day's work was over. At first he seemed drowsy and dull
in the night-school, and would now and then fall asleep while trying to
study; but he did not grow discouraged. The new machinery that he was
compelled to use on the farm interested him because it taught him that
the farm work could be stripped of much of the old-time drudgery and
toil, and seemed to awaken his sleeping intellect. Soon he began asking
the farm-instructors such questions as where the Jersey and Holstein
cattle came from, and why they produced more milk and butter than the
common long-tail