these people into the county districts and plant them
upon the soil, upon the solid and never deceptive foundation of Mother
Nature, where all nations and races that have ever succeeded have gotten
their start,--a start that at first may be slow and toilsome, but one
that nevertheless is real.

In Washington I saw girls whose mothers were earning their living by
laundrying. These girls were taught by their mothers, in rather a crude
way it is true, the industry of laundrying. Later, these girls entered
the public schools and remained there perhaps six or eight years. When
the public school course was finally finished, they wanted more costly
dresses, more costly hats and shoes. In a word, while their wants
have been increased, their ability to supply their wants had not been
increased in the same degree. On the other hand, their six or eight
years of book education had weaned them away from the occupation of
their mothers. The result of this was in too many cases that the girls
went to the bad. I often thought how much wiser it would have been to
give these girls the same amount of maternal training--and I favour any
kind of training, whether in the languages or mathematics, that gives
strength and culture to the mind--but at the same time to give them the
most thorough training in the latest and best methods of laundrying and
other kindred occupations.

Chapter VI. Black Race And Red Race

During the year that I spent in Washington, and for some little time
before this, there had been considerable agitation in the state of
West Virginia over the question of moving the capital of the state
from Wheeling to some other central point. As a result of this, the
Legislature designated three cities to be voted upon by the citizens of
the state as the permanent seat of government. Among these cities was
Charleston, only five miles from Malden, my home. At the close of my
school year in Washington I was very pleasantly surprised to receive,
from a committee of three white people in Charleston, an invitation
to canvass the state in the interests of that city. This invitation I
accepted, and spent nearly three months in speaking in various parts of
the state. Charleston was successful in winning the prize, and is now
the permanent seat of government.

The reputation that I made as a speaker during this campaign induced a
number of persons to make an earnest effort to get me to enter political
life, but I refused, still be