sort of
assembly-room. Both the church and the shanty were in about as bad
condition as was possible. I recall that during the first months of
school that I taught in this building it was in such poor repair that,
whenever it rained, one of the older students would very kindly leave
his lessons and hold an umbrella over me while I heard the recitations
of the others. I remember, also, that on more than one occasion my
landlady held an umbrella over me while I ate breakfast.

At the time I went to Alabama the coloured people were taking
considerable interest in politics, and they were very anxious that I
should become one of them politically, in every respect. They seemed to
have a little distrust of strangers in this regard. I recall that one
man, who seemed to have been designated by the others to look after my
political destiny, came to me on several occasions and said, with a
good deal of earnestness: "We wants you to be sure to vote jes' like we
votes. We can't read de newspapers very much, but we knows how to vote,
an' we wants you to vote jes' like we votes." He added: "We watches de
white man, and we keeps watching de white man till we finds out which
way de white man's gwine to vote; an' when we finds out which way de
white man's gwine to vote, den we votes 'xactly de other way. Den we
knows we's right."

I am glad to add, however, that at the present time the disposition
to vote against the white man merely because he is white is largely
disappearing, and the race is learning to vote from principle, for what
the voter considers to be for the best interests of both races.

I reached Tuskegee, as I have said, early in June, 1881. The first month
I spent in finding accommodations for the school, and in travelling
through Alabama, examining into the actual life of the people,
especially in the court districts, and in getting the school advertised
among the class of people that I wanted to have attend it. The most of
my travelling was done over the country roads, with a mule and a cart
or a mule and a buggy wagon for conveyance. I ate and slept with the
people, in their little cabins. I saw their farms, their schools, their
churches. Since, in the case of the most of these visits, there had
been no notice given in advance that a stranger was expected, I had the
advantage of seeing the real, everyday life of the people.

In the plantation districts I found that, as a rule, the whole family
slept in one room, and