ten thousand dollars. We had no money
whatever with which to begin; still we decided to give the needed
building a name. We knew we could name it, even though we were in doubt
about our ability to secure the means for its construction. We decided
to call the proposed building Alabama Hall, in honour of the state in
which we were labouring. Again Miss Davidson began making efforts to
enlist the interest and help of the coloured and white people in and
near Tuskegee. They responded willingly, in proportion to their means.
The students, as in the case of our first building, Porter Hall, began
digging out the dirt in order to allow the laying of the foundations.

When we seemed at the end of our resources, so far as securing money
was concerned, something occurred which showed the greatness of General
Armstrong--something which proved how far he was above the ordinary
individual. When we were in the midst of great anxiety as to where and
how we were to get funds for the new building, I received a telegram
from General Armstrong asking me if I could spend a month travelling
with him through the North, and asking me, if I could do so, to come to
Hampton at once. Of course I accepted General Armstrong's invitation,
and went to Hampton immediately. On arriving there I found that the
General had decided to take a quartette of singers through the North,
and hold meetings for a month in important cities, at which meetings
he and I were to speak. Imagine my surprise when the General told me,
further, that these meetings were to be held, not in the interests
of Hampton, but in the interests of Tuskegee, and that the Hampton
Institute was to be responsible for all the expenses.

Although he never told me so in so many words, I found that General
Armstrong took this method of introducing me to the people of the North,
as well as for the sake of securing some immediate funds to be used in
the erection of Alabama Hall. A weak and narrow man would have reasoned
that all the money which came to Tuskegee in this way would be just
so much taken from the Hampton Institute; but none of these selfish or
short-sighted feelings ever entered the breast of General Armstrong. He
was too big to be little, too good to be mean. He knew that the people
in the North who gave money gave it for the purpose of helping the whole
cause of Negro civilization, and not merely for the advancement of any
one school. The General knew, too, that the way to strengt