f no other
consideration had convinced me of the value of the Christian life, the
Christlike work which the Church of all denominations in America has
done during the last thirty-five years for the elevation of the black
man would have made me a Christian. In a large degree it has been
the pennies, the nickels, and the dimes which have come from the
Sunday-schools, the Christian Endeavour societies, and the missionary
societies, as well as from the church proper, that have helped to
elevate the Negro at so rapid a rate.

This speaking of small gifts reminds me to say that very few Tuskegee
graduates fail to send us an annual contribution. These contributions
range from twenty-five cents up to ten dollars.

Soon after beginning our third year's work we were surprised to receive
money from three special sources, and up to the present time we have
continued to receive help from them. First, the State Legislature of
Alabama increased its annual appropriation from two thousand dollars to
three thousand dollars; I might add that still later it increased this
sum to four thousand five hundred dollars a year. The effort to secure
this increase was led by the Hon. M.F. Foster, the member of the
Legislature from Tuskegee. Second, we received one thousand dollars from
the John F. Slater Fund. Our work seemed to please the trustees of this
fund, as they soon began increasing their annual grant. This has been
added to from time to time until at present we receive eleven thousand
dollars annually from the Fund. The other help to which I have referred
came in the shape of an allowance from the Peabody Fund. This was at
first five hundred dollars, but it has since been increased to fifteen
hundred dollars.

The effort to secure help from the Slater and Peabody Funds brought me
into contact with two rare men--men who have had much to do in shaping
the policy for the education of the Negro. I refer to the Hon. J.L.M.
Curry, of Washington, who is the general agent for these two funds, and
Mr. Morris K. Jessup, of New York. Dr. Curry is a native of the South,
an ex-Confederate soldier, yet I do not believe there is any man in
the country who is more deeply interested in the highest welfare of the
Negro than Dr. Curry, or one who is more free from race prejudice.
He enjoys the unique distinction of possessing to an equal degree of
confidence of the black man and the Southern white man. I shall never
forget the first time I met him. It wa