ling to
serve. Not only have the officers been willing to serve, but the rank
and file of our teachers have shown the same spirit of willingness from
year to year. Sometimes they would get their pay promptly and at other
times they would have to wait for months, but always they have been
willing to do what they could to cheer and help me in the darkest hour
of the struggle. I believe that the spirit of the officers and teachers
of Snow Hill Institute is: "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister."

Aside from Trustees, officers and teachers, there is that great cloud of
witnesses which no man can number, who have helped by their aid, their
words of cheer and their presence from time to time. These are in all
parts of the country, but principally in the North and East. How shall
we thank them for what they have been to us? We cannot do it by words,
because there are no words that could adequately express our deep sense
of gratitude to this host of friends. We must, therefore, be contented
to show them by our acts and deeds that we are ever mindful of their
help and that each day we are striving more and more to make ourselves
and our work worthy of their aid and encouragement. Among this cloud of
witnesses are some of the best people that God has ever made. They deem
it a privilege to give and to help the lowly.

[Illustration: TYPICAL LOG CABIN IN THE BLACK BELT]

[Illustration: HOME OF A SNOW HILL GRADUATE]

In speaking of our debt of gratitude to the forces that have helped in
building up our work here, we must not overlook the press. There are
certain great papers in this country that have been fearless in their
advocacy of right and justice to the Negro, and have always opened their
columns to any cause that has for its end the uplift of the lowly. Among
these may be mentioned especially _The New York Evening Post_, _The
Boston Transcript_, _The Springfield Republican_, _The Hartford
Courant_, and in the South _The Montgomery Advertiser_.

One also receives much aid and encouragement from those who are in
similar work. It has been my good fortune to meet in the North from time
to time with those who have similar work as mine. In this way I have met
most of the Principals of Southern Schools. Perhaps Mr. W. H. Holtzclaw
of Utica, Mississippi, comes first in this class. This is true, because
I have known him the longest. I first met him in Tuskegee in the early
nineties, when we both were in school there. Hi