or such
derelictions the guilty party was promptly located and admonition or
discharge followed speedily. Probably in nothing was his instinct for
putting first things first better shown than in his insistence upon
proper food, properly prepared and served for both students and
teachers.

He once said to his students, as previously quoted, "See to it that a
certain ceremony, a certain importance, be attached to the partaking
of food, etc...." To carry out this idea each table in this great hall
has a centrepiece of ferns, mosses, or flowers gathered from the woods
by the student selected by his or her companions to decorate the table
for that week. Boys and girls sit together at the tables. On Sundays
and holidays first and second prizes are given for the tables most
artistically decorated. Frequently these prizes take the form of some
coveted delicacy in the way of food. Each day when at the Institute
Mr. Washington would walk through the dining-hall during the noon meal
and criticise these centrepieces, and things generally. He would point
out that a certain decoration was too gaudy and profuse and had in it
inharmonious colors. He would then remove the unnecessary parts and
the discordant colors and point to the improved effect. He would next
stop at a table with nothing in the way of decoration except a few
scrawny flowers stuck carelessly into a vase. Picking up the meagre
display he would say, "The boy or girl who did this is guilty of
something far worse than bad taste, and that is laziness!" At the next
table he would have a word of praise for the simple and artistic
effect which they had produced with a centrepiece of wood mosses and
red berries. These comments would be interspersed with an occasional
admonition to this boy or that girl for a slovenly manner of eating,
or an inquiry of a newcomer as to where he had come from and whether
he thought he was going to be happy in his new surroundings. An
oft-repeated cause of merriment was his habit of stopping in the
middle of the hall, calling for attention, and then asking the
students if they were getting enough of various articles which he
would name, such as sweet potatoes, corn, and blackberries. Cutting
red tape was one of his special delights. Sometimes he would discover,
for instance, that certain vegetables were not being served because
the steward had objected to the price charged by the Farm Department.
He would immediately order these vegetables serve