arily, however, and
there was no rent to pay. How to get the women to the meeting was,
for a time, a question. For fear of opposition Mrs. Washington took no
one into her confidence except the man who let her have the room. She
sent a small boy through the streets with the instruction to go to
every colored woman loitering about the streets and say: 'There is a
woman upstairs who has something for you.' Mrs. Washington says: 'That
first meeting I can never forget. The women came, and each one, as she
entered, looked at me and seemed to say, 'Where is it?' We talked it
all over, the needs of our women of the country, the best way of
helping each other, and there and then began the first mothers'
meeting which now has in its membership two hundred and twenty-nine
women.'...

"Mrs. Washington asked some of the teachers at Tuskegee to begin to
help these people (the people of the country districts surrounding the
school). At first they went to the plantation (selected for the
purpose) on Sundays only. Mrs. Washington selected what seemed to be
the most promising cabin and asked the woman who lived there if she
could come to that house the next Sunday and hold a meeting. When the
party went down early the next Sunday morning a stout new broom was
taken along. Making the woman a present of the broom, it was suggested
that all take a hand in cleaning the house a little before the people
should begin to come. The woman took the broom and swept half of the
room, when Mrs. Washington volunteered to finish the job.

"She had not gone far along on her half before the woman was saying:
'Oh, Mis' Washington, lemme take de brom an' do mah half ovah.' Mrs.
Washington says: 'I have always thought that that one unconscious
lesson in thoroughness was the foundation of our work on that
plantation.'...

"Not the least of the duties which fall to Mrs. Washington is that of
caring for the distinguished people who visit the Tuskegee Institute.
The Tuskegee rule that everything must be in readiness for the
inspection of visitors, as much so in the kitchen as in any other
department of the school, prevails in her home also.

"An interesting part of this home life is the Sunday morning
breakfast. The teachers have slept later than usual, and, through the
year, when Mr. Washington is at home, they are invited in groups of
three and four to share this morning meal. In this way he keeps in
personal touch with each of his teachers; he knows what