intimately and well. He was unselfish
and generous to a fault; he was modest yet masterful; he was quiet yet
intense; his common sense and sagacity seemed uncanny, such was his
knowledge of human nature. His was a great soul in which no bitterness
or littleness could even find a lurking place. His was the great heart
of Lincoln, with malice toward none and charity for all. He loved all
men and all men loved him.

"My humble prayer is that his torch has lighted another among the dark
millions of America, to lead the race onward and upward."

Booker Washington's insistence that the classrooms, shops, and farms
were for the development of the students rather than the students for
their development was well illustrated by a remark he once made to
Bishop William Lawrence of Massachusetts when the Bishop was visiting
the Institute. In reply to Bishop Lawrence's question as to whether he
had chosen the best available land for his agricultural work, he said,
"No, sir, I chose pretty nearly the poorest land I could find. I chose
land on which men would have to spend all their energies to bring out
the life in the land. They work here under the hardest conditions.
When they go out to other lands--to their own lands, perhaps--they
won't find any worse land to till. If they find any better land the
difference will be all gain for them."

Perhaps more remarkable than any or all of his achievements was the
fact that Booker Washington was a gentleman. It would be difficult to
find a man who better conformed to the exacting yet illusive
requirements of that term. He had not only the naturalness and the
goodness of heart which are the fundamentals, but he had also the
breeding and the polish which distinguish the finished gentleman from
the "rough diamond." This fact about Booker Washington has been well
described by Hamilton Wright Mabie in an article entitled: "Booker T.
Washington: Gentleman," in which he says in part:

"Booker Washington became one of the foremost men in America; he was
heard on great occasions by great audiences with profound attention;
he was a writer and speaker of National position, the founder of a
college, and the organizing leader of a race in ideas and industry.
These were notable achievements; but there was another achievement
which was in its way more notable. Without any advantages of birth or
station or training, a member of an ostracized race, with the doors of
social life closed in his face, Dr. W