ashington was a gentleman. I
recall two illustrations of this quality of nature, often lacking in
men of great ability and usefulness. The first was in Stafford House,
London, the residence of the Duke of Sutherland. The older Duke was
the lifelong friend of Queen Victoria; and once, when she was going to
Stafford House, she wrote the Duke that she was about to leave her
uninteresting house for his beautiful palace. Nothing could be more
stately than the great hall of Stafford House, with its two marble
stairways ascending to the galleries above; and when the Duchess of
Sutherland, standing on the dais from which the stairs ascended,
received her guests she reminded more than one of her guests of the
splendid picture drawn by Edmund Burke of Marie Antoinette moving like
a star through the palace of Versailles. On that evening Dr.
Washington was present. At one time in one of the rooms he happened to
be talking with the duchess and two other women of high rank, two of
them women of great beauty and stateliness. There were some people
present who were evidently very much impressed by their surroundings.
Booker Washington seemed to be absolutely unconscious of the splendor
of the house in which he was, or of the society in which for the
moment he found himself. Born in a hut without a door-sill, he was at
ease in the most stately and beautiful private palace in London.

"On another occasion there was to be a Tuskegee meeting at Bar Harbor.
The Casino had been beautifully decorated for a dance the night
before. The harbor was full of yachts, the tennis courts of
fine-looking young men and women; it was a picture of luxury tempered
with intelligence. Mr. Washington was looking out of the window.
Presently he turned to me and said, with a smile, 'And last Wednesday
morning I was eating breakfast in a shanty in Alabama; there were five
of us and we had one spoon!'"

At the time of his stay in London, during which this reception at
Stafford House took place, he was given a luncheon by a group of
distinguished men to which Mr. Asquith, the Prime Minister, was
invited. In reply, Mr. Asquith sent this note:

_10 Downing Street, Whitehall, S.W._
_26th September, 1910._

DEAR SIR: I much regret that my engagements do not allow me
to accept your invitation to be present at the luncheon
which it is proposed to give in honor of Mr. Booker T.
Washington. I feel sure, however, that he will be welcomed