mitted to open a school in the little church at Strata, Ala. The
large attendance of pupils and their eagerness to learn won my sympathy
and I would gladly have planted a sprig of Tuskegee there had I not had
strong inclinations for a commercial life. I conducted a class in
agriculture for the benefit of the farmers. I believe it was helpful to
them. My spare time was spent in going through the country noting the
waste of the land and the lack of enterprise among the owners and
tenants, due in large measure, I am sure, to the mortgage system and the
deep ignorance of the people. Most of the evenings I spent listening to
the terrible stories of slavery days from the lips of those who had
passed through them.

In the midst of this service I received a telegram announcing the death
of my mother. I was too far from home to return in time to see the last
of her, even if I had had the means to do so. I was in grief; I had
sustained a great loss; she was my all, my mother.

I returned to Tuskegee and graduated with the Class of '98.

I am grateful to Tuskegee Institute, to the genius of Mr. Washington,
for the opportunities I had to acquire an education; to the members of
the Faculty for their assistance, and to my father, who gave me much of
material aid and encouragement.

After graduating, I spent two months at special work in the school
dairy; then, with the assistance of my father, I secured a position with
the Forest City Creamery Company of Rockford, Ill. Entering this
company's employ about the 15th of August, 1898, I have been employed
ever since at the same place.

The Forest City Creamery is one of the largest butter-making concerns
in the United States, averaging twenty thousand pounds of butter per
day. We make two grades of butter, known as process, or renovated, and
creamery butter. There are employed at this plant about seventy-five
persons.

My work consists in what is known to the trade as "starter-making" and
preparing the flavor for the butter. The work is bacteriological,
propagating a species of bacteria which produces the pleasant aroma and
flavor of good butter. It requires not only an understanding of
bacteriology, but skilled workmanship and earnest attention to details.
The secret processes of this company are known to a close group only, of
which I am one. My work here has been entirely successful and
satisfactory to my employers, if I may judge from a highly complimentary
interview with one