sing a spark of manhood, is irresistible.
The change in a student at Tuskegee is not sudden, nor is it wrought by
any one element. Things that may seem small when taken separately, are
invaluable when considered in the aggregate.

At Tuskegee one's attention is constantly called to little things. It
was a habit of mine, I regret to say, to give little or no thought to my
hat being on my head when I was in any of the boys' dormitories, or when
passing through the halls of the buildings containing the class-rooms.
My attention was finally called to this habit by one of the lady
teachers. Passing me one day in the hall, she said: "Canty, you have a
habit of wearing your hat through the halls. It is a very bad habit."
When I entered Tuskegee I had not worn a night-shirt since I was a
child. Here it was soon impressed upon me that sleeping in a night-shirt
was a sign of cleanliness, of civilization. If there is any place where
cleanliness is regarded and practised as one of God's first laws, that
place is Tuskegee.

One day Mr. Washington sent for me to come to his office. I received the
message with fear and trembling. I had, before this time, had but one
opportunity to speak to Mr. Washington, and then only for a few minutes
upon the day following my arrival. On my way to the office I wondered if
any rule of the institution had been violated by me. Though I had been
there only three or four weeks, I knew a request for a student to report
at the Principal's office meant that he was to be given notice of
imminent punishment, or consulted upon some matter of vital interest.

When I entered the office, Mr. Washington asked me to write to two or
three worthy young men at my home and inquire if they desired a chance
to work their way through school. Several days had passed when I
received an answer from one of the young men to whom I wrote. It so
happened that on the day the letter was received I met Mr. Washington
on his way to his office, and said, "Mr. Washington [drawing the letter
from my pocket], I have received a letter from--" Here my first sentence
was cut short by Mr. Washington forcibly gesticulating and saying, "Come
to the office; come to the office and see me there." That one lecture on
business methods impressed me in a way that a chapter of this length
could not have done.

One day I closed a door with considerable force, which attracted the
attention of one of the teachers. The teacher, in my presence, again