eet of tin cans and other rubbish.

We found the lessons in economy which we had received at Tuskegee very
valuable to us at this trying time. We felt that if we would properly
impress the lessons most needed we should own a home, a cow, some
chickens, a horse, and a garden; we felt that there should be tangible
ownership on the part of the people of some of these things, at any
rate.

These things we started to get as soon as possible. We wanted to teach
the people by example.

After talking in a general way for some days of the value of industrial
education, coupled with that of intelligent class-room instruction, Mrs.
Calhoun succeeded in getting four girls to come to her home for sewing
lessons. That was the first step.

Incidentally, we heard of the philanthropic instincts of a gentleman,
Mr. E. C. Hungerford, living at Chester, Conn., who had conditionally
offered to another school twenty acres of land, and whose offer was not
met. I wrote to him asking if he would give us the land. He replied that
he would be glad to give us forty acres if we would use it for school
purposes.

On February 24, 1899, having the deed in hand, a board of trustees was
selected, and, with the aid of nine men who cleared one and one-half
acres of land while their wives furnished the dinner, we started what is
now the Robert C. Hungerford Industrial School. The new school now owns
280 acres of land secured as follows: From Mr. and Mrs. E. C.
Hungerford, 160 acres; from Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Cleavland, 40 acres; from
Mrs. Nancy B. Hungerford, 40 acres; by purchase, an additional 40 acres.

The school has two dormitories, Booker T. Washington Hall, the J. W.
Alfred Cluett Memorial Hall, and six other buildings used for shops,
barn, and dining-room. The total value of the property, clear of all
indebtedness, is $22,445. We teach the boys blacksmithing,
wheelwrighting, carpentry, agriculture, stock-raising, poultry-raising,
and truck-gardening; the girls receive instruction in dressmaking, plain
sewing, cooking, laundering, millinery, basketry, and housekeeping. We
give no industry at the expense of the literary work.

The academic department covers a useful course of the English branches.
The moral, religious, industrial, and financial influence of the school
upon the community, as well as upon the students who have attended, who
come from many counties in the State, has grown steadily as the years
have come and gone. The school has at