Booker T. Washington Part 23

Of the myriads of tributes to Booker Washington by white men and black both North and South, which were spoken from platforms and pulpits and printed in newspapers and periodicals throughout the length and breadth not only of America but the world, there are two which we feel irresistibly compelled to use in concluding this chapter and book. One is the tribute of a former student, Isaac Fisher, president of the Tuskegee Alumni a.s.sociation, speaking for the graduates at the memorial exercises held at Tuskegee on December 12, 1915; the other is the tribute of one of his teachers, Clement Richardson, head of the division of English, speaking in effect for the Tuskegee teachers in an article published in the _Survey_ of December 4, 1915.

At this memorial meeting, after being introduced by Seth Low, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, as the representative of the Tuskegee Alumni a.s.sociation, Mr. Fisher said:

"Mr. Chairman: The greatest citizens of this nation have paused long enough to pay tributes of honor to the memory of Dr. Washington; and to-night some of the world's most distinguished citizens are present to say their words of love for the departed chieftain whose body lies in a grave just outside of those walls. In the presence of these great men I do not see why you have asked me, one of the least of all, to add my simple praise.

"But I can say that no persons have sustained so great a loss as have the members of the Tuskegee Alumni a.s.sociation; and I come to bear testimony to the depth and sincerity of their grief.

"There is a story which has not yet been told, in connection with the spread of industrial education in the South and throughout the entire country. I must tell that story here before I can make clear just how great is the Alumni's loss.

"In telling of the spread of industrial education, during the past twenty-five years, we seem not to know that the work has been difficult and prosecuted at great sacrifice on the part of the Tuskegee graduates who have sought to interpret Dr. Washington's theory that economic fitness was the basis of racial growth in many other directions.

"The people did not take kindly to this form of education, believing that it was the same old slavery from which we have emerged under a new name; and the Tuskegee graduates have prosecuted their work in the face of the misrepresentations, prejudice, opposition, and ridicule of those of their own race who could or would not understand the spirit of industrial education--a spirit broader and finer than the phrase suggests. More than this: in the communities where they have worked it has been the fashion to permit our graduates to do the difficult tasks and carry all the burdens of leadership; but if there were any honors to be bestowed, they were given to the graduates of other schools.

"Being human and denied those honors and public marks of esteem which always gladden the heart, these Tuskegee men and women have often grown discouraged and have been tempted to lay down their work. But like Daniel, when those gloomy hours came, they have turned their faces toward Jerusalem, to Tuskegee, over which the great spirit of Dr. Washington brooded and lived; and from this place he has sent back to them whenever they have called, encouragement, counsel, and help.

"Sometimes they have been so depressed that they have come to Tuskegee just to see and talk with their prophet once more and to be baptized again in his sweet and n.o.ble spirit. Many times we have seen them here and wondered at their presence. They were here to receive comfort, and to hear Mr. Washington say in his own convincing manner: 'It has been my experience that if a man will do the right thing and go ahead, everything will be all right at last.' And these men and women who have sat at his feet and who trusted him have gone back to their work with new and increasing strength.

"But now Dr. Washington is gone, and the graduates of the school will never again receive his counsel and encouragement, however gloomy their paths may be. That is the measure of our loss.

"And yet our Princ.i.p.al is not buried out yonder. It is his tired body which is resting just beyond that wall; but he is not buried in that grave. The real Dr. Washington is buried in the graduates who sat at his feet and imbibed his spirit, and he lives in them.

"King David, pondering over G.o.d's mercies and goodness to him, thinking of how he had been taken from minding sheep and placed upon the throne of Israel; and how G.o.d had guided and protected him and made his name great in the earth, exclaimed reverently, one day, 'What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits unto me?' and he answered his question, in part, by saying: 'I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all the people.'

"If all our graduates could speak to-night, they would have me pay their vows of grat.i.tude for the opportunity to make blessed and beautiful their lives, given by our great teacher; and they would have me give public a.s.surance of their fealty to the work for which Mr.

Washington gave his life.

"And so, Mr. Chairman, in the name of the Alumni a.s.sociation and in the spirit of him whose body lies buried just beyond those walls, I pledge you and the Trustees the loyalty of the Tuskegee graduates to whatever work they are called in connection with the realization of Dr. Washington's great purpose. I pledge you their support in the work which you have come to Tuskegee to perform; because we are learning self-government and wish to help prove to the world that we can pa.s.s the succession to the Princ.i.p.alship here without revolution. By this time to-morrow night another prophet will have been raised up to serve in the room of the great founder of this school. I want you, Sir, and the Board of Trustees to know that when the proclamation is made that 'The King is Dead!' our Alumni a.s.sociation will be ready to reply: 'Long Live the King!' and we will faithfully, honestly, and loyally support the person you elect to succeed our great father, whoever that person may be.

"In the furtherance of Dr. Washington's work, the graduates stand ready to say:

"'I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, O'er the mountain, or plain, or sea; I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; I'll be what you want me to be.'"

In the _Survey_ article, after briefly describing the ups and downs of Mr. Washington's long fight against a breaking const.i.tution, Mr.

Richardson says:

"With such perpetual rallying power who could cope? A latent feeling crept among many that he was immune to pain as he had been to insult and abuse. You know he could steer on over an insult and never see it.

Some of us shook our heads and said, 'Why he is good for ten years yet.' Seeing that he thus defied nerves and baffled pain, we hoped. It was in the hour of hope that the last stroke came, and we felt that pulling at the throat which we should have felt had he gone by sudden accident.

"How Tuskegee took Dr. Washington's death can probably best be appreciated by an account of what his life meant among his teachers.

Officially he was a stern and exacting task master. A tireless worker himself, he imposed heavy tasks upon others. In the home, however, he had a genius for cheering by little kindnesses and by a thoughtful word. Now he would send around a basket of vegetables from his garden, now a cut of one of his pigs which he had killed and in which he took great delight.

"People who sent books and pictures to Tuskegee can hardly realize what a double pleasure they were shipping: the pleasure they gave him and others through him. He would have the boxes opened and books and pictures brought in to his office. Then from all his heaps of correspondence, from business engagements, from matters of national importance, he would turn aside and go through these himself, culling them out. He would sort a pile here for this family; one there for another, according to what he considered would suit each. Many a time one could scarcely find a place to step in his office for the pictures and books. In all things he received, but to share.

"Then he had a way of kicking organizations to pieces for a few minutes. If some rural school had a creditable exhibit he would order that the senior cla.s.s, 150 strong, should be taken there, whether it was one mile or ten miles away. He would order the cla.s.s out to see how some poor, illiterate farmer had raised a b.u.mper crop of peas, corn, sugar cane, and peanuts, how he surrounded himself with conveniences, both inside and outside the home. Now he would declare a half holiday; now he would allow the students to sleep a half-hour later in the morning.

"In the same way the teachers would get an outing once or twice a year, sometimes at night, sometimes in the day. As the teachers are on duty for both day and night school, and as the students usually rise at 5:30 and breakfast at 6, these little breaks were windfalls. They sent each one back to his labors with a smile. He knew the value of change and the psychology of cheer. No wonder then that when death closed his eyes both teachers and students went about heavy of limb and with eyes that told too plainly what the heart felt.

"Just as he touched the students and teachers with little thoughtful deeds so he touched the town and State, both white and black. One feature of his funeral ill.u.s.trated how complete had been his triumph over narrow prejudices. He was always talking about the white man up the hollow, back in the woods. How many times have I heard him urge picturesquely upon gatherings of teachers to 'win that old fellow who, when you begin to talk Negro education and Negro schoolhouse, scratches his head, leans to one side, and looks far away. That's the man,' he would say, 'that you've got to convince that Negro education is not a farce.'

"Well, that man was at Booker T. Washington's funeral. He came there on foot, on horseback, in buggies, in wagons. He was there in working clothes, in slouched hat, with no collar.

"During the service I chanced to stand near the end of the platform.

Pretty soon I felt a rough brushing against my elbow. As I turned I saw a small white child, poorly clad, being thrust upon the end of the flower-laden platform. Then followed an old white man, collarless, wearing a dingy blue shirt and a coat somewhat tattered. After him came two strapping fellows, apparently his sons. All grouped themselves there and listened eagerly, freely spitting their tobacco juice on the platform steps and on the floor.

"How thankful would Dr. Washington have been for their presence. What a triumph! Ten years ago those men would not stop at the school. They cursed it, cursed the whole system and the man at the head of it. But quietly, persistently, he had gone on with that everlasting doctrine that service can win even the meanest heart, that an inst.i.tution had the right to survive in just so far as it dovetailed its life into the life of all the people. Beautiful to behold, to remember forever; there was no race and no cla.s.s in the Tuskegee chapel on Wednesday morning, November 17th; heart went out to heart that a common friend had gone.

"Broken as everybody is over the loss, no one is afraid. No panic as to the future of the school disturbs the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the 190 odd teachers here. In the first place, poor as most of us are, we are ready to suffer many a privation before we see the inst.i.tution slip back the slightest fraction of an inch. All these years it has been on trial, on record. It has been a test, not of a mere school, but of a race. A tacit pledge--not a word has thus far been spoken--has gone out among us that it shall remain on record, that it shall stand here as a breathing evidence that Negroes can bring things to pa.s.s.

"Back of this is the unshaken faith in our Board of Trustees. I doubt if such another board exists. It is made up of white men and black men, of men of the North and men of the South. There is not a figurehead among them. Though intensely engaged they go into the details of the workings of the school, getting close to the inner workings and to the lives of the teachers and students.

"Finally, we are confident that the public will have a good deal to say before Tuskegee is let die. The beaten path has been made to her door. Her methods have not only been commended but adopted wholly or in part both in this country and in other lands. Her use is undisputed. She takes students almost literally out of the gutter, puts them on their feet, and sends them out honest, peaceful, useful citizens. This is the ideal for which Dr. Washington struggled, and over which his life-cord snapped too soon.

"For the same ideal the people at Tuskegee, though broken in spirit, are willing to spend themselves; for they are confident that their cause is just and that the world is with them."

THE END