Nearly all the work of getting the new location ready for school purposes was done by the students after school was over in the afternoon.  As soon as we got the cabins in condition to be used, I determined to clear up some land so that we could plant a crop.  When I explained my plan to the young men, I noticed that they did not seem to take to it very kindly.  It was hard for them to see the connection between clearing land and an education.  Besides, many of them had been school-teachers, and they questioned whether or not clearing land would be in keeping with their dignity.  In order to relieve them from any embarrassment, each afternoon after school I took my axe and led the way to the woods.  When they saw that I was not afraid or ashamed to work, they began to assist with more enthusiasm.  We kept at the work each afternoon, until we had cleared about twenty acres and had planted a crop.

In the meantime Miss Davidson was devising plans to repay the loan.  Her first effort was made by holding festivals, or “suppers.”  She made a personal canvass among the white and coloured families in the town of Tuskegee, and got them to agree to give something, like a cake, a chicken, bread, or pies, that could be sold at the festival.  Of course the coloured people were glad to give anything that they could spare, but I want to add that Miss Davidson did not apply to a single white family, so far as I now remember, that failed to donate something; and in many ways the white families showed their interested in the school.

Several of these festivals were held, and quite a little sum of money was raised.  A canvass was also made among the people of both races for direct gifts of money, and most of those applied to gave small sums.  It was often pathetic to note the gifts of the older coloured people, most of whom had spent their best days in slavery.  Sometimes they would give five cents, sometimes twenty-five cents.  Sometimes the contribution was a quilt, or a quantity of sugarcane.  I recall one old coloured women who was about seventy years of age, who came to see me when we were raising money to pay for the farm.  She hobbled into the room where I was, leaning on a cane.  She was clad in rags; but they were clean.  She said:  “Mr. Washin’ton, God knows I spent de bes’ days of my life in slavery.  God knows I’s ignorant an’ poor; but,” she added, “I knows what you an’ Miss Davidson is tryin’ to do.  I knows you is tryin’ to make better men an’ better women for de coloured race.  I ain’t got no money, but I wants you to take dese six eggs, what I’s been savin’ up, an’ I wants you to put dese six eggs into the eddication of dese boys an’ gals.”

Since the work at Tuskegee started, it has been my privilege to receive many gifts for the benefit of the institution, but never any, I think, that touched me so deeply as this one.

Chapter IX.  Anxious Days And Sleepless Nights