Show t 7 W i r t V YOUNG negro gkent to austin tex in 1898 to start a college probably no man emba aking on such an enter prise in this coun try eier faced such depressing difficult ties as he did A salary of a year biad been promised to him and when he and his wife cime to the college building the found a tare unfurnished structure there ms a root over it and the four valls but little else birds nestled in the batters jat and goats the characteristic fauna of suburban austin meled and rooted and butted and slept in the shelter of the still open bise ment there was not a stick of furniture in the place io heat no light no beds no dishes no chairs even to add to these material troubles 83 pu pils appeared the first day before the professor and his wife bad biad a chance to unlock their trunks of this number 41 came from out in the co antry they had to be fed and lodged as well aa taught All heso young negroes had been carried away by the announcement that bad run from lip to lip all through that region that the college was going to open that day the new college presidents first ay as a strenuous one probably no other head of a just bom university ever saw the like some of the stu dents brought small trunks on their shoulders others had their posses visions in boxes and sacks the dent assembled them in one of the big bare rooms and gave them a brief a laik they sat on their trunks and on the floor after be had calmed their fears that the college might not be open after all the president left them and set out to get and get quickly some of ohp things that were most needed the people who lived near the college responded liberally the president returned with a jug of molasses and 14 loaves of bread and went back to get a lit tie stove which was the first contribution that was offered him in the first house he went to this store a round barrel shaped galvanized iron affair Is still preserved and treasured though it is no longer used they built a fire tor the evening was chill and seated on the floor the college president his wife and the students ate their bread and molasses and were undiscouraged that was the beginning the first lesson that president lovinggood who since hag become the booker washington of tha southwest had in the great art of begging every college president aam the biggest universities down to the hum blet has to be an accomplished beggar the more money he can get for his college the bigger jaan he Is in the educational world and the better fitted to bead a university by what he has ac since lovinggood has chown that he possesses in a truly remarkable degree this great est of all the necessary arts one that stands higher than any in the curriculum the art of pegging when the college president and his pupils got p the next morning they found that during the night some sandals bad amused themselves by breaking bottles of ink against the walls of the building and defacing them windows had teen broken and the whole place looked even more desolate than it had at first but loving was undaunted he beet about getting at once the things bo needed most he begged pennies and nickels and aimea from the negro of austin he organized one social alter another to get the furniture thai was required the second evening there was a chair social people desiring to attend had to bring chaar as a ticket of admission the college sot 37 chairs in this way A sheet and pillow aee entertainment a dish social a laundry fair and a lot of other entertainments to get the supplies they needed followed with the honest of intervals between temporary rooms for dining hall and kitchen were prepared aged colored washerwoman washerwomen washer women came with bedding and made beds ready tor students with their own hands saturday after saturday says president lov ingwood Ing good these women came each with their malt earnings tied in a little piece of cloth dl aided vided them with the school knelt with me and prayed for the school and went their way week after week an aged colored laborer richard woods came and gave us of his meager earnings he still comes and hla gifts have amounted al ready to more than such Is the history of the beginning of the samuel huston college at austin tex a school tor youths today to day students live and tudy in a group of handsome buildings eleven years ago there was neither school nor scholars only the land and the foundation walls loving foods ability and indomitable courage have wrought the change it Is a history of hardship he bag done even more than to build up a college his successful solution ct the race problem in the center of a cotton section larger than bew eng la l a where the colored population te isore than aulion IB printed on every tetter and every bai of literature blat his college sends oui it Is this strive always to treat others better than they treat you that Is the rule that every has to try to live up to austin is the capital of texas a town 0 about 25 about halt the kopul atlon of the town are negroes and in the country round about they outnumber the whites three to one for nearly 30 years the colored people in austin have struggled to es athla school if Is not named after the famous sam houston that historic figure ot the great southwest but after samuel huston a farmer of marengo la who long ago gae 9 toward the establishment of this college six acres of land were purchased the stone basement of one building was constructed then as ally happens in such cases the money gave out this basement stood unfinished in the beating rain and hot sunshine for 16 years while the colored people struggled to get more money to gether the little group that bad the school project close to their hearts begged day in and day out and gathered in not dollars or even dimes but nickels and pennies from washer wom en day laborers and farmers there Is hardly a negro in austin and the vicinity who has not helped to build this college in this way 12 was collected with infinite toll and in 1898 the that had been begun so many years ago that it was a scornful joke among he whites was and eo the struggle went on year after year taught by day and whenever he had a moment to spare during bis waking hours used it in soliciting aid for his college the white peo pie took a greater and greater interest in the enterprise when they saw what he was accod one ex confederate soldier gave jio said that anything that promoted peace and good will between the races was a blessing that ought to be encouraged and expanded one building after another went up as soon as the first one had been finished teacher after teach er was engaged until now there are 17 more than 60 of the pupils hae graduated in various professions and are hard at work tn the world outside nearly in all has been raised and spent in new buildings and improvements during the last ten years there Is the main build ing burrowes hall which was finished and furnished at a cost of a temporary boys hall was put up for the laundry build ing cost 1200 a dormitory was arranged for 1050 a fine sewer system was installed at a cost of 2200 a fine brick boys building has just been completed it Is lighted by electricity and heated with hot air it cost there are a printing outfit scientific apparatus a library of volumes five pianos and an organ a cooking range iron beds eight acres of land for a vegetable garden and dairy the college Is absolutely out of debt aft er all this has been accomplished in a material way the college now teaches the english branches it furnishes its students with a college a tory and a teachers normal course printing and agriculture also are taught on the domestic side instruction Is given in plain sewing nery professional dressmaking cooking and housekeeping instruction Is one of the features that runs through all the courses the college Is five blocks from the state caal tol ahen the school was opened says dent lovinggood some of tho neighboring white people were much grieved saying that the value of their property would be destroyed certain ones passing eaid ugly words cut down the shrub bery broke out the panes and threw lair bottles at the when I 1 went out on my various i wy bwy B ar aw t 1 A v 1 S S A 1 ei rands hurrying through the streets on my wheel derisive shouts ot A coon on a bike used to greet me something had to be done we deliberated teachers and students were advised to speak no unkind word and to do no rash act they were cautioned to be polite arid kind to every one white and black stu dents were advised to give all the sidewalk it necessary when meeting any one on the street it trouble could be avoided thereby every one was taught that there should be a constant appeal to that spirit ot fairness ot friendship and good will which should and must exist between the races whom god has placed together in this country in this crisis this motto was selected and all were urged to try to live up to it strive aiwas to treat others better than chev treat you for nine years this motto has occupied a place upon the front page of our cataloguer catalogues catal Is upon entry letter which goes out from the school we started out to deserve good treatment and we succeeded that is how we soloed the much ot and most perplexing raca problem tha result ot this persistent system ot minding their own business and being most forbearing under even trying circumstances was not long in becoming apparent the quiet respectful ful demeanor ot the students first won the sympathy ot the whites in the neighborhood the colored boyl who were working in the homes ot whites jundef the continual precept and example of the teachers in the college where they studied at night grew honest industrious and reliable little by little the best people in the town became interested in what was being done in the face of so many difficulties vandalism ceased edw aery one in austin proud ot the colored college the ablest and est white people there are its warmest friends and supporters aa an evidence of the good business on which the college has been run and which it has hied up to scrupulously in all its dealings it Is said that the credit ot the institution stands so high among the merchants of the town that it practically is good tor aar ost any amount we propose here that the negro shall be hon est industrious and altruistic says this booker washington ot the southwest we propose to do right and if we do right i we be honest indus arlous useful patriotic citizens pray tell me what then shall the righteous be forsaken and their seed beg bread shall we be denied the rights ot life liberty pursuit ot happiness and all that these involve my faith in the american people compels the statement that all will be well A good white man and a good black man will get along well together A correct solution of the race problem depends upon the development of good men and women of both races who will mete out to each other a square deal it Is upon this con of its proper solution that the efforts of samuel college to solve the race problem here are based but this humble and little known booker wash angton ot the southwest is not content with what he has accomplished already no college president ever is it be Is made ot the right stuff ahli college is in the great texas cotton belt and there are a million negroes who need to be educated in one way or another according to their capacities and their requirements he does not contemplate educating them all at once but he does desire to do as much as possible for be argues that the perpetuity 0 the nation depends not on educating part of the people but all 0 them to send out more and more of his students as peacemakers peace makers his next step is ohp establishment 0 an indri trial building for boys an industrial school tor girls Is in operation already lovinggood saya they have had to turn away about city and country boys within the last few months boya who wanted to learn some kind of a trade because they had no facilities for teaching them judging by what he has been able to achieve in the there Is little doubt ha will succeed in ebli undertaking when this building la completed and equipped only the fundamental and the simplest trades will be taught there such as blacksmithing carpentry shoemaking masonry etc |