abins. "These well-kept houses," says one who visited a number
of them in the town for purposes of inspection, "are not only the best
proof of the progress in civilisation of the negro race, but they are
also the best security for the welfare of the whites in property and in
morals, and I have never had so much hope for the future of this region
as since I learned these things. Granted that these may be the picked
few, it is most hopeful that there is a picked few, whose example will
inspire others to lift themselves up." In proportion as they advance
they show commendable enthusiasm for embarking in philanthropic
enterprise. Thus, as a writer in the _Century Magazine_ tells us:--

"The only negro church publishing-house in the world" is located at
Nashville, a large building five storeys high. "It was purchased with
the contributions of the children of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church. A home for aged and indigent negroes is the latest enterprise,
while a shop for teaching mechanical trades was opened.... The number of
church societies is, of course, legion."

All this shows how far-reaching was the influence of such institutes as
Tuskegee and Hampton, when their methods were thus copied. To come back
to Booker Washington's own work, however, we find that at the end of
fourteen years the two old buildings in which he had commenced in 1881
had given place to forty buildings on an estate of two thousand acres.
At that time there were rented fifteen cottages not on the school
estate, while many of the teachers had houses of their own. The annual
cost was then under L15,000, the number of persons to be supported
exceeding a thousand. It is not often that the students are able to pay
wholly for their board; and at the time in question less than L2000 in
the year was received under this head. Various funds, including a grant
from the State, supplied near L2000 annually. The cost of each student
is L10 a year, board being paid for partly in money and partly in
labour. L40 suffices one to complete the four years' course, while a sum
of L200 provides a permanent scholarship. A carpenter, a bricklayer, or
a blacksmith must, under all circumstances, pass some part of each day
in the school. The aim is to have all well taught, and to inspire a
laudable ambition, hoping to excel and to succeed by hard work,
perseverance and honest, upright lives. The training is also partly
religious, for to come short of that would not yield