and their squalid and immoral surroundings, and,
what was still better, he had escaped from the coal mine never to
return, and had found more genial employment in the household of a
military officer and his wife. He now worked more ardently than ever
towards the Hampton Institute.

CHAPTER III

OFF TO HAMPTON--WAS HE A LIKELY CANDIDATE?

Those who read the American newspapers will be aware that there is great
diversity of opinion in regard to the manner in which the education of
the coloured people should be conducted. Those who have grown up amid
the traditions of the Southern States, where, under the old order of
things, the education of slaves was a legal offence, do not readily
favour that higher training of negroes to which, in Great Britain, no
one would ever think of offering any objection. The feeling referred to
prevails in the Northern States as well as in the Southern; and more or
less throughout the Republic it is strongly held that, whether educated
or uneducated, the coloured race are socially on a lower plane and can
never associate on terms of equality with white people. The readiness
with which he has acknowledged this fact, while acting accordingly, has
in no small measure contributed to Booker Washington's success and
popularity. He has undoubtedly stimulated the interest which is now
shown in efficient negro training, as is self-evident from the newspaper
and magazine articles which from time to time appear upon the subject.
Thus, in course of an article on "The Function of the Negro College,"
in the _Dial_ of Chicago, Mr Kelly Miller, of Howard University,
Washington, remarks:--

"The groundwork of education cannot be modified to meet the variant
demands of race or colour, previous conditions or present needs. The
general processes of discipline and culture must form a fixed and
unalterable part of any adequate educational programme. On the other
hand, there is quite a wide latitude of accommodation for special needs
and social circumstances in what might be called the practical aspect of
education. There has recently sprung up a class of educational
philosophers who would restrict the term practical education to those
forms of knowledge or formulas of information which can be converted
into cash equivalent on demand. The truth is, that all knowledge which
enables the recipient to do with added efficiency the work which falls
to his lot in this world, wh