otesque
incongruity of a Greek chorus and a greasy cabin, and the relative value
of a piano and a patch of potatoes, that if we did not join in the smile
in order to encourage the humour, we should do so out of sheer
weariness."

Their utterances show in what light the college training of negroes is
regarded by ordinary citizens of the United States; and it may be noted
that Mr Kelly Miller, the writer, hails from Howard University, which is
intended chiefly for coloured students. As slavery only disappeared a
generation ago, it can hardly be expected that such a matter can be
discussed without some show of extravagance or of exaggeration
appearing. We even find a well-known Doctor of Divinity venturing the
opinion, in an influential weekly journal, that the education of one
white student is worth more to the negroes than the education of ten
blacks. All tends to clear the air, however; and what is done at Howard
and Atlanta Universities and elsewhere, in the way of providing
education for coloured youths, shows that advances are being made, and
that better times are coming.

We left Booker Washington still looking forward with confidence to being
admitted as a student at Hampton College and Industrial Institute. The
resolution thus taken was the more extraordinary because the negro
aspirant was still a mere boy, practically without means for such an
ambitious enterprise, while he had no friends who could assist him in
any adequate manner. He was also quite unused to travelling, and was so
unacquainted with the map of his native State that he could not have
pointed out the direction in which the town of Hampton lay. In point of
fact, a cross-country journey would have to be taken, representing a
distance about corresponding with that between London and Aberdeen.
Under such unfavourable conditions even his hitherto heroic mother,
whose strength seemed now to be declining, hardly thought that the thing
could successfully be carried out. On the other hand, others rather
encouraged the lad, at least to make the endeavour. Then, for some
considerable time before the start was made, the outlook at Malden, so
far as Booker Washington was himself personally concerned, had
considerably improved. Instead of having to continue at the rough, or
even dangerous, labour in which he had been compelled to engage, he
obtained a situation in the household of a military officer, whose wife
had gained the reputation of being a domestic ma