rginians; how the Institute
became the parent of other schools; how Booker Washington was there
fitted for the founding of Tuskegee and the leadership of his race; how
the work was extended to the Indians; how Armstrong's spirit and example
gathered and inspired a company of teachers perhaps unsurpassed,--mostly
women, whose refining influence on the pupils he specially valued; how
he dreamed of what he never reached, some day to give industrial
education at Hampton to the whites; how a worthy successor took his
place, efficient and self-effacing; how deeply the Hampton idea has
permeated the education of the Southern negro, and is coming to
influence white education North and South,--all this can here be
recalled but by a word.

But on the personality of its leader we must for a moment linger, to
note one or two of its traits. His splendid vitality overflowed at times
in frolic and extravagance. He never lost the spirit of the boy. He
would come into a group of his serious-minded teachers and say, "Oh!
what's the good of saving souls if you can't have any fun?" and start a
frolic or organize an all-day picnic. In his home he introduced "puss in
the corner" and "the Presbyterian wardance" among the very elect. He
delighted his children with romances. "Like Dr. Hopkins, he believed
that the class-room should be a jolly place, and used to say that no
recitation was complete without at least one good laugh. 'Laughter
makes sport of work,' he said." His teaching sometimes came in a droll
story. "Once there was a woodchuck.... Now, woodchucks can't climb
trees. Well, this woodchuck was chased by a dog and came to a tree. He
knew that if he could get up this tree the dog could not catch him. Now,
woodchucks can't climb trees, but he had to, so he did."

His devotion to his work was so whole-souled that it was joyous and
seemed unconscious of cost. In the touching pages he wrote when death
impended, he said, "I never gave up or sacrificed anything in my life."
Yet he constantly made what most men count heavy sacrifices. His work
involved frequent and laborious trips to the North to arouse interest
and raise money. He did it in as gallant a fashion as he had led a
charge, or as he made appeal to the students hanging reverently on his
words. A glimpse of him on one of these begging tours is given by
Professor Francis G. Peabody:

"I suppose that every lover of General Armstrong recalls some special
incident which seems most e