its of the institution.

General Armstrong asked me to take charge of the night-school, and I
did so. At the beginning of this school there were about twelve strong,
earnest men and women who entered the class. During the day the greater
part of the young men worked in the school's sawmill, and the young
women worked in the laundry. The work was not easy in either place,
but in all my teaching I never taught pupils who gave me much genuine
satisfaction as these did. They were good students, and mastered their
work thoroughly. They were so much in earnest that only the ringing of
the retiring-bell would make them stop studying, and often they would
urge me to continue the lessons after the usual hour for going to bed
had come.

These students showed so much earnestness, both in their hard work
during the day, as well as in their application to their studies at
night, that I gave them the name of "The Plucky Class"--a name which
soon grew popular and spread throughout the institution. After a student
had been in the night-school long enough to prove what was in him, I
gave him a printed certificate which read something like this:--

"This is to certify that James Smith is a member of The Plucky Class of
the Hampton Institute, and is in good and regular standing."

The students prized these certificates highly, and they added greatly to
the popularity of the night-school. Within a few weeks this department
had grown to such an extent that there were about twenty-five students
in attendance. I have followed the course of many of these twenty-five
men and women ever since then, and they are now holding important and
useful positions in nearly every part of the South. The night-school at
Hampton, which started with only twelve students, now numbers between
three and four hundred, and is one of the permanent and most important
features of the institution.

Chapter VII. Early Days At Tuskegee

During the time that I had charge of the Indians and the night-school
at Hampton, I pursued some studies myself, under the direction of
the instructors there. One of these instructors was the Rev. Dr. H.B.
Frissell, the present Principal of the Hampton Institute, General
Armstrong's successor.

In May, 1881, near the close of my first year in teaching the
night-school, in a way that I had not dared expect, the opportunity
opened for me to begin my life-work. One night in the chapel, after the
usual chapel exercises were over,