ess because of
lack of funds, and the nervous strain was tremendous. It is difficult
for me to think of any situation that is more trying on the nerves than
that of conducting a large institution, with heavy obligations to
meet, without knowing where the money is to come from to meet these
obligations from month to month.

In our case I felt a double responsibility, and this made the anxiety
all the more intense. If the institution had been officered by white
persons, and had failed, it would have injured the cause of Negro
education; but I knew that the failure of our institution, officered
by Negroes, would not only mean the loss of a school, but would cause
people, in a large degree, to lose faith in the ability of the entire
race. The receipt of this draft for ten thousand dollars, under all
these circumstances, partially lifted a burden that had been pressing
down upon me for days.

From the beginning of our work to the present I have always had the
feeling, and lose no opportunity to impress our teachers with the same
idea, that the school will always be supported in proportion as the
inside of the institution is kept clean and pure and wholesome.

The first time I ever saw the late Collis P. Huntington, the great
railroad man, he gave me two dollars for our school. The last time I saw
him, which was a few months before he died, he gave me fifty thousand
dollars toward our endowment fund. Between these two gifts there were
others of generous proportions which came every year from both Mr. and
Mrs. Huntington.

Some people may say that it was Tuskegee's good luck that brought to us
this gift of fifty thousand dollars. No, it was not luck. It was hard
work. Nothing ever comes to me, that is worth having, except as the
result of hard work. When Mr. Huntington gave me the first two dollars,
I did not blame him for not giving me more, but made up my mind that
I was going to convince him by tangible results that we were worthy of
larger gifts. For a dozen years I made a strong effort to convince Mr.
Huntington of the value of our work. I noted that just in proportion as
the usefulness of the school grew, his donations increased. Never did
I meet an individual who took a more kindly and sympathetic interest in
our school than did Mr. Huntington. He not only gave money to us, but
took time in which to advise me, as a father would a son, about the
general conduct of the school.

More than once I have found myself in