five o'clock in the afternoon. Would it be
possible for you to be in Cambridge on that day?

Believe me, with great regard,

Very truly yours,

Charles W. Eliot.

This was a recognition that had never in the slightest manner entered
into my mind, and it was hard for me to realize that I was to be
honoured by a degree from the oldest and most renowned university in
America. As I sat upon my veranda, with this letter in my hand, tears
came into my eyes. My whole former life--my life as a slave on the
plantation, my work in the coal-mine, the times when I was without food
and clothing, when I made my bed under a sidewalk, my struggles for an
education, the trying days I had had at Tuskegee, days when I did
not know where to turn for a dollar to continue the work there, the
ostracism and sometimes oppression of my race,--all this passed before
me and nearly overcame me.

I had never sought or cared for what the world calls fame. I have always
looked upon fame as something to be used in accomplishing good. I have
often said to my friends that if I can use whatever prominence may have
come to me as an instrument with which to do good, I am content to have
it. I care for it only as a means to be used for doing good, just as
wealth may be used. The more I come into contact with wealthy people,
the more I believe that they are growing in the direction of looking
upon their money simply as an instrument which God has placed in their
hand for doing good with. I never go to the office of Mr. John D.
Rockefeller, who more than once has been generous to Tuskegee, without
being reminded of this. The close, careful, and minute investigation
that he always makes in order to be sure that every dollar that he gives
will do the most good--an investigation that is just as searching as if
he were investing money in a business enterprise--convinces me that the
growth in this direction is most encouraging.

At nine o'clock, on the morning of June 24, I met President Eliot, the
Board of Overseers of Harvard University, and the other guests, at the
designated place on the university grounds, for the purpose of being
escorted to Sanders Theatre, where the Commencement exercises were to be
held and degrees conferred. Among others invited to be present for the
purpose of receiving a degree at this time were General Nelson A. Miles,
Dr. Bell, the inventor of the Bell telephone, Bishop Vincent, and the
Rev. Minot J. Savage. We were placed i