small, crowded office, was President Hitchcock.

The sight of a tourist at that season, when the city is overrun with
them, could hardly have been more welcome than a book agent to that
busy man, but there was not a trace of annoyance in his greeting. He
sent away his companions and devoted himself to the duties of a
cicerone as cheerfully as though that were the chief end of the
president of a university. We went the rounds of class-rooms, halls
and dormitories, our interest and our leader's enthusiasm continually
increasing.

The primaries are in two long, narrow rooms, lighted only on one side
and not nearly large enough. But how the little throats did roll out
the music and what time they kept, when called upon for a song!
Another treat was a song from a young lady who was practicing in the
music room. The modest grace with which she complied when asked to
sing for us, is almost as pleasant a memory as her beautiful voice.

Up close to the roof, in a low attic, we found the industrial
departments, a printing press and a cabinet shop. Creditable work of
both kinds was shown. A paper is edited and printed by the students,
and the housekeeper of the party shut her eyes and said the tenth
commandment over a certain little table in one corner. Industrial
training is not a specialty at Straight. What is done in that line is
more a recreation than a branch of study. We were told, with evident
pride in the fact, that all the outfit we saw was purchased by the
students themselves. Not a dollar of the funds of the Association had
gone toward it. Every class-room seemed crowded. The statement that
applicants had to be turned away every week needed no confirmation.

Coming so recently from Tougaloo it was interesting to note the
difference between the two institutions. A comparison cannot be
invidious, because they belong to different states in every sense of
the word. Since the aim of the American Missionary Association is the
elevation of the colored people, there is room for a diversity of
institutions and methods. Tougaloo is admirably situated for
industrial departments. Straight has neither room nor time for them,
but meets the demand for a higher grade of scholarship, and draws its
students from a wider range and from a class who have more home
training, more money, and, therefore, more leisure for a full course
of study. They come from the whole circumference of the Gulf, from
Cuba and from Central America. Many mor