epted. He would not have been willing to incur the resentment of
the South even had his host been willing to defy local prejudices by
inviting him. On the other hand, he felt that the attitude of those
who would seek to control him in matters of social custom when he was
not in the South or among Southerners was unfair and unreasonable.

An incident which occurred while he was stopping at the English Hotel
in Indianapolis in 1903 furnished copy for the more or less
sensational press of the country. This hotel does not as a rule accept
Negroes as guests, but Mr. Washington was always a welcome visitor
there just as he was at many other hotels where less-favored members
of his race were excluded. He never patronized this hotel or any other
for the purpose of asserting his rights, but merely to obtain the
comforts and the seclusion so essential to a man who always worked up
to the limits of even his great strength and usually a little beyond
such limits. It is, indeed, quite possible that he might have lived
longer had he been free to stop at hotels in the South instead of
undergoing the constant wear and tear of being entertained in the
private homes of the all-too-kind hosts of his own race. All public
men and lecturers, in a large way of business, learn early in their
careers that they must decline practically all proffers of private
hospitality if they are to preserve their health.

On this occasion the white chambermaid assigned to care for the room
he occupied refused to perform her duties so far as his room was
concerned on the ground, as she stated, that she "would not clean up
after a nigger." For this refusal to do her work the management
discharged her. The Springfield _Republican_ of that date thus
describes what followed: "A hotel at Houston, Texas, immediately
offered her a place there, which she accepted, but as matters are now
going she is more likely to retire from the business as a grand lady
living on an independent income. Her name is upon all tongues in the
Southland, and the newspapers print long and complimentary accounts of
her life and the one great deed that has made her famous. Citizens and
communities vie with each other in contributing money.... Captain John
W. Johnson of Sheffield, Ala., is organizing a general subscription
fund from that and neighboring towns. A meeting at Houston, Texas,
raised $500 for her in the name of a 'self-respecting girl.' The
Houston _Chronicle_ is conducting anoth