d not to wait for a higher position or a better salary, and
have steadily sought to enlarge the ones I have had. I have tried to
fill such positions as I have had as they were never filled before, by
doing better work, by being more prompt, by being more thorough, more
polite, and, in fact, I have filled them so completely that no one else
could slip in by me. I have always laid great stress on work as a means
of developing power; I am called by some of my friends a fanatic on this
subject. My experience at Tuskegee taught me that our racial salvation
is to come through hard, earnest, intelligent, sincere work. I owe a
world of gratitude to the Tuskegee Institute for the training I received
there and for the great work it is doing for the Negro people.

I repeat, if I accomplish anything in life that is worth while, it will
be due wholly to the Tuskegee Institute, to its officers and teachers.
No true graduate of Tuskegee ever forgets the lessons learned there. I
am sure I shall not.

V

THE STORY OF A FARMER

BY FRANK REID

I am glad to be able to give some facts regarding what my brother Dow
and I have been able to do since leaving the Tuskegee Institute.

We did not graduate, I am sorry to say, but the lessons given us have
not been forgotten. These lessons started us on the way to our present
success. I do not use the word "success" boastfully, but because it
really states a fact: we have done much more than we ever hoped to do,
and have been the means of contributing in some slight measure toward
the uplifting of the immediate community about us.

We are located at a place called Dawkins, not more than twelve miles
from the Tuskegee Institute, and immediately within its sphere of
influence.

Our mother and father were born within a few miles of where we now live.
Both of our parents, at the time I write, are living, and are each
about sixty-five years of age; they were, for twenty-five years each,
slaves. Neither can read or write. My brother and I each spent about
three years at Tuskegee, and, in addition, he attended school for two
years at Talladega College.

I had a very thorough course in carpentry, and my brother worked on the
Institute farm. We married two sisters, Susie and Lillie Hendon. Shortly
after my marriage my beloved wife Susie died, leaving me with one child.
My brother's wife still lives; they have three children.

Until ten years ago we, with our father, were renters, all of u