Page:Boys Life of Booker T. Washington.djvu/11

 FOREWORD

is the story of Booker T. Washington. It is the story of a boy who was born a slave and who in manhood became the leader of ten million people; who was born in poverty and ignorance and became the greatest orator and teacher of the negro race; who was born of an ignorant and backward race and became the friend of the greatest and best men of all races of all the world.

He was a brave man. He had courage and backbone. He was not afraid. He had courage to fight for what he believed to be the right.

He was an energetic man. There was not a lazy bone in him. No man ever lived a more strenuous life than he did. He loved his work; and few other men ever did so much work in a lifetime.

He was just and fair-minded. He could see right for the white man as well as for the negro. He never intentionally did any one, white or black, an injustice.

He was an honest man; honest in his thinking as well as in his business; honest, frank, and open in his speeches and his writings. He looked facts squarely in the face.

He was a wise man. He had intelligence. He had good judgment. He knew the right thing to do and to say, and he did it and said it. viii