Page:Boys Life of Booker T. Washington.djvu/147

Rh for a couple of miles at top speed. After supper, there was usually a meeting of some kind,—a committee or faculty meeting, or conference with a delegation of visitors. Chapel exercises, devotional in character, came at 8:30. And after that, very frequently, there was an inspection of the dormitories.

He had three children, Portia, Booker, and Davidson. One of his greatest pleasures was to take the children for a long walk on Sunday afternoons. They would tramp for miles through the fields and woods, gathering flowers or nuts or berries. They studied the trees, the flowers, and the birds. They waded in the streams, ran footraces, and played games.

Every night after supper he would romp and play with the children. He would roll on the floor, let the children ride on his back, play all sorts of jolly games, or he would tell stories. He was an excellent story-teller, and it was always a treat to hear the wonderful tales he could tell.

Washington was married three times. His first wife, as stated in a previous chapter, was Fannie M. Smith, of Maiden, who died in 1884, leaving a daughter, Portia. The second marriage was to Olivia Davidson, who had been a teacher at Tuskegee from its beginning. She had been of wonderful assistance to Washington in the early days of Tuskegee. She was the mother of the two boys, Booker, Jr., and Davidson. His third