Page:Boys Life of Booker T. Washington.djvu/150

134 the street and not speak to them. He was so preoccupied by his thinking that he simply did not recognize folks when he met them.

Washington was a proud and independent man. Many people thought he was conceited. He was far too great a man for that. He was not vain and he was not ashamed of himself or his race. He held his head high. He could not be cowed. He had great self-confidence. He knew his abilities and powers and thought it his duty to appraise them properly. This he did in a very intelligent and sensible way. But he was not boastful; in fact, he was very humble. Many of the things which he said and did that were often taken for personal vanity and boastfulness were not personal at all but were evidences of his pride in his race.

Washington had great sympathy for the unfortunate. He was constantly bringing up in faculty meeting the case of some poor negro who was in distress,—who couldn't pay the rent, was without food or clothes, or was in hard luck in some way. He insisted that these people be helped regardless of how they came to be in their unfortunate condition. Scarcely a day passed that he did not give aid to some one who needed it.

There was an old, crack-brained preacher who would come to the Institute and speak by the hour right outside the office, but Washington would not let him be disturbed and always gave him a little contribution.