Page:Boys Life of Booker T. Washington.djvu/63

Rh already in existence and naturally looked about to find the schoolhouse, of course expecting to see a nice building. Imagine his surprise when he found that there was as yet no school at all and absolutely no building, no sign of a school whatsoever. He was to start this school himself from the very beginning. The legislature had simply set aside two thousand dollars a year to be used only for paying salaries, and no provision had been made for building and grounds.

Was Booker Washington discouraged? Not for a single minute did he sit down and whine and complain and say that he might as well give up. He went right out into the town, looked up some of the leading men of both races, and told them that he was going to start something; that he was going to open a school. And the men, a little amazed at first, caught his enthusiasm and said: "Good for you. We are with you. You can count on us. We will help."

His first effort was to find a house to use as a school building, and he finally secured a little shanty that stood near the A. M. E. Church. It was agreed that he could use this building for meetings of any kind, and that he could teach in the shanty. After consulting again with his friends, he announced that on July 4, 1881, the Tuskegee Institute would open.

Now that he had a place in which to begin work, his next job was to get students for his school.