Page:Boys Life of Booker T. Washington.djvu/73

Rh "sorry" and troublesome. Then there were some who said: "This man means well, but he is just a negro, and, of course, he can't succeed." Then, there were others who said: "This man Washington is all right. I believe in him and trust him. He is doing a good thing. He is going to succeed. I am counting on him." So, his second job was to win the friendship and good will of all the people in the town and round about and not to disappoint those who believed in him. He worked out these two problems together, as we shall see from what happened.

The very first thing needed by the students after all was not a building but something to eat. So the first move Washington made was to start the students to work on the farm in raising a crop. Every day, after the students had studied and recited their lessons, they would go to the fields and work. We have already learned how they found out what a "chopping bee" was. Now they were working in the fields where they had previously cut down the trees. Some of them did not like this work at first. They said: "We did not come to school to do work like this. We have had enough of this at home." But Washington kept right on, working hard himself and showing his students that he was not ashamed to do hard work with his hands.

The next thing in order was a building—a good building, large and comfortable and useful.