I was determined, if possible, to make such a record in my class
as would cause me to be placed on the "honour roll" of
Commencement speakers. This I was successful in doing. It was
June of 1875 when I finished the regular course of study at
Hampton. The greatest benefits that I got out of my at the
Hampton Institute, perhaps, may be classified under two heads:--
First was contact with a great man, General S.C. Armstrong, who,
I repeat, was, in my opinion, the rarest, strongest, and most
beautiful character that it has ever been my privilege to meet.
Second, at Hampton, for the first time, I learned what education
was expected to do for an individual. Before going there I had a
good deal of the then rather prevalent idea among our people that
to secure an education meant to have a good, easy time, free from
all necessity for manual labour. At Hampton I not only learned
that it was not a disgrace to labour, but learned to love labour,
not alone for its financial value, but for labour's own sake and
for the independence and self-reliance which the ability to do
something which the world wants done brings. At that institution
I got my first taste of what it meant to live a life of
unselfishness, my first knowledge of the fact that the happiest
individuals are those who do the most to make others useful and
happy.
Pages:
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101