"
As I returned to Hampton for the purpose of delivering this
address, I went over much of the same ground--now, however,
covered entirely by railroad--that I had traversed nearly six
years before, when I first sought entrance into Hampton Institute
as a student. Now I was able to ride the whole distance in the
train. I was constantly contrasting this with my first journey to
Hampton. I think I may say, without seeming egotism, that it is
seldom that five years have wrought such a change in the life and
aspirations of an individual.
At Hampton I received a warm welcome from teachers and students.
I found that during my absence from Hampton the institute each
year had been getting closer to the real needs and conditions of
our people; that the industrial reaching, as well as that of the
academic department, had greatly improved. The plan of the school
was not modelled after that of any other institution then in
existence, but every improvement was made under the magnificent
leadership of General Armstrong solely with the view of meeting
and helping the needs of our people as they presented themselves
at the time. Too often, it seems to me, in missionary and
educational work among underdeveloped races, people yield to the
temptation of doing that which was done a hundred years before,
or is being done in other communities a thousand miles away.
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