The
first month I spent in finding accommodations for the school, and
in travelling through Alabama, examining into the actual life of
the people, especially in the court districts, and in getting the
school advertised among the glass of people that I wanted to have
attend it. The most of my travelling was done over the country
roads, with a mule and a cart or a mule and a buggy wagon for
conveyance. I ate and slept with the people, in their little
cabins. I saw their farms, their schools, their churches. Since,
in the case of the most of these visits, there had been no notice
given in advance that a stranger was expected, I had the
advantage of seeing the real, everyday life of the people.
In the plantation districts I found that, as a rule, the whole
family slept in one room, and that in addition to the immediate
family there sometimes were relatives, or others not related to
the family, who slept in the same room. On more than one occasion
I went outside the house to get ready for bed, or to wait until
the family had gone to bed. They usually contrived some kind of a
place for me to sleep, either on the floor or in a special part
of another's bed. Rarely was there any place provided in the
cabin where one could bathe even the face and hands, but usually
some provision was made for this outside the house, in the yard.
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