The most of this money was
obtained by holding festivals and concerts, and from small
individual donations.
Our next effort was in the direction of increasing the
cultivation of the land, so as to secure some return from it, and
at the same time give the students training in agriculture. All
the industries at Tuskegee have been started in natural and
logical order, growing out of the needs of a community
settlement. We began with farming, because we wanted something to
eat.
Many of the students, also, were able to remain in school but a
few weeks at a time, because they had so little money with which
to pay their board. Thus another object which made it desirable
to get an industrial system started was in order to make in
available as a means of helping the students to earn money enough
so that they might be able to remain in school during the nine
months' session of the school year.
The first animal that the school came into possession of was an
old blind horse given us by one of the white citizens of
Tuskegee. Perhaps I may add here that at the present time the
school owns over two hundred horses, colts, mules, cows, calves,
and oxen, and about seven hundred hogs and pigs, as well as a
large number of sheep and goats.
The school was constantly growing in numbers, so much so that,
after we had got the farm paid for, the cultivation of the land
begun, and the old cabins which we had found on the place
somewhat repaired, we turned our attention toward providing a
large, substantial building.
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