Although he never told me so in so many words, I found that
General Armstrong took this method of introducing me to the
people of the North, as well as for the sake of securing some
immediate funds to be used in the erection of Alabama Hall. A
weak and narrow man would have reasoned that all the money which
came to Tuskegee in this way would be just so much taken from the
Hampton Institute; but none of these selfish or short-sighted
feelings ever entered the breast of General Armstrong. He was too
big to be little, too good to be mean. He knew that the people in
the North who gave money gave it for the purpose of helping the
whole cause of Negro civilization, and not merely for the
advancement of any one school. The General knew, too, that the
way to strengthen Hampton was to make it a centre of unselfish
power in the working out of the whole Southern problem.
In regard to the addresses which I was to make in the North, I
recall just one piece of advice which the General gave me. He
said: "Give them an idea for every word." I think it would be
hard to improve upon this advice; and it might be made to apply
to all public speaking. From that time to the present I have
always tried to keep his advice in mind.
Meetings were held in New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia,
and other large cities, and at all of these meetings General
Armstrong pleased, together with myself, for help, not for
Hampton, but for Tuskegee.
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