It is upon these small gifts, which carry with
them the interest of hundreds of donors, that any philanthropic
work must depend largely for its support. In my efforts to get
money I have often been surprised at the patience and deep
interest of the ministers, who are besieged on every hand and at
all hours of the day for help. If no other consideration had
convinced me of the value of the Christian life, the Christlike
work which the Church of all denominations in America has done
during the last thirty-five years for the elevation of the black
man would have made me a Christian. In a large degree it has been
the pennies, the nickels, and the dimes which have come from the
Sunday-schools, the Christian Endeavour societies, and the
missionary societies, as well as from the church proper, that
have helped to elevate the Negro at so rapid a rate.
This speaking of small gifts reminds me to say that very few
Tuskegee graduates fail to send us an annual contribution. These
contributions range from twenty-five cents up to ten dollars.
Soon after beginning our third year's work we were surprised to
receive money from three special sources, and up to the present
time we have continued to receive help from them. First, the
State Legislature of Alabama increased its annual appropriation
from two thousand dollars to three thousand dollars; I might add
that still later it increased this sum to four thousand five
hundred dollars a year.
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