This class was composed of
both men and women. It was a great trial to refuse admission to
these applicants, and in 1884 we established a night-school to
accommodate a few of them.
The night-school was organized on a plan similar to the one which
I had helped to establish at Hampton. At first it was composed of
about a dozen students. They were admitted to the night-school
only when they had no money with which to pay any part of their
board in the regular day-school. It was further required that
they must work for ten hours during the day at some trade or
industry, and study academic branches for two hours during the
evening. This was the requirement for the first one or two years
of their stay. They were to be paid something above the cost of
their board, with the understanding that all of their earnings,
except a very small part, were to be reserved in the school's
treasury, to be used for paying their board in the regular
day-school after they had entered that department. The
night-school, started in this manner, has grown until there are
at present four hundred and fifty-seven students enrolled in it
alone.
There could hardly be a more severe test of a student's worth
than this branch of the Institute's worth. It is largely because
it furnishes such a good opportunity to test the backbone of a
student that I place such high value upon our night-school.
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