I pity the man, black or
white, who has never experienced the joy and satisfaction that
come to one by reason of an effort to assist in making some one
else more useful and more happy.
Six months before he died, and nearly a year after he had been
stricken with paralysis, General Armstrong expressed a wish to
visit Tuskegee again before he passed away. Notwithstanding the
fact that he had lost the use of his limbs to such an extent that
he was practically helpless, his wish was gratified, and he was
brought to Tuskegee. The owners of the Tuskegee Railroad, white
men living in the town, offered to run a special train, without
cost, out of the main station--Chehaw, five miles away--to meet
him. He arrived on the school grounds about nine o'clock in the
evening. Some one had suggested that we give the General a
"pine-knot torchlight reception." This plan was carried out, and
the moment that his carriage entered the school grounds he began
passing between two lines of lighted and waving "fat pine" wood
knots held by over a thousand students and teachers. The whole
thing was so novel and surprising that the General was completely
overcome with happiness. He remained a guest in my home for
nearly two months, and, although almost wholly without the use of
voice or limb, he spent nearly every hour in devising ways and
means to help the South.
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