BY SARAH C. FERNANDIS Hampton, 1882 Work! that drives with an insistent goad Till body, brain, and heart cry out for rest; But ah, where hours seem a useless load, Or pleasures pall on still unsated zest! O Motherhood! thine must forever be The travail; thine the sacrificial part; O Soul! that views life's inequalities, But ah, the cold self-blinded, who ne'er sees, O Truth-seeker! with doubts and questions tost, O things of labor, sacrifice, and tears— H AMPTON, being the oldest of the large schools for Negroes in the South and one of the pioneers in Indian education, has an important work to do in keeping the country informed as to the progress of educational work among these races. During the winter, meetings are held in the churches and large halls of the cities. In the summer, with comparatively few exceptions, they are held in hotels and at private country residences. Campaigns such as have been held this summer at important points in the mountains and on the shore, are of very great value, for they reach people from every part of the country. For years representative students or graduates have gone with the quartet to present an object lesson of what the school is accomplishing. This year Cele, the Zulu, who spoke at the Trade School anniversary exercises, represented the colored students, and Charles Doxson, an Onondaga graduate, spoke for the Indians. In the early summer, meetings were held near New York and Philadelphia—at Bryn Mawr in Miss Ely's delightful home, at Plainfield with Mrs. Pierre Mali, and at Hartford with Mr. and Mrs. Atwood Collins. One of the very pleasant features of these meetings was the testimony which Miss Agnew of Burkeville, Virginia, bore to the value of Hampton's work in the country districts of the state. She told in a very charming way of the better homes and farms which Hampton graduates have made possible. One memorable Sunday afternoon, at the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. F. N. Doubleday on Long Island, will not soon be forgotten by those who were present. The meeting was held on the lawn looking out over the Sound. Mr. Walter Page presided and told what Hampton means to the South. Miss Agnew spoke, as a representative of Virginia, of what she had seen with her own eyes of its helpful influence. The Honorable Job Hedges told in his inimitable way of the impressions that his visit to Hampton had made upon him, as did Mr. Bruère. Major Moton described what the school had done for him and his people. The quartet sang wonderfully well. Friends came in their automobiles fifty and sixty miles. The charm of the Doubleday home, the beauty of the day, the remarkable assembly of prominent people, made the occasion a most important one. There have grown up with the years certain centers of interest in the Hampton work, where each year the story of the school is told, and out from which go influences most helpful to the black and red races. One of these centers is Washington, Connecticut, where the school Chaplain has his summer home. In the old church on the green once each summer there has been for many years an enthusiastic Hampton meeting, and a generous collection for Hampton has been the result. The young people in the schools of the beautiful village have come to know the school and many of them have become its loyal supporters. At Litchfield is the home of Miss Richards, a former valued Hampton worker who still devotes some weeks in the winter to the Indians at the school; and here for years a Sunday evening meeting has been held. At Poughkeepsie Mr. William Smith, one of Hampton's loyal friends, presided at a meeting held in the Y. M. C. A. building which he did so much to make possible. In the Shawanguk Mountains, New York, at Minnewaska and Mohonk, is another Hampton center. Here for years Messrs Albert and Alfred Smiley pleaded for the school. Mr. Albert Smiley still loves to aid this and many another good work, as do the sons of Mr. Alfred Smiley at Minnewaska; and the Hampton company always receives a hearty welcome at both of these famous hostelries. The Mohonk Hampton meeting came this year on the evening of the day of the signing of the Arbitration treaties between the United States and England and France. Mr. Smiley characterized the day as one of the most important in the history of the world. It was one of general rejoicing at Mohonk over the accomplishment of an object to which Mr. Smiley has given his life. Hampton was glad to have a part in the celebration. President Faunce of Brown University, in an eloquent appeal for Hampton, said that the City of Providence had just incorporated in its public-school system the form of industrial education for which Hampton has stood for more than forty years. Lake George is another center of Hampton influence. At his attractive home there Mr. George Foster Peabody has for years royally entertained the school's officers. Here the Southern Education Board has been accustomed to spend a most delightful week in discussing the problems of the South. Mr. Shepard, Mr. Peabody's neighbor and close friend, whose death this summer brought a sense of loss to the whole community, was a devoted friend of Hampton. On Lake George, also, Carl Schurz and Spencer Trask, warm friends of the school, had their summer homes. A most successful series of meetings was held in this section, the first at Glen Falls, where an enthusiastic young Yale man, Mr. Fowler, a citizen of the town, by his earnest endeavors brought together a church full of people on a hot summer night; and the others at the Fort William Henry Hotel, the Sagamore, and Roger's Rock Hotel on Lake George. Among the speakers were Mr. George Foster Peabody and his brother Charles; Mr. George McAneny, President of Manhattan Borough, a life-long friend of Hampton; Bishop Reese of Georgia; and Mr. Williams, owner of the Roger's Rock Hotel, where for many years a large number of Hampton students have been employed during the summer. He bore cordial testimony to the high character and earnest work of the Hampton boys he had known as workers in his hotel. A committee of ladies, who acted as patronesses, greatly aided in making the meetings a success. A delightful meeting was that held at Westport on Lake Champlain at the home of Mr. James Townsend, a classmate of the Principal of the Hampton School. Commodore Wadhams of the United States Navy, formerly stationed at Norfolk, presided, and told of the discipline he had found at Hampton. Mr. Walter Damrosch read an admirable paper on the Negro folk-songs. At the Bluff Point Hotel and at Elizabethtown many friends of the school gathered. At Keene Valley, Rev. and Mrs. Wilton Merle Smith opened their charming home for a meeting. Mrs. Ide, Mr. Willis Ogden, and other friends of Hampton at St. Hubert's Inn, stirred up the community. The result was a crowded house and a generous collection. Dr. Smith's appeal for Hampton was quite irresistible. Hurricane Lodge and Whitefield, N. H., were the only other places where the company stopped before arriving at Bar Harbor. More than twenty years ago Mrs. John S. Kennedy attended a Hampton meeting at Lakewood, N. J., when she kindly offered to open her summer home at Bar Harbor, Kenarden Lodge, for a similar purpose. The next summer the offer was accepted. This proved to be a most important gathering for the school. Dr. and Mrs. William Jay Schieffelin began through its influence to be actively interested in the school's work, and Dr. Schieffelin afterward became a Hampton trustee and president of the New York Armstrong Association. Largely through their influence Bar Harbor has become a most important center of influence in behalf of Negro and Indian education. Hampton and Tuskegee have held meetings there on alternate years, and many enthusiastic friends of the cause have been gained. The meeting was held again this year at Mrs. Kennedy's home. Her guest, Honorable Seth Low, President of the Board of Trustees of Tuskegee, was one of the speakers. Dr. Schieffelin presided, and Ambassador Loudon from the Netherlands gave a charming account of his visit to Hampton at its Anniversary last spring. Bishop Doane welcomed the company to North East Harbor, and presided at the meeting in the Neighborhood House, as he has many times before. Dr. Francis G. Peabody and Mr. William Frazer, Hampton trustees, have their homes in North East Harbor, and added much to the interest and pleasure of the visit. Here Bishop McVickar has often spoken for Hampton, here President Gilman has pleaded its cause, and here are accustomed to congregate in the summer season many of the school's best friends. General Armstrong said in his Memoranda that Hampton had brought him in touch with the very best people of the country. That is still true of those who have to plead its cause and direct its work. With a meeting at Sorrento, where the Misses Tileston gave the company a hearty welcome, the regular summer campaign closed. The Boston Committee arranged a series of meetings in the vicinity of Boston, where Colonel Church of Hampton addressed small companies in private houses. Perhaps the largest and most important meeting was held under the Boston Committee at the house of Mr. T. Jefferson Cooledge, Jr., on the North Shore, when President Taft presided and introduced Governor Mann of Virginia, who spoke most effectively and heartily of the school's work. Colonel Church and Major Higginson were the other speakers on this occasion. Mrs. S. C. Armstrong arranged at her camp on Squam Lake a Hampton meeting which was most successful, graduates of the school and others employed there and at Miss Bacon's neighboring camp telling of their experiences in teaching, nursing, and neighborhood work among their people, and uniting in singing plantation songs. A notable testimony to their influence was given by a young fellowworker who has never been at Hampton and is now completing his education at Brown University. Summer guests from all parts of the lake came in launches and carriages and automobiles, and there was much enthusiasm, the sum of four hundred dollars being raised, besides a number of scholarships. In the North and in the South, white and black and red have united to make Hampton's work known. To all who have helped, to the kind friends who have opened their houses, to the proprietors of the hotels, to the speakers and singers, the school's thanks are offered. T NOTICE O the Armstrong League of Hampton Workers: The regular annual meeting of the Armstrong League of Hampton Workers will be held in the Museum at Hampton Institute, on Wednesday, November 1, 1911, at 4.30 P. M. It is hoped that as large a number as possible will attend. Non-resident members will be especially welcome and all new workers are cordially invited to join the League. E. K. HERRON, Recording Secretary. |