Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 108
otherwise made him comfortable temporarily, but some provision for the old
man's care must be made at once. One of the teachers knew about the old man
and stated that he had such an ugly temper that he had driven off his wife, son,
and daughter who had until recently lived with him and taken care of him. The
young teacher seemed to feel that the old man had brought his troubles upon his
own head and so deserved little sympathy. Mr. Washington would not for a
moment agree to this. He replied that if the old fellow was so unfortunate as to
have a bad temper as well as his physical infirmities that was no reason why he
should be allowed to suffer privation. He delegated one of the teachers to look
up the old man's
Page 143
family at once and see if they could be prevailed upon to support him and to
report at the next meeting what had been arranged. In the meantime he would
send some one out to the cabin daily to take him food and attend to his wants.
At another faculty meeting he brought up the plight of an old woman who was
about to be evicted from her little shack on the outskirts of the town because of
her inability to pay the nominal rent which she was charged. He arranged to
have her rent paid out of a sum of money which he always had included in the
school budget for the relief of such cases. In such ways he was constantly
impressing upon his associates the idea that was ever a mainspring of his own
life--namely, that it was always and everywhere the duty of the more fortunate
to help the less fortunate.
While he was sometimes severe with his more prosperous and better educated
associates he was always considerate and thoughtful of the ignorant, the old, and
the weak. He was never too busy to delight the heart of a white-haired old man
who had been the original cook of the school by listening to his stories about the
early days, or to discuss with another old man his experiences in the Civil War.
He would never betray the least impatience in listening to these old men tell him
the same story for the five hundredth time. Although the real usefulness of both
these old fellows had long passed he never showed them by word or deed that
he did not regard them as useful and valuable members of his staff.
Page 144
Another old character to whom he invariably showed kindness and patience was
a crack-brained old itinerant preacher who kept up an endless stream of
24.03.2006