Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 123
24.03.2006
warn't wuth nuthin', an' so I went home an' talked de whole matter over wid de
ol' woman. We decided dat we would make a start, an' now I's proud to tell you
dat I's not only got a bank account, but I's got two bank accounts, an' heah's de
bank books (proudly holding on high two grimy bank books); I also own two
hun'ed acres of land an' all de land is paid for. I also own two mules, an' bofe
dem mules is paid for. I also own some other property, an' de ole woman an' me
an' de chilluns lives in a good house an' de house is paid for. All dis come 'bout
from my comin' to dis heah conference."
Another old fellow, when called upon to tell what he had accomplished,
dexterously evaded the direct inquiry for some minutes, and when Mr.
Washington finally succeeded in pinning him down, said: "All I's got to say,
Doctah Washington, is dat dis heah conference dun woke me up an' I'll be back
heah next year wid a report gist like dese oder fellers.
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Mr. Washington was a great believer in his favorite animal, the pig, as a
mortgage lifter and general aid to prosperity. At one of the conferences, after he
had paid a particularly warm eulogy to the economic importance of the pig, an
old woman got up and said: "Mr. Washington, you is got befo' you now Sister
Nelson of Tallapoosa County, Alabama. All I has I owes to dis conference and
one little puppy dog."
Mr. Washington challenged: "How's that?"
The old woman continued: "I got a little pig from dat little puppy dog an' I got
my prosperity from dat pig!"
Mr. Washington and the whole company in amazement hung upon the old
woman's words as she continued: "It was dis way: Dat little puppy dog when
she growed up had some little puppies herself. One day one o' my fren's come
by an' as' me for one o' dem puppies. I tol' him 'No,' I would not gib him dat
puppy, but dat he had a little pig an' I would 'change a puppy for a pig. I had
heard you tell ober heah so much 'bout hogs an' pigs dat I thought dis was a
good chance to get started. He give me de pig an' I give him de puppy. In de
course o' time dat little pig dun bring me in some mo' pigs. I sol' some an' kep'
some. I had to feed de pig, so I had begun savin'. I den begun to find out dat I
could git on wid less den I had ben gettin' on wid, an' so I kep' on savin' an' kep'
on raisin' pigs 'til I was able to supply most o' my neighbors wid pigs, an' den I
got me a cow, an den I begun to supply my neighbors wid milk, an' den I started