Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 165
24.03.2006
followed speedily. Probably in nothing was his instinct for putting
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first things first better shown than in his insistence upon proper food, properly
prepared and served for both students and teachers.
He once said to his students, as previously quoted, "See to it that a certain
ceremony, a certain importance, be attached to the partaking of food, etc. . . ."
To carry out this idea each table in this great hall has a centrepiece of ferns,
mosses, or flowers gathered from the woods by the student selected by his or
her companions to decorate the table for that week. Boys and girls sit together at
the tables. On Sundays and holidays first and second prizes are given for the
tables most artistically decorated. Frequently these prizes take the form of some
coveted delicacy in the way of food. Each day when at the Institute Mr.
Washington would walk through the dining-hall during the noon meal and
criticise these centrepieces, and things generally. He would point out that a
certain decoration was too gaudy and profuse and had in it inharmonious colors.
He would then remove the unnecessary parts and the discordant colors and point
to the improved effect. He would next stop at a table with nothing in the way of
decoration except a few scrawny flowers stuck carelessly into a vase. Picking up
the meagre display he would say, "The boy or girl who did this is guilty of
something far worse than bad taste, and that is laziness!" At the next table he
would have a word of praise for the simple and artistic effect which they had
produced with a centrepiece of wood mosses and red berries. These comments
would be interspersed with an occasional admonition
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to this boy or that girl for a slovenly manner of eating, or an inquiry of a
newcomer as to where he had come from and whether he thought he was going
to be happy in his new surroundings. An oft-repeated cause of merriment was
his habit of stopping in the middle of the hall, calling for attention, and then
asking the students if they were getting enough of various articles which he
would name, such as sweet potatoes, corn, and blackberries. Cutting red tape
was one of his special delights. Sometimes he would discover, for instance, that
certain vegetables were not being served because the steward had objected to
the price charged by the Farm Department. He would immediately order these
vegetables served and tell the protesting steward that he could fight it out with
the Farm Department while the students were enjoying the vegetables. From the