Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 166
dining-room he would finally disappear into the kitchens in his never-ceasing
campaign for cleanliness. Over and over again would he repeat to students,
teachers, and employees alike that the public would excuse them for what they
lacked in the way of buildings, equipment, and even knowledge, but they would
never be excused for shiftlessness, filth, litter, or disorder.
One of the opportunities which he most highly prized and one of his most
effective means of influencing the whole body of students was through his
Sunday evening talks in the Chapel. Over two thousand students, teachers,
teachers' families, and townspeople would crowd into the Chapel to hear these
talks. They were stenographically reported and published in the school paper. In
this way
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he influenced not only the undergraduates, but a large number of graduates and
others who subscribed to the paper largely for the purpose of following these
talks. We here quote from a previously unpublished (except in the school paper)
collection of these talks, delivered during the school term of 1913-14, under the
title of "What Parents Would Like to Hear Concerning Students While at
School." The first talk was called, "For Old and New Students." In it he said in
part: "I suspect that each one of your parents would like to know that you are
learning to read your Bible; not only to read it because you have to, but to read
it every day in the year because you have learned to love the Bible; because you
have learned day by day to make its teachings a part of you. . . . Each one of
you, in beginning your school year, should have a Bible, and you should make
that Bible a part of your school life, a part of your very nature, and always, no
matter how busy the day may be, no matter how many mistakes, no matter how
many failures you make in other directions, do not fail to find a few minutes to
study or read your Bible.
"The greatest people in the world, those who are most learned; those who bear
the burdens and responsibilities of the world, are persons who are not ashamed
to let the world know not only that they believe in the Bible, but that they read
it."
And this was the advice of a man who never preached what he did not practise
and who only a few years before had been denounced by many of the preachers
of
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