Booker T. Washington, Builder o - African American History

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. 233
10 Downing Street, Whitehall, S. W. 26th September, 1910.
DEAR SIR: I much regret that my engagements do not allow me to accept your
invitation to be present at the luncheon which it is proposed to give in honor of
Mr. Booker T. Washington. I feel sure, however, that he will be welcomed with
a cordiality which his persistent and successful labors in the cause of the
education of the American Negro deserve, especially at the hands of English
men, whose difficulties in many parts of the Empire have been helped toward a
solution by the results of his work.
Yours faithfully,
Page 320
[Signed] H. H. ASQUITH.
While at home, no matter how pressed and driven with work, Booker
Washington snatched an hour or so every day for hunting or riding. This daily
exercise became a fetich with him which he clung to with unreasonable
obstinacy. He would frequently set off upon these hunts or rides in so exhausted
a condition that obviously their only effect could be worse exhaustion. His
intense admiration for Theodore Roosevelt probably had its influence, conscious
or unconscious, in strengthening his devotion to violent outdoor exercise.
Whatever he was doing or wherever he was, his mind seemed constantly at
work along constructive lines. At the most unexpected times and places he
would suddenly call the inevitable stenographer and dictate some idea for an
article or address or some plan for the improvement of Tuskegee or for the
betterment of the whole race in this or that particular. He would sometimes
reduce his immediate subordinates to the verge of despair by pouring out upon
them in rapid succession constructive suggestions each one of which meant
hours, days, and even weeks of time to work out, and then calling for the results
of all before even one could be fairly put into effect. This tendency became
particularly marked in his closing years when the consciousness of an immense
amount of work to be done and a short and constantly lessening period in which
to do it must have become an obsession and almost a nightmare to him.
He would sometimes wound the feelings of acquaintances and friends,
particularly his teachers, by passing
24.03.2006