TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE AND ITS PRESIDENT. 601 



some land, and found a farm near Tuskegee which could be bought. 

 I had no money, but a good friend had confidence enough in our 

 prospects to loan me five hundred dollars to pay down toward the 

 land so as to secure it. After that it was not long before I had 

 the school moved. Then I would teach the boys for a part of the 

 day, and then for the rest of the time take them out of doors with me 

 to help clear up the land. In that way we did all the work we pos- 

 sibly could. When it came to making bricks for a building, though, 

 we were stuck. We could make the bricks, and did, but none of 

 us knew how to burn them. For that it was necessary to have a 

 skilled man, who must be paid. I was out of money by that time, 

 but 1 owned a gold watch. This I took to a pawnshop and raised 

 all I could on it. The money I got was enough to pay a man to 

 burn the bricks and teach us so that we could do the next ones our- 

 selves. That watch is in pawn yet, but we have got thirty-eight 

 buildings." 



Another class of young men are learning bricklaying. They 

 take the bricks as they come from the yard and put up the walls of 



PLAIN-SEWING " EOOM. 



the buildings, while the carpenters do the woodwork. The classes 

 in woodworking are among the most important at the school. The 

 institute now owns a large tract of valuable timber land, while 

 among the industrial buildings on the grounds is a good sawmill , 



