NOTES-BY-THE-WAY.

SECRETARY A. F. BEARD.


Among places of greatest interest which I visited in my late Southern
tour one was Tougaloo University. Its location is unique, and its work
is also. In the very heart of the black belt of Mississippi, it is
sending out its light among thousands who are in darkness. It would
quite repay one who would study the problem of saving these children
of the rural districts of the black belt to go far out of his way to
visit Tougaloo. He should take time for it, to ride over its broad
acres of cultivated land, its cotton fields, its fields of sugar cane
and corn, its hay fields, all under the care of those who are being
educated. They should see its shops for iron working, for wood
working, and its varied other industries. They should see those who
work by day, diligent students at the books all the long evenings
until late. They should see the self help of all. They should go
through the grades and notice the quality of the work done and its
character, its classes in mathematics and in languages, and its work
in the physical sciences. It is a great school--Tougaloo--and if
people could see it, they would quote it more for its economy and
efficiency. Not always are efficiency and economy found pulling
equally in the same harness.

A little incident in Tougaloo interested me. A discussion of the
topic, "How can we improve our homes," called from one student these
words: "I find the negro lacks race pride. He despises his own makeup.
Who of you ever heard any negro say that he thought the general
characteristics of his race were as becoming as those of other races?