ANNIVERSARY REPORTS.
HAMPTON INSTITUTE.
BY MISS HELEN W. LUDLOW.
The fourteenth anniversary of Hampton Institute was observed on May 24. The morning was devoted as usual to examinations and recitations, with exhibitions of the products of the various industrial departments and their operation. The Senior class was examined in political economy and civil government, literature, ancient history, arithmetic and algebra. They did very creditably, stimulated by the occasion, as is usual, to do their best. They had undergone less brilliantly, but on the whole fairly well, a severer test during three days previous, of written and oral examinations, conducted by or before an invited examining committee, consisting of Prof. Samuel Elliot, LL.D., late Superintendent of schools in Boston, and Prof. Albert Salisbury, Superintendent of Education for the American Missionary Association Schools. The general average of the class on the subjects marked by Prof. Salisbury (arithmetic and political economy) was 70 and a fraction, several standing from 90 to 93. Dr. Eliot’s eyes not allowing him to inspect papers closely, the others were marked by Mrs. E. N. L. Walton of Boston, who came down to conduct for the third time the annual Normal Institute at Hampton for its Senior class and graduates.
The under classes had their customary reviews. The Indian classes were special attractions, as usual, particularly the division of latest comers, in which some tiny girls and solemn braves emulated each other in telling, in unexceptionable English, what went into and out of a remarkably omnivorous bag, and what evolutions were performed by its various contents; their teacher winning Dr. Eliot’s enthusiastic declaration that “her praises ought to be sounded from the gutter to the university.” The Indians also did well in geography, history, arithmetic and an elementary botany class. The little kitchen-gardeners from the Butler School were as captivating as usual in their white pinafores and red turbans and housekeeping accomplishments. The center of the industrial exhibition was the Stone Memorial building; handsome wood work, turned moldings, flooring, doors, sashes, etc., from the “Huntington Industrial Works;” shoes ready for filling the contract for agency supplies; shining tinware from the “Indian Training Shop,” sets of harness from the same; desks, settees, tables and cupboards made for the school, and a neatly painted sign—all the work of Indian and colored apprentices, whose names, with the period of their training, from five months to three years, were indicated on cards affixed to their respective productions. The wheelwright and blacksmith shops showed similarly ax-helves, wheels and iron work, and outside the door two gaily painted farm carts proclaimed the skill of Indian and Negro mechanics. The tailoring department showed suits of clothes made by colored and Indian hands. The girls of both races were represented by very neat sewing and inviting-looking cake. The farm products had a table to themselves; early vegetables, grains and grasses. An interesting exhibit was that of the little carpenters from the Butler School, a couple of miniature frame houses, clap-boarded and painted, with sets of tables, desks and chairs for furnishing.
The Normal School Press office had its own exhibit of printing and book binding. The press was running, the student compositors, boys and girls at their cases, and the veteran United States soldier at his book-binder’s table.
The various shops were all in operation through part of the morning, and many visitors walked through them to see the Afric-American, native African and Indian apprentices working side by side at their various trades in the commodious quarters in which most are at last accommodated. Some extended their walk to the barn to visit the stock.
The afternoon exercises in Whitin Chapel and Virginia Hall consisted, as usual, of essays by the graduating class and former graduates, with music by the school choir, a recitation of one of Whittier’s poems by a modest ladylike Indian girl of the Junior class, and a talk in the Sioux language by one of the three young Indian fathers now in training with their families at Hampton. His wife and baby boy stood admiring listeners in the doorway, ready to vanish when the applause of the latter became too vociferous. The Indian said impressively (interpreted by a school mate), “You all know that when a man walks in darkness, if he sees a light somewhere he will go to it; so I want you all to have compassion on us and teach us more of your knowledge. I am always thinking about the good news. I came myself to learn how to tell the good news to my people and show them the right way. We know that you have helped us, but we need more help. If anybody told you to do something you never had done before, could you do it at once? They will have to tell you three or four times before you know how to do it. My friends, that is just the way with the Indians.”
Diplomas were presented to the twenty-eight members of the graduating class. Interesting speeches followed by several of the invited guests. Prof. Newell, Superintendent of the Maryland State Normal school in Baltimore, Dr. Eliot, Rev. Dr. Furber of Newton, Mass., Rev. Dr. Mix of Fall River, Rev. Dr. Burrows and Rev. Mr. Spiller of Norfolk, the last, a colored minister, all made very enthusiastic and telling impromptu addresses under the inspiration of the occasion.
The average attendance of pupils for the year just past, has been 510, of which 110 have been Indians. The work done compares favorably with that of former years. The annual reports of the Principal, teachers and heads of industrial departments, published in the June number of the Southern Workman, and still more fully in pamphlet form, with the treasurer’s report, give many interesting details of Hampton’s work and prospects.