TWO EXAMPLES OF PERSEVERANCE.
The current talk concerning the Negro makes the entire race to consist of improvident ne’er-do-wells, with no care for the future and with no power of denying present gratification for future good. Whatever of truth or falsehood this assertion may contain, and probably it has much of both, very many instances of perseverance come under our observation among our students in the schools of the A. M. A.
A. H. is an orphan girl of about eighteen years, whose desire for education brought her into our school a few months last year. By hard work and careful saving through the summer, she earned enough money to keep herself in school a year. At the close, however, of the first month she brought her books to my desk, saying she must leave school at once; and the poor girl broke down, and began to cry. Little by little I learned the story: Her aunt had been sick, and A. had given to her the earnings hoarded for the year’s tuition. It was now impossible to get the money back, or even enough to meet one month’s demands, and A. had resolved to go out into the country, where she could earn a little by picking up potatoes. By hard work she hoped to save enough to return again at Christmas time. The next day it was my pleasure to send her word that for the present she might remain in the school with free tuition. On Monday she was again in her place, grateful and studious, and kindly offering to give up her desk when the room became full, and herself take a stool or a chair.
In one of our advanced classes there is a young man of nearly thirty years, whose story is equally interesting. In the spring he thought he should not be able to return to school this fall, for lack of money. He went out, however, resolved never to spend an idle day; he would work, even if wages were low. Whenever he failed to secure better work, he went to the woods, splitting rails. Days and days he worked there, through the heat, and found that, by arduous labor, he could clear exactly thirty-five cents a day! “I should have kept on,” said he, “had it been but twenty-five!” The result of his summer’s work was that he found himself, at school time, with more money saved than at any previous fall; and now he is again at his place, studious and faithful, volunteering even to work extra hours each day and Saturday, in the Industrial department, for the sake of the practice with tools.
Instances might be multiplied, but these two are sufficient to show the industry and the sacrifice of many of the scholars, and the need in our schools for a fund to help such to secure the education they desire.
A TEACHER.