“We are, very truly yours,
“The Common Council of the City of Charleston,
“By W. Herman Smith, Mayor.”
This invitation from the City Council of Charleston was accompanied by the following:
“Prof. B. T. Washington,
“Principal, Tuskegee Institute.
“Dear Sir:—We the citizens of Charleston and West Virginia, desire to express our pride in you and the splendid career you have thus far accomplished, and ask that we be permitted to show our pride and interest in a substantial way.
“Your recent visit to your old home in our midst awoke within us the keenest regret that we were not permitted to hear you and render some substantial aid to your work, before you left for Europe.
“In view of the foregoing, we earnestly invite you to share the hospitality of our city upon your return from Europe and give us the opportunity to hear you and put ourselves in touch with your work in a way that will be most gratifying to yourself, and that we may receive the inspiration of your words and presence.
“An early reply to this invitation, with an indication of the time you may reach our city will greatly oblige,
“Yours very respectfully,
“The Charleston Daily Gazette, The Daily Mail-Tribune, G. W. Atkinson, Governor; E. L. Boggs, Secretary to Governor; Wm. M. O. Dawson, Secretary of State; L. M. LaFollette, Auditor; J. R. Trotter, Superintendent of Schools; E. W. Wilson, ex-Governor; W. A. MacCorkle, ex-Governor; John Q. Dickinson, President Kanawha Valley Bank; L. Prichard, President Charleston National Bank; Geo. S. Couch, President Kanawha National Bank; Ed. Reid, Cashier Kanawha National Bank; Geo. S. Laidley, Superintendent City Schools; L. E. McWhorter, President Board of Education; Chas. K. Payne, wholesale merchant; C. C. Lewis, Jr., wholesale merchant; R. G. Hubbard, wholesale merchant; Dan. D. Brawley, City Sergeant; Grant P. Hall, Clerk of Circuit Court; O. A. Petty, Postmaster; R. Douglas Roller, Rector St. John’s Episcopal Church; M. M. Williamson, Cashier Citizen’s National Bank; J. N. Carnes, Assistant Cashier Citizen’s National Bank; J. A. Schwabe & Co., merchants; J. A. DeGruyter, ex-Mayor; A. H. Boyd, M. D.; E. W. Staunton, Clerk Kanawha County Court; M. F. Compton, Pastor State St. M. E. Church; T. C. Johnson, Pastor Charleston Baptist Church; Coyle & Richardson, merchants; J. H. Gaines, United States District Attorney; Sterrett Brothers, merchants; N. S. Burlew, merchant; Joel H. Ruffner, merchant; M. P. Ruffner, merchant; E. G. Pierson, senator; B. R. Winkler, member City Council; Flournoy, Price & Smith, lawyers; Abney, Barnes & Co., wholesale merchants; Sam D. Littlepage, member of City Council; D. W. Shaw, Pastor Simpson M. E. Church; J. McHenry Jones, President West Virginia Colored Institute; Jas. M. Canty, J. C. Gilmer, Byrd Prillerman, S. W. Starks, J. M. Hazelwood, Phil. Waters, C. W. Hall, Judge Criminal Court; C. W. Boyd, Principal Garnet School; B. S. Morgan, member of City Council.”
This invitation to accept a reception from the citizens of Charleston, W. Va., where I had spent my boyhood days, was a very satisfactory surprise. When I left Charleston, and when I left Malden, which is very near Charleston, I was quite a boy and had not been able to spend any great length of time there since I had first left to enter the Hampton Institute.