trying ordeal that I was forced to endure as a slave boy, however, was the wearing of a flax shirt. In the portion of Virginia where I lived it was common to use flax as part of the clothing for the slaves. That part of the flax from which our clothing was made was largely the refuse, which of course was the cheapest and roughest part. I can scarcely imagine any torture, except, perhaps, the pulling of a tooth, that is equal to that caused by putting on a new flax shirt for the first time. It is almost equal to the feeling that one would experience if he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs, or a hundred small pinpoints, in contact with his flesh. Even to this day I can recall accurately the tortures that I underwent when putting on one of these garments. The fact that my flesh was soft and tender added to the pain. But I had no choice. I had to wear the flax shirt or none, and had it been left to me to choose, I should have chosen to wear no covering. In connection with the flax shirt, my brother John, who is several years older than I am, performed one of the most generous acts that I ever heard of one slave relative doi for another. On several occasions wh I was being forced to wear a new f shirt, he generously agreed to put it on my stead and wear it for several days, 1 it was "broken in." Until I had grow to be quite a youth this single garme was all that I wore. One may get the idea, from what I ha said, that there was bitter feeling towar the white people on the part of my rac because of the fact that most of the whi population was away fighting in a w which would result in keeping the neg in slavery if the South was successfu In the case of the slaves on our place th was not true, and it was not true of ar large proportion of the slave populatic in the South where the negro was treate with anything like decency. During th Civil War one of my young masters wa killed, and two were severely wounded. recall the feeling of sorrow which existe among the slaves when they heard of th death of "Mars' Billy." It was no sha sorrow, but real. Some of the slaves ha nursed "Mars' Billy ;" others had playe RUINS OF THE SALT FURNACE IN KANAWHA VALLEY WHERE BOOKER WASHINGTON WORKED AS A BOY Drawn by G. Alden Peirson. 3 ENTRANCE TO COAL-MINE IN WHICH BOOKER WASHINGTON WORKED AS A BOY Drawn by G. Alden Peirson. 66 Mars' with him when he was a child. Billy" had begged for mercy in the case of others when the overseer or master was thrashing them. The sorrow in the slave quarter was only second to that in the "big house." When the two young masters were brought home wounded, the sympathy of the slaves was shown in many ways. They were just as anxious to assist in the nursing as the family relatives of the wounded. Some of the slaves would even beg for the privilege of sitting up at night to nurse their wounded mas ters. This tenderness and sympathy on the part of those held in bondage was a result of their kindly and generous nature. In order to defend and protect the women and children who were left on the plantations when the white males went to war, the slaves would have laid down their lives. The slave who was selected to sleep in the "big house " during the absence of the males was considered to have the place of honor. Any one attempting to harm "young Mistress" or "old Mistress" during the night would have had to cross the dead body of the slave to do so. I do not know how many have noticed it, but I think that it will be found to be true that there are few instances, either in slavery or freedom, in which a member of my race has been known to betray a specific trust. As a rule, not only did the members of my race entertain no feelings of bitterness against the whites before and during the war, but there are many instances of negroes tenderly caring for their former masters and mistresses who for some reason have become poor and dependent since the war. I know of instances where the former masters of slaves have for years been supplied with money by their former slaves to keep them from suffering. I have known of still other cases in which the former slaves have assisted in the education of the descendants of their former owners. I know of a case on a large plantation in the South in which a young white man, the son of the former owner of the estate, has become so reduced in purse and self-control by reason of drink that he is a pitiable creature, and yet, notwithstanding the poverty of the colored people themselves on this plantation, they have for years supplied this young white man with the necessities of life. One sends him a little coffee or HOUSE IN MALDEN IN WHICH MR. WASHINGTON, AFTER LEAVING HAMPTON, TAUGHT H sugar, another a little meat, and so on. Nothing that the colored people possess is too good for the son of "old Mars' Tom," who will perhaps never be permitted to suffer while any remain on the place who knew directly or indirectly of 66 old Mars' Tom." I have said that there are few instances of a member of my race betraying a specific trust. One of the best illustrations of this which I know of is in the case of an ex-slave from Virginia whom I met not long ago in a little town in the State of Ohio. I found that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect that the slave was to be permitted to buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body, and while he was paying for himself he was to be permitted to labor where and for whom he pleased. Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there. When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dollars. Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any oblig tion to his master, this black man walke the greater portion of the distance bac to where his old master lived in Virgini and placed the last dollar, with interes in his hands. In talking to me about this the man told me that he knew that h did not have to pay the debt, but tha he had given his word to his master, an his word he had never broken. He fel that he could not enjoy his freedom ti he had fulfilled his promise. From some things that I have said on may get the idea that some of the slave did not want freedom. This is not true I have never seen one who did not wan to be free, or one who would return slavery. I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so un fortunate as to get entangled in the ne of slavery. I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race. No one section of our country was wholly respon MR. WASHINGTON AT THE RUFFNER HOME, MALDEN, IN 1899 ing the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery, the ten million negroes inhabiting this country, who themselves or whose ancestors went through the school of American slavery, are in a stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and religiously, than is true of an equal number of black people in any other portion of the globe. This is so to such an extent that negroes in this country, who themselves or whose forefathers went through the school of slavery, are constantly returning to Africa ask me in these days how, in the midst of what sometimes seem hopelessly discouraging conditions, I can have such faith in the future of my race in this country, I remind them of the wilderness through which, and out of which, a good Providence has already led us. Ever since I have been old enough to think for myself, I have entertained the idea that, notwithstanding the cruel wrongs inflicted upon us, the black man got nearly as much out of slavery as the white man did. The hurtful influences of the insti some tution were not by any means confined to the negro. This was fully illustrated by the life upon our own plantation. The whole machinery of slavery was so constructed as to cause labor, as a rule, to be looked upon as a badge of degradation, of inferiority. Hence labor was thing that both races on the slave plantation sought to escape. The slave system on our place, in a large measure, took the spirit of self-reliance and self-help out of the white people. My old master had many boys and girls, but not one, so far as I know, ever mastered a single trade or special line of productive industry. The girls were not taught to cook, sew, or to take care of the house. All of this was left to the slaves. The slaves, of course, had little personal interest in the life of the plantation, and their ignorance prevented them from learning how to do things in the most improved and thorough manner. As a result of the system, fences were out of repair, gates were hanging half off the hinges, doors creaked, window-panes were out, plastering had fallen but was not replaced, weeds grew in the yard. As a rule, there was food for whites and blacks, but inside the house, and on the dining-room table, there was wanting that delicacy and refinement of touch and finish which can make a home the most convenient, comfortable, and attractive place in the world. Withal there was a waste of food and other m rials which was sad. When freedom ca the slaves were almost as well fitted begin life anew as the master, except the matter of book-learning and own ship of property. The slave-owner his sons had mastered no special indus They unconsciously had imbibed the f ing that manual labor was not the pro thing for them. On the other hand, slaves, in many cases, had mastered so handicraft, and none were ashamed, a few unwilling, to labor. near Finally the war closed, and the day freedom came. It was a momentous a eventful day to all upon our plantati We had been expecting it. Freedom v in the air, and had been for mont Deserting soldiers returning to their hon were to be seen every day. Others w had been discharged, or whose regime had been paroled, were constantly passi our place. The "grape-vine te graph" was kept busy night and d The news and mutterings of great ever were swiftly carried from one plantati to another. In the fear of "Yankee" inv sions, the silverware and other valuabl were taken from the "big house," buried the woods, and guarded by trusted slave Woe be to any one who would have a tempted to disturb the buried treasur The slaves would give the Yankee soldie food, drink, clothing-anything but th |