A Boys' Life of Booker T. Washington/Chapter 14
CHAPTER XIV
VISITS TO EUROPE
Washington was a great traveler. He was away from his home at least half of each year and often more than that. He traveled principally in the North, making speeches and interviewing people who might help Tuskegee. While on these trips, he did most of his reading and writing. He was very fond of newspapers and magazines. When he started on a long journey, he surrounded himself with a large number of papers and magazines and books, which he thoroughly enjoyed. History was his favorite field of reading outside of newspapers and magazines. He was especially fond of biography—of reading about real men, men of action and thought and great talents. Much of his greatest inspiration as a boy came from reading the lives of great men. Lincoln was his greatest hero. He said that he had read practically every recorded word of Lincoln's.
Washington also did much of his writing on these trips. He kept his stenographer with him all the time, and, when he was not reading, he was usually dictating a speech, or a letter, or an article for a magazine. A large part of his greatest book, "Up from Slavery," was written while he was on the train or waiting at stations between trains. It is remarkable that he should have been able to accomplish so much under such circumstances, for traveling was hard work. He often had to get up in the middle of the night to catch a train and then ride all day, often without Pullman accommodations. He said that he had slept in three different beds in one night, so broken was his rest and so often did he have to change trains in order to keep engagements. Undoubtedly it was this hard traveling that helped to break down his great strength and wear him out.
In 1899 he made a speech in Boston, and some of his friends noticed that he seemed extremely tired. He remained in Boston several days. One day during his stay a friend asked him if he had ever been to Europe. He replied that he had not. He was asked very casually whether he thought that he would enjoy a trip to Europe. He said that he certainly would, but he did not ever expect to have such a pleasure. A day or two later some of his friends came to him and told him they had a little surprise for him, that they had made arrangements for him and his wife to go to Europe in the summer and spend several months on a vacation.
Washington was very greatly surprised. He thanked his friends very cordially for their interest but told them that he could not afford to take the trip. Whereupon they told him that all the money for the expenses of the trip had already been raised, and that it would not cost him a cent. He thanked them again very sincerely but told them he could not think of leaving his work that long,—that money had to be raised for Tuskegee, and that he had to stay right on the job to get it. Then they told him that a group of his friends had already raised enough money to keep Tuskegee going until he got back. He then gave another excuse. He was afraid people would say that he was "stuck up"; that since he had made some success in the world he was trying to show off and play the big man. His friends told him that sensible people would not think such a thing, and that he need not bother about the people who had no sense. Washington thought, too, that he had no right to quit work so long. He had worked all his life. There was a world of work yet he had to do. To go off on a vacation of several months, when there was so much to be done, and when other people were at work, seemed wrong to him. But he realized finally that a reasonable amount of rest, when one is tired, means more and better work in the long run.
So it came about that, on May 10, 1899, Washington and his wife went aboard the ship Friesland in New York harbor and sailed for Europe. It was a wonderful experience for Washington. In the first place, as he went aboard the ship, he received a message from two of his friends telling him that they had decided to give him the money to build a magnificent new building at Tuskegee. That was a good "send-off." Washington was a bit uneasy about how people would treat him aboard ship. He knew what unfortunate experiences some members of his race had had in times past. But the captain received him cordially, and everybody on board was exceedingly courteous to him and to his wife in every way.
Washington on his way to Europe! It seemed to him like a dream. Again and again he had thought of Europe,—much as he did of heaven,—a goodly place, but far away. It had never even occurred to him that he would ever go to Europe. And now he was on his way! He was like a schoolboy; he was happy over the prospect of a wonderful trip.
He did not get seasick on the voyage, as most of the passengers did. The weather was fine, and he had a glorious voyage. But he did not know how tired and worn out he was until he relaxed. About the second day he began to sleep, and he says that from then on until they landed he slept at least fifteen hours every day. He continued the habit of long hours devoted to sleep all the time he was gone, and it was one of the means by which he restored his depleted strength.
After a fine voyage of ten days, they landed at Antwerp, a famous old city of Belgium. Here they spent a few quiet days, finding it extremely interesting to observe the people with their dress and manners and customs, different from anything they had ever seen before.
Then they went on a delightful journey through the picturesque country of Holland. Washington, always interested in farming and especially dairy farming, was greatly delighted on this trip. On every hand were the wonderful farms of the Dutch. He had never seen such intensive cultivation of land. Every foot of ground was used. Vegetables were grown in boxes, one row above another, on the back porches of the houses, so precious was the scarce land. Ten or twelve acres was a good big farm. Coming from a country where land is so abundant and cheap and so extravagantly wasted and so carelessly cultivated, these beautiful farms were a delight to him. And the herds of fine Holstein cattle pleased him immensely. He loved cows; and these seemed to be the finest herds he had ever seen in his life.
Out of Holland and back into the historic and now heroic Belgium, the party went, going to Waterloo, the famous battlefield of Napoleon's defeat, and to other places of interest; and from here to Paris, the gayest and brightest of all the cities of Europe, the capital of France.
While in Paris, Washington met a number of distinguished Americans. He made two or three important speeches and was given a reception by the American ambassador at Paris. He met ex-President Harrison, General Horace Porter, our ambassador, Justices Fuller and Harlan, of the United States Supreme Court, and other distinguished men, all of whom were most cordial and friendly.
The American whom he found most interesting in Paris, however, was a negro—Henry O. Tanner. Tanner is an artist, a painter. He is the son of the beloved Bishop Tanner and was born in America. He showed marked talent for painting in his youth. When he grew up, he determined to go to the greatest city in the world for art. He went to Paris and became so successful in his work that he has continued to live there. He has several paintings in the Louvre, the greatest and most exclusive art gallery in the world. A picture cannot be put in the Louvre unless it is recognized and accepted as a great work of art. Washington spent much time with Tanner and was greatly pleased to see what marked success had been won by this American negro. He took it as proof of his contention that, when a negro proves himself really worthy, he will be recognized and honored, for Tanner enjoyed the esteem and regard of all his associates, regardless of race. And they esteemed him because of his worth, and not because of his color.
From Paris the Washingtons went to London. Here they visited many places of historic interest,—the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, and the House of Commons. They met many interesting people,—the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, Joseph H. Choate, American ambassador to England, Henry M. Stanley, the great African explorer, with whom Washington conversed at length. They were also received by Queen Victoria, at Windsor Castle.
It had been a wonderful trip. Washington had learned many lessons from the Old World. He had seen and talked with men who helped him in the better understanding of his own great task. He had had a wonderfully good time. He was thoroughly rested—a new man. He plunged into his work again upon his return with great vigor and enthusiasm.
Washington made two other trips to Europe during his lifetime. The second one was largely like the first—a trip for recreation and pleasure and rest. But the third trip was undertaken with a serious purpose. He wanted to see how the poor people of Europe lived, and how their living conditions compared with those of the working-man in the United States. He was particularly anxious to see how conditions there compared with those affecting the negro population of the South. He also wanted to see whether or not he could find anything in Europe that would justify the system of education he had established at Tuskegee. So this time he left the usual highways of travel and went far into the interior, visiting the peasant in his hut, in the remotest regions of the country,—the miner toiling underground, the laborer in the quarry, and the poor man at his work whatever it was and wherever he could be found. He visited the farms in the remote parts of Poland, Austria, and Italy. He went to the sulphur mines in Campo Franco. At Catania he saw the grape harvest and the men barelegged, treading the wine press as they did in Bible times.
In a very remote part of Poland, away up in the mountains, he stopped at a little thatched-roof cottage. Desiring to see how the place looked on the inside, he knocked at the door. In response a man opened the door, and Washington said something to him in English, thinking, of course, that the man would not understand, but that he would be able to see inside the hut. To his utter astonishment, the man answered him in English. Upon further conversation, he found that this man had once lived in Detroit, Michigan.
When he was in the mines at Campo Franco, Sicily, he by chance met a man who had once worked in the mines near Malden, West Virginia, where Washington himself had worked when a boy. The world is not such a big place after all!
As a result of his observations of conditions in Europe, Washington came to the conclusion that the negro in the South is, generally speaking, in far better condition than the peasant of Europe. He also noted that, wherever conditions were fairly good, where the natives owned the land and had developed reasonably good farming conditions, there was no emigration from that region to America. But where conditions were bad, where farms were not well kept, where the people were not permitted or encouraged to own their own homes, from such sections there was always much emigration to America. In other words, good local conditions, land ownership, good schools, and so on, tended to make the people happy, contented, and desirous of remaining where they were. In this fact he saw a great lesson for his own people. He believed that the South is the home of the negro, that here it is possible for him to do his best. He was, therefore, tremendously anxious for the negroes to learn how to cultivate the soil to the best possible advantage, to buy land, to build schools, to establish churches, and in every way to become real citizens of the country where they were.
Washington wrote an interesting book describing all that he saw and learned on this trip. It is called, "The Man Farthest Down." As stated before, he pointed out that there were many, many people "farther down" than the American negro; that compared to most of the people of Europe, he ought to be exceedingly thankful that his condition is as good as it is. Of course he did not mean by this that conditions with the negro were what they ought to be; but that the negro should be thankful for the progress that he has made; that he should take courage, and go forward to better things.
The most interesting experience of this trip to Europe was his visit to the King and Queen of Denmark, at Copenhagen. On his first visit to the palace he was received by the King. Washington was much impressed by the King's cordiality and simplicity, by his knowledge of America, and by his acquaintance even with the work Washington was doing at Tuskegee. At the close of the interview, the King invited him to dine at the palace that night.
Now the invitation of a king is the same as a command, and one is always expected to accept. Of course Washington was delighted to accept this invitation.
Washington spent the rest of the day preceding the dinner hour visiting the country people near Copenhagen. He was late getting home, and he was terrified when he realized that he might be late for dinner. To keep the King and Queen waiting would be a terrible offense. He dressed as rapidly as he could. But in his haste, he pulled his necktie to pieces,—the only one he had fit for the occasion! He pinned it together the best he could and put it on; but he says that he was in great distress throughout the dinner lest the tie come to pieces again.
He reached the palace just in time for the dinner. He was taken directly to the King, who led him to where the Queen was standing, and presented him to her. She was very cordial and gracious. She spoke English perfectly; and Washington was again surprised to find that she, too, was thoroughly familiar with affairs in the United States, and that she also knew about Tuskegee.
There was a very distinguished group of people present. The dinner was given in the magnificent Summer Palace, and everything was truly royal in its elegance and splendor. Washington says, "As I ate food for the first time in my life out of gold dishes, I could not but recall the time when as a slave boy I ate my syrup from a tin plate."[1]
- ↑ "Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization," by Scott and Stowe, p. 157.