"Porter Hall" they called it—of brick; so they went out to make the brick right there. The students did not like this work. It was hard and it was dirty. However, they went at it and, after several trials, found some brick clay.
They molded the brick, built the kiln, fired it, and waited. When the burning was done, they found that they had made a complete failure. None of the brick could be used. At once they built another kiln. This also turned out to be a failure. Some of them were discouraged at this, and said: "Let's quit." But others said: "We must succeed." So a third kiln was built. This kiln seemed to be burning splendidly when suddenly, on the last night, it fell.
This was surely discouraging, but Washington was not to be stopped by failure. He was now without a dollar to continue this work. He happened to think, however, of a watch he owned. He took the watch to Montgomery, Alabama, near by, pawned it for fifteen dollars, came home, called the workers together once more, built another kiln, and this time the kiln was a success.
Later, when he went back to get his watch, it was gone; but he never regretted losing it in such a good cause.
Now that he was successful in making bricks, the work progressed on the buildings, and soon Porter Hall was finished, and other buildings were started.
