{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_63620/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_63620","id":"gutenberg_63620","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63620","summary":null,"tags":["African American college students -- Conduct of life","African Americans -- Conduct of life","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Parenthood & Family Relations","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education"],"text":"Putting the Most into Life\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: _Copyright 1902 by Pach Bros._]\n\n\n\n\n  Putting the Most\n  Into Life\n\n  By Booker T. Washington\n  Author of \u201cUp from Slavery\u201d\n\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n\n  New York\n  Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.\n  Publishers\n\n\n\n\n  Copyright, 1906, by Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.\n\n  Published September, 1906\n\n\n  Composition and electrotype plates by\n  D. B. Updike, The Merrymount Press, Boston\n\n\n\n\nThe chapters in this little book were originally part of a series of\nSunday Evening Talks given by the Principal to the students of the\nTuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. They have been recast from\nthe second to the third person, and many local allusions have been cut\nout. They are now sent out, in response to repeated requests, to a\nlarger audience than that to which they were first spoken.\n\n                                        BOOKER T. WASHINGTON\n\n  Tuskegee Institute, Alabama\n  August 10, 1906\n\n\n\n\nA Table of Contents\n\n\n    I.  Health a Requisite for Effective Living                        1\n\n   II.  Some of the Qualities Essential to the most Successful\n          School Life                                                  5\n\n  III.  A Word to Prospective Teachers about putting\n          the Most into their Work                                     9\n\n   IV.  Industrial Efficiency an Aid to the Higher Life               17\n\n    V.  Making Religion a Vital Part of Living                        23\n\n   VI.  On making our Race Life count in the Life of the\n          Nation                                                      30\n\n\n\n\nPutting the Most into Life\n\n\n\n\ni\n\nHealth a Requisite for Effective Living\n\n\nThe individual who puts the most into life is the one who gets the most\nout of life. The first requisite for making life effective for one\u2019s\nself or society is a sound body. There have been many people who in\nspite of weak bodies have enriched the world by noble thought and work.\nThere has been a long line of physically weak men who have helped the\nworld onward; but the rule holds that the best work has been done by\nmen and women of vigorous health.\n\nIt is important that the Negro race in its present condition shall\nlearn just as quickly as possible how to have good, strong, healthy\nworking bodies, for so much is dependent upon them. In the world of\nindustry, the world of commerce, all mental activity and spiritual\nendeavor,--no matter in what direction one\u2019s attention or energies may\nbe turned, strong bodies are needed to meet the demand. There are a\nfew simple rules which should serve as guide-posts to those who would\nmake the most of their physical being. One of the conditions of a good,\nstrong, working body is contact with fresh air. In the early days of\nthis school, when we were housed in shacks and cabins, whatever else\nwe lacked, we were, by virtue of necessity, abundantly supplied with\nair; but now that we are getting into plastered buildings, with good\nfloors and windows and doors, there is danger of suffering from poorly\nventilated rooms and a lack of health-giving air.\n\nThose who live in the large cities would do well to become disciples\nof Wordsworth, and with him learn to know the inspiration and strength\nthat come from wood and forest,--the joy of intimate acquaintance with\nbirds and flowers. The individual who has the privilege of living on\nthe farm, and coming in contact with the earth and grass and trees and\nreal things, is the individual who, provided he has an eye to see and\nan ear to hear, is most to be envied.\n\nNext in importance to an abundance of fresh air is the habit of\nregular, systematic exercise. People often think that this kind of\nexercise costs a great deal of money, that it means costly apparatus\nand artificial fixtures. Not so. It requires no great outlay of time\nor energy for the boy on the farm to breathe deeply as he follows the\nplough or scatters the seeds. And yet, simple exercises of this kind\nare essential to the life of a race whose mortality from pulmonary\ndiseases is alarming. Every boy in the machine shop knows how necessary\nit is to keep his machinery well oiled and in good running condition.\nThen, too, every such boy knows the importance of keeping every part of\nhis machinery as clean as possible. Now, your body is a machine, but\nhow much more delicate and intricate than any made by man! how much\nmore necessary to keep it in good running condition and absolutely\nclean in order that it may do its best work!\n\nIn addition to pure air and cleanliness, I want to speak of the wearing\nof comfortable clothing as another essential to right living. I am\nglad to see that the world is fast getting away from the old habits\nthat used to enslave people in this matter of dressing--the habit\nexercised by many of wearing small shoes, for instance, until their\nfeet were cramped in severe pains merely to have the world think they\nhad small feet. What does it matter to the world whether a person has\nsmall feet or large feet? Who ever stops to think whether great poets,\nhistorians, the great workers in economic and religious life,--men\nand women who have really accomplished something,--had large or small\nfeet, whether they wore fours or eights, or wore large or small corsets\nor none. I am glad to see that all peoples and races are getting away\nfrom that kind of thing, and I want the Tuskegee students to make up\ntheir minds to buy shoes to fit no matter what the number. We consider\nthe Chinese ridiculous to keep their feet cruelly cramped in order that\nthey may be small, but many of us in somewhat less degree are guilty of\nthe same thing.\n\nThe importance of temperance has been repeated over and over again\nfrom this platform; and intemperance in eating or sleeping is not less\ndisgusting than intemperance in drink.\n\nThe world\u2019s work is to be done by men and women of vigorous intellect;\nbut the sound mind must have its foundation in a body which is kept\nclean and made comfortable by proper clothing, pure air, regular\nexercise and wholesome food. No workman, however competent, can do good\nwork unless his tools are kept in proper repair. My plea is that the\nyoung Negro students shall acquire strong working bodies to be used as\ntools to serve therewith their fellows and their Maker. This is the end\nof all living.\n\n\n\n\nii\n\nSome of the Qualities Essential to the Most Successful School Life\n\n\nThe student who would put the most into his school life must first\nof all be happy. I do not believe it is possible for a student to\naccomplish very much, certainly not the most, while he is in school,\nunless he learns to be happy in all his relations in school life. If\nthe students are unhappy there is something wrong with the institution,\nor with the teachers, or with the student body. The normal state of a\nstudent in a well-ordered institution is a happy one. It is impossible\nto get the most out of the life of any institution unless there is\njoy in working out the ideals of the institution. The student should\nmake himself familiar with the purposes of the school to which he\nseeks admission, and having made the choice, he should be loyal to its\ntraditions and purposes.\n\nThe Bible teaches over and over again that freedom, without which\nhappiness is impossible, is self-imposed restraint, that to be really\nfree we must live within the law. He who lives outside the law is a\nslave. The freeman is the man who lives within the law, whether that\nlaw be the physical or the divine. All life is governed by law, and\nthe student must acquire freedom by obedience to law. The students in\nany institution are divided into two classes: the happy, contented,\nambitious, hopeful ones, who have faith in the institution and respect\nfor its traditions, and the miserable, discontented, grumbling class.\nOne class live not only within the letter but in the spirit of the\nlaw, and are consequently happy. The second class are miserable,\ndiscontented and hopeless because they try to live outside the law.\nNo student can get much out of any institution who does not enter\nwhole-heartedly into its spirit, its traditions and its ideals.\n\nThe ability to do hard methodical work is one of the prizes which every\nschool worthy of the name offers to its students. The years at school\nnot infrequently give bent to the whole life. The student who does\nslipshod work at school is more than likely to lack direction in his\nsubsequent career. But mental strength comes not as a bequest. It is\na prize that must be contended for right earnestly, and dictionary,\ncyclopaedia, text-book and shop are tools which instructors place in\nthe hands of students to help them win the prize. The proper use of\nthese tools must depend finally upon the individual student. No one\ngets much out of life who does not make his education a real, vital\npart of himself. Many people have education very much as a parrot has\nat his command a certain number of words or sentences. The words and\nsentences that the parrot utters are no real part of him. They are\nmerely something tacked on to the parrot, and foreign to his real\nnatural make-up. Some people use education as they use their \u201cSunday\nclothes,\u201d on extra occasions only. They bring their education into\nplay when they are in the company of others, commit a few quotations\nand use big words which have no working place in their vocabulary.\nTo try to make education a real part of one\u2019s self is the way to get\nmost out of one\u2019s school life. Just as the food a man eats becomes a\npart of his blood and bone, so should education become a vital part of\nhim. Education must be digested and assimilated in order to make it\nsignificant.\n\nThe student who leaves undone immediate duties because of bodily\nlaziness is leaving happiness far behind him. Sins of commission and\nsins of omission alike tend to weakness. Our ability to make the world\nbetter depends entirely upon our ability to use every opportunity to\nmake ourselves better. A largeness of life, a variety of interests\nand breadth of view are among the prizes which a school offers to its\nstudents. These qualities the ignorant man does not possess. Largeness\nof life and breadth of vision give faith in the future; that largeness\nmakes one person take the long view when the other is taking the short\nview; that largeness lifts the educated person far above the temptation\nto gossip about little things, above the temptation to get down into\nthe mud and slime with which weaker individuals are smeared.\n\nTo be loyal and obedient to the legislation of an institution, to make\nthrifty use of text-book and shop and farm and every part of the school\nequipment, is to attain that mental strength that makes for largeness\nof life and breadth of view. These qualities come not by observation,\nbut they do come by conscientious work in season and out of season.\nThey are all within the reach of the student who is willing to work for\nthem, and they are all essential to real happiness.\n\n\n\n\niii\n\nA Word to Prospective Teachers about Putting the Most into their Work\n\n\nThe large problem of the teacher is not to impart knowledge and\nmaintain discipline. The larger problem is to bring school life and\nreal life into closer contact. With the average teacher, as with the\naverage student, there is very little connection between the school and\nlife as it is actually lived every day outside the school-room; and\nas long as this is true there will be ground for reasonable and just\ncriticism.\n\nIn the primary school, the intermediary school and the high school\nthere is often little, if any, connection between life as it is lived\nin the shop, on the farm, in business and in the home. It cannot but\nprove of mutual advantage if the teacher can bring school life into\nactual touch with the life of the people about him. The interest of\nthe parents will be increased just in proportion as they find that the\nteacher is making his instruction stimulate and vitalize conditions\noutside the school-room.\n\nIt is difficult for the parent of the country child to note the results\nof education through the usual processes and channels of knowledge.\nColored parents depend upon seeing the results of education in ways not\ntrue of the white parent. It is important then that the colored teacher\nin this generation should give special attention to bringing school\nlife into closer touch with real life. Any education is to my mind\n\u201chigh\u201d which enables the individual to do the very best work for the\npeople by whom he is surrounded. Any education is \u201clow\u201d that does not\nmake for character and effective service.\n\nThe average teacher in the public schools is very likely to yield to\nthe temptation of thinking that he is educating an individual when\nhe is teaching him to reason out examples in Arithmetic, to prove\npropositions in Geometry and to recite pages of History. He conceives\nthis to be the end of education. Herein is the sad deficiency in many\nteachers who are not able to use History, Arithmetic, Geometry as\nmeans to an end. They get the idea that the student who has mastered\na certain number of pages in a text-book is educated, forgetting that\ntext-books are at best but tools, and in many cases ineffective tools,\nfor the development of man. Modern educators are getting more and more\naway from books. Now this will be hard for the average teacher who\nhas worked out all the problems in Arithmetic and proved them by the\nanswers in the book, but I believe that the best educational thought\ntends toward the study of real things and not mere books.\n\nOne of the ways of bringing the school into closer touch with society\nis to make school surroundings, including the grounds and buildings,\nas homelike and as attractive as possible. The school-rooms are in too\nmany cases cold and barren. In schools of this sort there is little\nconnection between the home and the school. I believe that the teacher\nshould study the home surroundings of his pupils and become more\nintimately acquainted with the parents. When teachers are able to make\ntheir school-rooms inviting and are able to project their influence\ninto the home life of the pupils, there will be few absentees or\ntruants. A child cannot be expected to leave a comfortable, attractive\nand convenient home to go into a dull, inconvenient, uncomfortable\nschool-room, nor can it be expected that pupils will leave comfortable\nchairs at home and go into school-rooms where they must sit on stools\nwith their feet six or eight inches from the floor.\n\nIt is hardly necessary to say that the teacher should set the example\nfor the student in the matter of cleanliness and neatness. The teacher\nwho would preach against grease spots, rents in clothes and buttonless\njackets must see to it that he is himself without fault in these\nrespects. When I go into a school and notice that the instructor has\nbuttons off his coat, I am at once convinced that he is not the right\nteacher. I do not believe that there is much that the student can learn\nat that school that can be put into practice in real life. I believe\nthat the teacher should not only set an example himself, but that he\nshould go further than this: he should see that every boy and girl in\nhis school is familiar with the practical applications of soap and\nwater, and knows the work of the tooth-brush and the darning-needle.\nSome parents may at first resent this encroachment upon their special\ndomain, but persistence in an endeavor of this sort will finally cause\nthe parents to look upon the teacher as a new force in the community.\nThe average parent cannot appreciate how many examples Johnny has\nworked that day, how many questions in History he has answered; but\nwhen he says, \u201cMother, I cannot go back to that school until all the\nbuttons are sewed on my coat,\u201d the parent will at once become conscious\nof school influence in the home. This will be the best kind of\nadvertisement. The button propaganda tends to make the teacher a power\nin the community. A few lessons in applied Chemistry will not be amiss.\nTake grease spots, for example. The teacher who with tact can teach his\npupils to keep even threadbare clothes neatly brushed and free from\ngrease spots is extending the school influence into the home and is\nadding immeasurably to the self-respect of the home.\n\nIn the school-houses in the city, and in many of the larger towns and\ncountry districts, janitors do all the work of cleaning. This may be\nnecessary in city schools, where it is not possible for the children\nto do all the work of beautifying and cleaning the school building,\nbut when all this work is done by outsiders the children are robbed of\npart of their instruction and they thus lose a very important lesson\nin cleanliness and order which it is the duty of the teacher to give.\nThink of the time lost in the average family looking for the broom when\nthe time comes to sweep the floor. At this time all business suspends.\nMother cries out first, \u201cWhere is the broom?\u201d The older sister cries\nto John and Susie and Jane, \u201cWhere is the broom?\u201d and that kind of\nthing goes on every day in the week and year. It takes the average\nfamily from ten to twelve minutes every day to find the broom. Now,\nwe should teach a different lesson in our schools. We can teach in\nthe first place that there are two ways for the broom to be put up, a\nproper and an improper way. We can teach the children that there is\na place for the dust-pan and the dust-cloth and the match-box. The\nmatch-box is another thing that suspends business. Every night when the\nmatches are wanted, everything goes helter-skelter. This is a larger\nproblem than the broom, there being absolutely no light on the subject.\nThe children should be taught that there must be a definite place for\nthe broom and for the match-box, and it is surprising how quickly these\nlessons will be taken from the school-room into the home. Even the\nlistless parents will be roused to interest by such practical teaching.\nThe child who goes to school in a room that is clean and attractive\nwill not long be content to live in a home that is dirty and disorderly.\n\nI was recently in a school-room in South Carolina. The teacher had a\nreputation for being a well-fitted instructor, and I expected much of\nhim. He was teaching the children by the latest methods. The children\nsang well, they recited their lessons well, but the fact that one\nthird of the plastering was missing made the greatest impression\non me. I could not detect the slightest attempt on the part of the\nteacher or students to see that the plastering was restored. I should\nhave suspended school a day or two until the plastering could be\nreplaced, rather than teach day after day by silent approval a lesson\nof disorder. If the teacher is careless, the pupils will accept his\nstandards and go through life in an indifferent, slipshod manner. If\nfrom the first day they enter school they are surrounded with object\nlessons of order and cleanliness, more will have been done to educate\nthem in a large and helpful way than if they had centred their interest\nin books alone.\n\nOrder and beauty are sacrificed in many of our schools because one\nthird or one fourth of the window-glass is out. Sometimes I have seen\nobsolete hats and discarded dresses doing duty in the absence of\nwindow-glass or window-panes knocked out in order that the stovepipe\nmight be run through the broken place. The child never outlives the\nimpression made by such a sight. The parents will join their children\nin helping to patch broken plastering if the teacher will take the\nlead. When the plastering is mended, a few pictures should be placed on\nthe walls, and in this work the parents\u2019 co\u00f6peration can be depended\nupon. Teachers must put not less conscience but more thought into the\nwork for the children to whose lives they are giving direction. By\nputting into their work more of their better selves, more of their\npersonality, teachers will add not only to their own happiness and\nusefulness, but will be doing real work toward hastening the coming of\nthat kingdom for which they daily pray.\n\n\n\n\niv\n\nIndustrial Efficiency an Aid to The Higher Life\n\n\nIt was Emerson who said that \u201cOne generation clears the forests, the\nnext builds the palaces.\u201d Each generation is very anxious to engage in\nthe building of the palaces, an ambition which is altogether laudable,\nbut the forests must first be cleared or there will be no palaces. And\nso it falls to the lot of every successful individual of every race and\nnation to engage at some time or period in their existence in dealing\nin a large degree with the industrial or material affairs of life.\n\nThe forms of industry that occupy the majority of people in a civilized\ncountry may be classed under one of the following heads: first and\nperhaps most largely, the production of raw material in one form or\nanother; the second step is the manufacturing of these materials;\nthird, the problem of transportation and getting these products on\nthe markets of the world, and having them properly distributed and\neconomically and wisely consumed.\n\nThe production of cotton in the South presents a familiar example of\nall these processes. The growing of cotton is an industry largely in\nthe hands of my race; in the second step, the manufacturing of cotton,\nthe colored people have as yet little part; in putting these materials\non the market through the medium of steamboats, steam-cars, and their\ndistribution through wholesale and retail establishments, colored\npeople have diminishing interests. The lesson for all young people to\nlearn in this busy industrial age is to deal with materials, whether at\nfirst hand in getting something out of the soil, or as constructing or\ndistributing agents, so as to increase the value of the material they\nhandle and to make themselves more useful as individuals.\n\nThe main source of all productiveness is in the soil, and the work of\ngetting out of the soil all that can be gotten out of it has, in recent\nyears, made agriculture an intellectual pursuit. It is very important\nto note the progress of the world during the last few years, when\npeople have learned to put more into life by putting brains and skill\nand confidence into all industrial operations. A few years ago the\nman who was going to be a farmer made almost no preparation for his\nwork. Skill and intelligence were not considered necessary, but to-day\nin every civilized country there are institutions that have for their\nsole purpose the teaching of methods of getting everything possible\nout of the soil. A few years ago the mining of coal, copper, silver\nand gold was left to the most unintelligent, ignorant and unskilled\npeople; there was little thought or skill put into preparation for\nthis kind of work. To-day mining schools have been established in all\nimportant mining districts, and this industry has been so dignified\nthat intelligent and skilful men delight to enter it. The same thing\nis true of forestry. Within the last few months a chair of Forestry\nhas been established at Cornell University, where young men can learn\nall about the selection and cultivation of trees. The Department of\nAgriculture at Washington is spending over two million dollars yearly\nin showing people how to take care of the forests. The world is making\nall the material products serve not as masters but as servants, and\nservants in the sense that they are making people put more thought,\nmore effort, more skill into life, and enabling them thus to get more\nabundant returns wherewith to enlarge and ennoble their lives. There\nare opportunities about us on every hand. The Southern farm offers\ngreat opportunities to every young man who will use his talents. The\nidea that farming means ploughing with one mule or digging the ground\nwith a spade is fast disappearing, for this industry is developing into\na high and dignified calling. Young women of maturer races than ours\nare making large economic successes in the raising of chickens, in\nfruit growing, in raising small berries; and young colored women should\nbegin to get some of the benefits of these industries.\n\nBut the chance for material success in connection with industrial\nlife is relatively of less importance than is the chance for the\nindividual to get development through the mastering of difficulties in\nthe management of industrial operations. The mere mastering of these\ndifficulties has made many of the Captains of Industry of this country.\nPoverty discourages many a youth who starts out in the busy industrial\nworld, but the fact that others have conquered poverty is an earnest\nthat others, for centuries to come, will get courage and strength out\nof adverse struggle. The colored man starts out, it is true, with an\nadditional handicap, but here is the chance for Negro youth to learn to\nturn disadvantages to advantages. A colored man born in poverty and\nan ex-slave owns to-day one of the largest tailoring establishments\nin one of the most prominent streets in the city of Boston. This man\nhad learned the sweet uses of adversity and knew how to lay hold of\ndisadvantages. His establishment is patronized by people who buy from\nhim not in spite of the fact that he is a Negro, but because he is\na Negro. The world needs men, be they white or black, who can rise\non successive failures to useful citizenship. No person can enter\nindustrial life without for a time feeling some days of almost complete\nfailure, but mistakes and weariness beget confidence and experience.\n\nAll industrial operations and material progress should be used not as\nends but as means of making life more comfortable, more useful and\nmore beautiful. The intelligent farmer as he plants and works and\nharvests the cotton must remember that the production of cotton is not\nthe end of his effort. Every bale of cotton can be turned into books,\ninto opportunities for travel and study. The man who grows corn must\nremember that the growing of corn is not the end of life, but that the\ncorn can be turned into refinements and beauties of a civilized life\nand a Christian home.\n\nNo one can doubt that the people who have built the railroads and\nconstructed the great steamships that bind country to country have\nadded to the wealth and happiness of the world. Finally, it must be\nremembered that the mastering of difficulties should bring poise,\npurpose and vision. I want every Tuskegee student as he finds his place\nin the surging industrial life about him to give heed to the things\nwhich are \u201chonest and just and pure and of good report,\u201d for these\nthings make for character, which is the only thing worth fighting for,\neither in this life or the next.\n\n\n\n\nv\n\nMaking Religion A Vital Part of Living\n\n\nEducated men and women, especially those who are in college or other\ninstitutions of learning, very often get the idea that religion is\nfit only for the common people and beneath the interest and sympathy\nof the educated man. In too many cases they are disposed to think\nthat religion is for the weak, and that to express doubts concerning\nreligion and the future life is an indication of a vigorous,\nindependent mind. No young man or woman can make a greater error than\nthis.\n\nSome years ago, when I was in New York City, I went down to Wall Street\nto consult a friend as to methods of arranging for a large meeting.\nI wanted in this meeting to get interest centred in the work we are\ntrying to do at Tuskegee. My friend said: \u201cIf you can secure the\nco\u00f6peration of four men in New York City, the success of your meeting\nwill be assured.\u201d I went to the four men whose names had been given\nme and secured their interest and co\u00f6peration. Some weeks later there\nwas a large meeting held in New York in the interest of the Young Men\u2019s\nChristian Association movement. In looking over the list of persons who\nwere sponsors for this meeting I found the names of the four men whom\nmy Wall Street friend had mentioned. He gave me these names, however,\nwith no thought that they were leaders in the religious activity of New\nYork City. He named them chiefly because he knew their standing in the\ncommercial and business life of the city was secure, and that anything\nthey said would attract the attention of the public and would secure\nthe confidence of the people whose interest and aid we were seeking.\nAnd so it appears that the four men who at that time represented the\ncommercial and business interest of New York were men who were closely\nidentified with the religious life of the city, and were active in\nSunday-school and church work, and connected with many other agencies\nwhich had to do with the uplifting of the masses. My observation has\ntaught me that the people who stand for the most in the educational and\ncommercial world and in the uplifting of the people are in some real\nway connected with the religious life of the people among whom they\nreside.\n\nThis being true we ought to make the most of our religious life and\nto avail ourselves of certain outward helps, helps which are not\nends but aids to higher spiritual living. First the habit of regular\nattendance at some religious service should be cultivated. This is\none of the outward helps toward inward grace. Nothing is ever lost\nby this habit of systematic devotion. But one says, \u201cWhat good is\naccomplished by attending church?\u201d Another says, \u201cI stay away from\nreligious service and I am just as good as those who go.\u201d To put the\nquestion another way, Was any one ever injured by regular attendance\nupon religious services? The man who allows himself to grow careless\nabout sacred things yields to a temptation which is sure to drag him\ndown. As you value your spiritual life, see to it that you do not lose\nthe spirit of reverence for the Most High as revealed in your own life\nand experience, reverence for the Most High as revealed in the men\nand women about you, in the opening flower, the setting sun, and the\nsong of the bird. Do not mistake denominationalism for reverence and\nreligion. Religion is life, denominationalism is an aid to life.\n\nSystematic reading and prayerful study of the Bible is the second\noutward help which I would commend to those whom I wish to see make\nthe most of their spiritual life. Many people regard the Bible as\na wonderful piece of literature only. The reading of the Bible as\nliterature only brings its reward in that it throws new light on\nsecular history and gives acquaintance with men and women and ideals\nwhich have been the inspiration of the noblest things that have ever\nbeen spoken or written. Nowhere in all literature can be found a\nfiner bit of oratory than St. Paul\u2019s defence before King Agrippa.\nBut praiseworthy as this kind of study is, I do not believe it is\nsufficient. The Bible should be read as a daily guide to right living\nand as a daily incentive to positive Christian service.\n\nI think that no man who lives a merely negative religious life can ever\nknow real spiritual joy. There are many people who pride themselves\non the things they do not do. The negative Christian always suggests\na lamp-post to me. The negative Christian says he is going to heaven\nbecause he does not lie. Neither does the lamp-post. The negative\nChristian does not steal. Neither does the lamp-post steal. He does\nnot cheat, he does nothing of which he is ashamed: he is therefore\nblameless. The lamp-post has never done any one of these things. I\ndo not want the Tuskegee students to be lamp-posts in their religious\nlife, but I want them to turn their beliefs into energy that shall work\ninto every detail of their lives.\n\nNot less repulsive to me than the negative Christian is the one who is\nalways using his religion as a means of escape from something, from\nhell fire or brimstone or some less remote punishment. This class\nof Christians use religion as people use the conjurer\u2019s bag or a\ndisinfectant to ward off evil. They are not drawn to any vital thing in\nreligion; they simply use it as a cloak to shield them from harm.\n\nTo live the real religious life is in some measure to share the\ncharacter of God. The word \u201catonement,\u201d which occurs in the Bible again\nand again, means literally at-one-ment. To be at one with God is to\nbe like God. Our real religious striving, then, should be to become\none with God, sharing with Him in our poor human way His qualities\nand attributes. To do this, we must get the inner life, the heart\nright, and we shall then become strong where we have been weak, wise\nwhere we have been foolish. We are often criticised as a race because\npeople say that our religion is not real. They say that our religion\nis superficial, that in spite of our attendance at religious services\nand protestations of faith we are guilty of petty pilfering, stealing,\nlying and of walking crookedly in many directions. Whenever this\ncriticism is true it means that we have not learned what the religious\nlife really means. We must learn to incorporate God\u2019s laws into our\nthoughts and words and acts. Frequent reference is made in the Bible\nto the freedom that comes from being a Christian. A man is free just\nin proportion as he learns to live within God\u2019s laws, and he makes\ngrievous mistakes and serious blunders the minute he departs from these\nlaws.\n\nAs a race we are inclined, I fear, to make too much of the day of\njudgment. We have the idea that in some far-off period there is going\nto be a great and final day of judgment, when every individual will\nbe called up, and all his bad deeds will be read out before him and\nall his good deeds made known. I believe that every day is a day of\njudgment, that we reap our rewards daily, and that whenever we sin we\nare punished by mental and physical anxiety and by a weakened character\nthat separates us from God. Every day is, I take it, a day of judgment,\nand as we learn God\u2019s laws and grow into His likeness we shall find\nour reward in this world in a life of usefulness and honor. To do this\nis to have found the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of character\nand righteousness and peace.\n\n\n\n\nvi\n\nOn Making Our Race Life Count in the Life of the Nation\n\n\nIn the Bible one finds over and over again the words \u201ca peculiar\npeople.\u201d Reference is made to the Jews as \u201ca peculiar people,\u201d--a\npeople differing in thought and temperament and mode of life from\nothers by whom they were surrounded. Now the race to which Americans\nof African lineage belong is often described as \u201ca peculiar people,\u201d\nhaving had, as we know, a peculiar history. They differ in color and in\nappearance, and in a very large degree their temperament and thought\ndiffer from that of the people about them. Now the Jews because they\nwere different from the peoples by whom they were surrounded, because\nof their peculiar religious bent, were able to give to the world the\ndoctrine of the unity and Fatherhood of God, and Christianity, the\nfinest flower of Jewry. It is then, I think, not too much to hope that\nthe very qualities which make the Negro different from the peoples by\nwhom he is surrounded will enable him, in the fulness of time, to make\na peculiar contribution to the nation of which he forms a part.\n\nWhat that contribution is to be no man can now tell, but we must keep\nin mind that the race is made of individuals and\n\n          \u201cevery man God made\n    Is different, has some deed to do,\n    Some work to work. Be undismayed.\n    Though thine be humble, do it, too.\u201d\n\nAs with an individual, so with a race. When you and I and all the other\nindividuals that go to make up our race shall have learned to do well\nour own peculiar work, we shall be able to determine the bent of the\nrace. It must fall upon you and me, who have had opportunity to work\nout in some measure our own individual problems, to give direction\nto the race. It is for us, therefore, to bring to the enrichment of\nour lives, as individuals, every quality which we are capable of\ncultivating.\n\nThere is in the New Testament a passage which I like to refer to and to\nthink of; it reads something like this: \u201cHe that overcometh shall be\nclothed in white raiment.\u201d The expression \u201cHe that overcometh\u201d occurs\nseveral times in the New Testament. I am anxious that the Tuskegee\nstudents shall get the idea firmly fixed in their minds that there\nare definite rewards coming to the individual or to the race that\novercomes obstacles and succeeds in spite of seemingly insurmountable\ndifficulties. The palms of victory are not for the race that merely\ncomplains and frets and rails. I do not mean to say that there is not\na place for race loyalty and enthusiasm. There is a proper and vital\nplace for protests against the wrongs that are inflicted without cause\nor reason. Every race, like every individual, should be swift to\nprotest against injustice and wrongs, but no race must be content with\nmere protests. Every race must show to the world by tangible, visible,\nindisputable evidence that it can do more than merely call attention\nto the wrongs inflicted upon it. The reward of life is for those who\nchoose the good where evil calls out on every hand. That reward is\nmoral character. The more temptations resisted--the more difficult the\nstruggle--the more robust the character. The wholly innocent person is\nmuch less praiseworthy than is he who has faced temptation and has come\nout of it unscarred. The virtues of foresight and thrift and frugality,\nbrought bravely to the front, will bring large material possessions\nwhich if properly used will refine and enrich life.\n\nI am constrained to refer once more to that \u201cpeculiar people,\u201d the\nJews,--a race that has been handicapped in very much the same way as\nthe colored people. Their opportunities have been limited in many\ndirections. In Russia to-day they are in many cases debarred from\nschools and from entrance into the professions. And, notwithstanding\nthe barriers in this country, one of the most noted banking firms in\nthe United States is composed of Jews. Members of a despised race,\nthey made up their minds that in spite of difficulties they would\nnot stop to complain, but would compel recognition by making a real\ncontribution to the country of which they formed a part. The Japanese\nrace is a convincing example of the respect which the world gives to a\nrace that can put brains and commercial activity into the development\nof the resources of a country. What material difficulties the thrifty\nHollanders have had to overcome in the development of their country!\nBut the battle against water and wind has developed not only a country,\nbut an energetic, thrifty people. The Netherlands have literally been\nmade by these sturdy Hollanders, who because they overcame are looked\nupon as a great and happy people.\n\nThere is, then, opportunity for the colored people to enrich the\nmaterial life of their adopted country by doing what their hands find\nto do, minor duties though they be, so well that nobody else of any\nrace can do them better. This is the aim that the Tuskegee student\nshould keep steadily before him. If he remembers that all service,\nhowever lowly, is true service, an important step will have been taken\nin the solution of what we term \u201cthe race problem.\u201d\n\nFor it must be remembered that no individual of any race can contribute\nto the solution of any general problem until he has first worked out\nhis own peculiar problem. Some months ago I met a former schoolmate\nwhom I had not seen for a number of years. I was naturally interested\nto hear about his progress, and began to question him. I asked him\nwhere he lived, and he said he had no abiding-place, in fact he had\nlived in a half dozen places since we parted. In answer to other\nquestions, I found that he had no special trade, no special business,\nno bank account. I asked then what he had been doing in the intervening\nyears, and he answered he had been travelling about over the country,\ndoing his best to solve the race problem. That man should rather\nhave been at work at the solution of his own individual problem. An\nindividual circumstanced as he was could not solve anybody\u2019s problem.\nIt is important to have one\u2019s own dooryard clean before calling\nattention to the imperfection in the neighbor\u2019s yard. Each Negro can\nput much into the life of his race by making his own individual life\npresent a model in purity and patience, in industry and courage, in\nshowing the world how to get strength out of difficulties. The late\nPresident Garfield once said that no person ever drowned, no matter\nhow many times he was thrown overboard, who was worth saving, and that\nremark, with a few modifications, might be applied to a race. No race\nis ever lost that is worth saving, and no race need be lost that wants\nto save itself. The world is full of little people who through lack of\nwisdom and patience and perseverance merely add to the world\u2019s burdens.\nThe despised Negro has the chance to show to the world that charity\nwhich suffereth long and is kind and which never faileth. In the face\nof discouragements and difficulties the Negro must ever remember that\nnobody can degrade him. Nobody can degrade a big race or a big man. No\none can degrade a single member of any race. The individual himself\nis the only one who can inflict that punishment. Frederick Douglass\nwas on one occasion compelled to ride for several hours in a portion\nof a freight car. A friend went into the freight car to console him\nand said to him that he hated to see a man of his intelligence in so\nhumiliating a position. \u201cI am ashamed that they have thus degraded\nyou.\u201d But Douglass, straightening himself up in his seat, looked the\nfriend in the face and said, \u201cThey cannot degrade Frederick Douglass.\u201d\nAnd so they cannot degrade a single individual who does not want to\nbe degraded. Injustice cannot work harm upon the oppressed without\ninjuring the oppressor. The Negro people must live the precepts taught\nby the Christ. They must go on multiplying, day by day, deeds of\nworthiness, piling them up mountain high. And just as you and I, as\nindividuals, are called upon to serve the race of which we are a part,\nso let us as a race recognize the fact that we are a part of a great\nnation which we are bound to serve.\n\n\nThe End\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\nSimple typographical errors were corrected. Punctuation, hyphenation,\nand spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was\nfound in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.\n\nThe Frontispiece illustration is a photograph of Booker T. Washington.\nThe illustration on the Title page is decorative.","title":"Putting the Most Into Life","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":7450}