The students were very proud of these certificates. It was not long before everybody at Hampton was talking about the “Plucky Class.” In a little while there were twenty-five in the group. The number kept on growing the next year, and in a few years the class had several hundred members. It is a big part of Hampton and Tuskegee to-day, for Washington used the same idea at Tuskegee. Washington had a way of succeeding in everything he undertook. This was because he determined to succeed and worked so hard and so well that success was certain. CHAPTER VII BUILDING A GREAT SCHOOL At Hampton the chapel exercises were at night. Here they sang the beautiful old negro melodies and listened to a talk by General Armstrong, or some other good speaker. One Sunday night in May, 1881, after the regular exercises, General Armstrong, who had a way of taking the students into his confidence as well as keeping them informed of matters of interest to the race, announced that he had received a very interesting letter. He then told them that the Legislature of Alabama at its last session had set aside some money for the establishment of a negro normal school, and that they were looking for a man to be the head of this school and that he had been asked to recommend such a man. Of course they wanted a white man. However, the next day General Armstrong sent for Booker Washington and said: “Washington, you heard the announcement last night about the men in Alabama who want a man to be the head of their school. I have decided that you are the man for them. Will you take the place if it is offered to you?” This was surely a great surprise, but Booker Washington was always ready. He said: “I think I can fill the place, and I am willing to try.” General Armstrong wrote at once about Washington. The next Sunday night, during the chapel exercises, a telegram was handed to General Armstrong. It was from the committee in Alabama. He opened it, and read it to the audience. It said: “Booker Washington will suit us. Send him at once.”[10] Washington prepared to go at once to his new field. After finishing his work at Hampton, he paid a visit to his old home at Malden, and a couple of weeks later, early in June, he arrived at Tuskegee, Alabama, to begin his new task.