Another of his stories was about a good old negro who accompanied Washington on one of his tours. At a certain city they found that they had several hours before the train left; so this old man decided to stroll about to see the town. Presently, he looked at his watch and found that it was just about time for his train to leave, and he was some distance from the station. He rushed to a hack stand, and called out to the first driver he came to, who happened to be a white man, “Hurry up, and take me to the station; I’s gotta get the 4:32 train.” To which the white driver replied, “I ain’t never drove a nigger in my hack yit, an’ I ain’t goin’ ter begin now. You can git a nigger driver ter take ye down.”[24] To this the old colored man replied with perfect good nature, “All right, my friend, we won’t have no misunderstanding or trouble; I’ll tell you how we will settle it; you jest hop in on der back seat an’ do der ridin’ an’ I’ll set in front an’ do der drivin’.” In this way they reached the station on good terms, and the old man caught his train. Like this old negro, Washington always devoted his energies to catching the train, and it made little difference to him whether he sat on the front or back seat. Two other speeches of Washington attracted wide attention. One of these was delivered in Boston in 1897, at the time of the dedication of a monument to Robert Gould Shaw. Shaw was the Colonel of the famous negro regiment of soldiers from Massachusetts in the Civil War. It was in this regiment that Sergeant William H. Carney served,—the man who triumphantly carried the flag in the great battle of Fort Wagner, and exclaimed after the fight, “The old flag never touched the ground!” Colonel Shaw lost his life in the battle of Fort Wagner, while leading his negro regiment. The people of Boston erected a monument to his memory, and Washington’s speech at its dedication was one of the greatest he ever made. One other speech was delivered in Chicago in 1898 at a great Peace Celebration, following the close of the Spanish-American War. There was an enormous crowd—the largest he ever spoke to, Washington says. There were sixteen thousand people present. President McKinley was there, together with several cabinet members and other distinguished guests. “The President was sitting in a box at the right of the stage,” says Washington. “When I addressed him I turned to the box, and as I finished the sentence thanking him for his generosity, the whole audience rose and cheered again and again, waving hats and handkerchiefs and canes, until the President arose in the box, and bowed his acknowledgments. At that the enthusiasm broke out again, and the demonstration was almost indescribable.”[25]