A boys' life of Booker T. WashingtonJackson, Walter Clinton
History
A boys' life of Booker T. Washington
Jackson, Walter Clinton
African American educators -- Biography -- Juvenile literature; Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915 -- Juvenile literature
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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