In a very remote part of Poland, away up in the mountains, he stopped at a little thatched-roof cottage. Desiring to see how the place looked on the inside, he knocked at the door. In response a man opened the door, and Washington said something to him in English, thinking, of course, that the man would not understand, but that he would be able to see inside the hut. To his utter astonishment, the man answered him in English. Upon further conversation, he found that this man had once lived in Detroit, Michigan. When he was in the mines at Campo Franco, Sicily, he by chance met a man who had once worked in the mines near Malden, West Virginia, where Washington himself had worked when a boy. The world is not such a big place after all! As a result of his observations of conditions in Europe, Washington came to the conclusion that the negro in the South is, generally speaking, in far better condition than the peasant of Europe. He also noted that, wherever conditions were fairly good, where the natives owned the land and had developed reasonably good farming conditions, there was no emigration from that region to America. But where conditions were bad, where farms were not well kept, where the people were not permitted or encouraged to own their own homes, from such sections there was always much emigration to America. In other words, good local conditions, land ownership, good schools, and so on, tended to make the people happy, contented, and desirous of remaining where they were. In this fact he saw a great lesson for his own people. He believed that the South is the home of the negro, that here it is possible for him to do his best. He was, therefore, tremendously anxious for the negroes to learn how to cultivate the soil to the best possible advantage, to buy land, to build schools, to establish churches, and in every way to become real citizens of the country where they were. Washington wrote an interesting book describing all that he saw and learned on this trip. It is called, “The Man Farthest Down.” As stated before, he pointed out that there were many, many people “farther down” than the American negro; that compared to most of the people of Europe, he ought to be exceedingly thankful that his condition is as good as it is. Of course he did not mean by this that conditions with the negro were what they ought to be; but that the negro should be thankful for the progress that he has made; that he should take courage, and go forward to better things. The most interesting experience of this trip to Europe was his visit to the King and Queen of Denmark, at Copenhagen. On his first visit to the palace he was received by the King. Washington was much impressed by the King’s cordiality and simplicity, by his knowledge of America, and by his acquaintance even with the work Washington was doing at Tuskegee. At the close of the interview, the King invited him to dine at the palace that night.