As those acquainted with the history of Tuskegee know, the school started in 1881 in an humble church and two shanties in the town of Tuskegee. There was then one teacher with thirty pupils; no land, no buildings, no apparatus, nothing but the $2,000 appropriated by the State for the payment of salaries. There are now over one hundred persons connected with the school in the capacity of instructors of some kind, nearly 1,200 pupils, including those attending the Training School; more than forty buildings erected by student labor, 2,600 acres of land, and a property valued at $225,000, unincumbered by mortgage. [Illustration: ALABAMA HALL. _Built by Students._] This marvelous growth is due mainly to one man, Booker T. Washington, the principal of the school; and his success may be attributed to a combination of qualities--marked executive ability, high enthusiasm, keen, prophetic vision, and a wonderful power to see and to state the value of things commonly considered of small account. Some one has characterized Mr. Washington as "the man with a genius for common sense," and, probably, one might use many words in telling of him without giving so good a description as that conveyed in this terse expression. [Illustration: PHELPS HALL. _Built by Students._] Tuskegee stands for the education of the head, the hand, and the heart, the three H's which include the three R's and much more. It gives a good Normal course, which fits one fairly well for the race of life, or serves as an excellent foundation for a more advanced course. Stress is laid on the study of pedagogy and practice in the training school; for the institution acts on the theory, which in most cases is correct, that these young people, after graduation, will teach at some time, whether or not during their schooldays they expect to do so, and, therefore, protects the future pupils of these embryo teachers by requiring every one who aspires to a diploma to receive training in the theory and practice of teaching. [Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S COTTAGE. _Built by Students._] The Phelps Hall Bible School, connected with the Tuskegee Institute, is the gift of a Northern friend, and is designed especially to help the ministers of the South, among whom it is doing a great work. Many pastors in charge of churches, learning of the advantages of the institution and the possibility of getting through school with very little money, resign their churches to come here and better fit themselves for the work. Others, nearer, enter the school and trudge several miles on Saturday or Sunday to meet and minister to their congregations. Those not pastoring churches while in school, carry on some form of mission work, and so keep in touch with the people and help lift up others even while they are being lifted up.