“Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute” is a tree whose fruit may be speedily beheld, not only by those who planted it, but by those also who cultivate or enrich it. It is a paying investment. Every year it sends its roots deeper and stretches its boughs out farther. It commends itself to the practical Christian sentiment of the South. It is a peace-making force throughout this section. Its attitude towards all Southern questions is intelligent, considerate and just; it gives no sympathy to fanaticism on either side, and nothing but discouragement to political schemers. It sends out every summer the wholesome leaven of a class of young men and women who have been trained to teach intelligently; to use their hands as well as their heads; to see the dignity of labor; to accept the situation, and not to be ashamed of their color. In short, they are trained to the work that lies before them, and not trained away from it. It is a rare thing for a graduate of the Normal School to enter into political life. Not one has been known to be a demagogue. The standard set before them is that of a hard-working Christian manhood; and it must be said that they bid fair to make the best citizens we have, in a time when the great demand is for men who will not work for an office, but who will work honestly for a living. Our country seems to be crying for a further supply of that article which forms the staple and the grit of nations--a contented, practical manhood--the “_vir integer vitæ_” of Horace, re-inforced by grace. It is that demand which Hampton is seeking to meet, and does meet, with its yearly class of graduates. Many years ago all England was startled by the arraignment of an educated gentleman for stealing; he was a graduate of Oxford; he plead guilty, but said it was his only resource; he had not been able to find any business by which he could support himself honestly. Since then the history of our financial institutions has made it appear that this gentleman was not alone in his unhappy predicament; there has been a world of college education which has not fitted its beneficiaries to gain an honest livelihood. It has given them the accomplishments of a social rank, but not the power to earn that rank; it has simply made them miserable. It has done worse even: it has left them in the midst of a moral snare. It is the grand miscalculation of our educational system. Here are millions of acres at the South waiting to be reclaimed by skilful hands; here are thousands of educated men who cannot find an honest self-supporting business. The lever of education is not applied at the right place. It is the merit of Hampton that it does apply the lever at the right place. It trains the hand as well as the head. It fits a man to take up the work God has placed before him. It gives him the conditions on which a Christian life may flourish.