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William Makiell to Alice Mary Longfellow
Manuscript letter
[printed letterhead: Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute]
Tuskegee, Ala.,
Dear Miss Longfellow:
I have been requested by Mrs. Washington to write a scholarship letter, as each year each student is required to write one.
The vacation following my first year in school, or last summer was partly spent here at school, while the other part was spent a place about twenty miles from the school called Union Springs. The time I spent here on the school grounds, I worked the home farm which was instruced [sic] by Mr. Chas. W. Greene. one of the best instructors that a person would want to be governed by. While on the farm I was put in charge in the gathering of all the vegetables. My instructor said as I was getting ready to leave him that he never had a boy who kept the business up so well before. After remaining here in the school grounds for about one month and a half at work on the farm I went to the place already named and there I remained with my people until school opened, which was in the twelvth [sic] of September. While in Union Springs I spent the greater part of my time in preparing for the next years work. And this time I was not engaged in my studies I would assist mother in whatever there was [p. 2] to be done. I attended Sunday School and church and lent a helping hand anywhere that saw it was most needed. I was several times called upon to speak, and each time I tried to carry out the Tuskegee spirit. While there in Union Springs I got a young man to come back with me to school, I hope some day he will make a man of himself. Finally the time came for me to come to school again, and so on the morning of the twelvth [sic] of September I left, and arrived in Tuskegee on the same day half after one o’clock.
This is my A Middle year, being next to the graduating class. To my judgment this year in the Normal Course is the hardest and it requires a great deal of studying and it requires a great deal of studying to accomplish the years work.
As this is an industrial school, every one that comes here is required to learn some kind of a trade, and I think it well serves it purpose. I have chosen for my choice the carpenter’s trade and so far I have made considerable progress in it. There are three principal branches in this trade, viz--, The cabnet making, carpentering, and repairing. Out of all I think the repairing is of the most important, for in this department one has the chance of coming in contact with every kind of wood work, therefore learning [p. 3] all there is to be known in either of the three divisions. Again one not only learn to make articles but to repair the same.
We have on the grounds among the young men and ladies also a half a dozen or more different debating clubs, and three or four christian associations. The christian associations for the young men are the Y. M. C. A. and the Christian Endeavor, the young ladies attending the latter as well as the young men. I am proud to say that I am a member of them both. I also belong to one of the debating clubs called the Willing Workers. It has a membership of about fifty young men, and is growing each year not only in membership but in strength.
I am trying to make such a man of myself that Tuskegee and her friends will not feel that their efforts for me have been wasted.
Thanking you for all that you have done for me and all that you may do, I remain.
Yours gratefully,
William Makiell.
Tuskegee, Ala.,
Dear Miss Longfellow:
I have been requested by Mrs. Washington to write a scholarship letter, as each year each student is required to write one.
The vacation following my first year in school, or last summer was partly spent here at school, while the other part was spent a place about twenty miles from the school called Union Springs. The time I spent here on the school grounds, I worked the home farm which was instruced [sic] by Mr. Chas. W. Greene. one of the best instructors that a person would want to be governed by. While on the farm I was put in charge in the gathering of all the vegetables. My instructor said as I was getting ready to leave him that he never had a boy who kept the business up so well before. After remaining here in the school grounds for about one month and a half at work on the farm I went to the place already named and there I remained with my people until school opened, which was in the twelvth [sic] of September. While in Union Springs I spent the greater part of my time in preparing for the next years work. And this time I was not engaged in my studies I would assist mother in whatever there was [p. 2] to be done. I attended Sunday School and church and lent a helping hand anywhere that saw it was most needed. I was several times called upon to speak, and each time I tried to carry out the Tuskegee spirit. While there in Union Springs I got a young man to come back with me to school, I hope some day he will make a man of himself. Finally the time came for me to come to school again, and so on the morning of the twelvth [sic] of September I left, and arrived in Tuskegee on the same day half after one o’clock.
This is my A Middle year, being next to the graduating class. To my judgment this year in the Normal Course is the hardest and it requires a great deal of studying and it requires a great deal of studying to accomplish the years work.
As this is an industrial school, every one that comes here is required to learn some kind of a trade, and I think it well serves it purpose. I have chosen for my choice the carpenter’s trade and so far I have made considerable progress in it. There are three principal branches in this trade, viz--, The cabnet making, carpentering, and repairing. Out of all I think the repairing is of the most important, for in this department one has the chance of coming in contact with every kind of wood work, therefore learning [p. 3] all there is to be known in either of the three divisions. Again one not only learn to make articles but to repair the same.
We have on the grounds among the young men and ladies also a half a dozen or more different debating clubs, and three or four christian associations. The christian associations for the young men are the Y. M. C. A. and the Christian Endeavor, the young ladies attending the latter as well as the young men. I am proud to say that I am a member of them both. I also belong to one of the debating clubs called the Willing Workers. It has a membership of about fifty young men, and is growing each year not only in membership but in strength.
I am trying to make such a man of myself that Tuskegee and her friends will not feel that their efforts for me have been wasted.
Thanking you for all that you have done for me and all that you may do, I remain.
Yours gratefully,
William Makiell.
Archives Number: 1007.001/002.003-001#105
U. S. National Park Service
Permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this website.
Courtesy of National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site; Archives Number 1007.001/002.003-001#105
Public domain
Manuscripts (1007.001), (LONG-Subcollection)
, Correspondence (1007.001/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Scholarship Student Correspondence (1007.001/002.003), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, Letters to Alice Longfellow (1007.001/002.003-001), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Correspondence (1007.001/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Scholarship Student Correspondence (1007.001/002.003), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, Letters to Alice Longfellow (1007.001/002.003-001), (LONG-FileUnitName)
Image
Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Code: LONG
Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Latitude: 42.3769989013672, Longitude: -71.1264038085938
Latitude: 42.3769989013672, Longitude: -71.1264038085938
NPS Museum Number Catalog : LONG 16173
Title: Finding Aid to the Alice Mary Longfellow (1850-1928) Papers, 1855-1965 (bulk dates: 1873-1928)
URL: https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/archives.htm#AML
URL: https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/archives.htm#AML
20200826
Manuscript letter in Alice Mary Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, C. Scholarship Student Correspondence, 1874-1925
Organization: Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: LONG_archives@nps.gov
Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: LONG_archives@nps.gov
Monday, May 23, 2022 8:54:20 PM
Monday, May 23, 2022 8:54:20 PM
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