three-story dormitory. Another notable {pg 207} structure in the
group is the Ballard School Building, every nail in which was driven
by the students. About these larger buildings are grouped the Ballard
Industrial shops and cottages.

Three hundred and twenty-six students were enrolled at Tougaloo the
past year. The steady growth in the attendance more than keeps pace
with the increase in accommodations. They come from all parts of
Mississippi, Yazoo County of terrible memories furnishing a
representation notable for its numbers. Arkansas, Louisiana and
Tennessee are represented.

A MISSISSIPPI MYSTERY.

Nowhere in the South is the negro so totally a nonentity in politics
as in Mississippi, and yet nowhere in the South is there a colored
institution so heartily commended as is Tougaloo University by the
white Mississippians. This seems odd, hardly credible. Tougaloo is not
a State institution. Mississippi has a system of instruction including
a normal school and other departments for colored youth. And yet every
Legislature makes an appropriation for Tougaloo. The institution's
management reports the use made of the money, and the Governor
appoints a Board of Visitors. This is the extent of State supervision,
and still Mississippi continues to make biennially an appropriation
for the university. The last Legislature cut down the amount somewhat,
but it cut some of the white institutions worse than it did Tougaloo.

Perhaps a stronger evidence of the esteem in which this university is
held by white Mississippi is the social consideration bestowed upon
those connected with the institution. The prejudice which ostracises