more a recreation than a branch of study. We were told, with evident
pride in the fact, that all the outfit we saw was purchased by the
students themselves. Not a dollar of the funds of the Association had
gone toward it. Every class-room seemed crowded. The statement that
applicants had to be turned away every week needed no confirmation.

Coming so recently from Tougaloo it was interesting to note the
difference between the two institutions. A comparison cannot be
invidious, because they belong to different states in every sense of
the word. Since the aim of the American Missionary Association is the
elevation of the colored people, there is room for a diversity of
institutions and methods. Tougaloo is admirably situated for
industrial departments. Straight has neither room nor time for them,
but meets the demand for a higher grade of scholarship, and draws its
students from a wider range and from a class who have more home
training, more money, and, therefore, more leisure for a full course
of study. They come from the whole circumference of the Gulf, from
Cuba and from Central America. Many more could be drawn from abroad
if there were room to receive them. The most inveterate hatred of
puns can hardly keep one from spelling Straight without the gh. Many
of the students are largely of Creole blood and have the traits of
Gallic ancestry well defined.

"In two respects," said our host, "I have been greatly disappointed.
I was told before I came here that I would have trouble in teaching
the pupils habits of neatness, and that they were naturally lazy. I
find them just the opposite. They are exceptionally neat and tidy
about their persons and their rooms. As for being lazy, we could not
ask for more diligent students as a rule, and they are up in the
morning earlier than we want them to be."