The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.9, page 682, Nov. 1908, U. of Illinois Press

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The BOOKER T. WASHINGTON papers liness of body, so that you will be unhappy and discontented unless you are absolutely sure that your body is clean. We give a great deal of attention here in all of the departments to the bathing of the body—the cleanliness of the body.We do that because we want to fasten upon you such habits in that direction that you cannot grow away from them. We want to get you so in love with a clean body during the next few months or few years, that you will be unwilling to live with a filthy body the remaining portion of your life. It is for that reason that we give a great deal of attention to careful, systematic bathing while you are here. We hope you will get certain other habits relating to the cleanliness of the body. If you do not get the habit in school of keeping your finger nails clean, you are likely to go all through life making a mistake in this respect; making yourselves offensive to other people. Learn the value of clean collars and cuffs. Learn to be clean in all things that relate to the body. If a student does not learn here the value of a tooth brush, does not get into the habit of cleaning his teeth at least twice a day, he is not likely to get hold of this habit and make an effort in that direction later in his life. We want that habit to be a part of you, so that it will be a part of your real, every-day life. Remember, as I said in the beginning, these are years of concentration, when we expect you to get hold of certain fundamental habits that will cling to you. Then these are years of concentration in reference to the strength of the body, in reference to the proper carriage of the body. We give a good deal of attention both among the girls and the boys, to the proper manner of sitting in the class rooms, at the dining room table, the proper method of walking, and of standing. You will get in the next few years habits that will help or hinder you habits that will cling to you all of your life. If you remain here, you will be taught to sit straight, to stand straight, to walk well, and to hold your body correctly. These are years of preparation when there must be concentration of the most severe nature in order that you may get out of your school life what we plan you should get out of it. These are years of concentration in reference to your growing, in economic worth and power. You are going to get certain habits, certain traits, certain information during the next few months that will make you, or should make you, more valuable from an eco68z