I worked for her about two years. She gave me an opportunity to go to school for an hour during the winter months. She sympathized with me in my efforts to get an education. And it was while I was with her that I began to acquire books.

I never gave up on my intention to go to Hampton. And my mother seemed to be the only one who sympathized with me on that idea. And she even thought it was a "wild goose chase." Even still she gave me her half-hearted blessing when I was ready to start my journey.

I only had a little money to buy some clothes and pay my travelling expenses. My brother helped some, but he didn't make much money at the coal-mine.

What touched me most, was the concern that the older colored people had in this matter. Many of them had spent their best days in slavery. They wanted to see someone from their race attend a boarding school. Some of them would give me a nickel, others a quarter, or a handkerchief.