From the time that I can remember anything, almost every day of my life
has been occupied in some kind of labour; though I think I would now be
a more useful man had I had time for sports. During the period that I
spent in slavery I was not large enough to be of much service, still I
was occupied most of the time in cleaning the yards, carrying water to
the men in the fields, or going to the mill, to which I used to take
the corn, once a week, to be ground. The mill was about three miles
from the plantation. This work I always dreaded. The heavy bag of
corn would be thrown across the back of the horse, and the corn divided
about evenly on each side; but in some way, almost without exception,
on these trips the corn would so shift as to become unbalanced and
would fall off the horse, and often I would fall with it. As I was not
strong enough to reload the corn upon the horse, I would have to wait,
sometimes for many hours, till a chance passerby came along who would
help me out of my trouble. The hours while waiting for some one were
usually spent in crying. The time consumed in this way made me late in
reaching the mill, and by the time I got my corn ground and reached
home it would be far into the night. The road was a lonely one, and
often led through dense forests. I was always frightened. The woods
were said to be full of soldiers who had deserted from the army, and I
had been told that the first thing a deserter did to a Negro boy when
he found him alone was to cut off his ears. Besides, when I was late
in getting home I knew I would always get a severe scolding or a
flogging.

I had no schooling whatever while I was a slave, though I remember on
several occasions I went as far as the schoolhouse door with one of my
young mistresses to carry her books. The picture of several dozen boys
and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study made a deep impression upon
me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in