me to reach school on time was to move the clock hands from half-past
eight up to nine o'clock mark. This I found myself doing morning after
morning, till the furnace "boss" discovered that something was wrong,
and locked the clock in a case. I did not mean to inconvenience
anybody. I simply meant to reach that schoolhouse in time.

When, however, I found myself at the school for the first time, I also
found myself confronted with two other difficulties. In the first
place, I found that all of the other children wore hats or caps on
their heads, and I had neither hat nor cap. In fact, I do not remember
that up to the time of going to school I had ever worn any kind of
covering upon my head, nor do I recall that either I or anybody else
had even thought anything about the need of covering for my head. But,
of course when I saw how all the other boys were dressed, I began to
feel quite uncomfortable. As usual, I put the case before my mother,
and she explained to me that she had no money with which to buy a
"store hat," which was a rather new institution at that time among the
members of my race and was considered quite the thing for young and old
to own, but that she would find a way to help me out of the difficulty.
She accordingly got two pieces of "homespun" (jeans) and sewed them
together, and I was soon the proud possessor of my first cap. . . .

My second difficulty was with regard to my name, or, rather, a name.
From the time when I could remember anything, I had been called simply
"Booker." Before going to school it had never occurred to me that it
was needful or appropriate to have an additional name. When I heard
the school-roll called, I noticed that all of the children had at least
two names, and some of them indulged in what seemed to me the
extravagance of having three. I was in deep perplexity, because I knew
that the teacher would demand of me at least two names, and I had only