remembered only that I was on fire constantly with one ambition, and
that was to go to Hampton. This thought was with me day and
night. . . .

In the fall of 1872 I determined to make an effort to get there,
although, as I have stated, I had no definite idea of the direction in
which Hampton was, or of what it would cost to go there. I do not
think that any one thoroughly sympathized with me in my ambition to go
to Hampton unless it was my mother, and she was troubled with a grave
fear that I was starting out on a "wild-goose chase." At any rate, I
got only a half-hearted consent from her that I might start. The small
amount of money that I had earned had been consumed by my stepfather
and the remainder of the family, with the exception of a very few
dollars, and so I had very little with which to buy clothes and pay my
travelling expenses. . . .

Finally the great day came, and I started for Hampton. I had only a
small, cheap satchel that contained what few articles of clothing I
could get. My mother at the time was rather weak and broken in health.
I hardly expected to see her again, and thus our parting was all the
more sad. She, however, was very brave through it all. At that time
there were no through trains connecting that part of West Virginia with
eastern Virginia. Trains ran only a portion of the way, and the
remainder of the distance was travelled by stage-coaches.

The distance from Maiden to Hampton is about five hundred miles. I had
not been away from home many hours before it began to grow painfully
evident that I did not have enough money to pay my fare to
Hampton. . . .