By walking, begging rides both in wagons and in the cars, in some way,
after a number of days, I reached the city of Richmond, Virginia, about
eighty-two miles from Hampton. When I reached there, tired, hungry,
and dirty; it was late in the night. I had never been in a large city
before, and this rather added to my misery. When I reached Richmond I
was completely out of money. I had not a single acquaintance in the
place, and, being unused to city ways, I did not know where to go. I
applied at several places for lodging, but they all wanted money, and
that was what I did not have. Knowing nothing else better to do, I
walked the streets. In doing this I passed by many food-stands where
fried chicken and half-moon apple pies were piled high and made to
present a most tempting appearance. At that time it seemed to me that
I would have promised all that I expected to possess in the future to
have gotten hold of one of those chicken legs or one of those pies.
But I could not get either of these, nor anything else to eat.

I must have walked the streets till after midnight. At last I became
so exhausted that I could walk no longer. I was tired, I was hungry, I
was everything but discouraged. Just about the time when I reached
extreme physical exhaustion, I came upon a portion of a street where
the board sidewalk was considerably elevated. I waited for a few
minutes, till I was sure that no passersby could see me, and then crept
under the sidewalk and lay for the night upon the ground, with my
satchel of clothing for a pillow. Nearly all night I could hear the
tramp of feet above my head. The next morning I found myself somewhat
refreshed, but I was extremely hungry, because it had been a long time
since I had had sufficient food. As soon as it became light enough for
me to see my surroundings I noticed that I was near a large ship, and
that this ship seemed to be unloading a cargo of pig iron. I went at
once to the vessel and asked the captain to permit me to help unload