woodwork, about the walls, and over the table and benches. When she
was unable to find one bit of dirt on the floor, or a particle of dust
on any of the furniture, she quietly remarked: "I guess you will do to
enter this institution."

I was one of the happiest souls on earth. The sweeping of that room
was my college examination, and never did any youth pass an examination
for entrance into Harvard or Yale that gave him more genuine
satisfaction. I have passed several examinations since then, but I
have always felt that this was the best one I ever passed. . . .

Life at Hampton was a constant revelation to me; was constantly taking
me into a new world. The matter of having meals at regular hours, or
eating on a tablecloth, using a napkin, the use of the bathtub and of
the toothbrush, as well as the use of sheets upon the bed, were all new
to me. . . .

I sometimes feel that almost the most valuable lesson I got at the
Hampton Institute was in the use and value of the bath.

For some time, while a student at Hampton, I possessed but a single
pair of socks, but when I had worn these till they became soiled, I
would wash them at night and hang them by the fire to dry, so that I
might wear them again the next morning.

The charge for my board at Hampton was ten dollars per month. I was
expected to pay a part of this in cash and to work out the remainder.
To meet this cash payment, as I have stated, I had just fifty cents
when I reached the institution. Aside from a very few dollars that my
brother John was able to send me once in a while, I had no money with