I was completely out of money when I graduated. In company with other
Hampton students, I secured a place as a table waiter in a summer hotel
in Connecticut, and managed to borrow enough money with which to get
there. I had not been in this hotel long before I found out that I
knew practically nothing about waiting on a hotel table. The head
waiter, however, supposed that I was an accomplished waiter. He soon
gave me charge of a table at which there sat four or five wealthy and
rather aristocratic people. My ignorance of how to wait upon them was
so apparent that they scolded me in such a severe manner that I became
frightened and left their table, leaving them sitting there without
food. As a result of this I was reduced from the position of waiter to
that of a dish-carrier.

But I determined to learn the business of waiting, and did so within a
few weeks, and was restored to my former position. I have had the
satisfaction of being a guest in this hotel several times since I was a
waiter there.

At the close of the hotel season I returned to my former home in
Malden, and was elected to teach the coloured school at that place.
This was the beginning of one of the happiest periods of my life. I
now felt that I had the opportunity to help the people of my home town
to a higher life. I felt from the first that mere book education was
not all that the young people of that town needed. I began my work at
eight o'clock in the morning, and, as a rule, it did not end until ten
o'clock at night. In addition to the usual routine of teaching, I
taught the pupils to comb their hair, and to keep their hands and faces
clean, as well as their clothing. I gave special attention to teaching
them the proper use of the toothbrush and the bath.