Up from Slavery: An Autobiography
first night I slept under both of them, and the second night I slept on
top of them; but by watching the other boys I learned my lesson in
this, and have been trying to follow it ever since and to teach it to
others.
I was among the youngest of the students who were in Hampton at the
time. Most of the students were men and women—some as old as forty
years of age. As I now recall the scene of my first year, I do not
believe that one often has the opportunity of coming into contact with
three or four hundred men and women who were so tremendously in earnest
as these men and women were. Every hour was occupied in study or work.
Nearly all had had enough actual contact with the world to teach them
the need of education. Many of the older ones were, of course, too old
to master the text-books very thoroughly, and it was often sad to watch
their struggles; but they made up in earnest much of what they lacked
in books. Many of them were as poor as I was, and, besides having to
wrestle with their books, they had to struggle with a poverty which
prevented their having the necessities of life. Many of them had aged
parents who were dependent upon them, and some of them were men who had
wives whose support in some way they had to provide for.
The great and prevailing idea that seemed to take possession of every
one was to prepare himself to lift up the people at his home. No one
seemed to think of himself. And the officers and teachers, what a rare
set of human beings they were! They worked for the students night and
day, in seasons and out of season. They seemed happy only when they
were helping the students in some manner. Whenever it is written—and I
hope it will be—the part that the Yankee teachers played in the
education of the Negroes immediately after the war will make one of the
most thrilling parts of the history off this country. The time is not
far distant when the whole South will appreciate this service in a way
that it has not yet been able to do.
Chapter IV.
Helping Others
At the end of my first year at Hampton I was confronted with another
difficulty. Most of the students went home to spend their vacation. I
had no money with which to go home, but I had to go somewhere. In those
days very few students were permitted to remain at the school during
vacation. It made me feel very sad and homesick to see the other
students preparing to leave and starting for home. I not only had no
money with which to go home, but I had none with which to go anywhere.
In some way, however, I had gotten hold of an extra, second-hand coat
which I thought was a pretty valuable coat. This I decided to sell, in
order to get a little money for travelling expenses. I had a good deal
of boyish pride, and I tried to hide, as far as I could, from the other
students the fact that I had no money and nowhere to go. I made it
known to a few people in the town of Hampton that I had this coat to
sell, and, after a good deal of persuading, one coloured man promised
to come to my room to look the coat over and consider the matter of
buying it. This cheered my drooping spirits considerably. Early the
next morning my prospective customer appeared. After looking the
garment over carefully, he asked me how much I wanted for it. I told
him I thought it was worth three dollars. He seemed to agree with me as
to price, but remarked in the most matter-of-fact way: “I tell you what
I will do; I will take the coat, and will pay you five cents, cash
down, and pay you the rest of the money just as soon as I can get it.”
It is not hard to imagine what my feelings were at the time.
With this disappointment I gave up all hope of getting out of the town
of Hampton for my vacation work. I wanted very much to go where I might
secure work that would at least pay me enough to purchase some
much-needed clothing and other necessities. In a few days practically
all the students and teachers had left for their homes, and this served
to depress my spirits even more.
After trying for several days in and near the town of Hampton, I
finally secured work in a restaurant at Fortress Monroe. The wages,
however, were very little more than my board. At night, and between
meals, I found considerable time for study and reading; and in this
direction I improved myself very much during the summer.
When I left school at the end of my first year, I owed the institution
sixteen dollars that I had not been able to work out. It was my
greatest ambition during the summer to save money enough with which to
pay this debt. I felt that this was a debt of honour, and that I could
hardly bring myself to the point of even trying to enter school again
till it was paid. I economized in every way that I could think of—did
my own washing, and went without necessary garments—but still I found
my summer vacation ending and I did not have the sixteen dollars.
One day, during the last week of my stay in the restaurant, I found
under one of the tables a crisp, new ten-dollar bill. I could hardly
contain myself, I was so happy. As it was not my place of business I
felt it to be the proper thing to show the money to the proprietor.
This I did. He seemed as glad as I was, but he coolly explained to me
that, as it was his place of business, he had a right to keep the
money, and he proceeded to do so. This, I confess, was another pretty
hard blow to me. I will not say that I became discouraged, for as I now
look back over my life I do not recall that I ever became discouraged
over anything that I set out to accomplish. I have begun everything
with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with
the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot
succeed. I determined to face the situation just as it was. At the end
of the week I went to the treasurer of the Hampton Institute, General
J.F.B. Marshall, and told him frankly my condition. To my gratification
he told me that I could reenter the institution, and that he would
trust me to pay the debt when I could. During the second year I
continued to work as a janitor.
The education that I received at Hampton out of the text-books was but
a small part of what I learned there. One of the things that impressed
itself upon me deeply, the second year, was the unselfishness of the
teachers. It was hard for me to understand how any individuals could
bring themselves to the point where they could be so happy in working
for others. Before the end of the year, I think I began learning that
those who are happiest are those who do the most for others. This
lesson I have tried to carry with me ever since.
I also learned a valuable lesson at Hampton by coming into contact with
the best breeds of live stock and fowls. No student, I think, who has
had the opportunity of doing this could go out into the world and
content himself with the poorest grades.
Perhaps the most valuable thing that I got out of my second year was an
understanding of the use and value of the Bible. Miss Nathalie Lord,
one of the teachers, from Portland, Me., taught me how to use and love
the Bible. Before this I had never cared a great deal about it, but now
I learned to love to read the Bible, not only for the spiritual help
which it gives, but on account of it as literature. The lessons taught
me in this respect took such a hold upon me that at the present time,
when I am at home, no matter how busy I am, I always make it a rule to
read a chapter or a portion of a chapter in the morning, before
beginning the work of the day.
Whatever ability I may have as a public speaker I owe in a measure to
Miss Lord. When she found out that I had some inclination in this
direction, she gave me private lessons in the matter of breathing,
emphasis, and articulation. Simply to be able to talk in public for the
sake of talking has never had the least attraction to me. In fact, I
consider that there is nothing so empty and unsatisfactory as mere
abstract public speaking; but from my early childhood I have had a
desire to do something to make the world better, and then to be able to
speak to the world about that thing.
The debating societies at Hampton were a constant source of delight to
me. These were held on Saturday evening; and during my whole life at
Hampton I do not recall that I missed a single meeting. I not only
attended the weekly debating society, but was instrumental in
organizing an additional society. I noticed that between the time when
supper was over and the time to begin evening study there were about
twenty minutes which the young men usually spent in idle gossip. About
twenty of us formed a society for the purpose of utilizing this time in
debate or in practice in public speaking. Few persons ever derived more
happiness or benefit from the use of twenty minutes of time than we did
in this way.
At the end of my second year at Hampton, by the help of some money sent
me by my mother and brother John, supplemented by a small gift from one
of the teachers at Hampton, I was enabled to return to my home in
Malden, West Virginia, to spend my vacation. When I reached home I
found that the salt-furnaces were not running, and that the coal-mine
was not being operated on account of the miners being out on “strike.”
This was something which, it seemed, usually occurred whenever the men
got two or three months ahead in their savings. During the strike, of
course, they spent all that they had saved, and would often return to
work in debt at the same wages, or would move to another mine at
considerable expense. In either case, my observations convinced me that
the miners were worse off at the end of the strike. Before the days of
strikes in that section of the country, I knew miners who had
considerable money in the bank, but as soon as the professional labour
agitators got control, the savings of even the more thrifty ones began
disappearing.
My mother and the other members of my family were, of course, much
rejoiced to see me and to note the improvement that I had made during
my two years’ absence. The rejoicing on the part of all classes of the
coloured people, and especially the older ones, over my return, was
almost pathetic. I had to pay a visit to each family and take a meal
with each, and at each place tell the story of my experiences at
Hampton. In addition to this I had to speak before the church and
Sunday-school, and at various other places. The thing that I was most
in search of, though, work, I could not find. There was no work on
account of the strike. I spent nearly the whole of the first month of
my vacation in an effort to find something to do by which I could earn
money to pay my way back to Hampton and save a little money to use
after reaching there.
Toward the end of the first month, I went to a place a considerable
distance from my home, to try to find employment. I did not succeed,
and it was night before I got started on my return. When I had gotten
within a mile or so of my home I was so completely tired out that I
could not walk any farther, and I went into an old, abandoned house to
spend the remainder of the night. About three o’clock in the morning my
brother John found me asleep in this house, and broke to me, as gently
as he could, the sad news that our dear mother had died during the
night.
This seemed to me the saddest and blankest moment in my life. For
several years my mother had not been in good health, but I had no idea,
when I parted from her the previous day, that I should never see her
alive again. Besides that, I had always had an intense desire to be
with her when she did pass away. One of the chief ambitions which
spurred me on at Hampton was that I might be able to get to be in a
position in which I could better make my mother comfortable and happy.