The distance from Malden 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.

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 passers-by 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 the vessel in order to get money for food.  The captain, a white man, who seemed to be kind-hearted, consented.  I worked long enough to earn money for my breakfast, and it seems to me, as I remember it now, to have been about the best breakfast that I have ever eaten.

“My work pleased the captain so well that he told me if I desired, I could continue working for a small amount per day.  This I was very glad to do.  I continued working on this vessel for a number of days.  After buying food with the small wages I received there was not much left to add to the amount I must get to pay my way to Hampton.  In order to economize in every way possible, so as to be sure to reach Hampton in a reasonable time, I continued to sleep under the same sidewalk that gave me shelter the first night I was in Richmond.