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 over 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 on 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.  Many years after that the coloured citizens of Richmond very kindly tendered me a reception at which there must have been two thousand people present.  This reception was held not far from the spot where I slept the first night I spent in the city, and I must confess that my mind was more upon the sidewalk that first gave me shelter than upon the recognition, agreeable and cordial as it was.

When I had saved what I considered enough money with which to reach Hampton, I thanked the captain of the vessel for his kindness, and started again.  Without any unusual occurrence I reached Hampton, with a surplus of exactly fifty cents with which to begin my education.  To me it had been a long, eventful journey; but the first sight of the large, three-story, brick school building seemed to have rewarded me for all that I had undergone in order to reach the place.  If the people who gave the money to provide that building could appreciate the influence the sight of it had upon me, as well as upon thousands of other youths, they would feel all the more encouraged to make such gifts.  It seemed to me to be the largest and most beautiful building I had ever seen.  The sight of it seemed to give me new life.  I felt that a new kind of existence had now begun—­that life would now have a new meaning.  I felt that I had reached the promised land, and I resolved to let no obstacle prevent me from putting forth the highest effort to fit myself to accomplish the most good in the world.