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.