Helping Others Summary and Analysis

As summer vacation time rolls around at the end of Washington's first year of school, he has nowhere to go, and no money to go home. He gets a job at a restaurant and though he saves in every way possible, ends the summer without the sixteen dollars he still owes Hampton. The treasurer, General J.F.B. Marshall, tells him to return to school and that he's trusted to pay the debt when he can.

At the end of his second year, due to gifts from his mother, brother and a Hampton teacher, Washington goes home for summer vacation. The miners are on strike, and there is no work to be found. Yet, Washington is invited to the homes of each family and speaks at Sunday-school and other gatherings. His mother dies while he is away looking for...