ld-fashion stage-coach, when,
late in the evening, the coach stopped for the night at a common,
unpainted house called a hotel. All the other passengers except myself
were whites. In my ignorance I supposed that the little hotel existed
for the purpose of accommodating the passengers who travelled on the
stage-coach. The difference that the colour of one's skin would make I
had not thought anything about. After all the other passengers had been
shown rooms and were getting ready for supper, I shyly presented myself
before the man at the desk. It is true I had practically no money in my
pocket with which to pay for bed or food, but I had hoped in some way to
beg my way into the good graces of the landlord, for at that season
in the mountains of Virginia the weather was cold, and I wanted to get
indoors for the night. Without asking as to whether I had any money, the
man at the desk firmly refused to even consider the matter of providing
me with food or lodging. This was my first experience in finding out
what the colour of my skin meant. In some way I managed to keep warm by
walking about, and so got through the night. My whole soul was so bent
upon reaching Hampton that I did not have time to cherish any bitterness
toward the hotel-keeper.

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,
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. Ju