ths unduly long, wet seasons, the
ravages of worms, caterpillars, and other uncontrollable circumstances,
not only meant that the whole of that year's labor was to bring no
tangible rewards, but that much property accumulated in more prosperous
times was to be dissipated as well. I can recall repeated instances when
all of my stepfather's live stock was taken for debt under this crushing
system. And thus it was that my stepfather, and my mother, and the rest
of the farmers for miles around existed!

During all these years my brothers, sisters, and myself were growing up
in ignorance. Until I was ten years old I had never heard of a school
for colored children. Even after the privilege of attending school two
months of the year--July and August--had been accorded me, I am certain
that the instruction received was of that kind that hinders more than it
helps. Year after year the course of study would be repeated. Perhaps
this repetition was necessary for more than one reason:

First, ten months' vacation does not tend to firmly impress upon one's
mind the knowledge acquired in two.

Second, the teachers themselves had such limited knowledge that two
months were ample time in which to exhaust their store of knowledge,
and, as examinations were so easy, it was not imperative that they do
more than "keep school."

I remember quite distinctly that when I did go to school we used the
proverbial Webster's blue-back speller. The majority of the pupils began
with the "A, B, C," the alphabet, and went as far as "horseback," while
apt pupils might be able to reach "compressibility." And so for years we
went from "A" to "compressibility" on "horseback."

In those days the three "R's" were not confounded. Only one of them was
given to us, and that in broken doses, for I reached manhood without
being able to write a single word or to work a problem in mathematics.

Neither my mother nor stepfather could read or write a line; not a book,
newspaper, or magazine was ever seen in our home. It was most unusual to
see a colored man or woman who could either read or write.

When a mere boy I inwardly protested against this manner of
bringing-up. I determined to make my life more useful, to make it better
than it was. But how long these years were! However, the day came when I
was twenty-one, and I began to create a "life" for myself.

I immediately went to work doing farm labor, and saved my earnings until
I had twenty-five or thirty