diligently applying myself, I
was much gratified to find that I was able to pass the State examination
for a second-grade certificate, and to teach, during the vacation
period, the very school in which I had so long before learned to spell
"horseback" and "compressibility."

I spent four years in the Tuskegee Institute, graduating with the class
of 1888.

Before graduating, I divulged to Mr. Washington my long-cherished
ambition, and was somewhat chagrined to find that he did not think much
of my dreams. He apparently sympathized with this larger vision, but
seemed to think I ought to have more education. I suspect he was right.
However, I was determined to make an effort to realize my ambitions. I
insisted that he must help me to find a place to read law. After a
while it was decided that I should begin in the office of Mr. William M.
Reid, of Portsmouth, Va.

With this end in view, I taught in the State of Alabama from May, 1888,
until April, 1889. I then left for Portsmouth.

Though I had worked for eleven months, I had but $1.25 when I reached
Portsmouth. My salary had been meager, I had paid every cent I owed the
school, and had met the many obligations necessary to living in a
decently comfortable manner.

I found Mr. Reid to be an intelligent, studious, hard-working young man,
with a fairly good practise, and in that hour of uncertainty and
embarrassment he proved himself to be "the friend in need." With his aid
I was not long in finding work by which I earned enough to pay my board
and buy books to help me in my study of law at night.

I worked during the daytime at the United States Navy-Yard in
Portsmouth, receiving $1.25 per day. I had never before earned so much
money. I was able not only to meet my regular bills but to save
something, and soon began to collect a law library. I worked at the
Navy-Yard for three years. It was my privilege to work upon the
second-class battleship Texas, and upon the steel-protected cruiser
Raleigh, both of which rendered admirable service in the
Spanish-American War.

In the spring of 1892 I felt that I had sufficient knowledge of law to
begin practising. I left Virginia and returned to Alabama. The tug of
war had now begun. I found it exceedingly difficult to get examined.
After trying for five months, I succeeded in getting a lawyer, a Mr.
Thompson, of Macon County, Ala., to recommend me to the chancery court
of that county for examination. I was examined in open c