en spring came, having a fair knowledge of farming,
I found ready employment with the planters of that community. With an
ambition to enter school the coming fall, I then and there began to
study every possible method of economy, and when summer had passed and
school-time had come again, with the aid of a younger brother I had
cared for the family, and had to my credit my first savings of $85.

Now began the most memorable and the most pleasant days in my life. On
the 15th day of September, 1885, I matriculated as a student at
Tuskegee, and, after what was then considered a rigid examination,
succeeded in entering the Junior class, the lowest class of the normal
grade. There was yet before me the task of caring for an aged father and
mother. That task I considered a sacred duty, and, with my limited
savings in hand, made such purchases as would best give them ordinary
comforts through the winter months, and on the 22d day of the same
month, after having made such expenditures as I thought necessary, I
found that my little pile had been reduced from $85 to $14.50, with
which sum I paid my tuition and board at the normal school.

I was permitted by the school authorities to work on the school farm the
entire term. On the 26th day of May, when the school closed, there yet
remained to my credit a sufficient amount to purchase a ticket to
Birmingham, and thence out to Pratt City, a near-by suburb. At Pratt
City I learned to dig coal, and at the end of every month they paid me
in gold. These shining pieces were precious possessions. For four
successive summers, in order to get sufficient money to care for my
mother and father and make my way in school, I went to Pratt City and
worked in the mines, at the furnaces, on the railroads, and around the
coke-ovens, enduring hardships which language can hardly describe. But
it all paid. The summer of 1888 was a trying one, but when the time came
for me to leave for school I had saved $200.

On the 30th day of May, 1889, a new epoch in my life began. I was
ushered into the busy world as a graduate of Tuskegee, being in a class
of twenty-two. I had looked forward to this event with pride and was
very happy.

So imbued was I with the pleasant thought that I was a graduate of
Tuskegee, that I little thought of the great responsibilities that
awaited me, but when my more sober thought came I realized that I was
going from most pleasant surroundings not to return the next year; that
I