This was the first time that I had ever
heard anything about any kind of school or college that was more
pretentious than the little coloured school in our town.
In the darkness of the mine I noiselessly crept as close as I
could to the two men who were talking. I heard one tell the other
that not only was the school established for the members of any
race, but the opportunities that it provided by which poor but
worthy students could work out all or a part of the cost of a
board, and at the same time be taught some trade or industry.
As they went on describing the school, it seemed to me that it
must be the greatest place on earth, and not even Heaven
presented more attractions for me at that time than did the
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia, about
which these men were talking. I resolved at once to go to that
school, although I had no idea where it was, or how many miles
away, or how I was going to reach it; I remembered only that I
was on fire constantly with one ambition, and that was to go to
Hampton. This thought was with me day and night.
After hearing of the Hampton Institute, I continued to work for a
few months longer in the coal-mine. While at work there, I heard
of a vacant position in the household of General Lewis Ruffner,
the owner of the salt-furnace and coal-mine.
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