As to clothes, when I
reached Hampton I had practically nothing. Everything that I
possessed was in a small hand satchel. My anxiety about clothing
was increased because of the fact that General Armstrong made a
personal inspection of the young men in ranks, to see that their
clothes were clean. Shoes had to be polished, there must be no
buttons off the clothing, and no grease-spots. To wear one suit
of clothes continually, while at work and in the schoolroom, and
at the same time keep it clean, was rather a hard problem for me
to solve. In some way I managed to get on till the teachers
learned that I was in earnest and meant to succeed, and then some
of them were kind enough to see that I was partly supplied with
second-hand clothing that had been sent in barrels from the
North. These barrels proved a blessing to hundreds of poor but
deserving students. Without them I question whether I should ever
have gotten through Hampton.
When I first went to Hampton I do not recall that I had ever
slept in a bed that had two sheets on it. In those days there
were not many buildings there, and room was very precious. There
were seven other boys in the same room with me; most of them,
however, students who had been there for some time. The sheets
were quite a puzzle to me.
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