In either case, my observations convinced me that the
miners were worse off at the end of the strike. Before the days
of strikes in that section of the country, I knew miners who had
considerable money in the bank, but as soon as the professional
labour agitators got control, the savings of even the more
thrifty ones began disappearing.
My mother and the other members of my family were, of course,
much rejoiced to see me and to note the improvement that I had
made during my two years' absence. The rejoicing on the part of
all classes of the coloured people, and especially the older
ones, over my return, was almost pathetic. I had to pay a visit
to each family and take a meal with each, and at each place tell
the story of my experiences at Hampton. In addition to this I had
to speak before the church and Sunday-school, and at various
other places. The thing that I was most in search of, though,
work, I could not find. There was no work on account of the
strike. I spent nearly the whole of the first month of my
vacation in an effort to find something to do by which I could
earn money to pay my way back to Hampton and save a little money
to use after reaching there.
Toward the end of the first month, I went to place a considerable
distance from my home, to try to find employment.
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