In some way it became known in advance that I was on
the train. At nearly every station at which the train stopped,
numbers of white people, including in most cases of the officials
of the town, came aboard and introduced themselves and thanked me
heartily for the work that I was trying to do for the South.
On another occasion, when I was making a trip from Augusta,
Georgia, to Atlanta, being rather tired from much travel, I road
in a Pullman sleeper. When I went into the car, I found there two
ladies from Boston whom I knew well. These good ladies were
perfectly ignorant, it seems, of the customs of the South, and in
the goodness of their hearts insisted that I take a seat with
them in their section. After some hesitation I consented. I had
been there but a few minutes when one of them, without my
knowledge, ordered supper to be served for the three of us. This
embarrassed me still further. The car was full of Southern white
men, most of whom had their eyes on our party. When I found that
supper had been ordered, I tried to contrive some excuse that
would permit me to leave the section, but the ladies insisted
that I must eat with them. I finally settled back in my seat with
a sigh, and said to myself, "I am in for it now, sure."
To add further to the embarrassment of the situation, soon after
the supper was placed on the table one of the ladies remembered
that she had in her satchel a special kind of tea which she
wished served, and as she said she felt quite sure the porter did
not know how to brew it properly, she insisted upon getting up
and preparing and serving it herself.
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