;96 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Ill H 



udjjli 



Armstkonc. 11 am,. <)iio of the lllde^^t buildinjfs at Tuskeyce. 



any Dioney which i could spare, paid my fare to ride on th(! traii\s. 



1 reached Richmond, Virginia, one night too late to get any work, 



and T was entirely out of money. While T was walking about won- 

 dering where I would 

 get a lodging, I hap- 

 ])eiied to see a nice 

 dry place under a 

 stretch of plank side- 

 walk. Watching my 

 chance when no 

 one was looking, I 

 crawled in and curled 



•^^^Ki I ^'^^ t UPf^^ . , - ■ k#;i ' "P ^^ sleep. The 



~ ^- .. . V _ - fortunate as to get 



work helping to un- 

 load a vessel, and, as 

 the job lasted sev- 

 eral days, 1 came back each night to my lodging under the side- 

 walk, thus saving all my wages except the little required for food. 

 In this way I was able to get money enough to carry me the rest of 

 the way to Hampton, and leave me fifty cents when I got there," 

 In these days of entrance examinations to various institutions 

 of learning, it is interesting to read of the examination which young 

 Washington was required to pass before he could enter Hampton. 

 He tells us of it thus: " Of course," says he, " they knew nothing 

 of me, and, after my long tramp, days of hard labor and nights of 

 sleeping in barns and under sidewalks, I suppose I could not have 

 presented a very prepossessing appearance. After looking me over 

 in a not very encouraging manner, they gave me a broom and took 

 me into a room, which they told me to sweep. I suppose I swept 

 that room over three or four times before I was satisfied to call it 

 done, when a teacher came in and took her handkerchief and wiped 

 the walls to see if she could find any dust on them. After that they 

 said I could come to the school. So you see I passed my exami- 

 nation. 



"At JIamptoii 1 found the; oppoi't unity, in the way of build- 

 ings, teachers, and industries provided by the generous, to get 

 training in the class room, and by practical touch with industrial 

 life to learn thrift, economy, and ])ush. T was sui-rounded by an 

 atmosphere of buvsiness. Christian iulbiciicc, nnd a spirit of self- 

 help that seemed to have awakened every faculty witiiin me, and 

 caused me for the first time to realize what it meant to be a man 

 instead of a piece of property. 



