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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