I was completely out of money when I graduated. In company with
our other Hampton students, I secured a place as a table waiter in a
summer hotel in Connecticut, and managed to borrow enough money with
which to get there. I had not been in this hotel long before I found
out that I knew practically nothing about waiting on a hotel table.
The head waiter, however, supposed that I was an accomplished waiter.
He soon gave me charge of the table at which their sat four or five
wealthy and rather aristocratic people. My ignorance of how to wait
upon them was so apparent that they scolded me in such a severe manner
that I became frightened and left their table, leaving them sitting
there without food. As a result of this I was reduced from the
position of waiter to that of a dish-carrier.
But I determined to learn the business of waiting, and did so
within a few weeks and was restored to my former position. I have had
the satisfaction of being a guest in this hotel several times since I
was a waiter there.
At the close of the hotel season I returned to my former home in
Malden, and was elected to teach the coloured school at that place.
This was the beginning of one of the happiest periods of my life. I
now felt that I had the opportunity to help the people of my home town
to a higher life.
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