ak and broken in health.
I hardly expected to see her again, and thus our parting was all the
more sad. She, however, was very brave through it all. At that time
there were no through trains connecting that part of West Virginia with
eastern Virginia. Trains ran only a portion of the way, and the
remainder of the distance was travelled by stage-coaches.

The distance from Maiden to Hampton is about five hundred miles. I had
not been away from home many hours before it began to grow painfully
evident that I did not have enough money to pay my fare to
Hampton. . . .

By walking, begging rides both in wagons and in the cars, in some way,
after a number of days, I reached the city of Richmond, Virginia, about
eighty-two miles from Hampton. When I reached there, tired, hungry,
and dirty; it was late in the night. I had never been in a large city
before, and this rather added to my misery. When I reached Richmond I
was completely out of money. I had not a single acquaintance in the
place, and, being unused to city ways, I did not know where to go. I
applied at several places for lodging, but they all wanted money, and
that was what I did not have. Knowing nothing else better to do, I
walked the streets. In doing this I passed by many food-stands where
fried chicken and half-moon apple pies were piled high and made to
present a most tempting appearance. At that time it seemed to me that
I would have promised all that I expected to possess in the future to
have gotten hold of one of those chicken legs or one of those pies.
But I could not get either of these, nor anything else to eat.

I must have walked the streets till after midnight. At last I became
so exhausted that I could walk no longer. I was tired, I was hungry, I
was everything but discouraged. Just about the time when I reached
extreme physical exhaustion, I came upon a portion of a street where
the board sidewalk was considerably elevated. I waited for a few
minutes, till I was sure that no passersby could see me, and then crept
under the sidewalk and lay for the night upon the ground, with my
satchel of clothing for a pillow. Nearly all night I could hear the
tramp of feet above my head. The next morning I found myself somewhat
refreshed, but I was extremely hungry, because it had been a long time
since I had had sufficient food. As soon as it became light enough for
me to see my surroundings I noticed that I was near a large ship, and
that th