e winter
winds. The wind literally came through from all directions--from the
sides, ends, above, and beneath.

We soon had the floor stopped up with clay. This brought about another
disadvantage: when it began to rain through the roof, the water would
collect on the floor until it was two or three inches deep. Two young
women were helping me to teach. They often amused me by trying to
maintain their dignity and keep out of the water at the same time. They
would stand upon stools and fire questions at their pupils, who were
standing in the water below while answering them. On such days as this
I usually wore my overcoat and rubber shoes. I would then stand in the
water and teach with as much indifference as possible. We bored holes in
the floor to let the water out, but it usually came through the roof
faster than it could escape. There was much suffering at this time on
the part of both teachers and students, but it was all a joy and
pleasure to me, for I felt that I had found my life-work.

I was a stranger to the people, and they had very little confidence in
me. Some of them questioned my motives in every direction. At the first
meeting of the patrons for the purpose of raising money, seventy-five
cents were collected and were turned over to me to hold. In a couple of
days some one demanded that the collection be taken out of my hands. I
quietly turned it over to them. Then they got up a scramble as to which
one should hold it. They settled the quarrel by selecting a white man in
the town of Utica, in whom all of them had confidence. I then went out
canvassing and got $10, which I promptly turned over. Immediately they
wanted to turn it back to me to hold, together with what the white man
had. They never again questioned my sincerity.

My wife, who was still in Alabama, kept writing me to let her join me.
Explanations would do no good. She laid aside all the comforts of home
life and came to live in a hovel. We rented a little room, bought a
skillet and a frying-pan, a bed and two chairs, and set up housekeeping.
I did the cooking, for my wife was a city girl and did not know how to
cook on the open fireplace. We never contrasted our condition in
Mississippi with that in Alabama; we simply made the best of what we
had.

At first there was difficulty in securing land for a location, and many
of the patrons began to feel that nothing would be accomplished. To
offset this idea I purchased lumber for a building, had