I am sure that at this time the majority of my white schoolmates
did not understand or appreciate any differences between me and
themselves; but there were a few who had evidently received
instructions at home on the matter, and more than once they displayed
their knowledge in word and action. As the years passed, I noticed
that the most innocent and ignorant among the others grew in wisdom.

I myself would not have so clearly understood this difference had it
not been for the presence of the other colored children at school; I
had learned what their status was, and now I learned that theirs was
mine. I had had no particular like or dislike for these black and
brown boys and girls; in fact, with the exception of "Shiny," they had
occupied very little of my thought; but I do know that when the blow
fell, I had a very strong aversion to being classed with them. So I
became something of a solitary. "Red" and I remained inseparable, and
there was between "Shiny" and me a sort of sympathetic bond, but my
intercourse with the others was never entirely free from a feeling of
constraint. I must add, however, that this feeling was confined almost
entirely to my intercourse with boys and girls of about my own age; I
did not experience it with my seniors. And when I grew to manhood, I
found myself freer with elderly white people than with those near my
own age.

I was now about eleven years old, but these emotions and impressions
which I have just described could not have been stronger or more
distinct at an older age. There were two immediate results of my
forced loneliness: I began to find company in books, and greater
pleasure in music. I made the former discovery through a big,
gilt-bound, illustrated copy of the Bible, which used to lie in