Answer:
We can infer the boys have more knowledge than Douglass and are willing to teach him.
Step-by-step explanation:
Frederick Douglass was born in 1818. He was an abolitionist, a writer, and a social reformer whose autobiography "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" greatly influenced the abolitionist movement in 1845. In the book, Douglass tells the story of his life as a slave and the measures he took to learn how to read and write.
In the excerpt we are studying here, he explains he made friends with white boys so that they would become his teachers. From that piece of information, we can infer that the boys had more knowledge than Douglass did - enough to teach him something he did not know. We can also infer they were willing to teach him, a fact that made all the difference for Douglass since slaves were not supposed to learn how to read and write.