"Oh, I feel lazy," answered Tom, with a significant smile, as if to
inquire, "What are you goin' to do about it?"

James thought to himself with a thrill of unpleasant excitement, "It's
coming. In ten minutes I shall know whether Tom Bassett or I is to rule
this school."

His manner was calm, however, as he said, "That is no excuse. I can't
accept it. As your teacher I order you to join your class."

"Can't you wait till to-morrow?" asked Tom, with a grin, which was
reflected on the faces of several other pupils.

"I think I understand you," said James, with outward calmness. "You defy
my authority."

"You're only a boy like me," said Tom; "I don't see why I should obey
you."

"If you were teacher, and I pupil, I should obey you," said James, "and
I expect the same of you."

"Oh, go on with the recitation!" said Tom, lazily. "Never mind me!"

James felt that he could afford to wait no longer Turning to the class,
he said, "I shall have to delay you for a minute."

He walked deliberately up to the seat where Tom Bassett was sitting.

Tom squared off in the expectation of an assault; but, with the speed of
lightning, the young teacher grasped him by the collar, and, with a
strength that surprised himself, dragged him from his seat, in spite of
his struggles, till he reached the place where the class was standing.

By this time Bill Stackpole felt called upon to help his partner in
rebellion.

"You let him alone!" he said, menacingly, stepping forward.

"One at a time!" said James, coolly. "I will be ready for you in a
minute."

He saw that there was only one thing to do.

He dragged Tom to the door, and forcibly ejected him, saying, "When you
get ready to obey me you can come back."

He had scarcely turned when Bill Stackpole was upon him.

With a quick motion of the foot James tripped him up, and, still
retaining his grasp on his collar, said, "Will you go or stay?"

Bill was less resolute than Tom.

"I guess I'll stay," he said; then picked himself up and resumed his
place in the class.

Apparently calm, James returned to his desk, and commenced hearing the
class recite.

The next morning, on his way to school, James overtook Tom Bassett, who
eyed him with evident embarrassment. Tom's father had sent him back to
school, and Tom did not dare disobey.

"Good morning, Tom," said James, pleasantly.

"Mornin'!" muttered Tom.

"I hope you are going to school?"

"Father says I must."

"I am glad of that, too. By the way, Tom, I think I shall have to get
some of the scholars to help me with some of the smaller pupils. I
should like to get you to hear the lowest class in arithmetic to-day."

"You want me to help you teach?" exclaimed Tom, in amazement.

"Yes; it will give me more time for the higher classes."

"And you don't bear no malice on account of yesterday?"

"Oh, no; we are too good friends to mind such a trifle."

"Then," said Tom, impulsively, "you won't have no more trouble with me.
I'll help you all I can."

There was general surprise felt when the young teacher and his
rebellious scholar were seen approaching the school-house, evidently on
the most friendly terms. There was still greater surprise when, during
the forenoon, James requested Tom to hear the class already mentioned.
At recess Tom proclaimed his intention to lick any boy that was impudent
to the teacher, and the new Garfield administration seemed to be
established on a firm basis.

This incident, which is based upon an actual resort to war measures on
the part of the young teacher, is given to illustrate the strength as
well as the amiability of Garfield's character. It was absolutely
necessary that he should show his ability to govern.




CHAPTER XIII.

AMES LEAVES GEAUGA SEMINARY


While teaching his first school James "boarded round" among the families
who sent pupils to his school. It was not so pleasant as having a
permanent home, but it afforded him opportunities of reaching and
influencing his scholars which otherwise he could not have enjoyed. With
his cheerful temperament and genial manners, he could hardly fail to be
an acquisition to any family with whom he found a home. He was ready
enough to join in making the evenings pass pleasantly, and doubtless he
had ways of giving instruction indirectly, and inspiring a love of
learning similar to that which he himself possessed.

He returned to school with a small sum of money in his pocket, which was
of essential service to him in his economical way of living. But he
brought also an experience in imparting knowledge to others which was
still greater value.

An eminent teacher has said that we never fully know anything till we
have tried to impart it to others.

James remained at the Geauga Seminary for three years. Every winter he
taught school, and with success. In one of these winter sessions, we are
told by Rev. William M. Thayer, in his biography of Garfield, that he
was applied to by an ambitious student to instruct him in geometry.
There was one difficulty in the way, and that a formidable one. He was
entirely unacquainted with geometry himself. But, he reflected, here is
an excellent opportunity for me to acquire a new branch of knowledge.
Accordingly he procured a text-book, studied it faithfully at night,
keeping sufficiently far ahead of his pupil to qualify him to be his
guide and instructor, and the pupil never dreamed that his teacher, like
himself, was traversing unfamiliar ground.

It was early in his course at Geauga that he made the acquaintance of
one who was to prove his closest and dearest friend--the young lady who
in after years was to become his wife. Lucretia Rudolph was the daughter
of a farmer in the neighborhood--"a quiet, thoughtful girl, of
singularly sweet and refined disposition, fond of study and reading,
and possessing a warm heart, and a mind capable of steady growth."
Probably James was first attracted to her by intellectual sympathy and a
community of tastes; but as time passed he discerned in her something
higher and better than mere intellectual aspiration; and who shall say
in the light that has been thrown by recent events on the character of
Lucretia Garfield, that he was not wholly right?

Though we are anticipating the record, it may be in place to say here
that the acquaintance formed here was renewed and ripened at Hiram
College, to which in time both transferred themselves. There as
pupil-teacher James Garfield became in one branch the instructor of his
future wife, and it was while there that the two became engaged. It was
a long engagement. James had to wait the traditional "seven years" for
his wife, but the world knows how well he was repaid for his long
waiting.

"Did you know Mrs. Garfield?" asked a reporter of the Chicago
_Inter-Ocean_ of Mr. Philo Chamberlain, of Cleveland.

"Yes, indeed," was the reply. "My wife knows her intimately. They used
to teach school together in Cleveland. Mrs. Garfield is a splendid lady.
She wasn't what you would call a brilliant teacher, but she was an
unusually good one, very industrious, and the children made rapid
progress in their studies under her. And then she was studious, too.
Why, she acquired three languages while she was in school, both as a
student and a teacher, and she spoke them well, I am told. They were
married shortly after he came back from Williams, and I forgot to tell
you a nice little thing about the time when he paid Dr. Robinson back
the money he had spent on him. When Dr. Robinson refused to take the
interest, which amounted to a snug little sum, Garfield said: 'Well,
Doctor, that is one big point in my favor, as now I can get married.' It
seems that they had been engaged for a long time, but had to wait till
he could get something to marry on. And I tell you it isn't every young
man that will let the payment of a self-imposed debt stand between him
and getting married to the girl he loves."

Without anticipating too far events we have not yet reached, it may be
said that Lucretia Garfield's education and culture made her not the
wife only, but the sympathetic friend and intellectual helper of her
husband. Her early studies were of service to her in enabling her
partially to prepare for college her two oldest boys. She assisted her
husband also in his literary plans, without losing the domestic
character of a good wife, and the refining graces of a true woman.

But let us not forget that James is still a boy in his teens. He had
many hardships to encounter, and many experiences to go through before
he could set up a home of his own. He had studied three years, but his
education had only begun. The Geauga Seminary was only an academy, and
hardly the equal of the best academies to be found at the East.

He began to feel that he had about exhausted its facilities, and to look
higher. He had not far to look.

During the year 1851 the Disciples, the religious body to which young
Garfield had attached himself, opened a collegiate school at Hiram, in
Portage County, which they called an eclectic school. Now it ranks as a
college, but at the time James entered it, it had not assumed so
ambitious a title.

It was not far away, and James' attention was naturally drawn to it.
There was an advantage also in its location. Hiram was a small country
village, where the expenses of living were small, and, as we know, our
young student's purse was but scantily filled. Nevertheless, so limited
were his means that it was a perplexing problem how he would be able to
pay his way.

He consulted his mother, and, as was always the case, found that she
sympathized fully in his purpose of obtaining a higher education.
Pecuniary help, however, she could not give, nor had he at this time any
rich friends upon whom he could call for the pittance he required.

But James was not easily daunted. He had gone to Geauga Seminary with
but seventeen dollars in his pocket; he had remained there three years,
maintaining himself by work at his old trade of carpenter and teaching,
and had graduated owing nothing. He had become self-reliant, and felt
that what he had done at Chester he could do at Hiram.

So one fine morning he set out, with a light heart and a pocket equally
light, for the infant institution from which he hoped so much.

The Board of Trustees were in session, as we learn from the account
given by one of their number, when James arrived and sought an audience.

After a little delay, the doorkeeper was instructed to bring him in.

James was nineteen at this time. He was no longer as homespun in
appearance as when he sat upon a log with Dr. Robinson, in the seclusion
of the woods, and asked his advice about a career. Nevertheless, he was
still awkward. He had grown rapidly, was of slender build, and had no
advantages of dress to recommend him. One who saw him in after-life,
with his noble, imposing presence, would hardly recognize any similarity
between him and the raw country youth who stood awkwardly before the
Board of Trustees, to plead his cause. It happens not unfrequently that
a lanky youth develops into a fine-looking man. Charles Sumner, at the
age of twenty, stood six feet two inches in his stockings, and weighed
but one hundred and twenty pounds! Yet in after-life he was a man of
noble presence.

But all this while we are leaving James in suspense before the men whose
decision is to affect his life so powerfully.

"Well, young man," asked the Principal, "what can we do for you?"

"Gentlemen," said James, earnestly, "I want an education, and would like
the privilege of making the fires and sweeping the floors of the
building to pay part of my expenses."

There was in his bearing and countenance an earnestness and an
intelligence which impressed the members of the board.

"Gentlemen," said Mr. Frederic Williams, one of the trustees, "I think
we had better try this young man."

Another member, turning to Garfield, said: "How do we know, young man,
that the work will be done as we may desire?"

"Try me," was the answer; "try me two weeks, and if it is not done to
your entire satisfaction, I will retire without a word."

"That seems satisfactory," said the member who had asked the question.

"What studies do you wish to pursue?" asked one gentleman.

"I want to prepare for college. I shall wish to study Latin, Greek,
mathematics, and anything else that may be needed."

"Have you studied any of these already?"

"Yes, sir."

"Where?"

"At the Geauga Seminary. I can refer you to the teachers there. I have
studied under them for three years, and they know all about me."

"What is your name?"

"James A. Garfield."

"There is something in that young man," said one of the trustees to Mr.
Williams. "He seems thoroughly in earnest, and I believe will be a hard
worker."

"I agree with you," was the reply.

James was informed that his petition was granted, and he at once made
arrangements for his residence at Hiram.




CHAPTER XIV.

AT HIRAM INSTITUTE.


Hiram, the seat of the Eclectic Institute, was not a place of any
pretension. It was scarcely a village, but rather a hamlet. Yet the
advantages which the infant institution offered drew together a
considerable number of pupils of both sexes, sons and daughters of the
Western Reserve farmers, inspired with a genuine love of learning, and
too sensible to waste their time on mere amusement.

This is the account given of it by President B.A. Hinsdale, who for
fifteen years has ably presided over its affairs: "The institute
building, a plain but substantially built brick structure, was put on
the top of a windy hill, in the middle of a cornfield. One of the cannon
that General Scott's soldiers dragged to the City of Mexico in 1847,
planted on the roof of the new structure, would not have commanded a
score of farm houses.

"Here the school opened at the time Garfield was closing his studies at
Chester. It had been in operation two terms when he offered himself for
enrollment. Hiram furnished a location, the Board of Trustees a building
and the first teacher, the surrounding country students, but the
spiritual Hiram made itself. Everything was new. Society, traditions,
the genius of the school, had to be evolved from the forces of the
teachers and pupils, limited by the general and local environment. Let
no one be surprised when I say that such a school as this was the best
of all places for young Garfield. There was freedom, opportunity, a
large society of rapidly and eagerly opening young minds, instructors
who were learned enough to instruct him, and abundant scope for ability
and force of character, of which he had a superabundance.

"Few of the students who came to Hiram in that day had more than a
district-school education, though some had attended the high schools and
academies scattered over the country; so that Garfield, though he had
made but slight progress in the classics and the higher mathematics
previous to his arrival, ranked well up with the first scholars. In
ability, all acknowledged that he was the peer of any; soon his
superiority to all others was generally conceded."

So James entered upon his duties as janitor and bell-ringer. It was a
humble position for the future President of the United States; but no
work is humiliating which is undertaken with a right aim and a useful
object. Of one thing my boy-reader may be sure--the duties of the
offices were satisfactorily performed. The school-rooms were well cared
for, and the bell was rung punctually. This is shown by the fact that,
after the two weeks of probation, he was still continued in office,
though doubtless in the large number of students of limited means in the
institute there was more than one that would have been glad to relieve
him of his office.

It will hardly be supposed, however, that the position of janitor and
bell-ringer could pay all his expenses. He had two other resources. In
term-time he worked at his trade of carpenter as opportunity offered,
and in the winter, as at Chester, he sought some country town where he
could find employment as a teacher.

The names of the places where he taught are not known to me, though
doubtless there is many an Ohio farmer, or mechanic, or, perchance,
professional man, who is able to boast that he was partially educated by
a President of the United States.

As characteristic of his coolness and firmness, I am tempted to record
an incident which happened to him in one of his winter schools.

There were some scholars about as large as himself, to whom obedience to
the rules of the school was not quite easy--who thought, in
consideration of their age and size, that they might venture upon acts
which would not be tolerated in younger pupils.

The school had commenced one morning, when the young teacher heard angry
words and the noise of a struggle in the school-yard, which chanced to
be inclosed. The noise attracted the attention of the scholars, and
interfered with the attention which the recitation required.

James Garfield stepped quietly outside of the door, and saw two of his
oldest and largest pupils engaged in a wrestling match. For convenience
we will call them Brown and Jones.

"What are you about, boys?" asked the teacher The two were so earnestly
engaged in their conflict that neither returned an answer.

"This must be stopped immediately," said James, decisively. "It is
disrespectful to me, and disturbs the recitations."

He might as well have spoken to the wind. They heard, but they continued
their fight.

"This must stop, or I will stop it myself," said the teacher.

The boys were not afraid. Each was about as large as the teacher, and
they felt that if he interfered he was likely to get hurt.

James thought he had given sufficient warning. The time had come to act.
He stepped quickly forward, seized one of the combatants, and with a
sudden exertion of strength, threw him over the fence. Before he had
time to recover from his surprise his companion was lifted over in the
same manner.

"Now, go on with your fighting if you wish," said the young teacher;
"though I advise you to shake hands and make up. When you get through
come in and report."

The two young men regarded each other foolishly. Somehow all desire to
fight had been taken away.

"I guess we'll go in now," said Brown.

"I'm with you," said Jones, and Garfield entered the school-room, meekly
followed by the two refractory pupils. There was not much use in
resisting the authority of a teacher who could handle them with such
ease.

James did not trouble them with any moral lecture. He was too sensible.
He felt that all had been said and done that was required.

But how did he spend his time at the new seminary, and how was he
regarded? Fortunately we have the testimony of a lady, now residing in
Illinois, who was one of the first students at Hiram.

"When he first entered the school," she writes, "he paid for his
schooling by doing janitor's work, sweeping the floor and ringing the
bell. I can see him even now standing in the morning with his hand on
the bell-rope, ready to give the signal, calling teachers and scholars
to engage in the duties of the day. As we passed by, entering the
school-room, he had a cheerful word for every one. He was probably the
most popular person in the institution. He was always good-natured, fond
of conversation, and very entertaining. He was witty and quick at
repartee, but his jokes, though brilliant and sparkling, were always
harmless, and he never would willingly hurt another's feelings.

"Afterward he became an assistant teacher, and while pursuing his
classical studies, preparatory to his college course, he taught the
English branches. He was a most entertaining teacher--ready with
illustrations, and possessing in a marked degree the power of exciting
the interest of the scholars, and afterward making clear to them the
lessons. In the arithmetic class there were ninety pupils, and I can not
remember a time when there was any flagging in the interest. There were
never any cases of unruly conduct, or a disposition to shirk. With
scholars who were slow of comprehension, or to whom recitations were a
burden, on account of their modest or retiring dispositions, he was
specially attentive, and by encouraging words and gentle assistance
would manage to put all at their ease, and awaken in them a confidence
in themselves. He was not much given to amusements or the sports of the
playground. He was too industrious, and too anxious to make the utmost
of his opportunities to study.

"He was a constant attendant at the regular meetings for prayer, and
his vigorous exhortations and apt remarks upon the Bible lessons were
impressive and interesting. There was a cordiality in his disposition
which won quickly the favor and esteem of others. He had a happy habit
of shaking hands, and would give a hearty grip which betokened a
kind-hearted feeling for all. He was always ready to turn his mind and
hands in any direction whereby he might add to his meagre store of
money.

"One of his gifts was that of mezzotint drawing, and he gave instruction
in this branch. I was one of his pupils in this, and have now the
picture of a cross upon which he did some shading and put on the
finishing touches. Upon the margin is written, in the name of the noted
teacher, his own name and his pupil's. There are also two other
drawings, one of a large European bird on the bough of a tree, and the
other a church yard scene in winter, done by him at that time. In those
days the faculty and pupils were wont to call him 'the second Webster,'
and the remark was common, 'He will fill the White House yet.' In the
Lyceum he early took rank far above the others as a speaker and debater.

"During the month of June the entire school went in carriages to their
annual grove meeting at Randolph, some twenty-five miles away. On this
trip he was the life of the party, occasionally bursting out in an
eloquent strain at the sight of a bird or a trailing vine, or a
venerable giant of the forest. He would repeat poetry by the hour,
having a very retentive memory.

"At the Institute the members were like a band of brothers and sisters,
all struggling to advance in knowledge. Then all dressed plainly, and
there was no attempt or pretence at dressing fashionably or stylishly.
Hiram was a little country place, with no fascinations or worldly
attractions to draw off the minds of the students from their work."

Such is an inside view--more graphic than any description I can give--of
the life of James Garfield at Hiram Institute.




CHAPTER XV.

THREE BUSY YEARS.


Among the readers of this volume there may be boys who are preparing for
college. They will be interested to learn the extent of James Garfield's
scholarship, when he left the Geauga Academy, and transferred himself to
the Institute at Hiram. Though, in his own language, he remembers with
great satisfaction the work which was accomplished for him at Chester,
that satisfaction does not spring from the amount that he had acquired,
but rather that while there he had formed a definite purpose and plan to
complete a college course. For, as the young scholar truly remarks, "It
is a great point gained when a young man makes up his mind to devote
several years to the accomplishment of a definite work."

When James entered at Hiram, he had studied Latin only six weeks, and
just begun Greek. He was therefore merely on the threshold of his
preparatory course for college. To anticipate a little, he completed
this course, and fitted himself to enter the Junior class at Williams
College in the space of three years. How much labor this required many
of my readers are qualified to understand. It required him to do nearly
six years' work in three, though interrupted by work of various kinds
necessary for his support.

He was not yet able to live luxuriously, or even, as we suppose,
comfortably. He occupied a room with four other students, which could
hardly have been favorable for study. Yet, in the first term he
completed six books of Caesar's commentaries, and made good progress in
Greek. During the first winter he taught a school at Warrensville,
receiving the highest salary he had yet been paid, eighteen dollars a
month--of course in addition to board.

At the commencement of the second year the president sent for him.

James obeyed the summons, wondering whether he was to receive any
reprimand for duty unfulfilled.

President Hayden received him cordially, thus dissipating his
apprehensions.

"Garfield," he said, "Mr. ----, tutor in English and ancient languages,
is sick, and it is doubtful whether he will be able to resume his
duties. Do you think you can fill his place, besides carrying on your
own work as student?"

Young Garfield's face flushed with pleasure. The compliment was
unexpected, but in every way the prospect it opened was an agreeable
one. His only doubt was as to his qualifications.

"I should like it very much," he said, "if you think I am qualified."

"I have no doubt on that point. You will teach only what is familiar to
you, and I believe you have a special faculty for imparting knowledge."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Hayden," said Garfield. "I will accept with
gratitude, and I will do my best to give satisfaction."

How well he discharged his office may be inferred from the testimony
given in the last chapter.

Though a part of his time was taken up in teaching others, he did not
allow it to delay his own progress. Still before him he kept the bright
beacon of a college education. He had put his hand to the plow, and he
was not one to turn back or loiter on the way. That term he began
Xenophon's Anabasis, and was fortunate enough to find a home in the
president's family.

But he was not content with working in term-time. When the summer
brought a vacation, he felt that it was too long a time to be lost. He
induced ten students to join him, and hired Professor Dunshee to give
them lessons for one month. During that time he read the Eclogues and
Georgics of Virgil entire, and the first six books of Homer's Iliad,
accompanied by a thorough drill in the Latin and Greek grammar. He must
have "toiled terribly," and could have had few moments for recreation.
When the fall term commenced, in company with Miss Almeda Booth, a
mature young lady of remarkable intellect, and some other students, he
formed a Translation society, which occupied itself with the Book of
Romans, of course in the Greek version. During the succeeding winter he
read the whole of "Demosthenes on the Crown."

The mental activity of the young man (he was now twenty) seems
exhaustless. All this time he took an active part in a literary society
composed of some of his fellow-students. He had already become an easy,
fluent, and forcible speaker--a very necessary qualification for the
great work of his life.

"Oh, I suppose he had a talent for it," some of my young readers may
say.

Probably he had; indeed, it is certain that he had, but it may encourage
them to learn that he found difficulties at the start. When a student at
Geauga, he made his first public speech. It was a six minutes' oration
at the annual exhibition, delivered in connection with a literary
society to which he belonged. He records in a diary kept at the time
that he "was very much scared," and "very glad of a short curtain across
the platform that hid my shaking legs from the audience." Such
experiences are not uncommon in the career of men afterward noted for
their ease in public speaking. I can recall such, and so doubtless can
any man of academic or college training. I wish to impress upon my young
reader that Garfield was indebted for what he became to earnest work.

While upon the subject of public speaking I am naturally led to speak of
young Garfield's religious associations. His mind has already been
impressed with the importance of the religious element, and he felt
that no life would be complete without it. He had joined the Church of
the Disciples, the same to which his uncle belonged, and was baptized in
a little stream that runs into the Chagrin River. The creed of this
class of religious believers is one likely to commend itself in most
respects to the general company of Christians; but as this volume is
designed to steer clear of sect or party, I do not hold any further
reference to it necessary. What concerns us more is, that young
Garfield, in accordance with the liberal usages of the Disciples, was
invited on frequent occasions to officiate as a lay preacher in the
absence of the regular pastor of the Church of the Disciples at Hiram.

Though often officiating as a preacher, I do not find that young
Garfield ever had the ministry in view. On the other hand, he early
formed the design of studying for the legal profession, as he gradually
did, being admitted to the bar of Cuyahoga County, in 1860, when himself
president of Hiram College.

So passed three busy and happy years. Young Garfield had but few idle
moments. In teaching others, in pursuing his own education, in taking
part in the work of the literary society, and in Sunday exhortations,
his time was well filled up. But neither his religion nor his love of
study made him less companionable. He was wonderfully popular. His
hearty grasp of the hand, his genial manner, his entire freedom from
conceit, his readiness to help others, made him a general favorite. Some
young men, calling themselves religious, assume a sanctimonious manner,
that repels, but James Garfield never was troubled in this way. He
believed that

"Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less,"

and was always ready to take part in social pleasures, provided they did
not interfere with his work.

And all this while, with all his homely surroundings, he had high
thoughts for company. He wrote to a student, afterward his own successor
to the presidency, words that truly describe his own aspirations and
habits of mind. "Tell me, Burke, do you not feel a spirit stirring
within you that longs _to know, to do, and to dare_, to hold converse
with the great world of thought, and hold before you some high and noble
object to which the vigor of your mind and the strength of your arm may
be given? Do you not have longings like these which you breathe to no
one, and which you feel must be heeded, or you will pass through life
unsatisfied and regretful? I am sure you have them, and they will
forever cling round your heart till you obey their mandate."

The time had come when James was ready to take another step upward. The
district school had been succeeded by Geauga Seminary, that by Hiram
Institute, and now he looked Eastward for still higher educational
privileges. There was a college of his own sect at Bethany, not far
away, but the young man was not so blinded by this consideration as not
to understand that it was not equal to some of the best known colleges
at the East.

Which should he select?

He wrote to the presidents of Brown University, Yale, and Williams,
stating how far he had advanced, and inquiring how long it would take to
complete their course.

From all he received answers, but the one from President Hopkins, of
Williams College, ended with the sentence, "If you come here, we shall
be glad to do what we can for you." This sentence, so friendly and
cordial, decided the young man who otherwise would have found it hard to
choose between the three institutions.

"My mind is made up," he said. "I shall start for Williams College next