From Canal Boy to President; Or, the Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield. Alger Horatio Jr.
those who possessed such systems would simply sit round and doze. Therefore I was anxious to know about the kind of an engine to run that delicate machine, the brain. At the end of a fifteen minutes' careful examination of this kind, we rose, and I said:
"Go on, follow the leadings of your ambition, and ever after I am your friend. You have the brain of a Webster, and you have the physical proportions that will back you in the most herculean efforts. All you need to do is to work; work hard, do not be afraid of over-working and you will make your mark."
It will be easily understood that these words from a man whom he held in high respect were enough to fix the resolution of James. If he were really so well fitted for the work and the career which his mother desired him to follow, it was surely his duty to make use of the talents which he had just discovered were his.
After that there was no more question about going to sea. He deliberately decided to become a scholar, and then follow where Providence led the way.
He would have liked a new suit of clothes, but this was out of the question. All the money he had at command was the seventeen dollars which his mother had offered him. He must get along with this sum, and so with hopeful heart he set out for Geauga Seminary.
He did not go alone. On hearing of his determination, two boys, one a cousin, made up their minds to accompany him.
Possibly my young readers may imagine the scene of leave-taking, as the stage drove up to the door, and the boys with their trunks or valises were taken on board, but if so, imagination would picture a scene far different from the reality. Their outfit was of quite a different kind.
For the sake of economy the boys were to board themselves, and Mrs. Garfield with provident heart supplied James with a frying-pan, and a few necessary dishes, so that his body might not suffer while his mind was being fed. Such was the luxury that awaited James in his new home. I am afraid that the hearts of many of my young readers would sink within them if they thought that they must buy an education at such a cost as that. But let them not forget that this homespun boy, with his poor array of frying-pan and dishes, was years after to strive in legislative halls, and win the highest post in the gift of his fellow-citizens. And none of these things would have been his, in all likelihood, but for his early struggle with poverty.
So far as I know, neither of his companions was any better off than James. All three were young adventurers traveling into the domains of science with hopeful hearts and fresh courage, not altogether ignorant of the hardships that awaited them, but prepared to work hard for the prizes of knowledge.
Arrived at Geauga Seminary, they called upon the principal and announced for what purpose they had come.
"Well, young men, I hope you mean to work?" he said.
"Yes, sir," answered James promptly. "I am poor, and I want to get an education as quick as I can."
"I like your sentiments, and I will help you as far as I can."
The boys succeeded in hiring a room in an old unpainted building near the academy for a small weekly sum. It was unfurnished, but they succeeded in borrowing a few dilapidated chairs from a neighbor who did not require them, and some straw ticks, which they spread upon the floor for sleeping purposes. In one corner they stowe their frying-pans, kettles, and dishes, and then they set up housekeeping in humble style.
The Geauga Seminary was a Freewill Baptist institution, and was attended by a considerable number of students, to whom it did not, indeed, furnish what is called "the higher education," but it was a considerable advance upon any school that James had hitherto attended. English grammar, natural philosophy, arithmetic, and algebra—these were the principal studies to which James devoted himself, and they opened to him new fields of thought. Probably it was at this humble seminary that he first acquired the thirst for learning that ever afterward characterized him.
Let us look in upon the three boys a night or two after they have commenced housekeeping.
They take turns in cooking, and this time it is the turn of the one in whom we feel the strongest interest.
"What have we got for supper, boys?" he asks, for the procuring of supplies has fallen to them.
"Here are a dozen eggs," said Henry Bounton, his cousin.
"And here is a loaf of bread, which I got at the baker's," said his friend.
"That's good! We'll have bread and fried eggs. There is nothing better than that."
"Eggs have gone up a cent a dozen," remarks Henry, gravely.
This news is received seriously, for a cent means something to them. Probably even then the price was not greater than six to eight cents a dozen, for prices were low in the West at that time.
"Then we can't have them so often," said James, philosophically, "unless we get something to do."
"There's a carpenter's-shop a little way down the street," said Henry. "I guess you can find employment there."
"I'll go round there after supper."
Meanwhile he attended to his duty as cook, and in due time each of the boys was supplied with four fried eggs and as much bread as he cared for. Probably butter was dispensed with, as too costly a luxury, until more prosperous times.
When supper was over the boys took a walk, and then, returning to their humble room, spent the evening in preparing their next morning's lessons.
In them James soon took leading rank, for his brain was larger, and his powers of application and intuition great, as Dr. Robinson had implied. From the time he entered Geauga Seminary probably he never seriously doubted that he had entered upon the right path.
Chapter IX—Ways And Means
James called on the carpenter after supper and inquired if he could supply him with work.
"I may be able to if you are competent," was the reply. "Have you ever worked at the business?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"At Orange, where my home is."
"How long did you work at it?"
"Perhaps I had better tell you what I have done," said James.
He then gave an account of the barns he had been employed upon, and the frame house which he had assisted to build for his mother.
"I don't set up for a first-class workman," he added, with a smile, "but I think I can be of some use to you."
"I will try you, for I am rather pressed with work just now."
So, in a day or two James was set to work.
The carpenter found that it was as he had represented. He was not a first-class workman. Indeed, he had only a rudimentary knowledge of the trade, but he was quick to learn, and in a short time he was able to help in many ways. His wages were not very large, but they were satisfactory, since they enabled him to pay his expenses and keep his head above water. Before the seventeen dollars were exhausted, he had earned quite a sum by his labor in the carpenter's-shop.
About this time he received a letter from his brother.
"Dear James," he wrote, "I shall be glad to hear how you are getting along. You took so little money with you that you may need more. If so, let me know, and I will try to send you some."
James answered promptly: "Don't feel anxious about me, Thomas. I have been fortunate enough to secure work at a carpenter's-shop, and my expenses of living are very small. I intend not to call upon you or mother again, but to pay my own way, if I keep my health."
He kept his word, and from that time did not find it necessary to call either upon his mother or his good brother, who was prepared to make personal sacrifices, as he had been doing all his life, that his younger brother might enjoy advantages which he had to do without.
At length the summer vacation came. James had worked hard and won high rank in his respective studies. He had a robust frame, and he seemed never to get tired. No doubt he took especial interest in composition and the exercises of the debating society which flourished at Geauga, as at most seminaries of advanced education. In after-life he was so ready