"If, at the end of a couple of weeks," replied James, "you find that my work does not suit you, I will not ask to keep the place."
"I think we had better try the young student," said another of the trustees, and so the question was settled, and James was duly installed as janitor.
The town of Hiram was at that time twelve miles from the railroad, and consisted of a straggling collection of houses, with two churches and a few stores at the cross-roads. Its natural advantages, however, were wonderfully fine, and to-day it is sometimes called "the crown of Ohio." Its location is very near the line where the waters divide, one part flowing northward to Lake Erie, the other southward to the Ohio river.
The Institute was a plain, brick building on the top of a hill, whose slopes were thickly planted with corn; from this eminence a charming panorama of the whole surrounding country could be obtained. It was built for the special accommodation of the sons and daughters of the Western Reserve farmers, and among its founders was Mr. Zebulon Rudolph, the father of James' old school-mate, Lucretia Rudolph. The Rev. A. S. Hayden was, at this time, its principal, and Thomas Munnell and Norman Dunshee were assistant teachers.
The aims of the school were,—
1st. To provide a sound, scientific and literary education.
2d. To temper and sweeten such education with moral and scriptural knowledge.
3d. To educate young men for the ministry.
Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio.