James went to the country school to learn to read and spell and cipher a little; for very little more than this could be learned in country schools then. It is said that he had many fights there, frequently having battles with lads larger than himself; and throughout his boyhood he showed as much pluck and spirit in the discharge of duty as he did in these school battles. In the haying season he would walk ten miles to get a day's work to do, and he was always ready to do whatever there was to be done. He labored sometimes as a carpenter, and once, when he had no money, and wanted to attend a boarding-school, he hired himself out to a carpenter, and earned enough to pay his way by the labor of his hands on Saturdays.
At one time he hired himself to the owner of an ashery, at nine dollars a month, and worked in ashes until the ends of his hair were bleached. He next undertook to chop one hundred cords of hard oak wood for fifty dollars, and did it. He tried to secure employment as a sailor on the lakes, but failing in that, he took a place as driver to a canal-boat. No work was too hard or too humble for him, if only it were honest, and promised him a little money.
JAMES R. GARFIELD.
From a Photograph by C. M. Bell, Washington, D.C.
After his canal-boat experience he fell sick, and before he got well again he had spent all the money he had, and more—for he was in debt for his doctor's bill. He set to work to save money, and soon paid off his debt. Meantime the thirst for knowledge had been awakened in him, and he began that severe struggle for education which ended only when he had accomplished his purpose. At first he dreamed of nothing more than going through the studies taught in the little academy at Chester, Ohio; and truly that seemed task enough to set himself, for he had neither money nor friends able to help him, and he must earn with his hands all that it would cost him for board, lodging, and tuition. He began with only seventeen dollars. This was spent during the first term. All that he could earn during vacation went to pay off the old score of his doctor, and he began the second term with but a sixpence in his pocket. Dropping this into the contribution box at church, he left himself actually penniless; but difficulties of this kind did not appall the brave, resolute boy. Had he not always earned all that he spent? He had provided for himself in the past by the labor of his hands, and he would do the same now. It was then that he hired himself to the carpenter as has been related already.
During the next winter young Garfield undertook to control and teach the school in a district from which the last teacher had been driven away by unruly boys. It was a brave thing to do, for he was scarcely more than a boy himself, and it was certain that the young bullies of the district would contest the question of mastery with him. There was danger of defeat and failure, but he braved all and took the school. The question whether he or the big boys were to control the school was soon brought to a test. The largest, strongest, and most daring boy became unruly, and after the custom of that time the teacher must chastise him, or the discipline of the school would have been utterly broken up. It was a question whether Garfield would thrash the boy or the boy thrash Garfield, and the school was much interested in its decision. There was a severe struggle, at the end of which there was no longer any doubt who was master of that school, for the big boy had had his thrashing, and "Jim Garfield," whom the boys had regarded as a raw youth, was ever afterward respected as "Mr. Garfield, the teacher."
It was not long after this that young Garfield began to entertain larger hopes in the matter of education. He was earning his way through the academy at Chester: why might he not earn his way also through a preparatory school, and finally through college? Young Garfield was willing and glad to be a country school-master so long as that seemed necessary, just as he was always willing to do any honest work that came in his way; but he was not content to be a half-educated school-teacher all his life, if a fuller education could be had; and after looking into the matter he was convinced that a complete college training was not beyond his reach. It would require patience, hard work, and close economy to accomplish this, but it could be accomplished, and for this resolute young fellow, with his stout heart and strong arms, that was enough. As nearly as he could tell, it would take him twelve years to fit himself for college and to go through the college course, for he must work and teach one year to earn his school or college expenses during the next. But the thought of twelve years of toil, economy, and study did not daunt him in the least, and so he set to work at once.
How he accomplished more than he had thought possible, doing in three years what he had planned to do in four, and otherwise getting on faster and better than he had expected, is too long a story to tell here; but it is to be wished that every reader of Young People would read not only about Mr. Garfield's youth, but the whole story of his life, in the biographies that have been written of him.
It is very interesting and very profitable reading, not because Mr. Garfield was a Major-General, a member of Congress, a distinguished statesman, and finally President, but because he was always a man of high character and great courage; because he knew, even in boyhood, how to master himself; because he made his own way in life by patience, perseverance, and conscientious industry; because all the high honors that have been heaped upon him were his by right of his worth. This whole great country of fifty millions of people is in real mourning for his death, not because he was President, but because every one of the fifty millions has learned to honor and love the man for his noble character.
Mr. Garfield left five children, two others having died. We give portraits of the two elder boys and of the only girl. Mollie, who is a bright, winning lass of about thirteen years, has come to be the pet of the whole American people. On the very day of his death Mr. Garfield asked especially to have Mollie sit with him, and he and she talked together until he grew drowsy. Then, still to bear him company, Mollie sat down near the foot of the bed, where, after a little while, she fainted, and was carried out of the room. That was her last visit to her father's bed-side, the last time she spoke to him or heard him speak.