e of his Saturday holiday to
regular labour. It was hard work, this schooling and carpentering side
by side; but James throve upon it; and at the end of the first term he
was not only able to pay all his bill for board and lodging, but also
to carry home a few dollars in his pocket by way of savings.

James stopped three years at the "seminary" at Chester; and in the
holidays he employed himself by teaching in the little township schools
among the country districts. There is generally an opening for young
students to earn a little at such times by instructing younger boys
than themselves in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and the
surrounding farmers, who want schooling for their boys, are glad enough
to take the master in on the "boarding round" system, for the sake of
his usefulness in overlooking the lads in the preparation of their home
lessons. It is a simple patriarchal life, very different from anything
we know in England; and though Ohio was by this time a far more settled
and populated place than when Abram Garfield first went there, it was
still quite possible to manage in this extremely primitive and family
fashion. The fact is, though luxuries were comparatively unknown, food
was cheap and abundant; and a young teacher who was willing to put his
heart into his work could easily earn more than enough to live upon in
rough comfort. Sometimes the school-house was a mere log hut, like
that in which young Garfield had been born; but, at any rate, it was
work to do, and food to eat, and that alone was a great thing for a lad
who meant to make his own way in the world by his own exertions.

Near the end of his third year at Chester, James met, quite
accidentally, with a young man who had come from a little embryo
"college," of the sort so common in rising American towns, at a place
called Hiram in Ohio. American schools are almost as remarkable as
American towns for the oddity and ugliness of their names; and this
"college" was known by the queer and meaningless title of the "Eclectic
Institute." It was conducted by an obscure sect who dub themselves
"The Disciples' Church," to which young Garfield's father and mother
had both belonged. His casual acquaintance urged upon him strongly the
desirability of attending the institute; and James, who had already
begun to learn Latin, and wished to learn more, was easily persuaded to
try this particular school rather than any other.

In August, 1851, James Garfie