s old he had read every book within
his reach, and wanted more. Wishful to shorten the journey to school,
Mrs. Garfield offered to give a piece of land on one corner of her
farm, if her neighbours would put up a building on it. Those who lived
near welcomed the project, and the schoolhouse was built.

Then she obtained a teacher from New Hampshire, where she was born, and
she arranged that he should begin by boarding with them. Then the
whole family worked hard to get all the farm work done before he came,
that Thomas might take advantage of his presence among them. The new
teacher found his pupils, and especially our friend Jimmy, so very
restless, that he made the following rule: "Scholars cannot study their
lessons and look about the room; therefore gazing about is strictly
forbidden."

James did not know that his attention was everywhere, and that he was
always on the alert to hear and to see everything that went on, until
he had several times been reminded of the rule. Again and again he
pleaded that he had forgotten, and bent his eyes on his book, only to
lift them again a few minutes afterwards, to look at something which
arrested his attention.

At first the teacher did not understand the active, restless mind that
kept the boy in a state of perpetual motion, and he was disappointed
when he found that the better James obeyed his rule, the slower
progress he made. The fact that he had to think about the rule, and
the effort he made to be still and attentive to one thing, retarded him
more than any involuntary motions would have done. The teacher spoke
to Mrs. Garfield about her boy's restlessness, and said that he feared
he should not be able to make a scholar of James. She was so much
grieved to hear this, that the little fellow burst into tears, and,
burying his face in his mother's lap, said, "I will be a good boy! I
mean to be a good boy!"

The teacher saw that he had made a mistake, and that, in trying to keep
the boy perfectly still, he was cramping his energies and repressing
his natural activity of mind and body. From that day the lad made
rapid progress, and he finished the term by winning the prize of a New
Testament, which had been promised to the scholar who was best in study
and behaviour.

CHAPTER VI.

MAN-MAKING.

At Work on the Farm--A Good Mother's Teaching--A School Incident--The
Building of a New School--Bible Lessons--The Garfields' Motto.

The Garfield farm provid