“Why should a sailor’s life be degrading?” asked James.

“It need not be necessarily, but as a matter of fact most sailors have low aims and are addicted to bad habits.  Better wait till you can go to sea as a passenger, and enjoy to the full the benefits of foreign travel.”

“There is something in that,” said James, thoughtfully.  “If I could only be sure of going some day.”

“Wouldn’t it be pleasant to go as a man of culture, as a college professor, as a minister, or as a lawyer, able to meet on equal terms foreign scholars and gentlemen?”

This was a new way of putting it, and produced a favorable impression on the boy’s mind.  Still, the boy had doubts, and expressed them freely.

“That sounds well,” he said; “but how am I to know that I have brain enough to make a college professor, or a minister, or a lawyer?”

“I don’t think there is much doubt on that point,” said Bates, noting the bright, expressive face, and luminous eyes of the sick boy.  “I should be willing to guarantee your capacity.  Don’t you think yourself fit for anything better than a common sailor?”

“Yes,” answered James.  “I think I could make a good carpenter, for I know something about that trade already, and I daresay I could make a good trader if I could find an opening to learn the business; but it takes a superior man to succeed in the positions you mention.”

“There are plenty of men with only average ability who get along very creditably; but I advise you, if you make up your mind to enter the lists, to try for a high place.”

The boy’s eyes sparkled with new ambition.  It was a favorite idea with him afterward, that every man ought to feel an honorable ambition to succeed as well as possible in his chosen path.

“One thing more,” added Bates.  “I don’t think you have any right to become a sailor.”

“No right?  Oh, you mean because mother objects.”

“That, certainly, ought to weigh with you as a good son; but I referred to something else.”

“What then?”

“Do you remember the parable of the talents?”

James had been brought up by his mother, who was a devoted religious woman, to read the Bible, and he answered in the affirmative.

“It seems to me that you are responsible for the talents which God has bestowed upon you.  If you have the ability or the brain, as you call it, to insure success in a literary career, don’t you think you would throw yourself away if you became a sailor?”

Mrs. Garfield, who had listened with deep interest to the remarks of the young man, regarded James anxiously, to see what effect these arguments were having upon him.  She did not fear disobedience.  She knew that if she should make it a personal request, James was dutiful enough to follow her wishes; but she respected the personal independence of her children, and wanted to convince, rather than to coerce, them.