More vivid than any picture I could draw is this description, by the most intimate friend of his boyhood, of James Garfield’s way of life, his struggles for an education, his constant desire to excel, and his devotion to duty.  We have already pictured the rustic boy in his humble room, cooking his own food, and living, as his cousin testifies, on a dollar a week.  Is there any other country where such humble beginnings could lead to such influence and power?  Is there any other land where such a lad could make such rapid strides toward the goal which crowns the highest ambition?  It is the career of such men that most commends our Government and institutions, proving as it does that by the humblest and poorest the highest dignities may be attained.  James was content to live on mush and molasses, pork and potatoes, since they came within his narrow means, and gave him sufficient strength to pursue his cherished studies.  Nor is his an exceptional case.  I have myself known college and professional students who have lived on sixty cents a week (how, it is difficult to tell), while their minds were busy with the loftiest problems that have ever engaged the human intellect.  Such boys and young men are the promise of the republic.  They toil upwards while others sleep, and many such have written their names high on the tablets in the Temple of Fame.

CHAPTER XI.

LEDGE HILL SCHOOL

Ever since he began to study at Geauga Seminary James had looked forward to earning a little money by keeping school himself; not an advanced school, of course, but an ordinary school, such as was kept in the country districts in the winter.  He felt no hesitation as to his competence.  The qualifications required by the school committees were by no means large, and so far there was no difficulty.

There was one obstacle, however:  James was still a boy himself—­a large boy, to be sure, but he had a youthful face, and the chances were that he would have a number of pupils older than himself.  Could he keep order?  Would the rough country boys submit to the authority of one like themselves, whatever might be his reputation as a scholar?  This was a point to consider anxiously.  However, James had pluck, and he was ready to try the experiment.

He would have been glad to secure a school so far away that he could go there as a stranger, and be received as a young man.  But no such opportunity offered.  There was another opening nearer home.

A teacher was wanted for the Ledge Hill district in Orange, and the committee-man bethought himself of James Garfield.

So one day he knocked at Mrs. Garfield’s door.

“Is James at home?” he asked.

James heard the question, and came forward to meet his visitor.

“Good-morning,” he said, pleasantly; “did you want to see me?”

“Are you calculating to keep school this winter” asked his visitor.