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much more for their interest to tell the truth. Hence, his eccentric adherence to the facts made him unpopular with them. He was clearly out of his place. He felt it, and told the kind captain that he should not stay long. He had agreed to stay three months at ten dollars per month, and, as long as he could, he faithfully kept his contract. But the long, monotonous tramps beside the horses, or the dull stops to await the passage of crowded locks gave him considerable time to think. He knew that his mother had always desired to have him in some way obtain a liberal education. He felt keenly the fact that he was engaged in a calling which had not her approval. The cursing, fighting and low conversation among the men were distasteful to him. Once he was com

pelled to defend himself from an attack of an overbearing bully, and, it is said that James grappled with his opponent like a lion, and with dangerous precipitation sent the fellow rolling into the bottom of a flat boat. Men and boys were respected there according to their strength of muscle and powers of endurance. These he possessed in an eminent degree, and was seldom involved in any dispute.

Near the end of his term of three months, he was offered a position as steersman with an advance of wages. He had often been called upon to relieve the steersman, and his judgment was so mature, and his skill so apparent, that the captain's wife advised him to make it his profession for life. She urged the captain to secure the place for him, because she "felt much safer when Jim was at the helm."

But James could not be persuaded to make a new contract, nor did the large-hearted captain urge the matter. He said:

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"Jim is too good a boy to stick to the canal. loves his books too well to be confined to this hard life."

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It was during this period that he met Dr. J. P. Robinson, a physician and preacher, who has been ever since that time a devoted friend. doctor was an able and talkative man, whose good impulses were ever finding vent in some unexpected deed of kindness, and he had a great liking for James from the time of their first meeting. He advised him to find some place where he could work for his board and go to school, and told him of the great things he might do, and the great name he might gain by persevering in the attempt to obtain learning. The advice was not lost upon James, and he secretly resolved to find a place, if possible, where he could follow the doctor's advice.

Near the close of his three months' engagement, he began to be greatly afflicted with the fever and ague, which was a sad enemy of all the canal boatmen. The disease increased in virulence with alarming rapidity. His duties in caring for the careful passage of the boat, when meeting another, often required him to wade in the water, and sometimes he ventured in waist-deep. Such frequent baths, with the subsequent chill of the wet clothing which he wore until it was dry, greatly aggravated the disease.

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One day after he became so weak that he could scarcely perform his work, while he was engaged in fastening a rope at the stern of the boat, he reached over the side to lift the rope from the water. He did not realize how weak he had become. He could not lift the rope. He tugged at it for a few moments, and then, while attempting to get a firmer hold, lost his balance and fell headlong into the water.

He had never learned to swim and he was in great danger of drowning. Fortunately, the rope which was the cause of the accident lay in the water within reach, and he had the presence of mind to clutch it, while the hands on the boat pulled him out. The shock and the chill of the cold water were more than his weak frame could endure. All the symptoms of a dangerous fever followed, and he determined to hasten home. In his journey he was assisted as far as Newberg by friends, but from that place, while burning with fever and dizzy with the ague, he walked determinedly home to his mother's cottage.

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