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CHAPTER VI.

EFFORTS TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION.

SLOW RECOVERY. - MEETING WITH MR. BATES.

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A PRIVATE TUTOR.

-DETERMINED BEGINNING. THE GEAUGA SEMINARY.ESTI-
MATES THE COST OF A TERM AT SCHOOL. EARNS A SMALL SUM TO
START WITH. HIS MOTHER'S HELP. — BOARDING HIMSELF AT
CHESTER. PUDDING AND MOLASSES. THE ADVANTAGES OF A
HEALTHY BODY.
- TEACHING SCHOOL. — VACATION WORK. - IN-
TEREST IN RELIGION. THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. RELIGIOUS
PERSECUTION. -TRUSTWORTHY WORK. A GOOD NAME.

his home, he was He was very sick.

FOR weeks after his return to confined to his bed by the fever. The disease was dangerous. The mercurial medicines prescribed appear to have been more dangerous. Yet after a few weeks he began slowly to recover, notwithstanding the depressing effects of exhaustion, ague and calomel. His mother's faithful nursing overcame both the disease and the prescription.

Again he was given an opportunity to think. He could not work, play or read. He was compelled by his inherited disposition to study, plan and dream of the future. He would never be a sailor. That was

decided. He would never be a steersman on a canal. That, too, was settled. He could not content himself with the life of an indifferent carpenter, or even with that of a successful wood-chopper. What would he do after he had regained his strength?

This question was of untold importance to him and to others. Far greater than he then dreamed. The advice of Doctor Robinson, of the captain of the canal boat, and the prayers of his mother were not lost upon him.

His Uncle Amos, who frequently came to his bedside, added his precepts to the already strong evidence of the value of scholarship. Lying day after day, unable to move in his bed from one position owing to the ague cake which stubbornly refused to be reduced, he revolved in his mind various schemes for securing an education. He had nearly decided to try again the district school and swallow his pride, provided a teacher was engaged who could help him along, and had determined to seek the advice of some suitable person about the books he might need, when a most fortunate circumstance happened to give direction to his plans.

Samuel D. Bates, who has since been extensively known and revered as a Baptist preacher, was employed to teach school in Orange, and his attention was called to the studious and upright life which James was reputed to have led. He was especially impressed with the fact that it was said by all, that, through the poverty, wants and temptations of his life, James had not swerved from the honest. truth. Neither wealth, nor fame, nor culture could have given the boy such a claim on the good man's heart. Mr. Bates sought the acquaintance of the Garfield family and was soon on intimate terms with James. His advice to him was clear and decided.

He told him that many boys as old and as ignorant as himself, had become great and good by perseverance and industry. Mr. Bates advised him to fix his mind with unflinching determination on securing a college education. Mrs. Garfield, with unmeasured joy, saw the influence which Mr. Bates was having upon James, and, with delight, saw in the behavior and plans of her son, that he had set his face resolutely toward learning and its accompanying responsibilities.

On his recovery, which was exceedingly slow, he abandoned the idea of attending further any public school, and began a course of private instruction, with Mr. Bates for his teacher. Under the impetus of the fresh inspiration which James had obtained, his progress was surprising even to himself. He had feared that he was too backward to enter any academy without being ashamed of himself, but with this assistant, he would soon take rank with the best.

It was a singular sight to see that awkward woodchopper, fresh from the timber lands and the canal boat, pouring over a grammar or an arithmetic. With features made coarse by exposure, and pallid with sickness, with his stiff hair, which the sun had made crisp and wiry, standing up in a great tuft from his forehead, and with hands grim and horny, he had a most unpromising appearance as a candidate for literature or scholarship. There were those who regarded the attempt which James was making, as a very foolish effort of a country farm-hand "to

get above his business," and even said that it would be better to advise the boy to lay up his money and to help his mother, rather than waste his valuable time in useless "book learning." Even Uncle Amos, with all his reverence for the ministry, and admiration of able temperance lecturers, did not think it worth while for any boy of such plebian stock as the neighborhood of Orange was supposed to produce, to spend his time in securing anything more than a knowledge of the "common English branches." But James had made an unchangeable resolution; and, with a keen love for books, and a heart greatly moved by the religious interest which the Church of the Disciples was awakening in that community, he stubbornly compelled every hindering circumstance to bend to his will.

At noon by his carpenter's bench, at evening after his work on his mother's farm, he sought his books and solved arithmetical problems.

At this time there stood on a beautiful eminence about twelve miles from Orange, and in the town of Chester, a commodious, three-story wooden building, used for a school of a higher grade than the common. schools, and called the "Geauga Seminary." It was in one of the most charming localities in Ohio. The school was then in a very prosperous condition. and attracted students from distant parts of the State. It was established by the Freewill Baptists as a denominational school, and, but for the unfortunate religious persecution in which that denomination in Ohio was concerned with others, it would have con

tinued, doubtless, in their hands, and might long ago have been a college. Its standard of education at that time was not higher than the lower classes in the high schools now. But that was a great advance upon the rudimentary knowledge imparted in the common schools.

Mr. Bates had been a student at the Geauga Seminary, and pointed out to James the great advantage it would be to him if he could manage to attend that school. At the time the suggestion was made to James, there did not appear to be any probability or possibility of his being able to attend the school. He could neither spare the time from work, nor get the money with which to pay his board. Yet his courage abated not at the prospect. His mother agreed with him that somehow and in some way he must go. All his family, including Thomas, now grown to manhood, and his sisters, Mehitable and Mary, now in the ranks of womanhood, were kindly disposed, but they were poor. If he attended the academy he must depend on himself and his mother.

When the advantages of the seminary at Chester began to be discussed in the community, Uncle Amos thought that it might be well to permit his sons to attend school there, provided they could earn the money, as James must do. Long and anxious discussions followed in both families, sometimes in a kind of joint convention, and sometimes in their separate circles, upon the ways and means for obtaining an academic education. They calculated the cost of the tuition, then estimated how much

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