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J
 A. G
.
Our country probably never produced a character more perfectly rounded,
physically, intellectually and morally than that which is presented to us in
the person of James A. Garfield, who was born in a log cabin in Cuyahoga
county, Ohio, November 19th, 1831.
His childhood was passed in almost complete isolation from social
influences, save those which proceeded from his mother. His father had
died when James was only eighteen months old, and when old enough to be
of any use he was put to work on the farm. The family was very poor, and
his services were needed to help 'make both ends meet.' At school, as a little
boy, he allowed no one to impose upon him. He is said to have never picked
a quarrel, but was sure to resent any indignity with effect, no matter how
large a boy the offender happened to be. He attended school during the cold
months when it was impossible to be of value on the farm; summers he
generally 'worked out,' at one time being a driver-boy on the canal.
He attended school at the Geauga Seminary, where he got through his first
term on the absurdly small sum of seventeen dollars. When he returned to
school the next term he had but a six pence in his pocket, and this he
dropped into the contribution box the next day at church. He made an
arrangement with a carpenter in the village to board with him, and have his
washing, fuel and light furnished for one dollar and six cents per week. The
carpenter was building a house, and Garfield engaged to help him nights
and Saturdays. The first Saturday he planed fifty-one boards, and thereby
made one dollar and two cents. So the term went, and he returned home,
having earned his expenses and 
.
The following winter he taught school at $12 a month and 'boarded
around.' In the spring he had $48, and when he returned to school he
boarded himself at an expense of thirty-one cents a week. Heretofore, he
had supposed a college course beyond him, but meeting a college graduate

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who explained that it was barely possible for a poor boy to graduate, if he
worked and attended alternate years, he determined to try it. After careful
calculation Garfield concluded he could get through school within 
. He accordingly began to lay his plans to graduate. Think of such
determination, dear reader, and then see if you can reasonably envy the
position attained by Garfield. He appeared as a scholar at Hiram, a new
school of his own denomination, in 1851. Here he studied all the harder, as
he now had an object in life. Returning home he taught a school, then
returned to college, and attended the spring term. During the summer he
helped build a house in the village, he himself planning all the lumber for
the siding, and shingling the roof. Garfield was now quite a scholar,
especially in the languages, and upon his return to Hiram he was made a
tutor, and thenceforward he worked both as a pupil and teacher, doing a
tremendous amount of work to fit himself for college. When he came to
Hiram he started on the preparatory course, to enter college, expecting it
would take four years. Deciding now to enter some eastern institution, he
wrote a letter to the president of each of the leading colleges in the east,
telling them how far he had progressed. They all replied that he could enter
the junior year, and thus graduate in two years from his entrance. He had
accomplished the preparatory course, generally requiring four solid years,
and had advanced two years on his college course. He had crowded six
years into three, beside supporting himself. If ever a man was worthy of
success Garfield was. He decided to enter Williams College, where he
graduated in 1856, thus came that institution to grasp the honor of giving to
the United States of America one of our most popular presidents. The grasp
of the mind of Garfield, even at this early period, can be seen by glancing at
the title of his essay, "The Seen and the Unseen." He next became a
professor; later, principal of the college at Hiram.
In the old parties Garfield had little interest, but when the Republican