Hiram Institute.--The faithful Janitor.--Miss Almeda
Booth.--James is appointed Assistant Teacher.--Critical
habit of Reading.--Moral and Religious Growth.--Debating
Club.
It was towards the latter part of August, 1851, and James was nearly
twenty years of age when he first presented himself at Hiram Institute.
The board of trustees was then in session, and he was directly
introduced into the room where they were seated. Notwithstanding his
shabby clothes and awkward manners, his earnest, intelligent face at
once prepossessed them in his favor.
"I must work my way," he began; "but I am very anxious to get an
education. I thought, perhaps, you would let me ring the bell and sweep
the floors to pay part of my bills."
"How do we know that you can do the work well?" asked one of the
trustees.
"If, at the end of a couple of weeks," replied James, "you find that my
work does not suit you, I will not ask to keep the place."
"I think we had better try the young student," said another of the
trustees, and so the question was settled, and James was duly installed
as janitor.
The town of Hiram was at that time twelve miles from the railroad, and
consisted of a straggling collection of houses, with two churches and a
few stores at the cross-roads. Its natural advantages, however, were
wonderfully fine, and to-day it is sometimes called "the crown of Ohio."
Its location is very near the line where the waters divide, one part
flowing northward to Lake Erie, the other southward to the Ohio river.
The Institute was a plain, brick building on the top of a hill, whose
slopes were thickly planted with corn; from this eminence a charming
panorama of the whole surrounding country could be obtained. It was
built for the special accommodation of the sons and daughters of the
Western Reserve farmers, and among its founders was Mr. Zebulon Rudolph,
the father of James' old school-mate, Lucretia Rudolph. The Rev. A. S.
Hayden was, at this time, its principal, and Thomas Munnell and Norman
Dunshee were assistant teachers.
The aims of the school were,--
1st. To provide a sound, scientific and literary education.
2d. To temper and sweeten such education with moral and scriptural
knowledge.
3d. To educate young men for the ministry.
[Illustration: HIRAM COLLEGE, HIRAM, OHIO.]
The charter of the Institute, according to the peculiar tenet of the
religious movement in which it originated, was based upon the study of
the Holy Scriptures. The Disciples believed that the Bible ought to take
a larger place in general culture than had as yet been accorded to it.
In the course of study, the system pursued was strictly elective. It was
just the place for James to fit for college, and pursue, if he chose,
branches that would enable him to enter a university two years in
advance.
Among the pupils at Hiram, when James entered the Institute, was a Miss
Almeda Booth, some nine years his senior, who proved an invaluable
friend and helper. She was a teacher as well as scholar, but James, at
the end of a few months, found himself pursuing the same studies and
ranking in the same classes as Miss Booth. "I was far behind her," he
writes, "in mathematics and the physical sciences, but we were nearly in
the same place in Greek and Latin."
Miss Booth was a lady of rare talent. Upon the death of the young man to
whom she was engaged, she resolved to consecrate her life to higher
intellectual attainments, in order to increase her usefulness.
In a tribute to her memory, a few years ago, Garfield said,--
"She exerted a more powerful influence over me than any other teacher,
except President Hopkins.... The few spare hours which schoolwork left
us were devoted to such pursuits as each of us preferred, but much
study was done in common. I can name twenty or thirty books, which will
be doubly precious to me because they were read and discussed in company
with her. I can still read between the lines the memories of her first
impressions of the page, and her judgment of its merits."
Whenever James had a thesis to prepare, he would talk over the subject
for hours with Miss Booth, and together they read during one term a
hundred pages of Herodotus and a hundred of Livy.
At the close of his first year at Hiram, James was given the position of
assistant teacher of the English department and ancient languages. He
had also secured regular work with the carpenter in Hiram, so it was no
longer necessary for him to serve as janitor. But many of his old
schoolmates still remember the faithfulness with which he performed the
menial services of his first position. He was promptness itself at the
ringing of every bell, and seemed the personification of Herbert's
servant, in making "drudgery divine"--for truly,
"Who sweeps a room as to Thy laws,
Makes that and the action fine!"
It was while at Hiram Institute that he formed the habit of taking
critical notes from all the books he read. It proved of invaluable
service to him in after years, for no matter upon what topic he desired
to speak, these indexes served as so many finger-posts in his library,
and directed him at once to the subject-matter in hand.
All this time the moral and religious faculties of the young student
were developing no less rapidly than his intellectual powers. At the
frequent meetings of the Disciples he was a ready speaker, and his
earnest appeals are remembered to this day by his school-mates. Every
one seemed to think, as a matter of course, that he would become a
preacher in the Church of the Disciples, but, as the months went by, he
seemed disinclined to express any decision upon that point.
The Debating Club at Hiram called out his best powers. His practice at
Geauga had fitted him to express his opinions upon whatever subject
might be under discussion, in the clearest and most impressive manner.
At one time the contest over some public question became so bitter and
excited that James finally rose and declared he would no longer waste
his time over such nonsensical things as the majority proposed. A
division of the club was the final result, and James was chosen
president of the new society.