Return Home.--Appointed Professor, then President, of Hiram
Institute.--His Popularity as a Teacher.--Answers Prof.
Denton.--Marriage.
Upon his return home, Garfield was immediately appointed Professor of
Ancient Languages and Literature at Hiram Institute. Writing to a friend
at this time, he says,--
"I have attained to the height of my ambition. I have my diploma from an
eastern college, and my position here at Hiram as instructor; and now I
shall devote all my energies to this Institution."
The following year, upon the resignation of A. L. Hayden, Garfield was
appointed President of Hiram Institute. He was now twenty-six years of
age, and one of his pupils writing of him at this time, says,--
"He was a tall, strong man, full of animal spirits, and many a time he
used to run out on the green and play cricket with us. He combined an
affectionate and confiding manner with respect for order in a most
successful manner. If he wanted to speak to a pupil, either for reproof
or approbation, he would generally manage to get one arm around him and
draw him close up to him. He had a peculiar way of shaking hands, too,
giving a twist to your arm and drawing you right up to him. This
sympathetic manner has helped him to advancement. He took very kindly to
me, and assisted me in various ways, because I was poor and was janitor
of the buildings, and swept them out in the morning, and built the fires
as he had done only six years before, when he was a pupil at the same
school.
"Once when he assigned me a task that I feared was beyond my powers, I
said,--
"'I am afraid I cannot do that.'
"'What!' he exclaimed, 'you are not going to give up without trying! It
seems to me, Darsie, when one is in a place he can easily fill, it is
time for him to shove out of it into one that requires his utmost
exertion.'"
The present principal at Hiram, President Hinsdale, was one of
Garfield's pupils, and it was through his advice and constant
encouragement that the struggling student undertook the work of a
liberal education.
"Tell me," he writes Hinsdale, "do you not feel a spirit stirring within
you that longs to _know, to do, and to dare_, to hold converse with the
great world of thought, and hold before you some high and noble object
to which the vigor of your mind and the strength of your arm may be
given? Do you not have longings like these which you breathe to no one,
and which you feel must be heeded, or you will pass through life
unsatisfied and regretful? I am sure you have them, and they will
forever cling around your heart till you obey their mandate.... God has
endowed some of His children with desires and capabilities for an
extended field of labor and influence, and every life should be shaped
according to 'what the man hath.' _I know_ you have capabilities for
occupying positions of high and important trust in the scenes of active
life. I sincerely hope you will not, without an earnest struggle, give
up a course of liberal study."
Hinsdale, as we all know, followed the advice of his earnest,
sympathetic teacher, and is now ranked among the foremost scholars of
the day.
A favorite mode of instruction with Garfield was by means of lectures.
"They were upon all sorts of subjects," writes one of his pupils, "and
were usually the result of his readings and observation. One season he
took a pleasure trip, and, on his return, gave a very interesting series
on 'The Chain of Lakes,' including Niagara, The Thousand Isles, and
sub-historic points. One lecture on aerolites I shall never forget. About
the time of the attack on Fort Sumter, he gave several lectures upon
'Ordnance'; and the natural sciences, aesthetics, etc., always came in
for a share of his effective treatment."
At one time a certain Prof. Denton, who was a strong advocate of
spiritualism, gave a series of lectures in Northern Ohio, by which he
attempted to prove the inaccuracy of the Scriptures. He was something of
a scholar, and stated his theories in so plausible a manner that many
weak minds were misled. At last he became so bold that he offered a
challenge to any and every believer of the Bible in Ohio to refute his
statements.
The Churches of the Disciples were greatly troubled. Many of their young
men were falling away, and the false doctrines were gaining a rapid
ascendancy throughout the community. They must have a strong champion,
who could meet Professor Denton with sharp weapons upon his own ground.
They applied to Garfield, who, after some persuasion, finally agreed to
meet the professor upon the appointed evening and take up his challenge.
He had only three days to prepare for the contest, but, selecting six of
his most advanced students, he told them the plan of argument he had
devised, and then sent them to the college library to look up the
separate points. He also procured copies of all the previous lectures
that Professor Denton had delivered, and sent in various directions for
the latest scientific works. When the evening came he was thoroughly
prepared at every point. A large and excited audience had gathered to
hear the discussion. Professor Denton opened the debate. Supposing his
opponent would not dare to attack him on scientific ground, he neglected
to be precisely accurate in all his statements. Garfield waited until he
had finished, and then, with overwhelming authority, took up each point
of the discussion and refuted all the Professor's arguments with the
very weapons he had himself been using. It was a complete victory, and
Professor Denton had the manliness to acknowledge that he had never
before met with so gifted and powerful an adversary.
As the Institute at Hiram was under the special patronage of the
Disciples, a large number of the students in attendance were young men
who were fitting for the ministry. Garfield's position, therefore, as
principal, gave him a close connection with church-work. He was a
preacher as well as a teacher, and at one time filled the pulpits at
Solon and Newberg every Sunday. At the morning devotions it was his
custom to deliver a short, impressive address; his favorite hymn at
these services was, "Ho, reapers of life's harvest," and his pupils
recall how, at the singing of the last verse, he would always rap upon
his desk and request the whole school to rise. He frequently preached at
the Disciples' Church in Hiram, and everyone believed that he would
eventually choose the ministry for his profession.
Lucretia Rudolph, the bright, attractive school-mate to whom his
thoughts had so often reverted, was now a teacher at Hiram. They had
corresponded all the time he was in college, their long friendship had
ripened into a deep and tender love, and on the 11th of November, 1858,
they were united in marriage.
A poet-student at Hiram celebrates the event in the following ode:--
"_Again_ a Mary? Nay, _Lucretia_;
The noble, classic name
That well befits our fair ladie,
Our sweet and gentle dame
With heart as leal and loving
As e'er was sung in lays
Of high-born Roman nation,
In old, heroic days;
Worthy her lord illustrious, whom
Honor and fame attend;
Worthy her soldier's name to wear.
Worthy the civic wreath to share
That binds her Viking's tawny hair;
Right proud are we the world should know
As hers, him whom we long ago
Found truest helper, friend."
In a humble little cottage, just in front of the college campus, they
began their wedded life,--a life whose wonderful beauty, strength, and
devotion was soon to be seen and known of all the world.
Mrs. Garfield became as great a favorite in the college as her husband.
One of the graduates thus writes:--
"There are men and women scattered over the United States, holding
positions of honor and wealth, who began the life that led them upward
by the advice and with the assistance of Mr. and Mrs. Garfield."
The wife was always the ready and efficient helpmeet of her husband.
Whenever he had a lecture or speech to prepare, she would search the
whole library, consulting every book that pertained to the subject in
hand, and then together they would discuss the topic from every point of
view. One, in every thought and purpose, their quiet life at Hiram
presented the same beautiful home picture that after honors could never
dim nor tarnish.