WAYS AND MEANS.
James called on the carpenter after supper and inquired if he could
supply him with work.
"I may be able to if you are competent," was the reply. "Have you ever
worked at the business?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"At Orange, where my home is."
"How long did you work at it?"
"Perhaps I had better tell you what I have done," said James.
He then gave an account of the barns he had been employed upon, and the
frame house which he had assisted to build for his mother.
"I don't set up for a first-class workman," he added, with a smile, "but
I think I can be of some use to you."
"I will try you, for I am rather pressed with work just now."
So, in a day or two James was set to work.
The carpenter found that it was as he had represented. He was not a
first-class workman. Indeed, he had only a rudimentary knowledge of the
trade, but he was quick to learn, and in a short time he was able to
help in many ways. His wages were not very large, but they were
satisfactory, since they enabled him to pay his expenses and keep his
head above water. Before the seventeen dollars were exhausted, he had
earned quite a sum by his labor in the carpenter's-shop.
About this time he received a letter from his brother.
"Dear James," he wrote, "I shall be glad to hear how you are getting
along. You took so little money with you that you may need more. If so,
let me know, and I will try to send you some."
James answered promptly: "Don't feel anxious about me, Thomas. I have
been fortunate enough to secure work at a carpenter's-shop, and my
expenses of living are very small. I intend not to call upon you or
mother again, but to pay my own way, if I keep my health."
He kept his word, and from that time did not find it necessary to call
either upon his mother or his good brother, who was prepared to make
personal sacrifices, as he had been doing all his life, that his younger
brother might enjoy advantages which he had to do without.
At length the summer vacation came. James had worked hard and won high
rank in his respective studies. He had a robust frame, and he seemed
never to get tired. No doubt he took especial interest in composition
and the exercises of the debating society which flourished at Geauga, as
at most seminaries of advanced education. In after-life he was so ready
and powerful in debate, that we can readily understand that he must have
begun early to try his powers. Many a trained speaker has first come to
a consciousness of his strength in a lyceum of boys, pitted against some
school-fellow of equal attainments. No doubt many crude and some
ludicrous speeches are made by boys in their teens, but at least they
learn to think on their feet, and acquire the ability to stand the gaze
of an audience without discomposure. A certain easy facility of
expression also is gained, which enables them to acquit themselves
creditably on a more important stage.
James early learned that the best preparation for a good speech is a
thorough familiarity with the subject, and in his after-life he always
carefully prepared himself, so that he was a forcible debater, whom it
was not easy to meet and conquer.
"He once told me how he prepared his speeches," said Representative
Williams, of Wisconsin, since his death. "First he filled himself with
the subject, massing all the facts and principles involved, so far as he
could; then he took pen and paper and wrote down the salient points in
what he regarded their logical order. Then he scanned these critically,
and fixed them in his memory. 'And then,' said he, 'I leave the paper in
my room and trust to the emergency.'"
When the vacation came James began to look about for work. He could not
afford to be idle. Moreover, he hoped to be able to earn enough that he
might not go back empty-handed in the fall.
Generally work comes to him who earnestly seeks it, and James heard of
a man who wanted some wood cut.
He waited upon this man and questioned him about it.
"Yes," he answered, "I want the wood cut. What will you charge to do
it?"
"How much is there?"
"About a hundred cords."
James thought of the time when he cut twenty-five cords for seven
dollars, and he named a price to correspond.
"I'll give you twenty-five dollars," said the proprietor of the wood.
It was a low price for the labor involved, but, on the other hand, it
would be of essential service to the struggling student.
"I will undertake it," he said.
"When will you go to work?"
"Now!" answered James promptly.
How long it took him to do the work we have no record, but he doubtless
worked steadfastly till it was accomplished. We can imagine the
satisfaction he felt when the money was put into his hands, and he felt
that he would not need to be quite so economical in the coming term.
Accordingly, when the vacation was over and James went back to the
seminary, he did not re-engage the room which he and his two friends had
rented the term before. He realized that to be in a condition to study
well he must feed his body well, and he was in favor of a more generous
system of diet. Besides, the labor required for cooking was so much time
taken from his study hours.
He heard that a widow--Mrs. Stiles--mother of the present sheriff of
Ashtabula County, was prepared to receive boarders, and, accordingly, he
called upon her to ascertain if she would receive him.
She knew something of him already, for she learned that he had obtained
the reputation of a steady and orderly student, and was disposed to
favor his application.
The next question was an important one to young Garfield.
"How much do you expect me to pay?"
He waited with some anxiety for the answer, for though he had
twenty-five dollars in his pocket, the term was a long one, and tuition
was to be paid also.
"A dollar and six cents will be about right," said Mrs. Stiles, "for
board, washing, and lodging."
"That will be satisfactory," said James, with a sigh of relief, for he
saw his way clear to pay this sum for a time, at least, and for the
whole term if he could again procure employment at his old trade.
A dollar and six cents! It was rather an odd sum, and we should consider
it nowadays as very low for any sort of board in any village, however
obscure or humble. But in those days it was not so exceptional, and
provisions were so much lower that the widow probably lost nothing by
her boarder, though she certainly could not have made much.
James had no money to spare for another purpose, though there was need
enough of it. He needed some new clothes badly. He had neither
underclothing nor overcoat, and but one outside suit, of cheap Kentucky
jean. No doubt he was subjected to mortification on account of his
slender supply of clothing. At any rate he was once placed in
embarrassing circumstances.
Toward the close of the term, as Mrs. Stiles says, his trowsers became
exceedingly thin at the knees, and one unlucky day, when he was
incautiously bending forward, they tore half-way round the leg, exposing
his bare knee.
James was very much mortified, and repaired damages as well as he could
with a pin.
"I need a new suit of clothes badly," he said in the evening, "but I
can't afford to buy one. See how I have torn my trowsers."
"Oh, that is easy enough to mend," said Mrs. Stiles, cheerfully.
"But I have no other pair to wear while they are being mended," said
James, with a blush.
"Then you must go to bed early, and send them down by one of the boys. I
will darn the hole so that you will never know it. You won't mind such
trifles when you become President."
It was a jocose remark, and the good lady little dreamed that, in after
years, the young man with but one pair of pantaloons, and those more
than half worn, would occupy the proud position she referred to.