Future President May Have Sought Employment
on Canal Because of His
Fondness for Sea Stories.
James A. Garfield was reared in the forests of Ohio. When he was not
engaged at work on the farm, he was reading all the books that he could
get hold of, especially those pertaining to the sea, for which he had a
passion. Supposedly, it was this that influenced him to obtain one of his
first jobs--the driving of mules which towed the canal-boat between
Cleveland and Pittsburgh. After a severe attack of illness, contracted
after a plunge into the canal, he began to educate himself.
He entered Geauga Seminary, then went to Williams College, and afterward
to Hiram. It was at this time that he suffered the worst poverty of his
career, for frequently he was obliged to stay in bed while his landlady
darned his clothes. Seeing the young man's discouragement, she told him to
cheer up, and that he would forget all about it when he became President.
In after life he said: "Poverty is uncomfortable, I can testify; but nine
times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be
tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself." And on
another occasion: "I feel a profounder reverence for a boy than for a man;
and I never meet a ragged boy in the street without feeling that I may owe
him a salute, for I know not what possibilities may be buttoned up under
his coat."
At the close of Garfield's college life he went into a law office in
Cleveland; from there to the Ohio Senate, and then to the Civil War, after
which he was elected to the House of Representatives.