James went to the country school to learn to read and spell and cipher a
little; for very little more than this could be learned in country
schools then. It is said that he had many fights there, frequently
having battles with lads larger than himself; and throughout his boyhood
he showed as much pluck and spirit in the discharge of duty as he did in
these school battles. In the haying season he would walk ten miles to
get a day's work to do, and he was always ready to do whatever there was
to be done. He labored sometimes as a carpenter, and once, when he had
no money, and wanted to attend a boarding-school, he hired himself out
to a carpenter, and earned enough to pay his way by the labor of his
hands on Saturdays.
At one time he hired himself to the owner of an ashery, at nine dollars
a month, and worked in ashes until the ends of his hair were bleached.
He next undertook to chop one hundred cords of hard oak wood for fifty
dollars, and did it. He tried to secure employment as a sailor on the
lakes, but failing in that, he took a place as driver to a canal-boat.
No work was too hard or too humble for him, if only it were honest, and
promised him a little money.
[Illustration: JAMES R. GARFIELD.