After his canal-boat experience he fell sick, and before he got well
again he had spent all the money he had, and more--for he was in debt
for his doctor's bill. He set to work to save money, and soon paid off
his debt. Meantime the thirst for knowledge had been awakened in him,
and he began that severe struggle for education which ended only when he
had accomplished his purpose. At first he dreamed of nothing more than
going through the studies taught in the little academy at Chester, Ohio;
and truly that seemed task enough to set himself, for he had neither
money nor friends able to help him, and he must earn with his hands all
that it would cost him for board, lodging, and tuition. He began with
only seventeen dollars. This was spent during the first term. All that
he could earn during vacation went to pay off the old score of his
doctor, and he began the second term with but a sixpence in his pocket.
Dropping this into the contribution box at church, he left himself
actually penniless; but difficulties of this kind did not appall the
brave, resolute boy. Had he not always earned all that he spent? He had
provided for himself in the past by the labor of his hands, and he would
do the same now. It was then that he hired himself to the carpenter as
has been related already.
During the next winter young Garfield undertook to control and teach the
school in a district from which the last teacher had been driven away by
unruly boys. It was a brave thing to do, for he was scarcely more than a
boy himself, and it was certain that the young bullies of the district
would contest the question of mastery with him. There was danger of
defeat and failure, but he braved all and took the school. The question
whether he or the big boys were to control the school was soon brought
to a test. The largest, strongest, and most daring boy became unruly,
and after the custom of that time the teacher must chastise him, or the
discipline of the school would have been utterly broken up. It was a
question whether Garfield would thrash the boy or the boy thrash
Garfield, and the school was much interested in its decision. There was
a severe struggle, at the end of which there was no longer any doubt who
was master of that school, for the big boy had had his thrashing, and
"Jim Garfield," whom the boys had regarded as a raw youth, was ever
afterward respected as "Mr. Garfield, the teacher."
It was not long after this that young Garfield began to entertain larger
hopes in the matter of education. He was earning his way through the
academy at Chester: why might he not earn his way also through a
preparatory school, and finally through college? Young Garfield was
willing and glad to be a country school-master so long as that seemed
necessary, just as he was always willing to do any honest work that came
in his way; but he was not content to be a half-educated school-teacher
all his life, if a fuller education could be had; and after looking into
the matter he was convinced that a complete college training was not
beyond his reach. It would require patience, hard work, and close
economy to accomplish this, but it could be accomplished, and for this
resolute young fellow, with his stout heart and strong arms, that was
enough. As nearly as he could tell, it would take him twelve years to
fit himself for college and to go through the college course, for he
must work and teach one year to earn his school or college expenses
during the next. But the thought of twelve years of toil, economy, and
study did not daunt him in the least, and so he set to work at once.
How he accomplished more than he had thought possible, doing in three
years what he had planned to do in four, and otherwise getting on faster
and better than he had expected, is too long a story to tell here; but
it is to be wished that every reader of YOUNG PEOPLE would read not only
about Mr. Garfield's youth, but the whole story of his life, in the
biographies that have been written of him.
It is very interesting and very profitable reading, not because Mr.
Garfield was a Major-General, a member of Congress, a distinguished
statesman, and finally President, but because he was always a man of
high character and great courage; because he knew, even in boyhood, how
to master himself; because he made his own way in life by patience,
perseverance, and conscientious industry; because all the high honors
that have been heaped upon him were his by right of his worth. This
whole great country of fifty millions of people is in real mourning for
his death, not because he was President, but because every one of the
fifty millions has learned to honor and love the man for his noble
character.
Mr. Garfield left five children, two others having died. We give
portraits of the two elder boys and of the only girl. Mollie, who is a
bright, winning lass of about thirteen years, has come to be the pet of
the whole American people. On the very day of his death Mr. Garfield
asked especially to have Mollie sit with him, and he and she talked
together until he grew drowsy. Then, still to bear him company, Mollie
sat down near the foot of the bed, where, after a little while, she
fainted, and was carried out of the room. That was her last visit to her
father's bed-side, the last time she spoke to him or heard him speak.
Harry and James Garfield were with their father when he was shot, and
their manly bearing and tender devotion to their parents during these
many sad days have won for them the love and admiration of the country.
Harry is said to be a fine musician. Both are at Williams College, where
the late President graduated nearly thirty years ago. The younger
children, Irwin and Abram, remained at Mentor with their aged
grandmother during the whole time of their father's fatal illness.