A RESTLESS SCHOLAR.
An Intelligent Child--The First School--James questions the
Teacher--Mrs. Garfield's Offer--Winning a Prize.
"Eliza, this boy will be a scholar some day!" said Abram Garfield when
speaking of James to his wife a short time before his death. Even at
that early age, for the little fellow was not two years old, his father
saw an unusual intelligence manifested, which gave him a high estimate
of his baby boy's intellect.
His mother took great delight in telling him Bible stories, and his
inquiring mind prompted him to ask many curious questions, which
sounded strange coming from one so young. His acquaintance with the
stories of Noah and the Flood, Joseph and his coat of many colours,
Moses and the Red Sea, and other old Testament incidents, was
remarkable.
Often he amused the children by asking questions, some of which none of
them could answer. Then his eyes sparkled with delight as he gave the
required information. His retentive memory never seemed to be at
fault. What he once heard he remembered. The sturdy pioneers, who had
turned their backs on towns and cities to make their homes in the
wilderness, did not wish their children to grow up in ignorance. The
little settlement soon became a village, and the opening of a school
was an event of the greatest importance.
Mrs. Garfield heard the news with thankfulness. A school only a mile
and a half away was a boon to her and her children. Now they would get
the education required to fit them for a useful life. More than this
she did not dare to look forward to.
Jimmy was only three years old when the welcome news reached the log
cabin. Thomas, who was not thirteen, at once decided that his little
brother should go to school. He would have been glad to go as well,
but he knew that his time would be fully occupied in digging up the
potatoes and harvesting the corn. Never was mother prouder of her son
than was Mrs. Garfield of the sturdy lad, who was ready and anxious to
fill a father's place to his brother and sisters, at an age when most
boys think only of tops and kites.
About this time Jimmy had his first pair of shoes. Thomas was the good
fairy who provided them. By doing odd jobs for a neighbour, he earned
enough money to pay the shoemaker. As houses were few and far between,
it was the custom for the man to live and do his work in the houses of
those who employed him. The happy boy had therefore the pleasure of
watching the shoemaker at work. He saw the leather cut into shape, and
then formed into shoes to fit his feet. Then there came the joy of
wearing them, and the satisfaction of being able to run about without
fear of treading on a sharp stone or thorn.
Mrs. Garfield was busy with her needle for days before the school
opened, preparing the necessary clothing, that her children might
appear neat and tidy. And when the day came round, Mehetabel set out
with Jimmy on her back, and her younger sister by her side. When they
returned, Mrs. Garfield and Thomas eagerly questioned the scholars, who
declared that they had had "such a good time." Full of excitement,
they described the events of the day, and regarded the twenty-one
scholars present as a most astonishing number.
Yet the school was but a log cabin, like the one in which the Garfield
family lived. The teacher was a young man, who taught school one part
of the year to earn money to pay for his education in the other part.
The teacher received a certain sum of money for his work, and the
parents of the children took him by turns to board in their houses.
James was an apt scholar, and at once began to question the teacher, to
the no small amusement of the scholars. When the teacher told him
anything, he wanted to know why it was so, and how the teacher knew.
And this curiosity extended to the names of the letters of the alphabet.
Winter came, and James pursued his studies at home. The long winter
evenings were spent in reading. Lying on the wooden floor, he eagerly
read page after page, by the light of the huge log fire which burned on
the hearth. Before he was six years old he had read every book within
his reach, and wanted more. Wishful to shorten the journey to school,
Mrs. Garfield offered to give a piece of land on one corner of her
farm, if her neighbours would put up a building on it. Those who lived
near welcomed the project, and the schoolhouse was built.
Then she obtained a teacher from New Hampshire, where she was born, and
she arranged that he should begin by boarding with them. Then the
whole family worked hard to get all the farm work done before he came,
that Thomas might take advantage of his presence among them. The new
teacher found his pupils, and especially our friend Jimmy, so very
restless, that he made the following rule: "Scholars cannot study their
lessons and look about the room; therefore gazing about is strictly
forbidden."
James did not know that his attention was everywhere, and that he was
always on the alert to hear and to see everything that went on, until
he had several times been reminded of the rule. Again and again he
pleaded that he had forgotten, and bent his eyes on his book, only to
lift them again a few minutes afterwards, to look at something which
arrested his attention.
At first the teacher did not understand the active, restless mind that
kept the boy in a state of perpetual motion, and he was disappointed
when he found that the better James obeyed his rule, the slower
progress he made. The fact that he had to think about the rule, and
the effort he made to be still and attentive to one thing, retarded him
more than any involuntary motions would have done. The teacher spoke
to Mrs. Garfield about her boy's restlessness, and said that he feared
he should not be able to make a scholar of James. She was so much
grieved to hear this, that the little fellow burst into tears, and,
burying his face in his mother's lap, said, "I will be a good boy! I
mean to be a good boy!"
The teacher saw that he had made a mistake, and that, in trying to keep
the boy perfectly still, he was cramping his energies and repressing
his natural activity of mind and body. From that day the lad made
rapid progress, and he finished the term by winning the prize of a New
Testament, which had been promised to the scholar who was best in study
and behaviour.