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From Canal Boy to President - Or the Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield by Horatio Alger
page 120 of 236 (50%)
Where woke the first remembered sounds that fell
Upon the ear in childhood's early morn;
And wandering thence along the rolling years,
I see the shadow of my former self
Gliding from childhood up to man's estate.
The path of youth winds down through many a vale,
And on the brink of many a dread abyss,
From out whose darkness comes no ray of light,
Save that a phantom dances o'er the gulf,
And beckons toward the verge. Again, the path
Leads o'er a summit where the sunbeams fall;
And thus, in light and shade, sunshine and gloom,
Sorrow and joy, this life-path leads along."

During the year 1856 young Garfield was one of the editors of the
college magazine, from which the above extracts are made. The hours
spent upon his contributions to its pages were doubtless well spent.
Here, to use his own words, he learned "to hurl the lance and wield the
sword and thus prepare for the conflict of life." More than one whose
names have since become conspicuous contributed to it while under his
charge. Among these were Professor Chadbourne, S.G.W. Benjamin, Horace
E. Scudder, W.R. Dimmock, and John Savary. The last-named, now resident
in Washington, has printed, since his old friend's death, a series of
sonnets, from which I quote one:

"How many and how great concerns of state
Lie at the mercy of the meanest things!
This man, the peer of presidents and kings;
Nay, first among them, passed through dangers gate
In war unscathed, and perils out of date,
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