professional students who have lived on sixty cents a week (how, it is
difficult to tell), while their minds were busy with the loftiest
problems that have ever engaged the human intellect. Such boys and young
men are the promise of the republic. They toil upwards while others
sleep, and many such have written their names high on the tablets in the
Temple of Fame.




CHAPTER XI.

LEDGE HILL SCHOOL


Ever since he began to study at Geauga Seminary James had looked forward
to earning a little money by keeping school himself; not an advanced
school, of course, but an ordinary school, such as was kept in the
country districts in the winter. He felt no hesitation as to his
competence. The qualifications required by the school committees were by
no means large, and so far there was no difficulty.

There was one obstacle, however: James was still a boy himself--a large
boy, to be sure, but he had a youthful face, and the chances were that
he would have a number of pupils older than himself. Could he keep
order? Would the rough country boys submit to the authority of one like
themselves, whatever might be his reputation as a scholar? This was a
point to consider anxiously. However, James had pluck, and he was ready
to try the experiment.