He would have been glad to secure a school so far away that he could go
there as a stranger, and be received as a young man. But no such
opportunity offered. There was another opening nearer home.

A teacher was wanted for the Ledge Hill district in Orange, and the
committee-man bethought himself of James Garfield.

So one day he knocked at Mrs. Garfield's door.

"Is James at home?" he asked.

James heard the question, and came forward to meet his visitor.

"Good-morning," he said, pleasantly; "did you want to see me?"

"Are you calculating to keep school this winter" asked his visitor.

"If I can get a school to keep," was the reply.

"That's the business I came about. We want a schoolmaster for the Ledge
Hill School. How would you like to try it?"

"The Ledge Hill School!" repeated James, in some dismay. "Why, all the
boys know me there."

"Of course they do. Then they won't need to be introduced."

"Will they obey me? That's what I was thinking of. There are some
pretty hard cases in that school."