was applied to by an ambitious student to instruct him in geometry.
There was one difficulty in the way, and that a formidable one. He was
entirely unacquainted with geometry himself. But, he reflected, here is
an excellent opportunity for me to acquire a new branch of knowledge.
Accordingly he procured a text-book, studied it faithfully at night,
keeping sufficiently far ahead of his pupil to qualify him to be his
guide and instructor, and the pupil never dreamed that his teacher, like
himself, was traversing unfamiliar ground.

It was early in his course at Geauga that he made the acquaintance of
one who was to prove his closest and dearest friend--the young lady who
in after years was to become his wife. Lucretia Rudolph was the daughter
of a farmer in the neighborhood--"a quiet, thoughtful girl, of
singularly sweet and refined disposition, fond of study and reading,
and possessing a warm heart, and a mind capable of steady growth."
Probably James was first attracted to her by intellectual sympathy and a
community of tastes; but as time passed he discerned in her something
higher and better than mere intellectual aspiration; and who shall say
in the light that has been thrown by recent events on the character of
Lucretia Garfield, that he was not wholly right?

Though we are anticipating the record, it may be in place to say here
that the acquaintance formed here was renewed and ripened at Hiram
College, to which in time both transferred themselves. There as
pupil-teacher James Garfield became in one branch the instructor of his
future wife, and it was while there that the two became engaged. It was
a long engagement. James had to wait the traditional "seven years" for
his wife, but the world knows how well he was repaid for his long
waiting.