themselves in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and the surrounding
farmers, who want schooling for their boys, are glad enough to take the
master in on the "boarding round" system, for the sake of his usefulness
in overlooking the lads in the preparation of their home lessons. It is
a simple patriarchal life, very different from anything we know in
England; and though Ohio was by this time a far more settled and
populated place than when Abram Garfield first went there, it was still
quite possible to manage in this extremely primitive and family fashion.
The fact is, though luxuries were comparatively unknown, food was cheap
and abundant; and a young teacher who was willing to put his heart into
his work could easily earn more than enough to live upon in rough
comfort. Sometimes the school-house was a mere log hut, like that in
which young Garfield had been born; but, at any rate, it was work to do,
and food to eat, and that alone was a great thing for a lad who meant to
make his own way in the world by his own exertions.

Near the end of his third year at Chester, James met, quite
accidentally, with a young man who had come from a little embryo
"college," of the sort so common in rising American towns, at a place
called Hiram in Ohio. American schools are almost as remarkable as
American towns for the oddity and ugliness of their names; and this
"college" was known by the queer and meaningless title of the "Eclectic
Institute." It was conducted by an obscure sect who dub themselves "The
Disciples' Church," to which young Garfield's father and mother had both
belonged. His casual acquaintance urged upon him strongly the
desirability of attending the institute; and James, who had already
begun to learn Latin, and wished to learn more, was easily persuaded to
try this particular school rather than any other.

In August, 1851, James Garfield, then aged nearly twenty, presented