and the more civilized society of the Atlantic shore; he had taught in
schools in many states; he had supported himself for years by his own
labours; and now, at an age when many young men are, as a rule, only
just beginning life on their own account, he had practically raised
himself from his own class into the class of educated and cultivated
gentlemen. As soon as he had taken his degree, his old friends, the
trustees of the "Eclectic Institute" at Hiram, proud of their former
sweeper and bell-ringer, called him back at a good salary as teacher of
Greek and Latin. It was then just ten years since he had toiled wearily
along the tow-path of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal.

As a teacher, Garfield seems to have been eminently successful. His
genial character and good-natured way of explaining things made him a
favourite at once with the rough western lads he had to teach, who would
perhaps have thought a more formal teacher stiff and stuck-up. Garfield
was one of themselves; he knew their ways and their manners; he could
make allowances for their awkwardness and bluntness of speech; he could
adopt towards them the exact tone which put them at home at once with
their easy-going instructor. Certainly, he inspired all his pupils with
an immense love and devotion for him; and it is less easy to inspire
those feelings in a sturdy Ohio farmer than in most other varieties of
the essentially affectionate human species.

From 1857 to 1861, Garfield remained at Hiram, teaching and working very
hard. His salary, though a good one for the time and place, was still
humble according to our English notions; but it sufficed for his needs;
and as yet it would have seemed hardly credible that in only twenty
years the Ohio schoolmaster would rise to be President of the United
States. Indeed, it is only in America, that country of peculiarly
unencumbered political action, where every kind of talent is most