In Harding's youth, the majority of the population still lived on farms and in small towns. He would spend much of his life in Marion, a small city in rural Ohio, and would become closely associated with it. When Harding rose to high office, he made clear his love of Marion and its way of life, telling of the many young Marionites who had left and enjoyed success elsewhere, while suggesting that the man, once the 'pride of the school', who had remained behind and become a janitor, was 'the happiest one of the lot'.Upon graduating, Harding had stints as a teacher and as an insurance man, and made a brief attempt at studying law. He was liked and admired, and both the press and public had followed his illness closely and been reassured by his apparent recovery.