The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-07-24

lcpe.tI IL HOW lloill DC. llllils7 W Gnu. Ilc
was Il master of the spelling book before
he was ten years old. and was the cham
pion of his school in the spelling matches
with the neighboring districts. He
studied Pixies and Adams Arthmetics,
and Woodbridge's Geography.
There were no playthings nor picture
books in the Garfield family. They were
too poor to buy such things. Yet it must
not be thought that they were exception
ally poor. All the farmers families in
northern Ohio had a life of hardship and
sacrifice in those days and the lot of the
Gartields was only harder than the rest
because of the death of the father AS
soon as the boys got old enough to earn
money the household was in as comforta-
bic circumstances as we're other families
living on small farms. There were no
social castles in the community and the
hard struggles of the Garlields with pow
erty never caused them to be ranked be-
low their more fortunate ncighbors, as
would be the case at this time. LaZineSs
drunkenness and immortality We're all
that dishonored persons in that day.
Work of all kinds was honorable and no
mental spirit attached to it.
MANS WAGES AT SIXTEEN.
James often got employment in the
haying and harvesting season from the
farmers of Orange. When he was six
teen he walked ten miles to Aurora, in
company with boy older than himself
looking for work. They offered their
services to Il farmer who had Il good deal
of hay to cut what wages do you ex-
pect?" asked the man. Mans wages
"a dollar day. replied young Garfield.
The farmer thought they were not old
us NOW that field by the acre." said the
young mau. The farmer agreed: the
customary price per acre was fifty cents.
BY / o'clock i'll the afternoon the hay
was down and the boys earned 4 dollar
apiece. Then the farmer engaged them
for fortnight. James first steady
wages were earned from Il merchant who
had IN ashery where he bleached ashes
and made black salts, which where ship
ped by lake and canal to New York He
got nine dollars Il month and his board.
and stuck to the business for two months
at the end of which his hair below his
cap was bleached and colorcd by the
fumes until it assumed a lively red hue.
Afterward he went to Newburg, where
an uncle lived who had II piece of oak
timber land to clear on the edge of In
dependence Township. James agreed to
chop 100 cords of wood for 80 cents a
cord. He boarded with one of his sisters
who was married and lived near by. He
was Il good chopper and easily cut two
cords a day. Near him worked a Ger
man who was neither quick nor expert.
James found he could make two cuts
through u log while the German was
making one, and he was disposed to dis
charge the clumsy fellow, but at the end
of Il week he found the slow chopper had
as many cords piled up rs he. This set
him to thinking and observing, and he
noticed that the German never stopped
rs he did to look at the blue lake and the
distant sails, or sat on the log to rest and
mediate. but kept steadily at his work
like Il machine. The boy learned Il lesson
of persistence and application. 1t was
the story of the hare and the tortoise in
a new form.
The view of Lake Erie and the pass
ing sails stirred aireslI in him the ;nnbi-
ton to be Il sailor, which almost every
sturdy farmers boy feels who reads tales
of sea fights and adventures in the quiet
monotony of his inland home. He re
solved to slip on one OF the lake craft,
and with this purpose walked to Cleve-
land and boarded II schooner lying ut the
wharf, and told the captain he wanted to
hire out AS Il sailor. The captain. Il
brutal drunken fellow, was amazed at
the impudence Of the green country lad,
and answered him with torrent of pro-
family. Escaping rs quickly as he could
from the vessel, the lad walked up the
river along the docks. Soon he heard
himself called by name from the deck of
Il canal boat, and turning around recog-
nized Il cousin, Amos Letcher, who told
him he commanded the craft and pro-
posed to engage him to drive horses on
the towpath. The would-be sailor thought
that there was a chance to learn some
thing OF navigation in Il humble way.
preparatory to renewing his application
for service on the lakes. lie accepted
the offer and the wages of ten dollars :,
month and found. and next day the
boat started for Pittsburg with cargo
of copper ore. 1t was called the Even
ing Star, was opeu amidships and had :,
cabin at the bow for the horses and one
left the main line of the Ohio Canal, an,
following the Pcnnsy lvana' branch, took
the young driver through the heart OF
the district he was afterward to represent
in Congress. past the towns of Ravenna
Warren, Niles and Youngstown to the
Beaver river; thence by slackwatcr t.
the Ohio at Beaver village. where the
boat was taken in tow by the stern
wheeler Michigan and pulled up to Pitts
burg. Some of the stories told of Gar
fields canal adventures are fictitious
That Of his victory over the burly boat
man at the mouth of the Beaver is true
and also that of his narrow escape from
drowning. He fell overheard in the
darkness, into Breakneck' creek, neal
Kent, Ohio, Chen Franklin Mills Will,
pulling in the bow-line and WAS savet
from going under the boat by luck,
twist in tho rope which caught between
two planks and held till he pulled himsel
hand over hand up to the deck. On til,
return trip, the Evening Star stopped a
Brier Hill, on the Mahonng river, ant
loaded with coal at the mines of Davit
Tod afterward Governor of Ohio, and ,
warm friend of Garfield, the Major Gen
eral and member of Congress. Thu
boating episode in Gartield's life lastet
through the season of 1913. After thu
first trip to Pittsburg the boat went bacl
and forth between Cleveland and Brie
L I