New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-11
GEN. GARFIELD'S BOYHOOD.
HOW THE BOY MADE THE MAN.

HOW THE BOY MADE THE MAN.
CHILDHOOD IN THE wILDERNFss-A RESTLESS
SCHOLAR WHO STOOD AT THE HEAD OF HI
cLAss-READY TO FIGHT FOR HIS RIoHTs-HI,
AMBITION TO BECOME sAILoR-How HI
MOTHER TURNED HIS THOUGHTS TO BOOKS
frRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THs TRIBUNE
MENTOR, Ohio July 5.-The childhood OF Jane;
A Garfield was PASSED in almost complete isolation
from social influences save those which proceeded
from the home of his mother and that Of his Uncle
Doynton. The farms OF the Garfelds and the Boyn-
tons were partially separated from the settled coun-
try around by large tract of forest side and
deep rocky ravine on another. About a mile away
ran the Chagrin River through wild gorge. For
many years after Abram Garfield and his half
brother Boynton built their log cabins the nearest
house was seven miles distant, and when the
country became well settled the rugged character
of the surface around their farms kept ghbors at
assistance too great for the children Of the two
families TO find associates among them. at the
district school. So the cousins grew up together
like brothers and sisters. Indeed there was
double bond between the two families, for Mrs.
Boynt0n q sister of Mrs. Garfield. Boynton
had SIX children-three boys and three girls, who
with the four Garfield children made harmonious
gronp which only separated when the older
boys went away to earn wages at woOd-chopping or
IN the hay field.
me ulStrlct Scn0ol-h0use stood upon q corner OF
the Garfield farm, and it was there, when nearly
four years old, that James conned his " Noah Web
ster's Spelling Book" and learned his alb abs"
The teacher young man from New Hamp-
shire, named Foster. A few weeks after the term
began he told Mrs. Garfield that jimmy was the
most uneasy boy in the school; IL was impos-
sbe to make him keep STILL be said, but he learned
very fast. By the next Spring Jimmy" read
tolerably well. and the schoolmaster gave him
Testament a reward for being the best scholar in
his class.
RELIGIOUS TRAINING
James was put to farm work as soon as he was big
nough to DO of any use. The family was very
poor, and the mother often worked in the fields |
with the boys. She spun the yarn and wove the
cloth for the children's clothes and her own |
sewed for the neighbors knit stockings cooked the
simple meals for the household in the big fireplace |
over which hung iron crane for the t-hooks |
helped plant and hoe the corn and gather the hay |
crop. and even assisted the oldest boy to |
clear and fence land. In the midst of |
this toilsome life the brave little woman
found time to instil into the minds of |
her children the religious and moral maxims of her
New-Engand ancestry. Every day she read four
chapters of the Bible-a practice she keeps UP TO
this time and has never interrupted for a single day
save when lying upon sick bed The children
lived in an atmosphere of religious thought and
discussion. Uncle BOyntoD, who was a second
father to the Garfield family favored all his talk
with Bible quotations. He carried Testament in
his pocket wherever he went, and would sIt on his
plough-beam at the end Of a furrow to take il
out and read chapter. 1t was time oil ralic :ous
ferment in Northern Ohio. New sects filed
the air with their doctrinal cries. The Dis
cipes. sect founded by the preaching O..
Alexander Campbell, an eloquent and devout man
of Scotch descent, who ranged Kcutuck.,
Ohio. Virginia and Pennsylvania from his home AZ
Bethany in the Pan Handle" had made great |
progress. They assailed all creeds made by men, |
and declared the Bible to be the only rule of life
Attacking all the older denominations thoy were |
attacked in tuIn. Jamess mind was !
filled at an early day with the controversies this
new sect excited The guests at his mothers house +
were mostly travelling preachers and the talk of /
he neigh borhood. when not about the crops and !
farm labors usually on religious topics :
Politics had only secondary hold on the |
ocal mind. When q lad of seven or {
sight James was asked day whether I
10 was Wing or Democrat. He replied: Pm
Wing. but Pve not been baptized" supposing the
'arty names to have some connection with the
UNCONVENTIONAL divisions of which he heard so much "
The TERROR OF DULLES. = y
AT the district school, James was known as a y
ghtlng boy. He found that the larger boys were !,
lcpOScu 10 abuse q ilbtIe IeilOW who had
o father nor big brother to protect him, and he =
ssented such imposition with all the force of ~
snsitive nature backed By hot temper. gre at =,
hysical courage and strength unusual for his age "
lis big brother Thomas had finished his schooling "
nd was much away from home. working by the
ay or month to earn money for the .
lpport Of the family. Many stories 80
told in Orange of the pluck shown by the future
ajor-General in his encounters with the rough %
'untry lads in defence OF his boysh rights and -
onOr. They say he never began a fight and never
ierished malice, but when enraged by taunts or -
suits would attack boys of twice his size with the
Try and tenacity of bulldog. few years after Va
% death of the father the house ENLARGED in on
riOus fashion. The log school-house was aban- "
med for new frame building and the old struc-
re was bought by Thomas Garfield Tor q trfe H0
ID he and James, with the help of the Boynton ~
US, pulled it down and put it mp again ~,
site a few steps in the of the -
rfeld dwelling Thus the family had two ~" ~
pms and were tolerably comfortable, | da
far as household accommodations were con- fol
rDed. In these two long buildings they lived ke
til James was fourteen when the boys built q ' uo
all frame house for their mother 1t was painted i'm
and had three rooms below and two under the wa
If. The original cabin had settled so much end "a
SO awry that it threatened to tumble down. an,
'ery year they had to saw off the bottom of the
mt door, which hung upon wooden hinges, to 1ai
nm :, f,o,,, ss h;oa;,,, -. a. a. m, col
aans ~ .' Inv no" say
use cost ABOUT %oOO lie boys hired carpenter tex
! worked with him James TINS got To be q mite wit
,.rt NTH Tho sa,r o,a nIono cd No. H. - boo
2, 80 w p' ~ va" o "i'ei rep
ri to earn wages as a carpenters assistant. L
EARLY READING AND STUDY. chu
OR q lono TINA thara ,yas M nSwsronar fabian - ! me-
C - -, r' ~ " | wal
"Alneio househoiu. me INST one the General | ligi
1embers. for which his mother subscribed, was unit
Protestant UHionst Disciples Weekly printed in the
tsburg. Few books to be had in the neigh se
hood, but such as could be borrowed were de- YER
lred by James with indiscriminata aviditv | per,