Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1880-06-23
ELK POINT COUNTY. WEDNESDAY. JUNE 2s 1880
GARFIELD.


- Is r.
GAKFlELDs
4 4kaef 9kssea g tns ~. Eaas q I :
r...... ~ ss,s...c t..s,s1ssss,,', 49,
m. 80, ,rhc,, 4ha Ronnbljcsr ,,1,rtv
has 1ur nom;nated a its oandtdate for press.
dent afanda -dav the ableet man n the
hnnse 81 rtshreeentatiyes. and one Of the
aI,iest of American statesmen.
Jnmes Ahraham GarAeId was born in
Ahe y;llsre q Oranoe. Cuyshoca county.
: fav m;Ies from Cleyeland. IN the 10th
e Novemher. 1kssi the vfjIinfsest Of four
cl,;Idran vhn we're ornhaned by the
dasth ~ their father Within two wears
eskar tha h;rth of thia last of them. !
Roth h;s nafents were az New England
avtrsc4;at,, The father. Abraham Gar
Aeld HhomOh horn IN OtsepO county. n.
y ~vrs~ n 4 fsmilv chat Ina residesl IN
Me.sachnaetta for several generations.
The mother. Eliza Ballou (neices Of Rev.
Hosea Ballou. the noted Universalist
clergyman, was born in Cheshire county,
New Hampshire.
The death Of Abraham Garfield in
1888 left the widow and her four young
children without fortune in the back
woods.
But there was little farm and on
this they worked, the youngest by and by
coming to be able to bear share Of the
burden.
In the winter there was village
school With s,,ch a small store of books
as the neiphborhood afforded for private
reading. So the winters and summers
passed till the family had grown up, and
the youngest. when 16 years Of age, had
learned a little Of the carpenters trade
But this did not prove very remunera-
tive, So in his seventeenth year young
Garfield secured employment on the
Ohio canal, and from driver on the tow
path. rose for time, to be boatman.
This irregular life disagreed with him,
and the fall of 1848 found him back
under his mothers Roof, slowly recover
ing from three months siege of the
fever and ague.
Up to this time he would seem to
have cherished little ambition for any
thing beyond the prospects offered by
the iaborious life he had entered. But
it happened that the winter school was
taught by a promising young man named
Samuel Bates. He had attended high
school in an adjacent township, known as
/" Geaupa Seminary" and with the
proselyting spirit common to young men
in the backwoods, who were beginning
to taste the pleasures of education, he
was very anxious to take back several
new students with him.
Gart;e,d lstene5 and was tempted
ue ho5 ;n+endad tn hacome sailor On
tbo Iokas hnt be was vet to III 10 carrv
ont mt this nlan 30 he finally resolved t0
attend the high school one term. and
postponed sailing till the next fall. That
resolution made n scbolar. n maior-pener-
al. congressman. q senator-elect, and
a presidential candidate out of him, in
stead of sail,r before the mast on q
Lake Erie schooner.
The boy never dreamed of what the
man would be.
EARLY in March 1849 younr Garfield
reachei Chester Nhe site of the Geanps
academvl in company with his comsin
and another vo,nr man from his village
Thev carried with them frvin0-nans and
d,shes as well as a few school hooks.
Thev rented q room in an old. unpainted
frame house near the academy and went
to work. Garfield bought the second
algebra he had ever seen. and began e
st1dv r. English Grammar. natural
nh;l9sonhv and arithmetic were the list
Of his Studies. His mother had scraped
together little sum of money to aid him
at the start, which she gave him with
her blessing when he left his humble
home. After that he never had q dollar
in his pocket that he did not earn. Ar
soon as he began to feel ut home in his
classes he sought among the carpenters
of the village for employment at his
trade.
He worked morninps. evenings. and
Saturdays. and thus earned enough to
nav his wav. When the summer vaca-
ton came he had a longer interval fol
work: and 90 when the fall term opened
he had enough money laid up to pay his
tuition and give him start again.
By the end of the fall term Garfield
had made such progress that a lad Of Is
thought he was able to teach district
school. Then the future seemed easy Ia
ulIu. AuC AIuASc Va VIC WAuVoA eCnCu-
ing we're enough, with his economical
management to pay the expenses Of the
spring and fall terms at the academy.
Whatever he could make 1t his morning
and evening work at his carpenters trade
would go to swell another fund, the need
of which he had begun to feel.
For the backwoods lad, village carpen-
ter. tow path canal hand. would-be sail
or had now resolved to enter college.
cit Is . great point gained > he said
wears afterWard. "when. in our rhurryine
times. . Young man makes mp his mind
to devote several years TO the accomplish.
ment Of definite work. !" II was 90 nov
IN his own case. With adefinite purpose
before him he began to save all his earn
incs and 70 shape all his exertions to the
one end
n Th-o,,.h Tho .,,mnar v.ca4;on ~ 1abo
~ ,-a.reS -rS ~ IN b;s t-.Ja ha1n;no =, bn;1d
e,,so. Ie wo.A -;.s,;n - - | .tcrs,. arr. = u % A.
as"Jssn- .s T n,,r;rs, | tha merit .ess;on ~ ~
scsJorry @ Ia -. shIa Ia = ahendon hnsri. ,,i.
-. ..ay h;,:y,.aM "a h..,rr - so,,rd ! hcss.i;na I
s,.A s 49, hs sn,,rd ,,. tba ,,ac.ssr;s~ II
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