ful 're-examination' of the old material, and a study of
the new.

"There is now lying on top of my book-case a pile of books, revisions,
and manuscripts, three feet long by a foot and a half high, which I
accumulated and examined for debate, which certainly will not come off
this session, perhaps not at all. I must stand in the breach to meet
whatever comes.

"I look forward to the Senate as at least a temporary relief from this
heavy work. I am just now in antagonism with my own party on legislation
in reference to the election law, and here also I have prepared for two
discussions, and as yet have not spoken on either."

My young readers will see that Garfield thoroughly believed in hard
work, and appreciated its necessity. It was the only way in which he
could hold his commanding position. If he attained large success, and
reached the highest dignity in the power of his countrymen to bestow, it
is clear that he earned it richly. Upon some, accident bestows rank; but
not so with him. From his earliest years he was growing, rounding out,
and developing, till he became the man he was. And had his life been
spared to the usual span, it is not likely that he would have desisted,
but ripened with years into perhaps the most profound and scholarly
statesman the world has seen.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE SCHOLAR IN POLITICS.

In the midst of his political and professional activity, Garfield never
forgot his days of tranquil enjoyment at Hiram College, when he was
devoted solely to the cultivation of his mind, and the extension of his
knowledge. He still cherished the same tastes, and so far as his
leisure--he had no leisure, save time snatched from the engrossing
claims of politics--so far, at any rate, as he could manage the time, he
employed it for new acquisitions, or for the review of his earlier
studies.

In January, 1874, he made a metrical version of the third ode of
Horace's first book. I quote four stanzas:

"Guide thee, O ship, on thy journey, that owest
To Africa's shores Virgil trusted to thee.
I pray thee restore him, in safety restore him,
And saving him, save me the half of my soul.

"Stout oak and brass triple surrounded his bosom
Who first to the waves of the merciless sea
Committed his frail bark. He feared not Africa's
Fierce battling the gales of the furious North.

"Nor feared he the gloom of the rain-bearing Hyads
Nor the rage of fierce Notus, a tyrant than whom
No