E BATTLE OF MIDDLE CREEK

XXV.--THE PERILOUS TRIP UP THE BIG SANDY

XXVI.--THE CANAL-BOY BECOMES A CONGRESSMAN

XXVII.--GARFIELD'S COURSE IN CONGRESS

XXVIII.--THE MAN FOR THE HOUR

XXIX.--GARFIELD AS A LAWYER

XXX.--THE SCHOLAR IN POLITICS

XXXI.--THE TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS

XXXII.--FROM CANAL-BOY TO PRESIDENT

XXXIII.--THE NEW ADMINISTRATION

XXXIV.--THE TRAGIC END

XXXV.--MR. DEPEW'S ESTIMATE OF GARFIELD

XXXVI.--THE LESSONS OF HIS LIFE

THE

BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD

OF

JAMES A. GARFIELD.

CHAPTER I.

THE FIRST PAIR OF SHOES.

From a small and rudely-built log-cabin a sturdy boy of four years
issued, and looked earnestly across the clearing to the pathway that led
through the surrounding forest. His bare feet pressed the soft grass,
which spread like a carpet before the door.

"What are you looking for, Jimmy?" asked his mother from within the
humble dwelling.

"I'm looking for Thomas," said Jimmy.

"It's hardly time for him yet. He won't be through work till after
sunset."

"Then I wish the sun would set quick," said Jimmy.

"That is something we can not hasten, my son. God makes the sun to rise
and to set in its due season."

This idea was probably too advanced for Jimmy's comprehension, for he
was but four years of age, and the youngest of a family of four
children. His father had died two years before, leaving a young widow,
and four children, the eldest but nine, in sore straits. A long and
severe winter lay before the little family, and they had but little corn
garnered to carry them through till the next harvest. But the young
widow was a brave woman and a devoted mother.

"God will provide for us," she said, but sometimes it seemed a mystery
how that provision was to come. More than once, when the corn was low in
the bin, she went to bed without her own supper, that her four children,
who were blessed with hearty appetites, might be satisfied. But when
twelve months had gone by, and the new harvest came in, the fields which
she and her oldest boy had planted yielded enough to place them beyond
the fear of want. God did help them, but it was because they helped
themselves.

But beyond the barest necessaries the little family neither expected
nor obtained much. Clothing cost money, and there was very little money
in the log-cabin, or indeed in the whole settlement, if settlement it
can be called. There was no house within a mile, and the village a mile
and a half