Better wait till you can go to
sea as a passenger, and enjoy to the full the benefits of foreign
travel."

"There is something in that," said James, thoughtfully. "If I could only
be sure of going some day."

"Wouldn't it be pleasant to go as a man of culture, as a college
professor, as a minister, or as a lawyer, able to meet on equal terms
foreign scholars and gentlemen?"

This was a new way of putting it, and produced a favorable impression on
the boy's mind. Still, the boy had doubts, and expressed them freely.

"That sounds well," he said; "but how am I to know that I have brain
enough to make a college professor, or a minister, or a lawyer?"

"I don't think there is much doubt on that point," said Bates, noting
the bright, expressive face, and luminous eyes of the sick boy. "I
should be willing to guarantee your capacity. Don't you think yourself
fit for anything better than a common sailor?"

"Yes," answered James. "I think I could make a good carpenter, for I
know something about that trade already, and I daresay I could make a
good trader if I could find an opening to learn the business; but it
takes a superior man to succeed in the positions you mention."

"There are plenty of men with only average ability who get along very
creditably; but I advise you, if you make up your mind to enter the
lists, to try for a high place."

The boy's eyes sparkled with new ambition. It was a favorite idea with
him afterward, that every man ought to feel an honorable ambition to
succeed as well as possible in his chosen path.

"One thing more," added Bates. "I don't think you have any right to
become a sailor."

"No right? Oh, you mean because mother objects."

"That, certainly, ought to weigh with you as a good son; but I referred
to something else."

"What then?"

"Do you remember the parable of the talents?"

James had been brought up by his mother, who was a devoted religious
woman, to read the Bible, and he answered in the affirmative.

"It seems to me that you are responsible for the talents which God has
bestowed upon you. If you have the ability or the brain, as you call
it, to insure success in a literary career, don't you think you would
throw yourself away if you became a sailor?"

Mrs. Garfield, who had listened with deep interest to the remarks of the
young man, regarded James anxiously, to see what effect these arguments
were having upon him. She did not fear disobedience. She knew that if
sh