JAMES A-BRAM GAR-FIELD.

In rough log cab-ins, out in the midst of wild woods, we have read that
six of our pres-i-dents were born; the sev-enth, James A-bram Gar-field,
was born in Or-ange, O-hi-o, on No-vem-ber 19th, 1831.

His fa-ther had built, with his own hands, their small, rude home; and
it stood deep in the wild wood, whose trees would, at times, catch fire
from the sparks thrown from the steam en-gines some miles off. Near the
Gar-field home was their field of grain; one day this caught fire, and
in trying to save his wheat, the fa-ther of lit-tle James lost his life.
It was a hard life to which he left his young wife and the four lit-tle
ones; but she was a brave good wo-man; she had to work hard of course,
and so did the boys; but the moth-er taught them from books as well; and
lit-tle James was but four years old when he went to his first school.
He was a tough, strong boy, and soon did a large part of the farm
work; in the long sum-mers he had the most work to do, and then in the
win-ters he could go to school; he was a brave boy, for the school was
miles from home, and his road lay through the deep woods, in which wild
beasts roamed at will. But he went his way, and if he felt fear, did not
show it; he had a great love for books, and late at night, with the big
wood-fire for his light, he would read o-ver and o-ver his few books.
His moth-er had taught him to love the Bi-ble, and this Good Book he
knew well. But, at last, the time came when he was so old that he could
leave home, and so help the moth-er more than he had done. The first
thing he did was to drive mules on the tow-path of the O-hi-o Ca-nal;
here he earned $10.00 a month, but the men he met were coarse and rough,
and the life rude and vile; so, with a sad heart, the young boy, fresh
from his good home in the qui-et woods, took what he had made here, and
went back to the place he loved. He was sick for a long while now; and
as he lay on his bed, he made up his mind that he would go to col-lege,
and lead a good, use-ful life out in the big world; that he would use
his brains more than his hands. With this hope in front of him, he made
mon-ey in the sum-mer to pay his way at school in win-ter; and soon knew
all that they could teach and went to Hi-ram Col-lege; here at first he
did all sorts of work to pay his way; rang the bells, swept the floors,
and built the fires; but he was soon paid to teach in the col-lege, for
he was too brigh