ld, then aged nearly twenty, presented
himself at the "Eclectic Institute," in the farm-labourer's clothes
which were his only existing raiment. He asked to see the "president"
of the school, and told him plainly that he wished to come there for
education, but that he was poor, and if he came, he must work for his
living. "What can you do?" asked the president. "Sweep the floors,
light the fires, ring the bell, and make myself generally useful,"
answered the young backwoodsman. The president, pleased with his
eagerness, promised to try him for a fortnight; and at the end of the
fortnight, Garfield had earned his teaching so well that he was excused
from all further fees during the remainder of his stay at the little
institute. His post was by no mean an easy one, for he was
servant-of-all-work as well as student; but he cared very little for
that as long as he could gain the means for self-improvement.

Hiram was a small town, as ugly as its name. Twelve miles from a
railway, a mere agricultural centre, of the rough back-country sort,
all brand new and dreary looking, with a couple of wooden churches,
half a dozen wooden shops, two new intersecting streets with wooden
sidewalks, and that was all. The "institute" was a square brick block,
planted incongruously in the middle of an Indian-corn plantation; and
the students were the sons and daughters of the surrounding farmers,
for (as in most western schools) both sexes were here educated
together. But the place suited Garfield far better than an older and
more dignified university would have done. The other students knew no
more than he did, so that he did not feel himself at a disadvantage;
they were dressed almost as plainly as himself; and during the time he
was at Hiram he worked away with a will at Latin, Greek, and the higher
mathematics, so as to qualify himself for a better place hereafter.
Meanwhile, the local carpenter gave him plenty of planing to do, with
which he managed to pay his way; and as he had to rise before five
every morning to ring the first bell, he was under no danger of
oversleeping himself. By 1853, he had made so much progress in his
studies that he was admitted as a sort of pupil teacher, giving
instruction himself in the English department and in rudimentary Greek
and Latin, while he went on with his own studies with the aid of the
other teachers.

James had now learnt as much as the little "Eclectic Institute" could
possibly teach