hitherto done, side by side
with his regular studies. But his brother, who was always kind and
thoughtful to him, would not hear of this. Thomas had prospered
meanwhile in his own small way, and he insisted upon lending James such
a sum as would cover his necessary expenses for two years at an eastern
university. James insured his life for the amount, so that Thomas
might not be a loser by his brotherly generosity in case of his death
before repayment could be made; and then, with the money safe in his
pocket, he started off for his chosen goal, the Williams College, in
one of the most beautiful and hilly parts of Massachusetts.

During the three years that Garfield was at this place, he studied hard
and regularly, so much so that at one time his brain showed symptoms of
giving way under the constant strain. In the vacations, he took a trip
into Vermont, a romantic mountain state, where he opened a writing
school at a little country village; and another into the New York
State, where he engaged himself in a similar way at a small town on the
banks of the lovely Hudson river. At college, in spite of his rough
western dress and manners, he earned for himself the reputation of a
thoroughly good fellow. Indeed, geniality and warmth of manner,
qualities always much prized by the social American people, were very
marked traits throughout of Garfield's character, and no doubt helped
him greatly in after life in, rising to the high summit which he
finally reached. It was here, too, that he first openly identified
himself with the anti-slavery party, which was then engaged in fighting
out the important question whether any new slave states should be
admitted to the Union. Charles Sumner, the real grand central figure
of that noble struggle, was at that moment thundering in Congress
against the iniquitous extension of the slave-holding area, and was
employing all his magnificent powers to assail the abominable Fugitive
Slave Bill, for the return of runaway negroes, who escaped north, into
the hands of their angry masters. The American colleges are always big
debating societies, where questions of politics are regularly argued
out among the students; and Garfield put himself at the head of the
anti-slavery movement at his own little university. He spoke upon the
subject frequently before the assembled students, and gained himself a
considerable reputation, not only as a zealous advocate of the rights
of the negro, but a