“Its surface is irregular and hilly, presenting some of the finest rural scenery to be found in this part of Ohio. On the north-east flows the Chagrin River, from which the land gradually rises towards the south- west for a distance of three miles. Looking east from this range of hills, a grand view is obtained. The valley of the Chagrin, with its simple beauty, and the country for twenty miles beyond, are distinctly visible. All combine to form a picture that is strong, charming, and impressive. It was to a spot south of this chain of hills that the parents of General Garfield came, in 1830.”

We should have said that, at this time, “the Western land speculation” was running high. People grew wild over the prospect of coining money out of the wild lands of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. Men at the East bought thousands of acres of land in the West that they never saw, and did not positively know that such land existed. Hundreds and thousands of people sold houses and land in New England and in the Middle States, and removed thither, to make their fortunes. perhaps Thomas cherished a secret hope that somehow he should become a rich man in the woods of Michigan. It is certain that the opportunity to labour in that State came to him through the “Western land mania.” We will leave him there, felling trees and clearing land for the Michigan farmer, while we look after James at home.

“Well, your farmer-boy is making things lively,” remarked a neighbour, who called upon Mrs. Garfield.

“He is handy as any one of us with his tools.”

“And works as hard, I guess,” responded Mrs. Garfield.

“That is so; all of us work hard enough,” rejoined the neighbour.

“Pioneer life is beset with hardships,” continued Mrs. Garfield; ‘though its poverty is not so hard to be borne as poverty in a large town or city.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Certainly I do.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Why, don’t you see that there are no rich around us to be compared with?. We are not continually being reminded of our extreme poverty by the presence of those who can have all that money can buy.”

“You think there is some satisfaction in all being poor together?” interrupted the neighbour jocosely.

“Yes; that is about it. ‘Misery loves company,’ and I suppose that is true of poverty.”

“Well, we are all poor enough, if that is all,” continued the neighbour; “and on your theory we ought to be tolerably happy.”

“We are, I think, as happy as the human race averages, and perhaps a little more than that. God averages human experience well, after all our fault-finding.”

“There must be some satisfaction in thinking so; but I can’t exactly accept that view. Pioneers have more than their full share of hardships and trials, in my opinion,” replied the neighbour, just as James came in from the cornfield. Turning to him, by way of cordial salutation, he added:

“What do you think about it, James?”

“Think about what?”

“Whether pioneers have more hardships than other people?”