“Yes, sir; I had only eleven dollars to begin with, and that won’t last long.”

“Not long, I shouldn’t think, as board is here.”

“I board myself,” added James, by way of enlightening the carpenter.

“Board yourself? That is rather tough, though many do it.”

“Many things are tougher than that,” remarked James.

“Perhaps so; but that is tough enough. You may come over after school, and I’ll see what I can do for you.”

“And what you can do for yourself,” quickly responded James. “If I can’t work so as to make it an object for you to hire me, then I don’t wish to work for you. I don’t ask you to let me have work as a matter of charity.”

Mr. Woodworth admired the pluck of the boy, and he repeated, “Come over after school, and I will see what I can do for you.”

“I can work two or three hours a day, and all day on Saturdays; and you needn’t put a price on my work until you see what I can do,” added James, as he turned away.

The result was that Mr. Woodworth hired James, who worked at the shop before school in the morning, and then hurried to it at the close of school, at four o’clock; and, on Saturdays, he made a long day’s labour. He continued this method through the term, denying himself of the games and sports enjoyed by the scholars, excepting only an occasional hour. No boy loved a pastime better than he, but to pay his bills was more important than sport. At the close of the term he had money enough to pay all his bills, and between two and three dollars to carry home with him.

One of the chief attractions of the seminary to James was its library, although it was small. It contained only one hundred and fifty volumes; but to James that number was a spectacle to behold. He was not long in ascertaining what books it contained; not that he read a great many of them, for he had not time; but he examined the library, and found it destitute of books of the “Jack Halyard” style; nor was he sorry. He found a class of books just suited to aid students like himself in their studies, and he was well satisfied. He made as much use of them as possible in the circumstances. and often read far into the night. It was a luxury to him, rather than a self-denial, to extend his studies into the night, in order to be perfect in his lessons, and secure a little time for reading.

The regulations of the school made it necessary for James to write a composition twice a month, sometimes upon a subject announced by the Principal, and sometimes upon a topic of his own selection. Occasionally, the authors of the essays were required to read them to the whole school, from the platform. The first time that James read an essay, he trembled more than he did before rebel cannon twelve or fourteen years thereafter.

“Lucky for me,” said James to his room mates, “that there was curtain in front of my legs,” alluding to a narrow curtain on the edge of the platform.

“How so?” inquired William.

“No one could see my legs shake; you would have thought they had the shaking palsy.”

“I never would have thought that of you,” added William.

“It’s true, whether you thought it of me or not. I never trembled so in my life.”