“I don’t want you should send me until I have graduated at Geauga Academy,” retorted James, disposed to treat the matter playfully.

“We’ll let you do that; but we can begin the campaign now, and set the wires for pulling by-and-by,” replied the first speaker. “I’ll stump the District for you, Jim, and charge only my expenses.”

“And who will you charge your expenses to?” inquired James.

“To the candidate, of course, Hon. James A. Garfield”, the schoolmate answered, with a laugh, in which the whole company joined, not excepting James. The incident illustrates the place that James held in the opinions of his school-fellows. Not the immature opinions of partial friends, but the well-considered and honest estimate of faculty and pupils.

In the fall term of that year there came to the school a young lady by the name of Lucretia Rudolph, a modest, unpretentious, talented girl. James soon discovered that she was a young lady of unusual worth and intellectual ability. He was not much inclined to the company of school-girls; he was too bashful to make much of a display in that line. He was not very companionable in their society, for he was not at home there. But he was unconsciously drawn to this new and pretty pupil, Miss Lucretia Rudolph. First, her modest, lady-like demeanour attracted his attention. There was a grace in her movements, and evidence of intellectual strength in her conversation. Her recitations were perfect, showing industry and scholarship. These things impressed James sensibly. No female student had attracted his attention at all before. Nor was there any such thing as falling in love with her on his part. He regarded her with more favour than he had ever regarded a young lady in school; and it was her worth and scholarship that drew him. They were intimate, mutually polite, helpers of each other in study, real friends in all the relations of schoolmates. Further than that, neither of them had thoughts about each other. They associated together, and parted at the close of the term with no expectation, perhaps, of renewing their acquaintance again. We speak of the matter here, because the two will meet again elsewhere.

James made rapid progress in Latin after he decided to go to college. It was the study that occupied his odd moments especially. Every spare hour that he could snatch was devoted to this. The following winter he taught school, and Latin received much of his attention in evening hours. He enjoyed the study of it, and, at the same time, was stimulated by the consideration that it was required in a college course of study.

Late in the autumn James met with a young man who was connected with the Eclectic Institute, a new institution just established in Hiram, Portage County, Ohio. James knew that such an institution had been opened, and that was all; of its scope and character he was ignorant.

“You can fit for college there,” he said to James; “there is no better place in the country for that business. The school opened with over one hundred scholars, and the number is rapidly increasing.”

“Any fitting for college there now?” James inquired.

“Yes, several; I am one of them.”

“How far along are you?”

“Only just begun. I have to work my own way, so that it will be slow.”

“That is the case with me. So far I have had but eleven dollars from my friends, and I have more than returned that amount to them.”

“A fellow can do it if he only has grit enough.”

“How expensive is the school?” continued James.