In cultivating the ground, his mother and sisters were always ready to help, and together they split the rails, and drove the stakes for the heavy fence around the wheat-field. With such example of untiring industry and perseverance constantly before his eyes, it is no wonder the restless baby brother soon tried to lend a helping hand. "Me do it too," he would cry, when Thomas took down the rake or the hoe, and started off for his work in the fields. "One of these days, Jimmy," the boy-farmer would reply, with a merry smile: though even then he could not help hoping there might be better things in store for the little brother he loved so dearly. Walking all the way to Cleveland, Thomas secures a little job, and brings home his first earnings, with a bounding heart. "Now Jimmy can have a pair of shoes," he says to his mother who cannot keep back her tears as she looks at his own bare feet. The old cobbler comes and boards at the cabin while he makes the little shoes, and when they are completed it is hard to tell which is the happier boy,--Thomas or little Jimmy. Four years after the father's death, a school-house is built a mile and a half away. "Jimmy and the girls must go," says Thomas. "Yes," replies the mother, "but I wish you could go, too." "It wouldn't do for me to leave the farm, mother dear," says the noble boy. "One of these days, perhaps I can study at home." The mile and a half walk to the school-house was a long, hard pull for little Jimmy, in spite of those new shoes; and many a time Mehetabel might have been seen, carrying him back and forth on her broad shoulders. It was a happy day for all the children when the new log school-house was put up on one corner of the Garfield farm. The land had been given by Mrs. Garfield, and the neighbors clubbed together and built the house, which was only twenty feet square, with a slab roof, a puncheon floor, and log benches without backs. The master was a young man from New Hampshire. He boarded with Mrs. Garfield, and between him and little James a warm friendship was soon established. The bright active child was never tired of asking questions. "He will make his mark in the world, one of these days--you may take my word for it!" exclaimed the teacher, as he recounted James' wonderful progress at school. The happy mother never forgot these words, and determined to give her little boy every possible advantage. But the Ohio schools in those days were very poor. The three "R's," with spelling and geography, were the only branches taught, and oftentimes the teachers knew but little more than the scholars. As soon as James could read, he eagerly devoured every book that came within his reach. The family library comprised not more than half a dozen volumes, but among these, Weems' "Life of Marion" and Grimshaw's "Napoleon" were especial favorites with the eager enthusiastic boy.