But James did not associate with the rude, coarse men out of working-hours. Their profanity shocked him; and he gladly turned to the books he found on an upper shelf at Barton's house. As might have been expected, however, these books were very different from any he had read before. "Marryatt's Novels," "Jack Halyard," "Lives of Eminent Criminals," and "The Pirate's Own Book," were in fact more dangerous companions for him than the coarse, brutal men would have been. The printed page carried with it an authority that the excited boy did not stop to question. He would sit up all night to follow in imagination some reckless buccaneer in his wild exploits, till at last an insatiable longing to be a sailor fired his brain. "A life on the ocean wave" seemed to him, at that time, the "ultima thule" of all his dreams. He longed to see some more of the world, and to the inexperienced lad this seemed the quickest and surest way. One day, he happened to hear Mr. Barton's daughter speak of him in a sneering tone as her father's "hired servant." This was more than the high spirit of James could bear. Years after, he said to a friend,-- "That girl's cutting remark proved a great blessing to me. I was too much annoyed by it to sleep that night; I lay awake under the rafters of that old farm-house, and vowed, again and again, that I _would_ be somebody; that the time should come when that girl would not call me a '_hired servant_.'" The next morning James informed his employer that he had concluded to give up the black-salter's business. In vain Mr. Barton urged him to stay, by the offer of higher wages. Much as he needed the money, the boy was determined to find some other and more congenial way of earning a living. If he could only go to sea! Fortunately none of the family favored this wild scheme of James. His mother declared that she could never give her consent. "If you ever go to sea, James," she said in her firm, decided tones, "remember it will be entirely against my will. Do not mention the subject to me again." James was a dutiful son. He did not want to oppose his mother's will, and yet he did want to go to sea. A few days after he heard that his uncle, who was clearing a large tract of forest near Cleveland, wanted to hire some wood-choppers. After talking the matter over with his mother, he decided to offer his services. He could not be idle, and wood-chopping was certainly preferable to leaching ashes. His sister Mehetabel, who was now married, lived near this uncle, so James could make his home with her. Altogether the plan pleased Mrs. Garfield, although she was loath to part with her boy, even for a few months. James engaged to cut a hundred cords of wood for his uncle, at the rate of fifty cents a cord, and declared he could easily cut two cords a day.