"_Again_ a Mary? Nay, _Lucretia_; The noble, classic name That well befits our fair ladie, Our sweet and gentle dame With heart as leal and loving As e'er was sung in lays Of high-born Roman nation, In old, heroic days; Worthy her lord illustrious, whom Honor and fame attend; Worthy her soldier's name to wear. Worthy the civic wreath to share That binds her Viking's tawny hair; Right proud are we the world should know As hers, him whom we long ago Found truest helper, friend." In a humble little cottage, just in front of the college campus, they began their wedded life,--a life whose wonderful beauty, strength, and devotion was soon to be seen and known of all the world. Mrs. Garfield became as great a favorite in the college as her husband. One of the graduates thus writes:-- "There are men and women scattered over the United States, holding positions of honor and wealth, who began the life that led them upward by the advice and with the assistance of Mr. and Mrs. Garfield." The wife was always the ready and efficient helpmeet of her husband. Whenever he had a lecture or speech to prepare, she would search the whole library, consulting every book that pertained to the subject in hand, and then together they would discuss the topic from every point of view. One, in every thought and purpose, their quiet life at Hiram presented the same beautiful home picture that after honors could never dim nor tarnish. CHAPTER XI. Law Studies.--Becomes Interested in Politics.--Delivers Oration at the Williams Commencement.--Elected State Senator.--His Courage and Eloquence. Shortly after his marriage, Garfield entered his name in the law office of Riddle and Williamson, attorneys in Cleveland, Ohio, as a student of law. This formality was necessary in order to ensure admission to the bar. It was not here, however, that he studied, and for a long time his friends knew nothing of the step he had taken. After his hours of teaching, at odd moments through the day, and often far into the night, he pored over his law-books with the same intensity of purpose he had shown in all his other undertakings. It was his patriotic interest in the measures which were then before the legislature of Ohio that first led him to take up a critical study of law. He always wanted to go to the bottom of things, and his college training under President Hopkins had developed a wonderful power of synopsizing. In entering upon a course of law studies, it was not so much with the thought of becoming a lawyer, as to make himself conversant with the principles of law. When, however, he was admitted to the bar, he was so thoroughly equipped for practice, that he could go into courts of any grade and try the most intricate cases. In later years a friend said of him:--