Stay with me this summer--it won't do you any hurt, and you'll be earning something--then go to school a term or two, and by that time you'll be qualified to teach a district school." "I'll think of what you say, cousin," said James, thoughtfully.

"I don't know but your advice is good." It is not always easy to say what circumstances have most influence in shaping the destiny of a boy, but it seems probable that the conversation which has just been detailed, and the discovery that he was quite equal in knowledge to a man who had been a schoolmaster, may have put new ideas into the boy's head, destined to bear fruit later.
For the present, however, his duties as a canal-boy must be attended to, and they were soon to be resumed.
About ten o'clock that night, when James was on duty, the boat approached the town of Akron, where there were twenty-one locks to be successively passed through.
The night was dark, and, though the bowman of the _Evening Star_ did not see it, another boat had reached the same lock from the opposite direction.

Now in such cases the old rule, "first come, first served," properly prevailed.
The bowman had directed the gates to be thrown open, in order that the boat might enter the lock, when a voice was heard through the darkness, "Hold on, there! Our boat is just round the bend, ready to enter." "We have as much right as you," said the bowman.
As he spoke he commenced turning the gate.
My young reader will understand from the description already given that it will not do to have both lower and upper gates open at the same time.
Of course, one or the other boat must wait.
Both bowmen were determined to be first, and neither was willing to yield.

Both boats were near the lock, their head-lights shining as bright as day, and the spirit of antagonism reached and affected the crews of both.
Captain Letcher felt called upon to interfere lest there should be serious trouble.
He beckoned to his bowman.
"Were you here first ?" he asked.
"It is hard to tell," answered the bowman, "but I'm bound to have the lock, anyhow." The captain was not wholly unaffected by the spirit of antagonism which his bowman displayed.
"All right; just as you say," he answered, and it seemed likely that conflict was inevitable.
James Garfield had been an attentive observer, and an attentive listener to what had been said.

He had formed his own ideas of what was right to be done.
"Look here, captain," he said, tapping Captain Letcher on the arm, "does this lock belong to us ?" "I really suppose, according to law, it does not; but we will have it, anyhow." "No, we will not," replied the boy.
"And why not ?" asked the captain, naturally surprised at such a speech from his young driver.
"Because it does not belong to us." The captain was privately of opinion that the boy was right, yet but for his remonstrance he would have stood out against the claims of the rival boat.