When the wagon was loaded, this same man stepped up to Colonel Morton, commanding the commissary steamers there, and remarked, 'I suppose you require a receipt for these supplies ?' 'Yes,' said the Colonel, as he handed over the usual blank; 'just take this provision return, and have it signed by your commanding officer.' 'Can't I sign it ?' was the reply.

'Oh, no,' said the affable Colonel Morton; 'it requires the signature of a commissioned officer.' Then came the remark, that still remains fresh in the Colonel's memory: 'I am a commissioned officer--I'm a brigadier-general, and my name is Garfield, of Ohio.'" For four months James remained connected with the canal-boat.

To show that traveling by canal is not so free from danger as it is supposed to be, it may be stated that in this short time he fell into the water fourteen times.

Usually he scrambled out without further harm than a good wetting.

One night, however, he was in serious pain.
It was midnight, and rainy, when he was called up to take his turn at the bow.