Dr.
Robinson took a great liking to the boy, and sought to be of service to him.

He employed him, though it may have been at a later period, to chop wood, and take care of his garden, and do chores about the house, and years afterward, as we shall see, it was he that enabled James to enter Williams College, and pursue his studies there until he graduated, and was ready to do the work of an educated man in the world.

But we must not anticipate.
Though James was strong and healthy he was not proof against the disease that lurked in the low lands bordering on the canal.

He was attacked by fever and ague, and lay for some months sick at home.

It was probably the only long sickness he had till the fatal wound which laid him on his bed when in the fullness of his fame he had taken his place among kings and rulers.