English grammar, natural philosophy, arithmetic, and algebra--these were the principal studies to which James devoted himself, and they opened to him new fields of thought.

Probably it was at this humble seminary that he first acquired the thirst for learning that ever afterward characterized him.
Let us look in upon the three boys a night or two after they have commenced housekeeping.
They take turns in cooking, and this time it is the turn of the one in whom we feel the strongest interest.
"What have we got for supper, boys ?" he asks, for the procuring of supplies has fallen to them.
"Here are a dozen eggs," said Henry Bounton, his cousin.
"And here is a loaf of bread, which I got at the baker's," said his friend.
"That's good! We'll have bread and fried eggs.

There is nothing better than that." "Eggs have gone up a cent a dozen," remarks Henry, gravely.
This news is received seriously, for a cent means something to them.
Probably even then the price was not greater than six to eight cents a dozen, for prices were low in the West at that time.
"Then we can't have them so often," said James, philosophically, "unless we get something to do." "There's a carpenter's-shop a little way down the street," said Henry.
"I guess you can find employment there." "I'll go round there after supper." Meanwhile he attended to his duty as cook, and in due time each of the boys was supplied with four fried eggs and as much bread as he cared for.

Probably butter was dispensed with, as too costly a luxury, until more prosperous times.
When supper was over the boys took a walk, and then, returning to their humble room, spent the evening in preparing their next morning's lessons.
In them James soon took leading rank, for his brain was larger, and his powers of application and intuition great, as Dr.Robinson had implied.
From the time he entered Geauga Seminary probably he never seriously doubted that he had entered upon the right path..