Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/139

 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES, nineteenth president of the United States, was born in Dela ware, Ohio, October 4, 1822. His father had died in July, 1822, leaving his mother in modest but easy circumstances. The boy received his first edu cation in the common schools, and began early the study of Latin and Greek with Judge Sherman Finch, of Delaware. Then he was sent to an academy at Norwalk, Ohio, and in 1837 to Isaac Webb s school, at Middletown, Conn., to prepare for college. In the autumn of 1838 he entered Kenyon college, at Gambier, Ohio. He excelled in logic, mental and moral philosophy, and mathe matics, and also made his mark as a debater in the literary societies. On his graduation in August, 1842, he was awarded the valedictory oration, with which he won much praise. Soon afterward he began to study law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, at Columbus, Ohio, and then attended a course of law lectures at Harvard university, entering the law-school on August 22, 1843, and finishing his studies there in January, 1845. As a law student he had the advantage 109