I think I must say, 'Get thee behind me!' I am poor, and the salary would soon pay my debts and place me in a position of independence; but there are two objections.

I could not accomplish my resolution to complete a college course, and should be crippled intellectually for life.

Then, my roots are all fixed in Ohio, where people know me and I know them, and this transplanting might not succeed as well in the long run as to go back home and work for smaller pay." So the young man decided adversely, and it looks as if his decision was a wise one.

It is interesting to conjecture what would have been his future position had he left college and accepted the school then offered him.

He might still have been a teacher, well known and of high repute, but of fame merely local, and without a thought of the brilliant destiny he had foregone.
So he went back to college, and in the summer of 1856 he graduated, carrying off the highest honor--the metaphysical oration.