Glass. Book COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT THE , TFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF JAMES A. GARFIELD, TWENTIETH PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES. FULL AND ACCURATE DETAILS OF HIS EVENTFUL ADMINISTRATION, ASSASSINATION, LAST HOURS, DEATH, Etc. TOGETHER WITH NOTABLE EXTRACTS FROM HIS SPEECHES AND LETTERS. By E. E. BROWN. nmii BOSTON: D. L. GUEKNSEY, CORNHILL. 1881. 1 1 COFnUGBT, 1881, tin D. Lothsop & Go. v ruiNvi \> bi Dtuvr, G labhak I i >> . . v hlogloo Bt . BottoBi DEDICATION. "'■'■■ .'.wtruo, Au<1 L -.JXiili." COKTEKTS. Chapter Pagb I. BrRTH 11 II. Boyhood 21 III. Strength of Character 25 IV. Life on the Canal 30 V. Severe Illness 36 VI. Religion 42 VII. First Oration .48 VIII. Hiram Institute 53 IX. Ready for College 58 X. Marriage 67 XL Elected State Senator 74 XII. Appointed a Colonel 80 XIII. Opening of Hostilities 93 XIV. Address to his Soldiers 100 XV. Battle of Shiloh 110 XVI. Battle of Chickamauga 115 XVII. Elected to Congress 125 XVIII. Assassination of Lincoln 138 XIX. Home in Washington 147 XX. Tide of Unpopularity 154 XXI. Credit Mobilier • 160 XXII. The Farm at Mentor 167 XXIII. Republican Convention at Chicago . . .174 XXIV. Speech of Acceptance 187 XXV. Return Home 196 XXVI. Elected President 201 XXVII. Inauguration Day 207 VI CONTENTS. XXVIII. Assassination . 214 XXIX. Examination op the Wounds . . . 218 XXX. The Assassin . 227 XXXI. XXXII. Writes a Letter to his Mother . 238 XXXIII. Arrival at Long Branch . . . 245 XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI. Services at Elberon „ . 266 XXXVII. XXXVIII. XXXIX. Sunday preceding the Burial . . 287 XL. National Day of Mourning . 290 XLI. XLII. Garfield Memorial in Boston . . 306 XLIII. XLIV. XLV. Reminiscences of Hiram Institute . . 353 XL VI. Garfield as a Freemason . . . . 360 XLVII. Poems . 368 XLVIII. XLIX. INTRODUCTION. BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D. D. More eloquent voices for Christ and the gospel have never come from the grave of a dead President than those which we hear from the tomb of our lamented chief magistrate. Twenty-six years ago this summer a company of college students had gone to the top of Greylock Moun- tain, in Western Massachusetts, to spend the night. A very wide outlook can be gained from that summit. But if you will stand there with that little company to-day, you can see farther than the bounds of Massa- chusetts or the bounds of New England, or the bounds of the Union. James A. Garfield is one of that band of students; and as the evening shades gather, he rises up among the group and says, " Classmates, it is my habit to read a portion of God's Word before retiring to rest. Will you permit me to read aloud?" And then taking in his hand a pocket Testament, he reads in that clear, strong voice a chapter of Holy Writ, and calls upon a brother student to offer prayer. "How far the little candle throws its beams ! " It required real principle to take that stand even in such a com- pany. Was that candle of the Lord afterward put out amid the dampening and unfriendly influences of a long political life ? It would not be strange. Many a Chris- tian man has had his religious testimony smothered amid the stifling and vitiated air of party politics, till Vlll INTRODUCTION. instead of a clear light, it has given out only the flicker and foulness of a " smoking wick." But pass on for a quarter of a century. The young student has become a man. He has been in contact for years with the corrupting influences of political life. Let us see where he stands now. In the great Repub- lican Convention at Chicago he is a leading figure. The meetings have been attended with unprecedented excitement through the week. Sunday has come, and such is the strain of rivalry between contending fac- tions that most of the politicians spend the entire day in pushing the interests of their favorite candidates. But on that Lord's day morning Mr. Garfield is seen quietly wending his way to the house of God. His absence being remarked upon to him next day, he said, in reply, "I have more confidence in the prayers to God which ascended in the churches yesterday, than in all the caucusing which went on in the hotels." He had great interests at stake as the promoter of the nomination of a favorite candidate. When so much was pending, might he not be allowed to use the Sunday for defending his interest ? So many would have reasoned. But no ! amid the clash of con- tending factions and the tumult of conflicting interests, there is one politician that heard the Word of God sounding in his ear: " Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work." And, at the bidding of the Divine command, his con- science marches him away to the house of God. Not, indeed, to enjoy the luxury of hearing some famous preacher, or of listening to some superb singing ; but he goes to one of the obscurest and humblest churches INTRODUCTION. IX in the city, because there is where he belongs, and that is the church which he has covenanted to walk with, as a disciple of Jesus Christ. "How far" again "that little candle threw its beams ! " It was a little thing, but it was the index of a principle, an index that pointed the whole American people upward when they heard of it. Here was a man who did not carry a pocket-conscience — a bundle of portable convictions tied up with a thread of expediency. Nay ! here was a man whose conscience carried him — his master, not his menial; his sovereign, not his servant. And when, during the last days in his home at Men- tor, just before going to Washington to assume his office, he was entertaining some political friends at tea, he did not forego evening prayers, for fear he might be charged with cant, but, according to his custom, drew his family together and opened the Scriptures and bowed in prayer in the midst of his guests. And his was a religious principle that found expression in action as well as in prayer. A lady residing in Wash- ington told us that while a member of the House of Representatives, he was accustomed to work faithfully in the Sunday-school, and that among his last acts was the recruiting of a class of young men and teaching them in the Bible. We know from his pastor that he was not too busy to be found often in the social meet- ings of the church, nor too great to be above praying and exhorting in the little group of Christians with whom he met. A practical Christian, did we say? He must have been a spiritual Christian also. There is one address of his in Congress that made a great impression on our mind as we read it. He was deliv- ering a brief eulogy on some deceased Senator — X X INTRODUCTION. think it was Senator Ferry, He spoke of him as a Christian, not a formalist, but a devout and godly dis- ciple of Christ. And then he spoke of the rest into which he had entered, and quoted with great effect that beautiful hymn of Bonar's : — "Beyond the smiling and the weeping - , I shall be soon. Beyond the waking and the sleeping, Beyond the sowing and the reaping, I shall be soon. Love, rest, and home, sweet home, Lord, tarry not, but come." And taking the key from these last words, he said : "Yes, when the Lord comes there will be no more weeping, no more soitoav,, no more death. '■Even so come. Lord Jesus? " We believe that only a man of real spiritual, evan- gelical faith could have uttered those words. And when we think how rarely such a man has filled the presidential chair, we feel ovenvhelmed at the loss. Let us praise God that for once we have had a Presi- dent who could shine in the most illustrious position in the nation, and yet light up for us the humblest walks of Christian obedience. Here is one who ruled and who served ; who was a leader of the people and a fol- lower of Christ. The seat where he sat as ruler of fifty millions will speak to generations yet to come, tell- ing them how righteousness exalteth a ruler ; and the little stream where he was baptized will tell perpet- ually, as it flows on, how it "becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." LIFE OF JAMES A. GAEFIELD. CHAPTER I. The "Great Heart of the People."— Bereaved of their Chief. — Uni- versal Mourning. — Wondering Query of Foreign Nations. — Humble Birth in Log Cabin. — The Frontier Settlements in Ohio. — Untimely Death of Father. — Struggles of the Family. M TJie great heart of the people ivill not let the old soldier die!" So murmured the brave, patient sufferer in his sleep that terrible July night, when the whole nation, stricken down with grief and consternation at the assassin's deed, watched, waited, prayed — as one man — for the life of their beloved President. And all through those weary eighty days that followed, of alternate hope and fear, how truly the great, loving, sympathetic heart of the people did battle, with millions of unseen weapons, for the strong, heroic spirit that never faltered, never gave up "the one chance," even while he whispered : " God's will be done ; I am ready to go if my time has come." Party differences were all forgotten ; there was no longer any North or South — only one common 12 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF brotherhood, one great, sorrowing household watching with tender solicitude beside the death- bed of their loved one. How anxiously the varying bulletins were studied ! How eagerly the faintest glimmer of hope was seized ! And when, on that never-to- be-forgotten anniversary of Chickamauga's battle, the midnight bells tolled out their solemn requiem, "The nation sent Like Egypt, in her tenth and final blow, Through all the land a loud and bitter cry ; And felt, like her, as o'er her dead she bent, There is in every home a present woe! " And yet, with renewed fervor, we repeat those pathetic words : " The great heart of the people ivill not let the old soldier die!" While bowing reverently, submissively to the decree of the Almighty Disposer of human affairs, the nation feels that *' no canon of earth or Heaven can forbid the enshrining of his manly virtues and grand character, so that after-genera- tions may profit by the contemplation of them." A halo of immortal glory already gathers around the name of James A. Garfield. The remembrance of his brave, self-forgetting endurance of pain, his strong, indomitable will, his tender regard for his aged mother, his simple, JAMES A. GARFIELD. 13 unaffected piety, his cheerful resignation, will never be effaced from the heart of the people. And when expressions of sympathy and regret came to America from all parts of the world, the wondering query arose : " How is it that republican manners and repub- lican institutions can produce such a king among men as President Garfield?" Let us go back to that humble log cabin in the wilds of Ohio where, fifty years ago, a little fair- haired, blue-eyed boy was born. It is a bleak, bitter day in November, and the whistling of the winds through the crevices, mingles with the howl of hungry wolves in the woods close by. But the new baby finds a warm welcome waiting him in that rough cabin home.. The mother's love is fully reflected in the honest face of the great, warm-hearted father, as he folds the little stranger in his strong arms, and declares he is " worth his weight in o;old." Thomas, a boy of nine years, with Mehetabel and Mary, the two little sisters, look wonderingly upon their baby brother, and then run out to spread the good news through the neighborhood. In those early days the frontier settlements seemed like one family, so interested were all in the joys and sorrows of each. Eighteen months later, when the brave, strong 14 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF father was cut down in the midst of his work, a circle of true-hearted, sympathizing friends stood, like a body-guard, 'around the little family. One of those dreaded forest fires had been raging for days through the tract of country ad- joining the Garfield farm. With the aid of his older children, Mehetabel and Thomas, the father had at last checked the flames, but, sitting down to rest by the open door, he took a severe cold which brought on congestion of the throat. Before a physician could be called he was past all human aid, and, looking wistfully upon his children and heart-broken wife, he said, with dying breath, — " I am going to leave you, Eliza. I have planted four saplings in these woods, and I must now leave them to your care." The blue-eyed baby, who bore his father's name, could not understand the sorrowful faces about him, and, toddling up to the bedside, he put his little hands on the cold lips, and called " Papa ! Papa ! " till the weeping mother bore him out of the room. " What will become of those poor, fatherless children?" said one neighbor to another. " It is a strange providence," was the reply. " The mother is too young and too frail to carry on the farm alone. She will have to sell everything, and find homes for the children among her friends." JAMES A. GARFIELD. 15 But Eliza Garfield was not the weak, dependent woman they had imagined. Moreover, she had one brave little helper close at hand. " Don't cry, mother dear," said Thomas, making a great effort to keep back his own tears. "I am ten years old now, you know. I will take care of you. I am big enough to plough and plant, and cut the wood and milk the cows. Don't let us give up the farm. I will work ever so hard if^we can only keep together ! " Noble little fellow ! No wonder the mother's heart t to decide in fifteen minutes whether I will sign that bill or not. If I do, I go on the record as indorsing a measure that I have been opposing. If I do not, I lose all control of the bill. It will be reported to the House by General JAMES A. GARFIELD. 159 Butler, and he will control the debate on it. The session of Congress ends to-morrow, and if the bill fails to pass, this Congress will expire without making provisions for carrying on the government. Now, what would you do ? ' "I told him that I would sign the bill, and in the House I would briefly explain why I had at last signed a bill which I had opposed. I don't assume that his conduct was guided by my advice, but he pursued the course I had indicated.'' The bill passed ; but immediately upon the receipt of the back pay that had been voted him, Garfield returned the money to the Treasury. 160 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XXI. The Credit Mobilier. — Garfield entirely Cleared of all Charges Against him. — Tribute to him in Cincinnati Gazette. — Elected U. S. Senator. — Extract from Speech. — Sonnet. A still more fruitful source of scandal was the association of Garfield's name with the Credit Mobilier stock. The company bearing this high- sounding French title was chartered, as early as 1859, under the law of Pennsylvania, for the al- leged purpose of buying land, loaning money, building houses, etc. When the war broke out, it ceased operations, until in 1866 the construction of the Pacific rail- road brought it asrain into notice. By using the charter of this Credit Mobilier, Mr. Oakes Ames and his associates saw an oppor- tunity of making large sums of money. They bought up a majority of the stock of tlte Pacific Railroad, and secured the entire control of the Credit Mobilier. A contract was made with this company to build the road at an exorbitant profit, the proceeds of which were to be divided among themselves. The rights and interests of the smaller JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 161 stockholders were quite ignored, as well as those of the United States, which, besides giving millions of acres, had also indorsed $60,000,000 of its bonds, to assist in the building of the railroad. Of course, all this fraudulent dealing was kept a profound secret, and the true character of the Credit Mobilier was not known to the public for a long time. To prevent Congress from investigating this outrageous swindle, the ring tried to dispose of some of their Credit Mobilier stock to different members of Congress. George Francis Train called upon Garfield and asked him to invest. " You can double and treble your money in a year," he urged ; "the object of the company is to buy land where cities and villages are to spring up." Garfield told Mr. Train that he had no money to invest, and even if he had, he' should want to make further inquiries before entering into such a transaction. A year later Mr. Ames, who was a member of Congress, came to Garfield and repeated the request. " If you have no money to spare," said Mr. Ames, " I will hold the stock until you can find it convenient to pay for it." After taking a few days to consider the matter,. Garfield told Mr. Ames he had decided not ta invest. 162 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF The following July, 18Q7, Garfield sailed for Europe, and in order to obtain funds for this trip, he turned over advanced drafts for several months of his congressional salary. "When he returned home in November, he needed a small sum, for current expenses, and borrowed three hundred dollars of Oakes Ames. This loan he paid back in 1869. Not long after this transaction, Garfield was informed that his name was upon Oakes Ames' book as holding ten shares of the Credit Mobilier. He demanded an explanation, and Mr. Ames appeared before a committee of investigation, upon December 17, 1872. His testimony was as follows, — "In reference to Mr. Garfield," said the chair- man, "you say that you agreed to get ten shares for him and to hold them till he could pay for them, and that he never did pay for them nor receive them ? " t; Yes, sir." " He never paid any money on that stock, nor received any money from it?" " Not on account of it." "He received no dividends?" " No, sir ; I think not. He says he did not. My own recollection is not very clear." "So, that, as you understand, Mr. Garfield i never parted with any money, nor received any money on that transaction ? " JAMES A. GARFIELD. 163 "No, sir; he had some money from me once, some three or four hundred dollars, and called it a loan. He says that is all he ever received from me, and that he considered it a loan. He never took his stock and never paid for it." " Did you understand it so ? " "Yes; I am willing to so understand it. I do not recollect paying him any dividend, and have forgotten that I paid him any money." Five weeks after this statement, Mr. Ames appeared a second time before the committee with a memorandum in which there was an entry to the effect that a certain amount of stock had been sold for $329 and paid over to General Garfield ; that it was not paid in money, but by a check on the sergeant-at-arms. To this statement, the sergeant-at-arms, Mr. Dillon, testified that he had paid a check of $329, but that the payment had been made to Air. Ames, not to General Garfield. It was conclusively proved that Garfield's name was not amono- the eleven congressmen who had bought shares in the Credit Mobilier. In a long and able vindication of the purity of his motives, Garfield concludes with the following words : — " If there be a citizen of the United States who is willing to believe that, for $329, I have bartered away my good name, and to falsehood have added 164 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF perjury, these lines are not addressed to him. If there be one who thinks that any part of my pub- lic life has been oma«;ed G n so low a level as these charges would place it, I do not address him ; I address those who are willing to believe that it is possible for a man to serve the public without personal dishonor. " If any of the scheming corporations or corrupt rings that have done so much to disgrace the country by their attempts to control its legislation, have ever found in me a conscious supporter or ally in any dishonorable scheme, they are at full liberty to disclose it. In the discussion of the many grave and difficult questions of public policy which have occupied the thoughts of the nation during the last twelve years, I have borne some part ; and I confidently appeal to the public records for a vindication of my conduct." A writer in the Cincinnati Enquirer at this time thus described Garfield : — "With as honest a heart as ever beat, above the competitions of sordid ambition, General Garfield has yet so little of the worldly wise in him that he is poor, and }et has been accused of dishonesty. He has no capacity for investment, nor the rapid solution of wealth, nor profound respect for the penny in and out of pound, and still, is neither careless, improvident, nor dependent. The great consuming passion to equal richer people, and live JAMES A. GARFIELD. 165 finely, and extend his social power, are as foreign to him as scheming or cheating. But he is not a suspicious nor a high-mettled man, and so he is taken in sometimes, partly from his obliging, un- refusing disposition. Men who were scheming imposed upon him as upon Grant and other crude- eyed men of affairs. The people of his district, however, who are quick to punish public venality or defection, heard him in his defence, and kept him in Congress and held up his hand." Side by side with this testimony, listen to Gar- field's own words in the Ohio Senate just after his election : — " During the twenty years I have been in the public service (almost eighteen of it in the Con- gress of the United States) , I have tried to do one thing. I have represented for many years a dis- trict in Congress whose approbation I greatly de- sired, but, though it may seem perhaps a little egotistical to say it, I yet desired still more the approbation of one person, and his name is Gar- field. He is the only man that I am compelled to sleep with, and eat with, and die with, and, if I could not have his approbation, I should have bad companionship . " The following sonnet, from an anonymous pen, appeared about this time in the Washington Even- ing Star: — 166 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF TO JAMES A. GARFIELD. " Thou who didst ride on Chickamauga's day, All solitary, down the fiery line, And saw the ranks of battle rusty shine, Where grand old Thomas held them from dismay, Regret not now, while meaner factions play Their brief campaigns against the best of men; For those spent balls of slander have their way, And thou shalt see the victory again. Weary and ragged, though the broken lines Of party reel, and thine own honor bleeds, That mole is blind that Garfield undermines! That shot falls short that hired slander speeds ! That man will live whose place the state assigns, And whose high mind the mighty nation needs ! " JAMES A. GARFIELD. 167 CHAPTER XXII. After the Ordeal. — Unanimous Vote of the General Assemhly of Ohio. — Extract from Garfield's Speech of Acceptance. — Purchase of the Farm at Mentor. — Description of the New House. — Life at Mentor. — The Garfield Household. — Longing for Home in his Last Hours. As gold is tried in the fire, so General Garfield passed through the distressing ordeal of slander and fierce opposition. In January, 1880, he was elected by a unanimous vote United States Sena- tor from Ohio. In his speech of acceptance, he says, — "I do not undervalue the office that you have tendered to me yesterday and to-day ; but I say, I think, without any mental reservation, that the manner in which it was tendered to me is far more desirable than the thing itself. That it has been a voluntary gift of the General Assembly of Ohio, without solicitation, tendered to me because of their confidence, is as touching and high a tribute as one man can receive from his fellow-citizens." Three years previous to his election as Senator, Garfield was spending his summer vacation near Cleveland, Ohio. Driving one day along the stage-road that skirts the shores of Lake Erie, he came to the pretty town of Mentor. 168 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF His old fascination for the sparkling, blue waters returned — he was a boy again, chopping wood in his uncle's forest and counting the sails with every stroke ! Why not make his summer home just here ? Upon inquiry, he found in Mentor, waiting a purchaser, a tine farm of a hundred and twenty acres. The little cottage upon the ground would ac- commodate his family for awhile, and when they went back to Washington, a larger and more convenient house could be built in its place. So the farm was purchased, and " Lawnfield," the pleasant Mentor home, established. The new house, built upon the foundation of the old one, suggests comfort rather than elegance. It is two and a half stories high, with two dormer windows and a broad veranda in front. The wide, airy hall contains a large writing table, in addition to the other furniture, and piles of books and papers greet you in every corner. The first floor has a parlor, sitting-room, dining- room, kitchen, wash-room and pantry, planned with every convenience by Mrs; Garfield, to whom the architect's papers were submitted. Two of the pleasahtest rooms on the second floor are fitted up especially for " Grandma Gar- field ; " one of these has a large, old-fashioned JAMES A. GARFIELD. 169 fire-place, and is conceded to be the brightest, cheeriest room in the whole house. In the ell is a small room, thirteen and a half by fourteen feet, called by the children " papa's snug- gery." It is not the library, but the walls are covered with book-shelves, and the little room seems to have been used by the busy statesman as a sort of " sanctum sanctorum." The library is a separate building, a few steps to the northeast of the house. Garfield used to call it his "workshop," and the books of refer- ence, indices, public documents, etc., piled up on the shelves, show the numerous tools he employed in his " literary carpentry." This home at Mentor was purchased especially for the benefit of the Garfield children, but both father and mother enjoyed the quiet country life far better than the whirl of societv at Washington. " Isn't it strange," exclaimed Garfield, to one of his guests, " how a man will revive his early at- tachment to farm-life? For twenty-five years I scarcely remained on a form for a longer period than a few days, but now I am an enthusiast. I can see now what I could not see when I was a boy. It is delightful to watch the growing crops." As Washington turned with delight to the quiet shades of Mount Vernon, so Garfield looked for- ward each year to his summer at Mentor. 170 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF / Oftentimes, his visitors would find him out in the fields, tossing hay with his boys, superintend- ing the farm-work, or planning some new im- provement. In a letter to a friend, he says, — " You can hardly imagine how completely I have turned my mind out of its usual channels during the last weeks. You know I have never been able to do anything moderately, and, to-day, I feel myself lame in every muscle with too much lifting and digging. I shall try to do a little less the coming week." It was his custom at Mentor to rise very early in the morning ; directly after breakfast he would mount one of his horses and go all over the farm, giving directions for the day's work. There were one hundred and twenty acres in the original farm, but forty more were purchased soon after. The beautiful lawn, together with the garden and orchard, takes up about twelve acres. Seventy more are under cultivation, and the remainder are in pasture lots and woodland. One piece of marshy ground has been carefully drained, and from, it an excellent crop of wheat is obtained. Many other improvements have been made, as Garfield was an enthusiast in scientific farming. lie liked nothing better than to show visitors over the place; and, in making the rounds, he would always take them down the lane back of the house, JAMES A. GARFIELD. 171 and up to the top of the ridge beyond, explaining how the level basin below was once a part of Lake Erie. The little town of" Mentor is largely settled by New Englanders, and the hilly surface, the groves of maple, oak, and hickory, interspersed with thrifty farms, remind one constantly of the East- ern States. Cleveland is only twenty-five miles to the east, and the waters of Lake Erie form its northern boundary. To reach Mentor by rail, one must take the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. A gentleman, who dined one day at Lawnfield, says,— "I sat next to Mrs. Garfield, and I found her a ready and charming conversationalist She is tall, fine-looking, has a kind, good face, and the gentlest of manners. A pair of black eyes and a mouth about which there plays a sweetly-bewitch- ing smile, are the most attractive features of a thoroughly expressive face. She is a quick ob- server, and an intelligent listener." The two older boys, Harry and James, are fine, manly fellows, eighteen and sixteen years of age. They are good scholars, and passed an excellent ex- amination upon their entrance to Williams College in the fall of '81. Mollie, the only daughter, is a lovely girl of fourteen. The next child, a boy of ten, bears the name of Irvin McDowell. 172 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF " I had," said Garfield, " a personal acquaint- ance with General McDowell, and I knew him to be an upright man and a good officer, and conse- quently protested slightly to the abuse heaped upon him by giving my son his name." The youngest child is seven years of age, and is called Abram, for his grandfather. " Grandma Garfield," whose features, as well as those of the children and their parents, have be- come so familiar to us, is a bright, active old lady of eighty years. ?f I have seen Garfield," writes Mr. Campbell, the editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer, " in the midst of his plain home life — beneath his West- ern Reserve cottage farmhouse. His surroundings were those of a man of culture, but of a man of limited means. His board was frugally spread — scarcely differing in any respect from the table of his humble neighbors. He preferred frugality and self-denial to debt, and I came away, doing honor in my mind to this sterling trait of his character." Some of the happiest hours of Garfield's life were spent in this modest home at Mentor, and as one writer beautifully expresses it, through those long, long summer days, " wounded to death, and looking out on the yellow, dreary Potomac, so dreary, so yellow in the throbbing midsummer heat, his soul wandered in his dreams, not amid the scenes of his ambitions or his achievements, JAMES A. GARFIELD. 173 but through the haunts of his boyhood, through the streets of Cleveland, with the comrades of his prime ; and his last dream on earth was a dream of Mentor, the home of his happy and prosperous manhood. Its modest walls, its harvest fields, its peaceful glades, were the last pictures to fill his sight with delight before he lifted his eyes to con- front the glory of the Heavenly City." 174 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XXIH. Republican Convention at Chicago. — The Three Prominent Candi- dates. — Description of Conkling. — Logan. — Cameron. — De- scription of Garfield. — Resolution Introduced by Conkling. — Opposition of West Virginians. — Garfield's Conciliatory Speech. — His Oration in Behalf of Sherman. — Opinions of the Press. The National Convention of the Republican party that met at Chicago, in June, 1880, will always be marked with a red-letter in the annals of our country. The third-term issue, the unit rule, district representation, and the arbitrary power of party managers, made the nomination for President one long scene of hard fought battles. The three prominent candidates were General Grant ; James G. Blaine, Senator from Maine ; and John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury. The third-term party who desired the nomina- tion- of Grant, was strongly supported by Senator Conkling of NeAV York, Senator Cameron of Pennsylvania, and Senator Logan of Illinois. These three great political leaders are thus de- scribed by a graphic writer, who was present at the opening of the Convention : — ' JAMES A. GARFIELD. 175 "Just as the great Exposition Building had nearly filled up, there was a simultaneous huzza throughout the hall and galleries, and it speedily broke out in a hearty applause. The tall and now silvered plume of Colliding was visible in the aisle, and he strode down to his place at the head of his delegation with the majesty of an emperor. He recognized the compliment by a modest bow, without lifting his eyes to the audience, and took his seat as serenely as if on a picnic and holiday. The Grant men seemed to be more comfortable when they found. him by their side and evidently ready for the conflict. "Logan's swarthy features, flowing mustache, and Indian hair, were next visible on the eastern aisle, but he stepped to the head of his delegation so quietly that he escaped a special welcome. He sat as if in sober reflection for a few moments, and then hastened over to Colliding to perfect their counsel on the eve of battle. The two senatorial leaders held close conference until the bustle about the chair gave notice that the opposing lines were about to begin to feel each other, and test their position. " Cameron had just stepped upon the platform with the elasticity of a boy, and his youthful, but strongly-marked face was recognized at once. There was no applause. They all knew that he never plays for the galleries, and that cheers are 176 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF Wasted upon him. He quietly sat clown for ten minutes, although the time for calling the conven- tion to order had passed by an hour, and looked calmly out upon the body so big with destiny for himself and his Grant associates. As he passed by he was asked, — "'.What of the battle?' ,ft )Ve have three hundred to start with,' he re- plied, ' and we will work on till we win.' " This was said with all the determination that his positive manner and expression could add to language, and it summed up his whole strategy." George F. Hoar, from Massachusetts, was ap- pointed President of the Convention ; and among the delegates from Ohio, and enthusiastic sup- porters of Sherman, was General Garfield, thus described by a writer in the Chicago Inter- Ocean: — " A big heart, a sympathetic nature, and a mind keenly sensitive to everything that is beautiful in sentiment, are the artists that shade down the gnarled outlines and touch with soft coloring the plain features of his massive face. The conception of a grand thought always paints a glow upon Gar- field's face, which no one forgets who has seen him while speaking. His eyes are a cold gray, but they are often — yes, all the time when he is speaking — lit brilliantly by the warm light of worthy senti- ments, and the strong flame of a great man's con- viction. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 177 " In speaking, he is not so restless as Colliding ; his speech is an appeal for thought and calm de- liberation, and he stands still like the rock of judgment while he delivers it. There is no in- vective or bitterness in his effort, but there is throughout an earnestness of conviction and an unquestionable air of sincerity, to which every gesture and intonation of voice is especially adapted." On the second day of the convention a resolu- tion was introduced by Mr. Conkling that every member of the convention should support the nominee, and that no one should hold a seat who was not willing thus to pledge himself. The ques- tion was opposed by several voices, and when Air. Conkling called for a vote of the States, three delegates from West Virginia voted in the nega- tive. Another resolution was then offered by Mr. Conkling, who declared that these delegates had forfeited their seats in the convention. The West Virginians asserted that they were true Republicans, but could not, and would not, pledge themselves in this manner. A hot contest of words would probably have ensued, had not Garfield taken the floor and spoken as follows : — "I fear the convention is about to commit a grave error. Every delegate, save three, has voted for the resolution, and the three gentlemen who have voted against it have risen in their places 178 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF and stated that they expected, and intended, to support the nominee of the convention, hut that it was not, in their judgment, a wise thing, at this time, to pass the resolution which all the rest of the delegates had voted for. Were they to be disfranchised because they thought so ? That was the question. Was every delegate to have his re- publicanism inquired into before he was allowed to vote ? Delegates were responsible for their votes, not to the convention, but to their constituents. He himself would never in any convention vote against his judgment. He regretted that the gen- tlemen from West Virginia had thought it best to break the harmony of the convention by their dis- sent. He did not know these gentlemen, nor their affiliations, nor their relations to the candidates. If this convention expelled those men then the convention would have to purge itself at the end of every vote and inquire how many delegates who had voted ' no ' should go out. He trusted that the gentleman from New York would with- draw his resolution and let the convention proceed with its business." One of the delegates from California imme- diately moved to lay the resolution on the table, and Mr. Conkling thereupon withdrew it. On the fourth day of the convention, and just after the Grant men had set forth in glowing terms the claims of their candidate, Garfield was called JAMES A. GARFIELD. 179 to the platform to represent Ohio. A hearty cheering greeted him as he began : — " Mr. President : I have witnessed the ex- traordinary scenes of this convention with deep solicitude. No emotion touches my heart more quickly than a sentiment in honor of a great and noble character. But as I sat on these scats and witnessed these demonstrations, it seemed to me you were a human ocean in a tempest. I have seen the sea lashed into fury and tossed into spray, and its grandeur moves the soul of the dullest man. But I remember that it is not the billows, but the calm level of the sea from which all heights and depths are measured. When the storm has passed and the hour of calm settles on the ocean, when sunlight bathes its smooth sur- face, then the astronomer and surve} r or takes the level from which he measures all terrestrial heights and depths. " Gentlemen of the convention , your present temper may not mark the healthful pulse of our people. "When our enthusiasm has passed, when the emotions of this hour have subsided, we shall find the calm level of public opinion below the storm from which the thoughts of a mighty people are to be measured, and by which their final action will be determined. "Not here, in this brilliant circle where fifteen 180 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF thousand men and women are assembled, is the destiny of the Republic to be decreed ; not here, where I see the enthusiastic faces of seven hundred and fifty-six delegates waiting to cast their votes into the urn and determine the choice of their party, but by four million Republican firesides, where the thoughtful fathers with wives and children about them, with the calm thoughts inspired by love of home and love of country, with the history of the past, the hopes of the future, and the knowledge of the great men who have adorned and blessed our nation in days gone by — there God prepares the verdict that shall determine the wisdom of our work to-night. Not in Chicago in the heat of June, but in the sober quiet that comes between now and November, in the silence of deliberate judgment will this great question be settled. Let us aid them to-night. "But now, gentlemen of the convention, what do we want ? Twenty-five years ago this republic was wearing a triple chain of bondage. Long familiarity with traffic in the bodies and souls of men had paralyzed the consciences of a majority of our people. The baleful doctrine of State sovereiinitv had shocked and weakened the noblest and most beneficent powers of the national govern- ment, and the grasping power of slavery was seizing the virgin territories of the West and drag- ging them into the den of eternal bondage. At JAMES A. GARFIELD. 181 that crisis the Republican party was born. It drew its first inspiration from that fire of liberty which God has lighted in every man's heart, and which ^11 the powers of ignorance and tyranny can never wholly extinguish. "The Republican party came to deliver and save the republic. It entered the arena when the beleaguered and assailed territories were struggling for freedom, and drew around them the sacred circle of liberty which the demon of slavery has never dared to cross. It made them free forever. "Strengthened by its victory on the frontier, the young party, under the leadership of that great man who, on this spot, twenty years ago, was made its leader, entered the national capital and assumed the high duties of the government. The light which shone from its banner dispelled the darkness in which slavery had enshrouded the capital, and melted the shackles of every slave, and consumed in the fire of liberty every slave-pen within the shadow of the capitol. "Our national industries by an impoverishing policy, were themselves prostrated, and the streams of revenue flowed in such feeble currents that the treasury itself was well-nigh empty. The money of the people was the wretched notes of two thousand uncontrolled and irresponsible state bank- ing corporations, which were filling the country with a circulation that poisoned rather than sus- 182 LIFE AKD PUBLIC SERVICES OF tained the life of business. The Republican party changed all this. It abolished the babel of con- fusion, and gave the country a currency as national as its flag, based upon the sacred faith of the people. It threw its protecting arm around our great industries, and they stood erect as with new life. It filled with the spirit of true nationality all the great functions of the government. It con- fronted a rebellion of unexampled magnitude, with slavery behind it, and, under God, fought the final battle of liberty until victory was won. Then, after the storms of battle were heard the sweet, calm words of peace uttered by the con- quering nation, and saying to the conquered foe that lay prostrate at its feet, — " f This is our only revenge, that you join us in lifting to the serene firmament of the Constitution, to shine like stars forever and ever, the immortal principles of truth and justice, that all men, white or black, shall be free and stand equal before the law.' "Then came the question of reconstruction, the public debt, and the public faith. In the settle- ment of the questions the Republican party has completed its twenty-five years of glorious exist- ence, and it has sent us here to prepare it for another lustrum of duty and of victory. How shall we do this great work? We cannot do it, my friends, by assailing our Republican brethren. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 183 God forbid that I should say one word to cast a shadow upon any name on the roll of our heroes. "This coming fight is our Thermopylae. \Ve are standing upon a narrow isthmus. If our Spartan hosts are united, we can withstand all the Persians that the Xerxes of Democracy can bring against us. Let us hold our ground this one year, for the stars in their courses fight for us in the future. The census taken this year will bring reinforcements and continued power. But in order to win this victory now, we want the vote of every Eepublican, of every Grant Republican, and every anti-Grant Eepublican in America, of every Blaine man and anti-Blaine man. The vote of every follower of every/ candidate is needed to make our success certain ; therefore, I say, gentle- men and brethren, we are here to take calm coun- sel together, and inquire what we shall do. ff We want a man whose life and opinions em- body all the achievements of which I have spoken. We want a man who, standing on a mountain height, sees all the achievements of our past history, and carries in his heart the memory of all its glorious deeds, and who, looking forward, prepares to meet the labor and the dangers to come. We want one who will act in no spirit of unkindness towards those we lately met in battle. The Repub- lican party offers to our brethren of the South the olive-branch of peace, and wishes them to return 184 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF to "brotherhood, on this supreme condition, that it shall be admitted forever and forevermore, that in the war for the Union, we were right and they were wrong. On that supreme condition we meet them as brothers, and on no other. We ask them to share with us the blessings and honors of this great republic. "Now, gentlemen, not to weary you, Tarn about to present a name for your consideration — the name of a man who" was the comrade and associate and friend of nearly all those noble dead whose faces look down upon us from these walls to-night ; a man who began his career of public service twenty-five years ago ; Avhose first duty was cour- ageously done in the days of peril on the plains of Kansas, when the first red drops of that bloody shower began to fall which finally swelled into the deluge of war. He bravely stood by young Kansas then, and, returning to his duty in the National Legislature, through all subsequent time his pathway has been marked by labors performed in every department of legislation. "You ask for his monuments. I point you to twenty-five years of national statutes. Not one great beneficent measure has been placed in our statute books without his intelligent and powerful aid. He aided these men to formulate the laws that raised our great armies and carried us through the war. His hand was seen in the workmanship of JAMES A. GARFIELD. 185 those statutes that restored and brought back the unity and calm of the States. His hand was in all that great legislation that created the war currency, and in a still greater work that re- deemed the promises of the government and made the currency equal to gold. And when at last called from the halls of legislation into a Irish executive office, he displayed that experience, intelligence, firmness and poise of character which has carried us through a stormy period of three years. With one-half the public press crying 'Crucify him,' and a hostile Congress seeking to prevent success, in all this he remained unmoved until victory crowned him. "The great fiscal affairs of the nation, and the great business interests of the country he has guarded and preserved, while executing the law of resumption and effecting its object without a jar and against the false prophecies of one-half of the press and all the Democracy of this continent. He has shown himself able to meet with calmness the great emergencies of the government for twenty- five years. He has trodden the perilous heights of public duty, and against all the shafts of malice has borne his breast unharmed. He has stood in the blaze of f that fierce light that beats against the throne,' but its fiercest ray has found no flaw in his armor, no stain on his shield. I do not present him as a better Eepublican or as a better man than 186 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF thousands of others we honor, but I present him for your deliberate consideration. I nominate John Sherman, of Ohio." Of this powerful speech, that was constantly interrupted by storms of applause, Whitelaw Reid said, — " It was admirably adapted to make votes for his candidate, if speeches ever made votes. It was courteous, conciliatory, and prudent." The editor of the Chicago Journal wrote as follows : — " The supreme orator of the evening was Gen- eral Garfield. He is a man of superb power and noble character. . . . He indulged in no fling at others. It was a model speech in temper and tone. The impression made was powerful and altogether, wholesome. Many felt that if Ohio had offered Garfield instead of Sherman, she would have been more likely to win." ( JAMES A. GARFIELD. 187 CHAPTER XXIV. The Battle still Undecided. — Sunday among: the Delegates. — Gar- field's Remark.— Monday another Day of Doubt. — The Dark Horse. — The Balloting on Tuesday. — Garfield's Remonstrance. — He is Unanimously Elected on the Thirty-sixth Ballot. — En- thusiastic Demonstrations, Congratulatory Speeches and Tele- grams. — His Speech of Acceptance. Garfield's eloquent speech was followed by one from Mr. Billings, of Vermont, who proposed Senator Edmunds as a nominee. Mr. Cassidy, of Wisconsin, presented the name of Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, and was seconded by Mr. Brandagee, of Connecticut. The battle was waged in this manner until a late hour on Saturday evening. Many of the delegates wanted to continue the balloting after midnight, and some urged the chairman, Judge Hoar, to ignore the Sabbath and let the conven- tion go on. " Never ! " he replied ; " this is a Sabbath-keep- ing nation, and I cannot preside over this conven- tion one minute after twelve." Garfield attended church in the morning, and dined with Marshall Field. The conversation at 188 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF table turned upon the dead-lock in the convention and the quietus at Washington, where every one was waiting for further developments. Addressing; the friend who sat beside him, Gar- field said, — "Yes, this is a day of suspense, but it is also a day of prayer ; and I have more faith in the prayers that will go up from Christian hearts to- day, than I have in all the political tactics which will prevail at this convention." When President Hoar called the convention to order on Monday morning, an anxious crowd hastily took their seats and prepared for the coming battle. Eighteen ballots were cast during the day and ten more in the evening, with no de- cisive result. The weather was extremely hot, but the hall was filled to its utmost capacity, and at each roll-call the whole twelve thousand would simultaneously rise to their feet with a noise like the roar of thunder. It was late at night before the convention broke up, and some of the dele- gates did not retire at all. On Tuesday morning, a pencilled note, it is said, passed from Conkling to Garfield, which read as follows : — " My Dear Garfield, — If there is to be a dark horse in this convention there is no man I would prefer before yourself. Conkling." JAMES A. GARFIELD. 189 The reply was, — "My Dear Conkling, — There will be no dark horse in this convention. I am for Sherman. J. A. Garfield." B} r the time the thirty-fourth ballot was cast, however, it began to be very evident that a " break" was imminent. Wisconsin gave thirty-six votes for Garfield, Connecticut followed with eleven more, Illinois gave seven, and Indiana twenty-nine. Garfield immediately rose to his feet and said he had refused to have his name announced and voted for in the convention. "I have not given my consent" — he began; but amidst much laughter the chairman interrupted, and said the gentleman was not stating a question of order. The enthusiasm for the new candidate now rose to its highest pitch. When the thirty-sixth ballot was called, Sherman and the Ohio delegation, with the Xew York anti-Grant men, led off in a grand burst of applause for Garfield. One after another the States transferred their votes to him, till at last Wisconsin completed the majority. Before the roll was called a salute of guns was tired in the park outside, the galleries sprang to their feet, and the wildest scene of excitement followed. Each delegation had its State banner, and, with 190 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF Massachusetts at the head, an impromptu pro- cession was formed that marched over to the Ohio delegation and placed all the standards by the side of Garfield. The military band in the hall then struck up, "Rally round the Flag," and the whole immense audience enthusiastically joined in the stirring song. " I shall never forget," writes an eye-witness, " the expression of Garfield's face at the time that delegation after delegation was breaking from its moorings and going over to him. I scanned him with intense curiosity as he listened to the call of States, and the certain coming of his nomination. His cheeks had a flush upon them, and there was a far-away expression in his eyes as he listened to the responses of the chairman, as if he was com- muning with the future. I can see his face at this moment as plainly as I saw it then, and I ask my- self now whether as he swept the horizon of the future with his mind's eye, could he possibly have had a glimpse of the dark apparition that was even then being invoked into life. He looked anxious, almost troubled." "When the President of the convention an- nounced that James A. Garfield of Ohio had received three hundred and ninety-nine ballots, the majority of the whole votes cast, Senator Conkling arose and said, — "I move that he be unanimously presented as JAMES A. GARFIELD. 191 the nominee of the convention. The Chair, under the rules, anticipated me, but being on my feet, I avail myself of the opportunity to congratulate the Republican party of the nation on the good- natured and well-tempered disposition that has distinguished this animated convention. f 'I trust that the fervor and unanimity of the scenes of the convention will be transplanted to the field of the country, and all of us who have borne a part against each other here will be found with equal zeal, bearing the banners and carrying the lances of the Republican party into the ranks of the enemy." Senator Logan followed Conkling in a similar congratulatory speech ; and Eugene Hale, the defeated leader of the Blaine forces, said : — "Standing here to return our heartfelt thanks to the many men in this convention who have aided us in the fight that we made for the senator from Maine, and speaking for them here, as I know that I do, I say this most heartily : "We have not got the man whom we hoped to nominate when we came here, but we have got a man in whom we have the greatest and most marked confidence. The nominee of this convention is no new and untried man, and in that respect he is no 'dark horse.' When he came here, representing his State in the front of his delegation and was seen here, every man knew him because of his record ; 192 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF and because of that and because of our faith in him, and because we were in the., emergency, glad to help make him the candidate of the Republican party for President of the United States, — because, I say, of these things, I stand here to pledge the Maine forces in this convention to earnest effort until the ides of November, to help to carry him to the presidential chair." Short speeches followed from members of the other delegations and the nomination of James A. Garfield was declared unanimous. While shaking hands with the crowd that gath- ered around him, Garfield turned to a correspond- ent of the Cleveland Herald and said gravely : — "I wish you would say that this is no act of mine. 1 wish you would say that I have done everything and omitted nothing to secure Secretary Sherman's nomination. I want it plainly under- stood that I have not sought this nomination, and have protested against the use of my name. If Senator Hoar had permitted, I would have for- bidden anybody to vote for me. But he took me off my feet before I had said what I intended. I am very sorry it has occurred, but if my position is fully explained, a nomination, coming unsought and unexpected like this, will be the crowning gratification of my life." Before nominating the Vice-President, the con- vention took a short recess, and Garlield attempted JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 193 to leave the hall. He was immediately surrounded, however, by an enthusiastic crowd, who followed him to the door and tried to take the horses off his carriage that they might draw it themselves. A serenade followed at the Grand Pacific Hotel, but Garfield declined to respond to the ovation further than to give his thanks. More than six hundred congratulatory telegrams were received during the evening, among the most notable of which were the followino - : — Executive Mansion, Washington, June 8th, 1880. To General James A. Garfield : . You will receive no heartier congratulations to-day than mine. This both for your own and your country's sake. (Signed) R. B. Hayes. Washington, June 8th, 1880. Hon. James A. Garfield, Chicago: I congi-atulate you with all my heart upon your nomina- tion as President of the United States. You have saved the Republican party and the country from a great peril, and assured the continued success of Republican principles. (Signed) John Sherman. "The vote of Maine just cast for you is given you with my hearty concurrence. I assure you of my belief that you will have a glorious victory in November. James G. Blaine. Milwaukee, June 8th, 1880. "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised." Lawrence Barrett. 194 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEEVTCES OF Washington, June 8th 1 880. " Accept my hearty congratulations. The country is to be congratulated as well as yourself. C. Schurz. Similar dispatches were received from other members of the cabinet, and from various senators and representatives at Washington. When Gen- eral Grant heard the news he said, "It is all right — 1 am satisfied." At the earnest request of the delegates, an informal reception was held at the Grand Pacitic, and near midnight Garfield responded to the com- mittee appointed to notify him officially of his nomination, as follows : — "Mr. Chairmen and Gentlemen, — I assure you that the information you have officially given me brings a sense of very grave responsibility, and especially so in view of the feet that I was a member of your body, a fact that could not have existed with propriety had I had the slightest expectation that my name would be connected with the nomination for the office. I have felt with you great solicitude concerning the situation of our party during the struggle, but believing that you are correct in assuring me that substantial unity has been reached in the conclusion, it gives me gratification far greater than any personal pleasure your announcement can bring. "I accept the trust committed to my hands. As JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 195 to the work of our party and the character of the campaign to be entered upon, I will take an early occasion to reply more fully than I can properly do to-night. I thank you for the assurances of confidence and esteem you have presented to me, and hope we shall see our future as promising as are the indications to-nio;ht." In a similar manner Senator Hoar and the com- mittee officially apprized General Arthur of his nomination to the Vice-Presidency ; his acceptance was given in a brief informal speeeh, but it was not till the tf small hours " that the excited crowds began to disperse. 196 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTEE XXV. Return Home. — Ovations on the Way- — Address at Hiram Institute. — Impromptu Speech at Washington. — Incident of the Eagle. — The Tract Distributor. The next morning, Garfield left Chicago for his home in Mentor. The journey thither was one continual scene of ovations. An immense throng- followed him from the hotel to the station, and a lar^e committee from Cleveland met the train at Elyria. As the car containing Garfield and Governor Foster of Ohio, entered the depot at Cleveland, a salute of a thousand guns was fired. A procession of the militia and the Garfield clubs accompanied them to the Kennard House, and among the trans- parencies borne by the crowd was one with the happy inscription : — " Ohio's senator, Ohio's Major-General, Ohio's President. The true favorite son of Ohio is the favorite son of the Union. He who at the age of sixteen steered a canal-hoat will steer the ship of state at fifty." Garfield had promised to deliver an address at the commencement exercises of Hiram College. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 197 The morning after his arrival in Cleveland, there- fore, he left as quietly as possible for the little town, where thirty years before he had held the humble position of college janitor. "I have sought but one office in my life," he said one day to a friend, "and that was the office of janitor at Hiram Institute." As he approached the college grounds the students came out in a body to greet him. It was a touching scene, and his beautiful address to them is given in full, in the latter part of the volume.* With all his honors he never forgot this place so " full of memories." After a short sta} T at Hiram, he went on to his home in Mentor, to take a few days' rest before returning to "Washington. His address to the enthusiastic crowds that gathered around him when he reached the Capi- tol, is so full of his peculiar magnetic power that we give it entire : — w Felloav-Citizexs : — While I have looked upon this great array, I believe I have gotten a new idea of the majesty of the American people. " When I reflect that whenever you find sovereign power, every reverent heart on this earth bows before it, and when I remember that here for a hundred years we have denied the sovereignty of * See page 478. 198 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF any man, and in place of it we have asserted the sovereignty of all in place of one, I see before me so vast a concourse it is easy for me to imagine that were the rest of the American people gathered here to-night, every man would stand uncovered, all in unsandalled feet in presence of the majesty of the only sovereign power in this Government under Almighty God. "And therefore to this great audience I pay the respectful homage that in part belongs to the sovereignty of the people. I thank you for this great and glorious demonstration. I am not, for one moment, misled into believing that it refers to so poor a thing as any one of our number. I know it means your reverence for your Govern- ment, your reverence for its laws, your reverence for its institutions, and your compliment to one who is placed for a moment in relations to you of peculiar importance. For all these reasons I thank you. " I cannot at this time utter a word on the sub- ject of general politics. I would not mar the cordiality of this welcome, to which to some extent all are gathered, by any reference except to the present moment and its significance ; but I wish to say that a large portion of this assemblage to-night are my comrades, late of the war for the Union. For them I can speak with entire pro- priety, and can say that these very streets heard JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1&9 the measured tread of your disciplined feet, years ago, when the imperilled Republic needed your hands and your hearts to save it, and you came back with your numbers decimated ; but those you left behind were immortal and glorified heroes for- ever; and those you brought back came, carrying under tattered banners and in bronzed hands the ark of the covenant of your Republic in safety out of the bloody baptism of the war, and you brought it in safety to be saved forever by your valor and the wisdom of your brethren who w T ere at home, and by this you were again added to the great civil army of the Republic. " I greet you, comrades and fellow-soldiers, and the great body of distinguished citizens who are gathered here to-night, who are the strong stay and support of the business, of the prosperity, of the peace, of the civic ardor and glory of the Republic, and I thank you for your welcome to-night. " It was said in a welcome to one who came to England to be a part of her glory — and all the nation spoke when it was said, — " ' Normans and Saxons and Danes are we, But all of us Danes in our welcome of thee.' " And we say to-night of all nations, of all the people, soldiers, and civilians, there is one name that welds us all into one. It is the name of American citizen, under the union and under the 200 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF glory of the flag that led us to victory and peace. For this magnificent welcome I thank you with all my heart." A singular incident occurred in Washington, upon the day of Garfield's nomination at Chicago. Almost at the very moment the ballot was cast, a large bald eagle circled around the Park, and finally swooped down and rested upon the little house on the corner of I and Thirteenth Streets. It was seen by Mr. George W. Rose, Garfield's private stenographer, who occupied the house during his absence, and he says that "before the eagle rose from its strange perch a dozen people had noticed and commented upon it." Another curious coincident is worthy of notice. On that memorable Tuesday morning as Garfield entered the Exposition building, where the conven- tion was assembled, a slip of paper was thrust into his hand by a tract distributor. He put it mechanically into his pocket without reading, and was not a little astonished that even- ing when it dropped out and he found upon it these words : — "This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the cor- ner ; neither is there salvation in any other. " JAMES A. GARFIELD. 201 CHAPTER XXVI. News of the Nomination Received with Delight. — Mr. Robeson speaks for the Democrats in the House of Representatives. — Ratification Meeting at Williams College. — Governor Long's Opinion.— Hotly-contested Campaign. — Garfield Receives the Majority of Votes.— Is Elected President on the Second of November, 1880. — Extract from Letter of an Old Pupil. — Review of Garfield's Congressional Life. — His own Feelings in Regard to the Election. The news of the nomination at Chicago was received with unfeigned delight throughout the country. In the House of Representatives at Washington, Mr. Robeson, by request, spoke for the Democrats as well as the Republicans, in terms of the highest commendation of the new nominee ; and three hearty cheers were given for him by both parties. A ratification meeting was immediately held at Williams College, and the excited students sang as a chorus to " Marching through Georgia : " "Hurrah! hurrah! we'll shout for General G. ! Hurrah! hurrah! a Williams man was he, And so we'll sing the chorus from old Williams to the sea, And we'll cast a vote for Garfield! " Governor Long, of Massachusetts, when asked his opinion of the nomination, said, — 202 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF " I feel an especial pride and satisfaction in the nomination of Garfield, as I have both desired and publicly urged it from the first. " I regard General Garfield as a representative Republican, a sound statesman, a thorough scholar, and with that good record as a soldier which never yet has failed to be a claim upon the hearts of the American people. I regard it as felicitous in General Garfield that, like so many of his prede- cessors, he sprang from the humbler walks of life, and, by his own efforts, has made his own way to eminence, and is not identified as the special repre- sentative of wealth or any great controlling in- terests. " As a representative from the old Joshua Gid- dings district, he has stood from the first as an exponent of equal rights, and he has been an advocate of honest money in the days when it cost something to face the f Ohio idee.' Add to this his high personal character, his purity and integ- rity, and yet his entire approachableness, and you have an ideal candidate who commends himself to every good element in the party and welds it firmly together again, and whose nomination is his elec- tion." The press were remarkably unanimous in their praise of Garfield. Even the Southern papers seemed pleased with the nomination, and the New Orleans Times said, — JAMES A. GARFIELD. 203 " Garfield is a very fair representative of the better element of the Republican party, superior to most of his competitors at Chicago in mental force, and equal to them in other essential at- tributes." When the Democratic candidate for President was announced, and the strong names of Hancock and English were pitted against those of Garfield and Arthur, a close contest was anticipated. And the hot campaign that followed will long be re- membered in the annals of our country. Some of the states that had been securely counted upon by the Republicans, went over to the Democrats ; but, when the final returns were given on the second day of November, 1880, it was found that Garfield had carried twenty of the thirty-eight states, receiving two hundred and fourteen of the electoral votes, while Hancock had but one hundred and fifty-five. One of Garfield's old pupils, upon hearing the news, wrote to a friend in New York as follows : — " We of 'old Portage County,' where his ability was first recognized, and from which no delegate to any convention where his name has been pre- sented ever voted against him, knowing him well and trusting him fully, rejoice with exceeding joy in the results of Tuesday's election. . . . We be- lieve no manlier man ever headed a ticket for the office. He is as pure as Washington, as brave as 204 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF Jackson, as humane as Lincoln, and as grand and able as Daniel Webster. He is broad enough for the whole country, and sectionalism will find no sympathy in him." The editor of a leading Boston paper wrote the following fine review of Garfield's congressional life: — :t The election of General Garfield to the office of President is, in some sense, a departure from the custom of the country. He is the first man who has had long and thorough experience in the legislative branch of the government, holding for many years the position of a leader of a party both while in power and while out of power, and, consequently, thoroughly familiar with all the business of the nation, who has been raised to the Presidential office. It had almost come to be thought that no man could go directly from Con- gress to the Presidency. " It is not unreasonable to expect that the ad- ministration of General Garfield will be marked by some peculiar features dependent upon these con- ditions. For eighteen years he has been a mem- ber of the House of Representatives, all the time a conspicuously active member, and a large part of the time a recognized leader. He has served on all the more important committees, and been chairman of several. He has been a close and eager student of the theory and the practice of our JAMES A. GARFIELD. 205 form of government, at once a philosophical states- man, a shrewd, practical politician, and an accom- plished debater of legislative measures. His char- acter, his accomplishments, his position, his tastes, have favored and compelled him to form personal acquaintance with all classes of influential men, so that probably there is not in the country another who has so extensive a circle of acquaintances among men who are potent in forming and direct- ing public opinion. " Every great interest of American life knows that he has sounded it, and apprehends and appre- ciates its capacity. In church, and college, and market, and among the plain people who toil in shops and fields, he is regarded as a friend who has regarded their necessities and spoken and labored in their cause. " There is not a policy of administration which he has not analyzed ; there is not a depart- ment of the public service with the scope and work of which he is not acquainted. He will come to his office better equipped for intelligent conduct of national affairs than any man who has preceded him for two generations at least, and the best part of his equipment is his broad, hopeful faith in freedom, equal rights, and impartial jus- tice as the safe conditions of progress." In the midst of all this spontaneous burst of enthusiasm, Garfield himself writes to a friend, — 206 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF " I believe all my friends are more gratified with the personal part of my triumph than I am, and, although I am proud of the noble support I have received, and the vindication it gives me against my assailants, yet there is a tone of sadness run- ning through this triumph which I can hardly explain." JAMES A. GARFIELD. 207 CHAPTER XXVH. At Mentor. — The Journey to Washington. — Inauguration Day. — Immense Concourse of People. — The Address. — Sworn into Of- fice. — Touching Scene. — Grand Display. — Inauguration Ball. — Announcement of the Members of the Cabinet. — Two Great Prob- lems. — How they were Solved. — Disgraceful Rupture in the Senate. — Prerogative of the Executive Office vindicated. The few months that elapsed between the elec- tion and the inauguration were spent by Garfield in the quiet home at Mentor. One day an intimate friend of the family asked Mrs.. Garfield if she were not looking forward with pleasant anticipations to her life in the White House. "No," she answered, simply and sincerely, "I can only hope it will not be altogether unhappy." The words occasioned surprise at the time — afterwards they seemed like a sad prophecy. Inauguration day drew near, and the journey from Mentor to Washino-ton was one continual series of ovations. Then that memorable fourth of March at the capital. " Who that beheld the inspiring spectacle," exclaims one writer, " can ever see it grow pale in memory ! " Before noon thousands of people had gathered JAMES A. GARFIELD. 209 and his wonderful magnetism held the whole crowd spell-bound. At the close of the address, the oath of office was administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and then the immense throngs of people began slowly to disperse. The threatening clouds of the early morning had all disappeared, and the bright March sun looked down upon a most touching, beautiful picture, as the new President turned around to his dear old mother, the guiding star of his life — and tenderly kissed her. " Ah! not in Greece or Rome alone High mother-hearts shall swell; America's unsculptured stone! Will Garfield legends tell, — How at the height of fame he durst — The proudest moment of his life — To put the white-haired mother first, Then turned and kissed his wife. " As soon as the evening twilight came on, a grand display of fireworks illuminated the city. The Inauguration Ball was one of the most brilliant ever held in Washington. The hall was finely decorated. Just in the centre of the rotunda was a statue of America, surrounded by tropical plants ; in her left hand she held a shield, and from her right, a powerful electric light in the form of a torch shone down the four wing's of the building;. 210 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF Heavy festoons of evergreens, intertwined with rare flowers, hung from the ceiling, and the lofty pillars were decorated with streamers of bunting and the shields of the States and Territories. Some four thousand people had assembled in the building before the arrival of the presidential party. Garfield did not take part in the dancing, but after an hour spent in hand-shaking, he retired to a balcony where his wife and mother were seated, and watched with evident enjoyment the brilliant scene below. The next day the Senate had a special session, and the President announced his Cabinet as follows : — Secretary of State: James G. Blaine. Secretary of the Treasury : William Windom. Secretary of the Interior : Samuel J. Kikkwood. Secretary of the Navy : William H. Hunt. Secretary of War : Robert T. Lincoln. Postmaster-General : Thomas L. James. Attorney-General : Wayne McVeagh. The different elements of the Kepublican party represented by these names seemed to presage rough waters for the ship-of-state ; but the choice was made with clear-sighted judgment. Two great problems confronted President Gar- field as he assumed the reins of government. First, what should be done with the national debt, so rapidly maturing ? JAMES A. GARFIELD. 211 After considerable investigation, it was deemed best to extend the bonds at a lower rate of interest, that is, three and a half per cent. Gar- field's accurate knowledge of political economy and finance saved the country many millions of dollars by this wise plan ; and the loans as fast as they have become due have been paid by new bonds issued at this lower rate. The second problem was not to be solved so readily. How could half a million of importunate office-seekers be appeased, when only a hundred thousand offices were in the President's power to bestow ? The baleful influence of the wretched spoils sys- tem began its evil work at once. Said a leading political paper : — "The feeling has become a very dominant one that the Government owes every man a living. This is found all the way up from the country school district to town, city, county, state and nation. It need not be said this is an unhealthy condition of things in every aspect. It diverts men's minds from the old paths of industry, and badly demoralizes families and communities. It leads to all manner of crimes, and so intensifies party spirit that all laws provided for their punish- ment are practically inoperative." President Garfield had never had any sympathy with the system that tries to appease its party 212 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF by "liquidating personal obligations with public trusts." In organizing his administration, he desired to unite and consolidate the Republican party, and to make such appointments as were for the manifest good of the whole country. But it was impossible for him to do this without exciting opposition ; the disgraceful rupture in the Senate immediately followed, and the first weeks of his administration presented one continued series of hotly-contested battles. That the President held his own, in spite of all adverse criticism, showed at once the strong, un- yielding hand that guided the Ship of State, and after-events proved that he was clearly right from first to last. " President Garfield," said one able writer, " used political weapons to combat politicians in the matter of the New York Custom House, but he achieved much by so doing. For the first time since 1876 we have a Republican party in New York distinct from the close corporation that has controlled the organization there these recent years. A nucleus has been established around which all shades of Republican opinion can rally with the good hope of destroying the despotism that has virtually ostracized the best Republicans of the State from influential participation in national politics. The nucleus is an administration party, which invites the co-operation of all who would JAMES A. GARFIELD. 213 liberalize the organization. With the overthrow of "machine" control, as it has existed in New York and Pennsylvania, and the old would-be dictators remanded to their proper place, a great advance has been made towards that purer con- dition of political and public affairs that all honest men favor." 214 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XXVIII. SYNOPSIS. The President Plans a Ten- Days' Pleasure-Trip. — Morning of the Fateful Day. — Secretary Blaine Accompanies him to the Station. — A Mysterious-looking' Character. — Sudden Report of a Pistol. — The President Turns and Receives the Fatal Shot. — Arrest of the Assassin. — The President Recovers Consciousness and is Taken Back to the White House. " A wasp flew out upon our fairest son, And stung him to the quick with poisoned shaft, The while he chatted carelessly and laughed, And knew not of the fateful mischief done. And so this life, amid our love begun, Envenomed by the insect's hellish craft, Was drunk by Death in one long, feverish draught, And he was lost — our precious, priceless one! Oh, mystery of blind, remorseless fate! Oh, cruel end of a most causeless hate! That life so mean should murder life so great! " J. G. Holland. The anniversary of our National Independence was now close at hand. In spite of the shameful and distressing party factions of the previous weeks, the country had never seemed in a more pros- perous condition. The electric state of the politi- cal atmosphere had proved itself an element of JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 215 purification, not of destruction, and the outlook for the future grew brighter every day. On the morning of July second, the President arose at an early hour. Worn out with the harass- ing disturbances of the past weeks, he felt the urgent need of a few days' rest and recreation. Mrs. Garfield, who had been spending a little time at Long Branch, was to join him in New York; and together with a few members of the Cabinet and their families, the President had planned a ten- days' trip through New England. It was a lovely summer's morning, The dew sparkled on the beautiful lawn and gay parterres in front of the White House, the cool trickle of the fountain mingled with the twittering of the sparrows as they flitted in and out of their nests under the great front porch. All nature seemed in sympathy with the joyous mood of the President, as he gaily tried an athletic feat with one of his boys, laughed, jested, and talked about the commencement exercises at Williams College, which he hoped to attend in a few days. Not one breath of impending danger, not one note of warning was there in the clear, sunny at- mosphere of that bright July morning ! Shortly after breakfast, Secretary Blaine drove up to the White House and accompanied the Presi- dent to the station of the Baltimore and Potomac 216 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEEVICES OF Railroad, where the express train to New York leaves at 9.30. Finding they were ten minutes before time, the President and his Secretary remained in the car- riage, earnestly talking, until the depot official reminded them that the train w T as about to start. Arm in arm they passed through the broad entrance-door into the ladies' waiting-room, which gave them the readiest access to the train beyond. The room was almost empty, as most of the passengers had already taken their seats in the cars, but pacing nervously up and down the ad- joining rooms, was a thin, wiry-looking man, whose peculiar appearance had once or twice been com- mented upon by some of the railroad officials. Still, there was really nothing about him to excite suspicion. He might have simply missed the train ; and, as he seemed inclined to mind his own business, no further notice had been taken of him. As the President passed through the room, this ill-favored looking man^ suddenly sprang up behind him, and, taking a heavy revolver from his pocket, deliberately aimed it at the noble, commanding figure. At the sharp report the President turned his head with a troubled look of surprise, and Secre- tary Blaine sprang quickly to one side. The wretch immediately re-cocked his pistol, set his teeth, and fired again. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 217 This time the President fell senseless to the floor, and a dazed crowd surrounded him while Secretary Blaine sprang after the assassin. The cowardly knave was easily secured, and then all thoughts centred upon the suffering victim. Mrs. White, who had charge of the ladies' waiting- room, was the first to see the President fall, and, running to his assistance, she knelt down and sup- ported him in her arms. The dreadful tidings flew hither and thither on eagle-wings. Post- master-General James, Secretary Windom, Secre- tary Hunt, and others of the party who were to ac- company the President on his trip, were soon at his side, and messengers were sent in all direc- tions. A physician was soon on the spot ; the wounded man was tenderly placed upon a mattress, and carried without delay to the White House. Yet, before he was taken from the station, he suddenly aroused from his half-unconscious state, and turning to one of his friends he said, with his old, self-forgetting thoughtfulness, — M Rockwell, I want you to send a message to my wife. Tell her I am seriously hurt ; how seriously I cannot yet say. I am myself, and hope she will come to me soon. I send my love to her." 218 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XXIX. At the White House. — The Anxious Throngs. — Examination of the Wounds. — The President's ■ Questions. — His Willingness to Die. — Waiting for his Wife. — Sudden Relapse. — A Glimmer of Hope. — A Sunday of Doubt. — Independence Day. — Remarks of George William Curtis. The members of the Cabinet and a number of the President's personal friends were at the White House, when the ambulance containing the wounded man drove slowly up the avenue. When he saw them on the porch, he raised his right hand, and with one of his old, bright smiles, gave the military salute. But for the extreme pallor of his face, no one would have guessed the intense pain he was suffering, as he was borne up- stairs to his own room in the southeast corner. An excited crowd had already gathered about the White House, but troops had been ordered from the Washington Arsenal, and armed sentinels kept a vigilant guard about the executive Mansion. When Dr. Bliss and the other physicians in attendance examined the wounds, they found the first shot had passed through the arm just below the shoulder, without breaking any JAMES A. GARFIELD. 219 bones. The other ball had entered the back just over the hips, but what direction it had taken, or where it had lodged, could not be determined with any degree of certainty. The physicians held a short consultation, and agreed to search for the ball as soon as the President's condition would permit. The wounded man first complained of pain in his feet and legs, and for a long time the " tiger clawing," as he called it, seemed harder to bear than anything else. It is easy to understand now, how seriously the spinal cord and the whole nerv- ous system must have been affected by that first fearful fracture of the vertebrae. As the shock began to pass off, the President "\ turned to Secretary Blaine, who was sitting beside him, and said, — "What motive do you think that man could have had in trying to assassinate me ? " "Indeed, I cannot tell. He says he had no motive." "Perhaps," said Garfield, with a smile, "he thought it would be a glorious thing to be a pirate king." Turning to Dr. Bliss, he said, — "I want to know my true condition. Do not conceal anything from me ; remember, I am not afraid to die." The President's condition was extremely critical 220 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF at that time, as there were indications of internal hemorrhage, and the doctor frankly told him that he feared he could live but a few hours. " God's will be done," he replied ; "lam ready to go if my time has come." As the little group stood in silence about his bed, they recalled his words to Colonel Knox only a few days before, when warned of the danger that might be lurking in hidden corners. " I must come and go as usual," he said ; rt I cannot surround myself with a body-guard. If the good of this country, the interests of pure gov- ernment and of the people against one-man power, demand the sacrifice of my life, I think I am ready.'''' The arrival of Mrs. Garfield from Long Branch was anxiously awaited all through that long, weary afternoon. An accident to the engine delayed the train upon which she had started, and it was even- ing before she reached the White House. The President's quick ears heard the carriage- wheels as they rolled over the gravel driveway, and with a bright smile, he exclaimed, — v That's my wife ! God bless the little woman ! " Then the strong-will power that had kept him up to this moment, seemed suddenly to give way. His attendants thought he was dying, and for hours his life hung upon the merest thread. Slowly, but surely, the tide began to turn. At JAMES A. GARFIELD. 221 midnight be was still conscious — the doctors thought there . was " one chance " that he might recover — the President had bravely taken that one chance ; and with lightning speed the good news was telegraphed all over the country. Sunday mornN^ the President was so much better that he w2 .^ to know what had been said about the assassinacl \ — and what was the general feeling throughout the country. "The country," replied Colonel liockwell, "is full of sympathy for you. We will save all the papers so that you can see them when you get well ; but you must not talk now." The President smiled, and in the broken slum- ber that followed he murmured to himself, — , "The great heart of the people will not let the old soldier die ! " i The next night was 'one of fearful suspense, and the dawn of Independence Day was ushered in with mingled feelings of hope and fear. A few days later, George William Curtis wrote as follows : — "No Fourth of July in our history was ever so mournful as that which has just passed. In 1826 John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on Inde- pendence Day. But the singular and beautiful coincidence was not known for some time, and then it was felt to be a fitting and memorable end of the life of venerable patriots long withdrawn 222 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICE? OF from public affairs. Nearly forty years later, 1863, there was intense and universal anxiety when the great day dawned. Mr. Greeley, in his history, calls the ten days preceding the Fourth of July in that year the very darkest days the repub- lic ever saw. But that was duv' lg the angry fury of civil war, when passions a:o<. "emotions of every kind were inflamed to the 1 utmost. There was fiery party rancor in the feeling of that time, and the whole year was full of similar excitement. "But the emotion and the spectacle of this year are without parallel. In every household there was a hushed and tender silence, as if one dearly loved lay dying. In every great city and retired village the public festivities were stayed, and the assembly of joy and pride and congratulation was solemnized into a reverent congregation of heads bowed in prayer. In foreign countries American gayety was suspended. In the British Parliament, Whig and Tory and Radical listened to catch from the lips of the Prime Minister the latest tidings from one sufferer. From the French republic, from the old empire of Japan, and the new king- dom of Bulgaria, from Parnell, the Irish agitator, and from the Lord Mayor of Dublin, came mes- sages of sympathy and sorrow. Sovereigns and princes, the people and the nobles, joined in earnest hope for the life of the Republican Presi- dent. The press of all Christendom told the JAMES A. GARFIELD. 223 mournful story, and moralized as it told. In this country the popular grief was absolutely unani- mous. One tender, overpowering thought called a truce even to party contention. Old and young, men and women of all nationalities and of all preferences, their differences forgotten, waited all day for news, watched the flags and every sign that might be significant, and lay down, praying, to sleep, thanking God that as yet the worst had not come. " It was a marvellous tribute. In Europe, it was respect for a powerful State ; in America, it was affection for a simple and manly character. It is plain that the tale of General Garfield's hardy and heroic life, the sure and steady rise of this poor American boy, taking every degree of honor in the great university of experience, equal to every occasion, to peace and war, to good fortune and ill fortune, had profoundly touched the heart of his countrymen. A year ago, every word and incident of that life was told by party passion — on one side eulogized and extolled; on the other, distorted and vilified. Out of the fiery ordeal he emerged with a general kindly regard and high expectation. Mild and conciliatory in character, of long and various political experience, a natural statesman with an able mind amply stored and especially trained for public duty, simply dignified in manner, a powerful man, singularly blameless, / 224 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF he entered upon the presidency with every happy augury. The country was at peace within and without, and hummed with universal prosperity. The first measures of his administration were both wise and fortunate, and the only trouble sprang from a source which is rapidly becoming the fatal bane of the country — the patronage of office. This breeds faction and makes faction fanatical and furious. If indignation with fancied slights and supposed breaches of faith regarding patronage, could so overmaster a conspicuous and experienced public man like Mr. Conkling as to drive him suddenly to resign the highest political trust which his State could bestow, to imperil his public career, to astound his friends, and to abandon the control of the Senate to his political opponents, it is not surprising that fancied neglect of political merit and service should bewilder the light brain of an unbalanced and obscure camp-follower like Guiteau, until, brooding with diseased mind upon his 'wrongs,' he should resolve to do 'justice' upon the supposed wrong-doer. " So, in the most peaceful and prosperous mo- ment that this conntry has known for a half-cen- tury, the shot of the assassin is tired at a man absolutely without personal enemies, and a Presi- dent whom even his political opponents respect. Then to the impression of brave and generous and sagacious manhood, already produced by his career, JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 225 was added his sweet and tranquil bearing under the murderous blow. The unselfish thought of others, the cheerful steadiness and even gayety of temper, the lofty and manly resignation, with en- tire freedom from ostentation of piety, the strong love of the strong man for those dearest to him, and the noble response of his wife's calm and per- fect womanhood to this supreme and courageous manhood, tilled the hearts of his countrymen with sympathy and love and sorrow, and whether he lived or died, his place in the affection of Ameri- cans was as secure as Lincoln's. " Such feeling of millions of hearts for one man is profoundly touching. It gives him a great dis- tinction among all mankind. But it is also a bene- diction for a people to be lifted by such an emotion. It is impossible that party passion should not be somewhat subdued by it, and that a wholesome sense of shame should not chasten factions and disputes. If such are the men with whom bitter quarrels are waged, and upon whom unstinted contumely and contempt are poured out, shall we not all, upon every side, pause and reflect that to blow mere party fires to fury, and to trample per- sonal character in the mire of angry political dis- pute, is to disgrace ourselves and the cause that we would serve, and the country whose good name depends upon us? That is the reflection which this last solemn Fourth of July undoubtedly 226 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF suo-o-ested. It recalled the country to emotions higher than those of the shop and the caucus. It is character that makes a country. It is manhood like that of Garfield and Lincoln which made the past of America, and which makes its future possible. Commercial prosperity and politics and all national interests rest at last upon the honesty and courage and intelligence of the people, not upon mines and material resources, nor upon great railroads or tariffs or free trade." JAMES A. GARFIELD. 227 CHAPTEE XXX. The Assassin. — What were his Motives. — His own Confessions. — Statement of District- Attorney Corkhill. — Sketch of Guiteau's Early Life. Together with the overwhelming sense of grief and consternation that had spread throughout the country, was the eager desire to know Avhat motives had actuated the assassin in his terrible deed. When questioned by the detective who took him to jail, Guiteau declared, "I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts ; I did it to save the Republican party." " Is there anybody else with you in this matter ? " " Not a living soul," he replied. "I have con- templated the thing for the last six weeks and would have shot the President when he went away with Mrs. Garfield, but I looked at her, and she looked so sick, I changed my mind." After a careful investigation of the facts, Dis- trict-Attorney Corkhill published the following statement : — " The interest felt by the public in the details of the assassination, and the many stories published, 228 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF justify me in stating that the following is a correct ■ and accurate statement concerning the points to which reference is made : The assassin, Charles Guiteau, came to Washington city on Sunday evening, March 6th, 1881, and stopped at the Ebbitt House, remaining only one day. He then secured a room in another part of the city, and had boarded and roomed at various places, the full details of which I have. On Wednesday, May 18th, 1881, the assassin determined to mur- der the President. He had neither money nor pistol at the time. About the last of May he went into O'Meara's store, corner of Fifteenth and F Streets, this city, and examined some pistols, asking for the largest calibre. He was shown two similar in calibre, and only different in the price. On Wednesday, June 8th, he purchased a pistol, for which Tie paid $10, he having, in the mean time, borrowed $15 of a gentleman in this city, on the plea that he wanted to pay his board bill. On the same evening, about seven o'clock, he took the pis- tol and went to the foot of Seventeenth Street, and practised firing at a board, firing ten shots. He then returned to his boarding-place and wiped the pistol dry, and wrapped it in his coat, and waited his opportunity. On Sunday morning, June loth, he was sitting in Lafayette Park, and saw the President leave for the Christian Church on Ver- mont Avenue, and he at once returned to his JAMES A. GARFIELD. 229 room, obtained his pistol, put it in his pocket, and followed the President to church. He entered the church, but found he could not kill him there without danger of killing some one else. He noticed that the President sat near a window. After church he made an examination of the win- dow, and found he could reach it without any trouble, and that from this point he could shoot the President through the head without killing any one else. The following Wednesday he went to the church, examined the location and the window, and became satisfied he could accomplish his pur- pose. He determined to make the attempt at the church the following Sunday. Learning from the papers that the President would leave the city on Saturday, the 18th of June, with Mrs. Garfield, for Long Branch, he therefore decided to meet him at the depot. He left his boarding-place about 5 o'clock Saturday morning, June 18th, and went down to the river at the foot of Seventeenth Street, and fired five shots to practise his aim, and be certain his pistol was in good order. He then went to the depot, and was in the ladies' waiting- room of the depot, with his pistol ready, when the presidential party entered. He says Mrs. Garfield looked so weak and frail that he had not the heart to shoot the President in her presence, and, as he knew he would have another opportunity, he left the depot. He had previously engaged a carriage 230 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF to take him to the jail. On Wednesday evening, the President and his son, and, I think, United States Marshal Henry, went out for a ride. The assassin took his pistol and followed them, and watched them for some time, in hopes the carriage would stop, but no opportunity was given. On Friday evening, July 1, he was sitting on the seat in the park opposite the White House, when he saw the President come out alone. He fol- lowed him down the avenue to Fifteenth Street, and then kept on the opposite side of the street upon Fifteenth, until the President entered the residence of Secretary Blaine. He waited at the corner of Fifteenth and H Streets for some time, and then, as he was afraid he would attract atten- tion, he went into the alley in the rear of Mr. Morton's residence, examined his pistol, and waited. The President and Secretary Blaine came out to- gether, and he followed over to the gate of the White House, but could get no opportunity to use his weapon. On the morning of Saturday, July 2d, he breakfasted at the Riggs House about 7 o'clock. He then walked up into the park, and sat there for an hour. He then took a horse-car and rode to Sixth Street, got out and went into the depot and loitered around there ; had his shoes blacked ; engaged a hackman for two dollars to take him to the jail ; went into a private room and took his pistol out of his pocket, unwrapped the paper JAMES A. GARFIELD. 231 from around it, which he had put there to prevent the dampening of the powder ; examined his pis- tol ; carefully tried the trigger, and then returned and took a seat in the ladies' waiting-room, and, as soon as the President entered, advanced behind him and fired two shots. "These facts, I think, can be relied upon as ac- curate, and I give them to the public to contradict certain false rumors in connection with the most atrocious of atrocious crimes." Can such a deliberate preparation as this be deemed an act of insanity ? A gentleman who knew Guiteau as a boy, says that he is of French descent, and that his father, J. W. Guiteau, was " an old resident and respected citizen of Freeport, 111. He married a very beau- tiful won>an, and with her and the younger chil- dren, he joined the Oneida Community. He after- wards returned to Freeport, where he served as cashier of the Second National Bank until his death. At one time he became deranged on the subject of 1 Perfection,' and lectured extensively through the North and West on that subject. There were three children. An elder brother, Wilkes Guiteau, for a long time practised law at Davenport, Iowa. A younger sister, Flora, was a very promising girl. When the family left Oneida Community, Charles, then fifteen or sixteen years old, was left behind. He afterwards went to Chicago, where he 232 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF studied law, being cared for and supplied with money by his father. After completing his studies, he went to Europe, where he travelled several years, imbibing Socialistic and other eccentric doc- trines. A few years ago he returned to this coun- try, and lectured on the second advent of Christ. He published a pamphlet on the subject, in which the egotism of the man was plainly shown. From what I knew of the boy, his education in the Oneida Community, and his utterances on religion, I was not at all surprised at his committing the act. I understand from people employed at the White House that Guiteau had forced himself upon the President several times. He was an applicant for the consulship at Marseilles ; and one day obtained access to the President, and acted so rudely that the President had him removed. I have no doubt that, feeling oifencled by this act, he determined on the course which culminated in the terrible tragedy of July the second." JAMES A. GARFIELD. 233 CHAPTER XXXI. Night of the Fourth. — Extreme Solicitude at the "White House. — Description of an Eye-witness. — Attorney McVeagh's Remark. — Sudden Change for the Better. — Steady Improvement. — The Medical Attendance. The night of the Fourth was a time of extreme solicitude at the White House. Said one who was present : — " I sat in the great East Room with the Attor- ney-General, — "'Ah,' he exclaimed, 'our Garfield was never a better President than he was at the moment when Guiteau's bullet struck him down. He never saw more clearly, and he never had a firmer or better purpose. He was going to be all that the best thought of the country ever expected of him. He was going to be a great President.' "The last time I had been in this East Room was at Mr. Hayes' last diplomatic reception, when thousands of elegantly dressed people thronged it, and music and lights made it, for that evening at least, the handsomest room in the country. There were no lights now. The great spaces were gloomy with what seemed to be the gloom of 234 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF coming death. Through the open windows on the south side the summer air stole lazily, and the shadows of the draperies seemed to add to the dark- ness. There was no music now — only the sound of whispered conversation as people went up or down the stairs. The result of the early evening consultation was unfavorable. Tympanites had again appeared, and apparently in a more threaten- ing form than before. Grave men shook their heads. Even the brave Mrs. Garfield lost somewhat of the splendid courage that had sustained her throughout her trying ordeal. For the first time after his recovery from the shock of the bullet, the President seemed to lose hope himself. fr Suddenly there was a change for the better. Toward midnight, the troubled slumbers of the President became peaceful, and he soon sank into the best sleep he had enjoyed since the shooting on Saturday morning. His pulse and temperature became better ; there were signs of an improved vitality ; the breathing was easier ; the pains ceased ; there was no longer any appearance of dangerous inflammation or of peritonitis. Hope began to dawn where despondency had been ; the faces that had been full of gloom began to look hopeful ; there was yet some encouragement. Recover}- flung out her signals in the steady breath- ings and the peaceful slumber of the President. The improvement continued, and again it could be JAMES A. GARFIELD. 235 said that there was hope of final recovery. It seemed as though the strong will and constitution of the man had made; one more effort for life." The cheering bulletins on the following morning kindled fresh hope in the hearts of the people. The general feeling- was expressed that the worst was over, and the nation began to take courage. By the ninth of July the President was so much better, that his children were allowed to come into the room. On the 13th, it was reported that his appetite was improving, that he had asked for a steak, and sandwiches of bread and scraped raw beef had been given him. This increase in the variety of his food seemed to give him additional strength, and the condition of the wound was so favorable that it was thought the ball had become encysted. The first physician who reached the President when he lay wounded at the depot, was Dr. Smith Townshend, Health Officer of the District of Co- lumbia. As soon as he examined the wound, he pronounced it necessarily fatal. Immediately after the shooting, the Secretary of War, according to the President's wishes, had summoned Dr. Bliss, who with other physicians reached the depot soon after Dr. Townshend. " On the following Sunday morning," says Dr. Bliss, "when the President had fully reacted, had had several hours of rest, was cheerful and compe- 236 LIFE AND TUBLIC SERVICES OF tent to attend to any ordinary business, I presented the matter of his professional attendance to him, Mrs. Garfield being present. I then explained to him fully, the valuable professional assistance the large number of medical gentlemen had rendered up to that time, representing, as they did, the best medical talent in the city. His reply was, — ff f Of course, doctor, it will not do to continue the large number of medical gentlemen in attend- ance ; such a number of surgeons would be cumbersome and unwieldy.' "I said then : 'Mr. President, it is your duty to select your medical attendants now.' "He replied: f I desire you to take charge of my case. I know of your experience and skill, and have full confidence in your judgment, and wish you to thank the doctors individually for their kind attendance.' I thanked him, and replied that it would be necessary to select three or four medical assistants as counsel in the case. He replied, — " f I shall leave that entirely with you; you know what talent you require, and your judgment is best upon that point.' I then selected in order the gentlemen who were immediately associated in the case, Surgeon-General J. K. Barnes, of the army ; and Doctors J. J. Woodward and' Robert Iieyburn, slating in each instance the reason for so doing. He said that was eminently satisfactory JAMES A. GARFIELD. 237 to him. I then turned to Mrs. Garfield and said, — " ! If you desire to add one or more to the num- ber selected, I shall be happy to unite them to our counsel.' Her reply was, — 'I would not add one to the number you have selected, and I want to say to you, doctor, that you shall not be embar- rassed in any way in your future treatment of this case.' Neither the President nor Mrs. Garfield, nor any member of the household from that time forward, suggested the name of any other physi- cian except the eminent counsel called from Philadelphia and New York, Doctors Agnew and Hamilton." The last-mentioned physicians arrived on Monday morning, and in the consultation that followed they expressed their hearty approval of the treatment adopted. While so much uncer- tainty remained as to the exact location of the ball, it was folly to risk the President's life in an attempt to remove it. 238 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XXXII. A relapse. — Cooling Apparatus at the White House. — The President writes a Letter to his Mother. — Evidences of Blood-Poisoning. — Symptoms of Malaria. — Removal to Long Branch. — Preparation for the Journey. — Incidents by the way. On the morning of the twenty-third of July there came a relapse. While the physicians were examining and dressing his wounds, the President experienced a slight rigor, followed by an increase of febrile symptoms. This was evidently owing to an interruption of the flow of pus, and, on the twenty-fourth, an operation was performed upon the cavity, by which the patient was relieved. The intense heat of those July days was very debilitating, and a variety of ingenious plans were tried to lower the temperature in the sufferer's room. The most successful experiment was that of Mr. Dorsay's, which was based on the system used in cooling the air in mines. It required con- siderable machinery, but by its means the tempera- ture of the room was reduced to seventy-five degrees. The system is as follows : A stationary JAMES A. GARFIELD. 239 engine is first employed to compress the air which, when crowded into less space, gives out a large amount of heat. This is carried away by running water, and as soon as the air is again set free, it becomes as cool by expansion as it had before been heated by compression. On the 27th of July, a piece of the fractured rib was removed ; the President was again able to take nourishing food, the fever subsided, and all the bulletins began to assume a cheerful tone. And so the long, long days passed by, with fre- quent alternations of hope and fear. On the 11th of August the President asked for pen and paper that he might write a letter. " Through all those weary weeks of pain, With death's dark angel nigh, But once to grasp the accustomed pen The trembling fingers try. " Those brave words from the strong man bowed, Courageously death meeting, To whom amid the courtly crowd Of great ones sending greeting ? " The mother-bosom beat afar — To her that tender letter ; To her — through life his guiding star — He writes he's ' getting better.' " By the middle of August it was evident that the President was suffering from pyaemia, or blood- poisoning. The swollen parotid gland occasioned 240 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF fresh solicitude, and the stomach refused to per- form its ordinary functions. Nourishing ene- meta were then administered with excellent results, and the lancing of the parotid-swelling afforded temporary relief. The sufferer longed for a change of air ; the malarial atmosphere surrounding the TThite House was a constant drawback to his recovery, and early in September the physicians decided to remove him to Long Branch. The sixth day of the month was appointed for the removal, and every possible precaution was taken to make the journey as easy as possible. The bed, and the train in general, were inspected the day before by Surgeon-General Barnes and Drs. Bliss and Agnew. The train was run out to Benning's Bridge, five miles from Washington, and the surgeons thor- oughly tested the couch. They said that it was perfect, and that no better arrangement could have been made for the President's journey. In the test of speed the doctors were surprised to find that there was notably less motion and jar at forty miles than at thirty. The express wagon which was to convey the President to the depot, was in waiting at the front entrance to the Executive Mansion all night. It was a new vehicle, and the springs being well oiled, could not impart much jarring to the bed on which the President would lie. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 241 When the track was being laid through Elberon, on which he was to be taken to the Francklyn cot- tage as a last hope, the surveyor apologized to a lady whose garden it laid waste. " Your flowers have required the labor of many summers, madam, and we shall ruin them," he said. ,r O sir!" she cried, "I am willing you should ruin my house — all I have, if it would help to save him ! " There was to be a double departure from the White House. The President's sons, Harry and James, were to start for Williams College, and shortly before ten o'clock on the evening of the fifth, they bade their father good-by, and took leave of their mother who was hopeful and cour- ageous, believing the journey to Long Branch would save her husband's life. Their countenances were grave, and the passers-by, as they respect- fully made way for them, could not but feel that the two young men were just about to start upon a career as, possibly, their distinguished father was about to end one. Private Secretary Brown gives the following account of the trip to Long Branch : " Upon leav- ing the Executive Mansion the President appeared to enjoy the scenery and looked around inquiringly. All the way from the White House to the depot the President was very anxious to observe every- 242 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF thing, and in this he was not prevented. He experienced little or no disturbance in being transferred from the vehicle to the ear, and his pulse, although slightly accelerated, reaching about 115, fell to about 106 before the train started, and shortly afterward fell to 104 and again to 102. The first stop of the train was made at Patapsco, at which point the parotid gland was dressed. At half-past nine o'clock the President's pulse was 108 and of good character. At that hour three ounces of beef extract were administered. Between Philadelphia and Monmouth Junction, the special train made several miles at the rate of seventy miles per hour. Pay View, this side of Balti- more, was reached at 8.05, and a brief stop was made to enable the surgeons to make the morning dressing of the wound. The wound was found to have suffered no derangement bv the travel. The dressing was soon accomplished, and the train, after leaving Bay View, was run at the rate of about fifty miles per hour. The track in this locality is very straight, and in excellent condition, and though the speed was at times greater than fifty miles per hour, the vibration of the Presi- dent's bed, it is said, was no more than had the train been moving twenty-live miles per hour. The attending surgeons feel very much gratified with the manner in which the removal was con- ducted, and are generally of the opinion that, with JAMES A. GARFIELD. 243 the exception of being slightly fatigued, the President bore the journey exceedingly well. "This is a great journey, Crete," he said to his wife, as the train rushed on at lightning speed. "Let her go! The faster the better," he added, 'Alien the doctors expressed their fears that the rapid motion of the engine would tire him. " Don't put down the curtain ! I want to .^cc the people ! Let them look in ! " he exclaimed, as he caught a glimpse of the eager, anxious crowds at the different stations. One of the Boston dailies wrote as follows — "In the preparations for the trip the great popu- lar solicitude for the well-being • of the President infected even soulless railroad corporations, as they are sometimes called, so that the management of the lines over which he had to pass could not do too much to reduce the fatigue or other injurious effect of the jaunt. It is a credit to our common humanity, that everybody in any way conne with this transfer of the President, from the me- chanic to the railroad director, required no spur hut his own feelings to exert himself to the utmost for the safety and comfort of him who had suf- fered so terribly, and evinced such grand qualities under the most adverse circumstances. No rail- road train was ever the burden of so much anx- ious, prayerful solicitation as that conveying the President to his destination. To change and apply 244 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF one of General Garfield's own expressions, the great heart of the nation must have nobly sus- tained the presidential patient as he sped on his way to a locality where, it is hoped, the recuper- ating processes of nature will place him on the high road to convalescence. " Our despatches note the arrival of the presiden- tial train at different points, and the manner in which the patient bore the ride. As may well be imagined, the people who gathered in Washington to see him on board the train could not help re- marking his generally emaciated appearance, but he was sufficiently strong to turn upon his side and wave his adieus to the crowd. The fortitude and will of the President are as surprising as the many unusual episodes of his life. " JAMES A. GARFIELD. 245 CHAPTER. XXXIII. Description of the Francklyn Cottage. — The Arrival at Long Branch — The President is Drawn up to the Open Window. — Enjoys the Sea View and the Sea Breezes. —The Surgical Force Reduced. — Incident on the Day of Prayer. "The Francklyn cottage at Long Branch, to which the President was taken, is about fifty yards southeast of the hotel . Its front is within one hun- dred feet of the edge of the bluff, from which a pebble can be dropped into the surf. The build- ing contains twenty rooms. It is a long, rambling structure, two and one-half stories high, having seven gables and being in fashion a mixture of the Queen Anne and Swiss chalet style. The lower stories are painted a sienna color, and gables and roof a dark slate. " A perfectly smooth lawn of well-kept turf sur- rounds it upon every side. Its interior apartments are perfect ; the kitchen is separated from the main part of the building by a covered driveway, and none of the culinary odors can reach the dwelling portion. Two spacious parlors and an immense 246 LIFE AND 1 : ERVICES OF dining-hall faces the ocean, and a broad double win- dow opens upon a large uncovered veranda about six feet above the ground, surrounded by a high railing. " The west or rear part of the dining-hail opens upon the main hall, a roomy thoroughfare, from which by the landings a broad flight of stairs ascend to the second floor. The stairs are of ample width, and allowed the President's bed to be carried up them without difficulty. The chamber occupied by the President is in the northeast corner of the building. It is about twenty feet square. There is one broad window facing the ocean on the east, and the windows facing the ocean on the south. By leaving the door of the chamber open a breeze can be obtained from every point of the compass except the north. The windows are protected from the sun by awnings and blinds." The appointments of the chamber are perfect in every respect, being left just as Mr. Franck- lyn's family occupied it. About one hundred yards south of the Francklyn cottage is the cot- tage belonging to the hotel assigned to Mrs. Gar- field and her family. It was about a quarter past one when the Presi- dent's train was observed slowly making its way over the new track at Long Branch. There was no whistling, no bell-ringing, no noisy puffing of JAMES A. GARFIELD. 247 the engine, no .shouts nor cheers. A powerful locomotive slowly, and almost silently, pushed be- fore it the cars of the train, the centre one being the President's. The train stopped opposite the Elberon, and immediately many flocked about it to learn the particulars of the journey. All were told that the trip had been successful, and the President was quite as well as when he started. The delay was but for a moment. The forward car was un- coupled from the train and a large force of men, held in readiness, gently pushed it around the quarter circle and past the entrance to the cottage. It was occupied by a few ladies and gentlemen of the President's household, who at once left it and were escorted into the house. Another gang of men pushed on the President's car close after it. It was stopped at the proper place, and immediately a soldier mounted by lad- der to the roof and the sailcloth awning was raised. It did not, however, completely conceal the passage on the side where the people were gathered. The planks were put in position, and in a moment two or more soldiers were seen to pass bearing a low bedstead. Many thought that the President was resting on it, but this was a mistake. Three or four minutes later a mattrass on which 248 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF was plainly discernible under snowy coverings the form of a human body, was steadily and gently, almost solemnly, borne from the car to the house, while two or three hundred spectators, too far away and on too low a level to catch sight of the face, held their breath in sympathy, their eyes meantime moist with tears they cared not to con- ceal, and many doubtless praying with deep earn- estness that this heroic effort to save a precious life would avail. There was not a cheer, not an audible sound uttered by any one. Few scenes could be more impressive in their silence and their sympathy. " Please move me up where I can see the water," said the President, soon after being placed in bed. His couch was immediately pushed up to the wide open window ; he was slightly raised upon it, and lay there for some minutes looking out upon the sea. Although he was greatly fatigued by the journey and his pulse was high, he slept better that niffht than he had done for weeks. " Don't you think I look better ! " he said next morning to one of the attendants ; ft I feel better," he added. " This is good air." Previous to leaving Washington, after it had been determined to remove the President to Long Branch, it appears the President asked his wife if all the attending surgeons were going along. Mrs. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 249 Garfield replied that she presumed they were. The President then expressed an opinion, the effect of which was that he did not see why that was necessary. Further discussion on the subject brought out the President's wishes, and the withdrawal of Drs. Reyburn, Barnes, and Wood- ward was the result. Dr. Bliss stated that there was no cause for the withdrawal or retirement of the surgeons beyond the fact that it was the desire or whim of a very sick man, and, as the President had entertained the idea that a fewer number of physicians could manage his case as well as the number heretofore engaged upon it, it was desired by Mrs. Garfield that his wishes be complied with. The doctor stated further that the best of feeling prevailed among the entire corps of sur- geons, and that the retirement of Messrs. Reyburn, Barnes and Woodward would not in any manner affect the intimacy which had grown up between them since the President w r as shot. After the wish of the President was made known to one of the attending surgeons in Washington by Mrs. Garfield, a consultation on the subject took place, resulting in its reference to Dr. Agnew, with a view to obtaining his opinion as to the best mode of procedure. Dr. Agnew recommended that the President be requested to name the sur- geons he was desirous of retaining in charge of 250 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF his case, which was done. Dr. Bliss, it appears, objected to assuming the entire responsibility of removing the President to Long Branch, and insisted that the entire number of surgeons should accompany the patient thither. A compromise was then effected, which was that all the surgeons should come to Long Branch with the President^ but upon arrival, or as soon thereafter as possible, the three mentioned should retire. The following day, September 8th, as the Presi- dent sat in his reclining chair by the open window he heard the stroke of bells from the little church across the way. "Crete," he said to his wife, "what are they ringing that bell for ? " "Why," said Mrs. Garfield, who had been wait- ing for the surprise, "the people are all going there to pray for you to get well ; and I am going to pray too, James," she added, "that it may be soon, for I know already that the other prayer has been heard." From where he lay, Garfield could see the carriages draw up and group after group go in. He could even hear the subdued refrain of "Jesus, lover of my soul," as it was borne by on its heav- enward way. Thrilled with emotion, a tear trickled down the President's face. After a while, a sweet woman's JAMES A . GARFIELD. 251 voice arose, singing from one of Sir Michael Costa's noblest oratorios. "Turn thou unto me and have mercy upon me," sano- the voice, "for I am desolate ; I am desolate and afflicted; the troubles of my heart tire en- larged. Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses, out of my distresses, my God." 252 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XXXIV. Hopeful Symptoms. — Official Bulletin. — Telegram to Minister Lowell. — Incidents at Long Branch. — Sudden Change for the Worse. — Touching Scene with his Daughter. — Another Gleam of Hope. — Death ends the Brave Heroic Struggle. — The Closing Scene. On the evening of September 12th, the follow- ing official bulletin was published : — Long Branch, Sept. 12 — 6 P. M. The President has experienced since the issue of the morn ing bulletin further amelioration of symptoms. He has been able to take an ample amount of food without discomfort, and has had several refreshing naps. At the noon exami- nation the temperature was 99.2, pulse 106, respiration 20. At 5.30 P. M. the temperature was 98.6, pulse 100, respira- tion 18. D. W. Bliss. D. Hayes Agnew. The Attorney-General telegraphed : — To Lowell, Minister, London — 10 P. M. — In the absence of Mr. Blaine the attending physicians have requested me to inform you of the President's condition. He has during the day eaten sufficient food with relish, and has enjoyed at in- tervals refreshing sleep. His wound and the incisions made by the surgeons all look better, the parotid gland has ceased JAMES A. GARFIELD. 253 suppuration, and maj' be considered as substantially well. He has exhibited more than his usual cheerfulness of spirits. his temperature and respiration are now normal, and his pulse is less frequent and firmer than at the same hour last evening. Notwithstanding these favorable symptoms, the condition of the lower part of the right lung will continue to be a source of anxiety for some days to come. MacVeagii. The day before the President had been raised on his air pillows, so that he lay looking out on the lawn beneath his window, and beyond that to the sea. A soldier on duty as a guard was patrolling his beat at the edge of the bluff. The soldier chanced to look toward the window of the sick chamber, and the suffering President feebly raised his hand to give the old soldier a salute. The Pres- ident of the United States never received a more heartfelt salute than the old soldier gave in return for this gracious salutation, and about the camp all day the soldier, with tears in his eyes, told how the great sufferer had honored him. But the incident was of more than sentimental value, in that it showed that the President took an interest in his surroundings, and had vitality enough to tender a salute. There were hours at Elberon, when the listless eyes would have looked out upon the sea and not have recognized the soldier. When Secretary Hunt called on the President, he informed him that there was no business in his department requiring his (the President's) atten- 254 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF tion. It had been the custom of the President to refer to the secretary in various nautical terms, and after shaking the hand of the President the secretary, pointing toward the ocean, remarked, " Well, Mr. President, I see you have had to re- sort to my domain." " Yes," said the President, "there it is, and isn't it beautiful?" Everything seemed to indicate .certain, though it might be slow, recovery. The people read the bulletins, and went about their work with renewed hope and courage. On the 17th of September, however, Dr. Hamilton stated that " the conditions, altogether, were more hazardous than at any time since the patient had been at Long Branch." Severe rigors had been followed by increased pulse, and there was constant danger of his sink- ing into a comatose state. On the morning of the 19th Dr. Agnew re- marked, — " The vitality of our patient is something more remarkable than I have ever met with in all my practice." The President awoke from a light slumber, and said' to Dr. Bliss, — " Doctor, I feel very comfortable, but I also feel dreadfully weak. I wish you would give me the hand-glass and let me look at myself." General Swaim said: "Oh, no, don't do that, general. See if you cannot get some sleep." In reclining chair, at Long Branch. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 255 " I want to see myself," the President replied. Mrs. Garfield then gave him the hand-glass. He held it in a position which enabled him to see his face. Mrs. Garfield, Dr. Bliss, Dr. Agnew, General Swaim, and Dr. Boynton, stood around the bed, saying not a word, but looking at the President. He studied the reflection of his own features. At length he wearily let the glass fall upon the counterpane, and, with a sigh, said to Mrs. Garfield, — " Crete, I do not see how it is that a man who looks as well as I do should be so dreadfully weak." In a moment or two he asked for his daughter Mollie. They told him that she would see him later in the day. He said, however, that he wanted to see her at once. When the child went into the room she kissed her father, and told him that she was glad to see that he was looking so much better. He said : " You think I do look better, Mollie ? " She said : " I do papa," and then she took a chair and sat near the foot of the bed. A moment or two after, Dr. Boynton noticed that she was swaying in the chair. He stepped up to her, but, before he could reach her, she had Mien over in a faint. They carried her out where she could get the fresh breeze from the ocean, and, after restoratives were applied, she speedily recov- 256 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF ered. The room was close, the windows were closed, and, as Miss Mollie had not been very well, all these causes, combined with anxiety, in- duced the fainting-fit. The President, they thought, had not noticed what had happened to his petted child, for he seemed to have sunk into the stupor which had characterized his condition much of the time. But, when Dr. Boynton came back into the room, he was astonished to hear the President say, — "Poor little Mollie. She fell over like a log. What was the matter ? " They assured the President that the fainting-fit was caused by the closeness of the room, and that she was quite restored. He again sank into a stupor or sleep, which lasted until the noon ex- amination. Hope returned during the afternoon, as there was no recurrence of the rigors, and the evening bulletin was more encouraging than the one issued at noon. There seemed to be eveiy indi- cation that the President would pass a comfortable night. "Dr. Bliss," said the Attorney-General, "at 9.30, went to the cottage to make his final exami- nation before he retired for the night. He found that the pulse, temperature, and respiration were exactly as they were when the evening bulletin was issued. There had been no change of any JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 257 kind. There was every promise of a quiet night. All of the doctors retired at once for the night, as did all of the attendants, except General Swaim and Colonel Rockwell. They remained, and nothing transpired until about 10.20 ; then the President said, r I am suffering great pain. I fear the end is near.' The attendant sent for Dr. Bliss, who had retired to Private Secretary Brown's cottage. Dr. Bliss came very rapidly. When he entered the room he found that the President was in an un- conscious state, and that the action of the heart had almost ceased. Dr. Bliss said at once that the President was dying, and directed the attendants to send for Mrs. Garfield and Drs. Agnew and Hamilton." A Herald postscript had the following from Long Branch : " The death-bed scene of the Pres- ident was a peculiarly sad and impressive one. As soon as the doctors felt that there was no hope, the members of the family assembled. The lights in the sick-room were turned down. Dr. Bliss stood at the head of the bed with his hand on the pul-.e of the patient, and consulted in low whispers with Dr. Agnew. The private secretary stood on the opposite side of the bed, with Mrs. Garfield. Miss Lulu Rockwell and Miss Mollie Garfield came into the room at the time the President lost consciousness. Those about the bed occasionally went into the corners of the room and spoke to 258 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF each other. The solemnity of the occasion fully impressed itself upon them. There was no sound heard except the gasping for breath of the sufferer, whose changing color save indication of the near approach of the end. After he had repeated 'It hurts,' he passed into a state of unconsciousness, breathing heavily at times and then giving a slight indication that the breath of life was still in his body. The only treatment that was given was hypodermic injections of brandy by Dr. Agnew, assisted by Dr. Boynton. Occasionally they spoke with Dr. Bliss in quiet whispers. The President suffered no pain after the time he placed his hand upon his heart. He passed away almost quietly. The line between life and death was marked by no physical exhibition, nor any word. There was absolutely no scene. The intervals between gasp- ings became longer and presently there was no sound. Every one present knew that death had come quickly without pain. "When it became evi- dent that he was dead, Mrs. Rockwell placed her arm around Mrs. Garfield and led her quietly from the rpom. She uttered no word. One by one the spectators left the scene, the doctors only re- maining in the room, and windows were closed. Directly afterward Private Secretary Brown tele- graphed the boys, James and Harry, at Williams College, Mass., and Airs. Eliza Garfield. Those were the first despatches sent after the death." JAMES A. GARFIELD. 259 The following and last " official bulletin " was issued at Elberon : — September Idlli, at half-past eleven, P. M. "The President died at 10.35 P. M. After the bulletin was issued at 5.30 this evening, the President continued in much the same condition as during the afternoon, the pulse varying from 102 to 106, with rather increased force and volume. After taking nourishment he fell into a quiet sleep about thirty-five minutes before his death, and while asleep his pulse rose to 120, and was somewhat more feeble. At ten minutes after ten o'clock he awoke, complaining of severe pain over tl^p region of the heart, and almost imme- diately became unconscious, and ceased to breathe at 10.35. (Signed) D. W. Bliss. Frank H. Hamilton. D. Hayes Agnew. 260 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OP CHAPTER XXXV. The Midnight Bells. — Universal Sorrow. — Queen Victoria's Mes- sages. — Extract from a London Letter. — The Whitby Fisher- men. — The Yorkshire Peasant. — World-wide Demonstrations of Grief. " There passed a sound at midnight through the land, A solemn sound of sorrow and of fear ; A sound that fell on every wakening ear Bearing a message all could understand." The tolling of the bells in every city, town, and village throughout the country announced the sad tidings of the President's death. The whole world stopped to shed a sympathizing tear, and among the first expressions of condolence received by Mrs. Garfield was the following telegram from Queen Victoria : — " Balmoral. " Words cannot express the deep sympathy I feel with you. May God support and comfort you as He alone can. (Signed) The Queen. 1 ' To Minister Lowell the Queen telegraphed as follows : — JAMES A. GARFIELD. 261 " With deep grief I and my children learn the sad but not unexpected news of the fatal termination of the suffer- ings of the President. His loss is a, great misfortune. I have learned with deep sorrow that the President has passed away." Smalley, the correspondent of the New York Tribune writing from London said, — " It was about four o'clock in the morning of Tues- day, by English time, that President Garfield died. An hour later the news was here, and some of the morning papers published it in a few late copies of their morning edition. It was known in the provinces at the same moment, and published in the same way. Before I say anything about the feeling it evoked in high places and with the gen- eral public, I should like to mention what occurred in the town where I was staying ; "Whitby, a fish- ing town and small seaport which is also a water- ing-place on the northeast coast of Yorkshire. At this season Whitby is the rendezvous for herring- fishers, and its little harbor is crowded with boats hailing from ports all the way from Pentland Firth to Penzance ; Penzance itself send- ing a laro-e contingent. The fishermen are a simple folk, leading a hard life, untaught, and as free from any concern on shore in the general affairs of the world as any body of men that could be got together. But when they heard that President Garfield was dead the}' one and all hoisted their 262 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF bits of flag at half-mast, and so kept them during the day. They held no meeting, passed no reso- lutions. I suppose not a man among them could have made a speech or drawn up a formal decla- ration of sorrow. They acted with no concert of any kind. Their way of life makes them all rivals and often enemies. Hartlepool has nothing to say to Lowestoft, Sunderland quarrels with Arbroath, and Whitby itself keeps but ill terms with any of its many guests. But somehow they agreed for this once. The boats that lay in the river above the bridge, next the railway station, were the first to hang out their signal of grief. Those in the port below soon followed. Not long after, without anybody being able to say how the news spread, the fleet at anchor outside the harbor one by one ran up their ensigns, hauled them half down, and there made them fast for the day. "Amid the innumerable demonstrations of sor- row to be seen and heard these last two days all over England, I know of none which more truly indicates the essentially popular character of the regret which the President's death has excited. . . . . ; An English friend who was shooting ten days ago over a Yorkshire moor told me that, as the scattered line of sportsmen were pushing through the heather in silence, the gamekeeper met him some yards away, turned and asked : 'Can you tell me, sir, how President Garfield is?' JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 263 There on that lonely hillside, three thousand miles and more distant from the sufferer, in the early morning, beneath a sun which was not yet shining upon the President, breathing an air he never breathed, this Yorkshire peasant, who had spent his life without so much as hearing the President's name till a few weeks before ; who knew not the letters of which it was formed ; who knew about grouse and guns and dogs and the weather, and nothing else whatever ; whose interest in life never went beyond the stone hut in which he slept and ate, and the stretch of furz-clad upland which lifted itself against the western sky, — he, like the fishermen, had come to think or to feel that, some- how or other, the life or death of that far-away martyr concerned him too. It is easy to say that beneath the shooting-jacket and the jersey beats the same human heart. No doubt it does. But what was it that set it beating in unison with so many millions of others like it with sympathy for the President? Lord Palmerston said he never knew what fame was till he heard of the Tartar mothers on the steppes of Russia in Asia frighten- ing their children into quiet with some queer travesty of his dreaded name. Yorkshire is not so remote as Russian Asia, indeed, but the friendly concern of the gamekeeper Avas surely a truer measure of real fame than the ignorant terror of the Muscovite mother. I know I thought 264 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF when I heard it that the President who lay dying would have valued such a proof of the universal- ity of the interest in him not less than those expressions of it — certainly not less genuine — which came from much higher quarters." Said another writer : — "The American people cannot fail to be deeply impressed by the multitudinous expressions of sympathy which have come from foreign lands. It was to be expected that there would be the usual and formal messages from the various rulers, but it is something of quite a different sort, and something altogether beyond precedent which we are witnessing. From all the governments of Europe, and from those of the Orient as well, and from our nearer neighbors, Canada and Mexico, words of sympathy and condolence have come. But beyond all this, and more precious, are the manifestations of popular feeling in countries other than our own, and especially in Great Britain and Canada. We hear of public and private buildings draped in mourning, of mourning-flags upon English Cathedrals, of the tolling of bells in English and Canadian churches, of English and French journals Avith mourning borders. The Queen sends a warm, womanly message of sym- pathy to the wicloAV ; and the English Court puts on mourning for a week. And all these world- wide demonstrations of grief, sincere, spontaneous JAMES A. GARFIELD. 265 and universal, are called out by the death of this uncrowned republican of our Western world, a man born of the people, schooled in hardship, but strong and noble in all that pertains to true man- hood. Such a spectacle as this, such tributes as these from foreign potentates and peoples whose ideas and methods of government vary so widely from ours, should not pass without being heeded, and the lesson which they convey should be laid to heart. It is true, as one of the leading English journals has well expressed it, that a common sor- row unites the ocean-sundered members of the English race to-day more closely than it has ever been since 1776, and that there is scarcely an Englishman in a thousand who did not read of President Garfield's death, with a regret as real and as deep as if he had been a ruler of their own." 2G6 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XXXVI. The Services at Elberon. — Journey to Washington. — Lying in State. — Queen Victoria's Offering. — Impressive Ceremonies in the Capitol Rotunda. Ox the morning of September twenty-first, the black-cloth casket, containing all that was mortal of President Garfield, was placed in the parlor of the Francklyn Cottage, at Long Branch ; and for one brief hour, a motley throng of city people and country folk were permitted to look upon the wasted form of one they had learned to regard as a personal friend. Brief religious services were read by Rev. C. J. Young of the Dutch Reformed Church at Long Branch, and then Mrs. Garfield and her daughter, followed by the members of the Cabinet, entered the waiting train ; the casket was placed in the funeral car, and slowly, sadly, amidst the solemn tolling of the bells, the heavily draped train left the Elberon station. At Princeton Junction, three hundred students with uncovered heads stood on either side the track, and scattered choice floA\ers JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 267 beside the train for more than a hundred yards. Bells were tolled in all the towns and villages through which the funeral party passed, and a reverent stillness prevaded the waiting throngs at the various stations on the way. At four, P. M., the train reached Washington, and the casket was borne at once to the Capitol. All night long the remains of the martyred President remained exposed to view, and without cessation the stream of visitors passed through the rotunda. At an early hour in the morning the throng at the east front of the Capitol began to in- crease, and at eight o'clock fully five thousand peo- ple were patiently and quietly waiting in two lines. From that hour the crowd constantly increased, and at eleven o'clock there was a dense mass of people in front of the main steps on the east front, extending for two squares up East Capitol Street. People from the outlying country flocked to the city, while every incoming train upon the several railroads was heavily freighted with those who had come to testify their profound sorrow at the na- tion's bereavement. Queen Victoria had telegraphed to the British minister to have a floral tribute prepared and pre- sented in her name. It was placed at the bier of the President. It was very large, and was an exquisite specimen of the florist's art, composed of white roses, smilax and stephanotis. It was 268 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF accompanied by a mourning card bearing the fol- lowing inscription : — " Queen Victoria to the memory of the late President Garfield. An expression of her sorrow and sympathy with Mrs. Garfield and the American nation. " Sept. 22, 1881," By half-past one, P. M., on Friday, the 23d, arrangements for the funeral ceremonies in the ro- tunda were all completed and the chairs and sofas labelled to designate for whom they were reserved. The positions of the floral offerings were changed, and now nothing remained upon the casket save a few branches of palm. At the head of the catafalque stood a broken column of white and purple flowers, surmounted by a white dove. On either side of this were tastefully arranged a crown and a pyramid of roses. At the foot, and resting' against the black drapery, was the wreath which by order of the queen was the day before placed upon the cas- ket. Arranged on each side of this offering from the queen were handsome crosses, while at their base was placed a magnificent floral pillow on which was inscribed in violets "Our Martyr Pres- ident." Next to this was placed "The Gates Ajar," which attracted so much admiration the day before. The Knights of Malta contributed a large Maltese cross, and the Union Veteran corps of which Gen- eral Garfield was a member, a pillow of white flowers bearing in violet letters the inscription, JAMES A. GARFIELD. 269 " U. V. C. , to their comrade." The whole appear- ance of the catafalque was tasteful and elegant. In front of the chairs which were placed on the south side of the casket were arranged sofas for the accommodation of Mrs. Garfield and the family of the late President. Directly opposite and on the north side of the catafalque seats were reserved for the members of the cabinet and distinguished guests. The front row of chairs in the northwest- ern section of the rotunda were placed at the dis- posal of the justices of the Supreme Court, while in the rear of these several rows were selected for the accommodation of senators. The representa- tives occupied seats on the southeastern and south- western sections. Behind these q, row of chairs were reserved for the representatives of the press, and the remainder of the seats in that section were given to the public generally. At exactly quarter to two o'clock the doors of the rotunda were opened. The first society to arrive was the Knights Templars, Beausant Commandery of Baltimore. They entered in full regalia, but did not remain in the hall, simply passing around the catafalque in double file; Four of their num- ber — Sir Knights Stevens, Lawton, Butler and Jennings — bore a floral offering in the shape of an immense Maltese cross, which was reverently placed at the head of the dais. At ten minutes past two the army of the Cumberland filed in by 270 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF the door leading from the senate chamber, and took the scats reserved for them. Immediately after the doors were thrown open to all holders of "tickets. In ten minutes the chairs set apart for the gen- eral public were completely tilled. Soon the members of the diplomatic corps arrived, and were ushered to the seats reserved for them. Services were opened by Rev. Dr. Powers promptly at three o'clock. He ascended the dais and briefly announced the opening hymn, "Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep," which was rendered by a choir of fifty voices. Rev. Dr. Rankin then ascended the raised plat- form at the head of the catafalque, and read in a clear, distinct voice the scriptural selections. Rev. Dr. Isaac Errett then offered prayer. Immediately after the close of the services the floral decorations were all removed (Mrs. Garfield having requested that they be sent to her home at Mentor) except the beautiful wreath, the gift of Queen Victoria, which had been placed upon the head of the coffin when the lid was closed, and which remained there when the coffin was borne to the hearse, and will be upon it till the remains are buried. This touching tribute of Queen Victoria greatly moved Mrs. Garfield, as only a woman can feel a woman's sympathy at the time of her great- est earthly sorrow. JAMES A. GARFIP:LD. 271 The coffin having been placed in the hearse, a single gun was fired from Hanneman's battery, the Second Artillery Band struck up a funeral march, and the procession moved around the south front of the Capitol to the avenue. At least 40,000 people were gathered about the Capitol to witness the start of the procession, while along the line of march to Sixth Street the crowd was even greater than on the 4th of March. Everywhere it was most orderly and quiet ; and as the hearse containing the remains moved along the avenue, from the very door of the Capitol to the entrance of the depot, all heads were uncovered. On reaching the depot the military were drawn up in line upon the opposite side of the street, fating the Sixth Street entrance. The remains were borne from the hearse upon the shoulders of six soldiers of the Second Artillery and placed in the funeral car. The ten officers from the army and navy, selected as the guard of honor, stood with uncovered heads as the remains were taken from the hearse, and then escorted them to the car. The diplomatic corps and others who were not going upon either of the trains did not alight from their carriages. President Arthur entered the depot with Secretary Blaine, and a few min- utes after entered the Secretary's carriage, and with Ex-President Grant was driven up the avenue to his temporary home at the residence of Senator 272 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF Jones of Nevada. To avoid the crowd about the depot, Mrs. Garfield was taken to the corner of Maine Avenue and Sixth Street, and an engine and two cars, including the one intended for her use, were run down the track, and she was taken on board the train without attracting any attention. The funeral train was the same used on the trip from Long Branch, with two additional cars. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 273 CHAPTER XXXVII. Journey to Cleveland. — Lying in State in the Catafalque in the Park. — Immense Concourse. — Funeral Ceremonies. — Favorite Hymn. — At the Cemetery. The sad journey to Cleveland was marked at every station by touching tributes of affection. After lying in state Saturday and Sunday in the catafalque in the park at Cleveland, the remains of President Garfield were solemnly committed to the tomb at Lake View Cemetery with solemn and impressive rites, the occasion fittingly reflecting the great sorrow under which the nation lies. The heat of Sunday and Monday was intense, but until the closing of the park gates in the forenoon previous to the beginning of the funeral service, the stream of people passing through the catafalque, to view the casket enclosing the remains, was con- tinuous, and the number who so paid their last respects must have aggregated at least 150,000. Promptly at half-past ten o'clock the ceremo- nies at the pavilion began. The immediate mem- bers of the family, and near relatives and friends, took seats about the casket, and at each corner was stationed a member of the Cleveland Grays. Dr. J. P. Robinson, president of the ceremonies, 274 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF announced that the exercises would be opened by the singing, by the Cleveland Vocal Society, of the "Funeral Hymn," by Beethoven, where- upon the hymn was sung as follows : — " Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee, Since God is thy ransom, thy guardian, and guide, The Saviour has passed through its portals before thee, And Death has no sting since the sinless hath died." The scripture selections were then read by Eight Rev. Bishop Bedell of the Episcopal Dio- cese of Ohio. Rev. Ross C. Houghton, pastor of the First Methodist-Episcopal Church, then offered prayer. After which the Vocal Society sang as follows : — " To thee, O Lord I yield my spirit, Who breaks in love this mortal chain ; My life I but from thee inherit, And death becomes my chiefest gain. In thee I live, in thee I die, Content, for thou art ever nigh." Rev. Isaac Errett of Cincinnati then delivered an eloquent address, taking for his text the follow- ing : "And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, ' Have me away, for I am sore wounded.' His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him m the second chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jeru- salem, and he died and was buried in one of the Missing Pages These missing pages will be inserted at a future date, Missing Pages These missing pages will be inserted at a future date. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 275 sepulchres of his fathers, and all Judah and Jeru- salem mourned for Josiah, and Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentation to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel, and behold they are written in the Lamentations. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good- ness, according to that which was written in the law of the Lord, and his deeds, first and last, be- hold, they are written in the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. For behold the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water. The mighty man, and the man of war, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. The voice said e Cry,' and he said ? What shall I cry?' All flesh is grass, and all the godliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The crass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord boweth upon it. Surely the people is grass ; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever." Dr. Errett was listened to with close and ear- nest attention. He spoke for forty minutes, and when he closed a hush for a moment hung over the vast audience. 276 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF Rev. Jabez Hall then read President Garfield's favorite hymn, — " Ho ! reapers of life's harvest, Why stand with rusted blade Until the night draws round ye, And day begins to fade ? Why stand ye idle waiting For reapers more to come ? The golden morn is passing : Why sit ye idle, dumb ? Thrust in your sharpened sickle, And gather in the grain : The night is fast approaching, And soon will come again, The master calls for reapers ; And shall he call in vain ? Shall sheaves lie there ungathered, And waste upon the plain ? Mount up the heights of wisdom, And crush each error low ; Keep back no words of knowledge That human hearts should know. Be faithful to thy mission, In service of thy Lord, And then a golden chaplet Shall be thy just reward." At 11.45, Rev. Dr. James S. Pomeroy delivered the final prayer, and pronounced the closing bene- diction. / *~ A few minutes after the benediction had been pronounced, the casket was lifted reverently from JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 277 its resting-place, and borne on the shoulders of the United States artillery sergeants who have acted as its special bearers from Long Branch to the funeral car. The funeral procession moved from Monumental Park at 11.55. The military pre- sented a magnificent appearance. The column was headed by that veteran volunteer association, the Boston Fusi leers, who had travelled from Massachusetts in order to pay a last tribute to their deceased comrade by participating in the obsequies. They were followed by two companies of the Seventy-Fourth New York, the Buffalo Cadets and the Buffalo City Guards ; next came the United States barracks band of Columbus, followed by the Governor's Guard, the Toledo Cadets, the District Infantry, the Washington Infantry of Pittsburg, the Gatling Gun and Cleve- land Light Artillery ; then followed all the civic and military organizations, in the order of march already published, excepting that the Columbia Commandery of Knights Templars of Washing- ton marched with the guard of honor and pall- bearers in the division having charge of the funeral car. Euclid avenue, for its six miles of length, seemed literally shrouded with mourning emblems, and an immense concourse numbering hundreds of thousands watched the slow progress of the pro- cession. 278 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF At 3.30 o'clock the procession entered the gate- way, which was arched over with black, with appropriate inscriptions. In the key-stone were the words, "Come to rest." On one side were the words, " Lay him to rest whom we have learned to love." On the other, "Lay him to rest whom Ave have learned to trust." A massive cross of ever- green swung from the centre of the arch. The United States Marine Band, continuing the sweet, mournful strain it had kept up during the entire march, entered first. Then came the Forest City Troop, of Cleveland, which was the escort of the President to his inauguration. Behind it came the funeral car, with its escort of twelve L T nited States artillerymen, followed by a battalion of Knights Templars and the Cleveland Grays. The mourn- ers' carriages and those containing the guard of honor, comprised all of the procession that entered the grounds. The cavalry halted at the vault and drew up in line facing it, with sabres presented. The car drew up in front, with the mourners' carriages and those of the cabinet behind. The band played "Nearer, my God, to Thee," as the military escort lifted the coffin from the car and carried it into the vault, the local committee of reception, Secretary Blaine, Marshal Henry, and one or two personal friends, standing at either side of the entrance. None of the President's family except two of JAMES A. GARFIELD. 279 the boys, left the carriages during the exercises, which occupied less than half an hour. Dr. J. P. Robinson, as president of the day, opened the exercises by introducing Rev. J. H. Jones, Chaplain of the Forty-Second Ohio Regi- ment, which General Garfield commanded, who made a short address. After an ode by Horace, sung in Latin by the German Singing Society, Mr. Robinson announced the late President's favorite hymn, "Ho ! Reapers of Life's Harvest," which the German vocal societies of Cleveland sang with marked effect. The exercises closed with the benediction by President Hinsdale, of Hiram College. Re-enterino' their carriages the mourners drove huriiedly back to the city, to avoid another shower which was threatened. The Military and Masonic escort left the cemetery in the same order in which they entered, and kept in line until the catafalque was reached, where they were dis- missed. 280 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OE CHAPTEE XXXVIII. Lakeview Cemetery. — Talk with Garfield's Mother. — First Church where he Preached. — His Religions Experience. — Garfield as a Preacher. The lot in Lakeview Cemetery that was selected for the burial-place is on the brow of a high ridije commanding an extensive view of Lake Erie. It was the President's desire that his last resting-place might be in this beautiful spot, and his mother, speaking of it, said, — " It is proper that he should be buried in Cleve- land. It is the capital of the county in which he was born, and of the section where he grew into prominence. Mentor had been his home but a short time, although he had intended to spend the balance of his life there. Most of his years have been spent in Solon and Orange, and it seems best that his final resting-place should be near the places that he loved the best." The brave old lady trembled with emotion while talking of her son. "It is wonderful," she said, "how I live upon the thoughts of him. I ride a little every day to JAMES A. GARFIELD. 281 get the fresh air, and look at the fields and woods he loved so well." Mrs. Garfield was with her daughter, Mrs. Larrabee, in Solon, Ohio, when the last sad tidings came. For days she had been greatly depressed — her hopes of his recovery growing fainter with every telegram received. " Oh ! it is too dreadful ! it cannot be true ! " she exclaimed, when the sad news was gently broken to her. It was some time before she could control her feelings. At last she murmured through her tears : " God knew best, but it is very hard to bear ! " A few days later, when a friend called to see her, she said, — " He was the best son a mother ever had — so good, kind, generous and brave. Did you ever see such an uprising? That ought to break the fall for me, but it doesn't seem to. I want my boy." This little home at Solon is not far from the spot where the old log cabin stood, and the first frame house was built. "I am glad you have been over to the old homestead," added the old lady to her visitor. " My son loved every foot of it. He and his brother built the frame house for me, near the well where the pole has been erected. It was rude car- pentry, but they both took their first lessons on it, 282 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF and I always loved the old home. It was burned down just after we left it." The humble Church of the Disciples, where Garfield first preached, is close by. Once, when addressing some young people, he spoke as follows of his first religious experience , — " Make the most of the present moment ! ~No occasion is unworthy of your best efforts. God in his providence often uses humble occasions and little things to shape the whole course of a man's life. I might say that the wearing of a certain pair of stockings led to a complete change in my own career. I had made one trip as a boy on a canal-boat, and was expecting to leave home for another trip. But I accidentally injured my foot in chopping wood. The blue dye in the yarn of my home-made socks poisoned the wound, and I was kept at home. Then a revival of religion broke out in the neighborhood. I was thus kept within its influence, and was converted. New desires and purposes then took possession of me, and I determined to seek an education that I might live more usefully for Christ. You can never know when these providential turning-points in your life are at hand ; so seek to improve each passing day." With this we may connect the account of his conversion given by his friend, Rev. Isaac Errett, D. D., of Cincinnati. "The lad," he says, "attended these meetings for several JAMES A. GARFIELD. 283 nights, and after listening night after night to the sermon, he went one day to the minister, and said to him: 'Sir, I have been listening to your preaching night after night, and I am fully per- suaded that if these things you say are true, it is the duty and the highest interest of every man, and especially of every young man, to accept that religion and seek to be a man ; but really I do not know whether this thing is true or not. If I were sure it were true, I would most gladly give it my heart and my life.' So, after a long talk, the minister preached that night on the text, ' What is truth? 1 and proceeded to show that, notwith- standing all the various and conflicting theories and opinions of men, there was one assured and eternal alliance for every human soul in Christ Jesus as the Way and the Truth and the Life; that every soul would be safe with him ; that he never would mislead ; and that any young man giving him his hand and heart would not go astray. After due reflection, young Garfield seized upon this. He came forward and gave his hand to the minister in pledge of the acceptance of the guidance of Christ for his life, and turned his back upon the sins of the world forever." "He was never formally ordained," says one of his old pupils at Hiram Institute, "hence some have inferred that his preaching was confined to occa- sional and unofficial discourses. But while he was 284 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF a student in Williams College he supplied in vacations and at other times the pulpit of the Disciples' church at Poestenkill, a few miles from Williamstown. For this he received some com- pensation which assisted him in his course. He had the ministry in view. Becoming Principal at Hiram, he also accepted the position of regular pastor of the church of Disciples in that town. This office he filled during a large part of his Principalship, bearing its responsibilities and re- ceiving what compensation attached to it. It was a large village church, and the only one in the place, except a small Methodist church. He was called from year to year. The people loved him as flieir pastor, and the house was crowded to hear him preach. He officiated at their funerals, and administered the ordinances of baptism (which was always immersion) and the Lord's Supper. The fact that he had not been ordained in due form was not objectionable to the Disciples, and a matter of greater indifference even among them at that time than it would be perhaps to-day. Doubtless his appointment as Principal of their Institute was re- garded as equivalent to a sanction of his full minis- try. He preached Sunday morning and afternoon, and administered the communion every Sunday. In the evening there was a prayer-meeting. The students were required to be present at church at least twice in the day. He always preached with- JAMES A. GARFIELD. 285 out notes, with great simplicity and practicalness, interesting persons of mature years, and at the same time taking special pains to reach the young. There was a bright little boy with whom he was accustomed to talk after preaching, to make sure that he had been understood. In prayer he im- pressed his congregation as a man who was really speaking with God. On Saturday afternoons he visited socially among the people. In 1857 his preaching was accompanied by a revival of religion. Meetings were held nearly every night, and fifty-two united at one time with the church. These Mr. Garfield baptized in the open air. Many of the converts were students, and when he gave them the hand of fellowship at the communion table he presented each one of them with a copy of the Word of God. This was not the only time he led candidates into baptismal waters. There were frequent occasions of this kind. One is remembered which took place in the evening in the fall of the year, when the moon- light was bright enough for the singers to read the music and the hymns. He entered into the spirit of such scenes with great devotion and zeal. Garfield always held to that side which empha- sized man's need of the Holy Spirit, and the necessity of believing in Christ from the heart. This he always enforced in his preaching, and as urgently declared that this faith must be followed 286 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF by obedience. His public prayers were often addressed to Christ. Our informant feels sure that he was far from being a Unitarian. He was not pleased with the way in which Garfield, in accordance with the usages of the Disciples, re- ceived candidates for baptism, and one day said to him : " It seems to me that your practice, Mr. Gar- field, is hardly consistent with your doctrine in this matter. You preach excellent sermons to the impenitent, and point out the way of salvation in language which I can endorse ; but when persons come forward for baptism, you have no examination by the church to see if their conversion is sound." The answer was : " I show them clearly that they must believe from the heart. If they say they do, I leave the responsibility with them." JAMES A. GARFIELD. 287 CHAPTER XXXIX. The Sunday Preceding the Burial. —The Crowded Churches.— The one Theme that Absorbed all Hearts. — Across the Water. — At Alexandra Palace. — At St. Paul's Cathedral. —At Westminster Abbey. — Paris. — Berlin. — Extract from London Times. On the Sunday that the remains of the mar- tyred President were lying in state at Cleveland, the churches throughout the country were crowded with conoTeo-ations in sober and reverent mood. One thought engrossed all minds, and one topic alone occupied the preacher's desk. "It was most touching," said one writer, "to see with what sympathy and sadness every apprecia- tive tribute to the dead President was received ; to perceive by a thousand little indications how profoundly this great event absorbing all thoughts had stirred the hearts of the people ; to detect the unbidden tears stealing down the cheeks of so many women, aye, and of men too. The minis- ters felt the inspiration of the occasion, and were uplifted by it to greater than ordinary eloquence, to more tender and more hearty words." Not only in America but throughout Europe the 288 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF mourning crowds were gathered to offer their tributes of respect. At the Alexandra Palace, in London, a memorial service was held, at which forty thousand persons were present, many of them in deep mourning. St. Paul's Cathedral was crowded to overflow- ing at the announcement that the services would relate to the death of President Garfield. When the "Dead March in Saul" was played the whole congregation, numbering many thousands, arose and remained standing, all showing grief and many weeping. Canon Stubbs preached, and specially referred to the cruel manner of Presi- dent Garfield's death. He extolled his life and virtues, and expressed sympathy for the sorrowing American nation. The following sonnet was written in the Cathe- dral just after the funeral anthem for President Garfield had been sung, — Septemder 25. Through tears to look upon a tearful crowd, And hear the anthem echoing High in the dome till angels seem to fling The chant of England up through vault and cloud, Making ethereal register aloud At heaven's own gate. It was a sorrowing To make a good man's death seem such a thing As makes imperial purple of his shroud. Some creeds there be like runes we cannot spell, And some like stars that flicker in their flame ; JAMES A. GARFIELD. 289 But some so clear the sun scarce shines so well ; For when with Moses' touch a dead man's name Finds tears within strange rocks as this name can, We know right well that God was with the man. At both the morning and evening services in Westminster Abbey reference was made to Presi- dent Garfield's death. At the afternoon service Canon Duckworth said the American people were richer in all that could dignify national life by President Garfield's death. Had the shattered frame revived, it would be hard to believe that he could have impressed his greatness more effec- tually. At St. Margaret's, AYestminster, the Kev. Mr. Roberts described the assassination as a crime against the wdiole English humanity. At all the principal churches of all denominations Garfield's death formed the subject of sympathetic allusion. In Paris, Pere Hyacinthe held a memorial ser- vice, and at Berlin, one of the Emperor's chaplains spoke at length upon the martyred President. The London Times, summing up the events of .the week, said : " Such a spectacle has never before been presented as the mourning with wdiich the whole civilized world is honoring the late President Garfield. Emperors and kings, Senates and ministers, are, in spirit, his pall-bearers, but their peoples, from the highest to the lowest, claim to be equally visible and audible as sorrowing assistants." 290 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTEE XL. National Day of Mourning. — Draping of Public Buildings and Private Residences. — Touching Incident. — Tributes to Garfield. — Senator Hoar's Address. — Whittier's Letter. — Senator [Dawes' Remarks. Monday, September 26th, the day when the funeral rites were celebrated at Cleveland, was ap- pointed by President Arthur as a national day ol mourning. The public buildings throughout the country and many private residences were draped with mourning, while beautiful and appropriate emblems of the nation's sorrow were seen in almost every window. \ A touching incident is told of a poor colored washerwoman at Long Branch who tore up her one Sunday gown, a cheap black ging- ham, and hung it about her door. When remon- strated with, she said, quietly, — "He was my President, too." It would take volumes to give any adequate collection of the many beautiful tributes to Garfield delivered in the pulpit, from the forum, and through the public press, but from them we select a few. At Mechanic's Hall in Worcester, Senator George F. Hoar spoke as follows : " I suppose at JAMES A. GARFIELD. 291 this single hour there is deeper grief over the civ- ilized world than at any other single hour in its history. Heroes, and statesmen, and monarchs, and orators, and warriors, and great benefactors of the race, have died and been buried. There have been men like William the Silent and his kinsmen of England, and men like Lincoln, whose death generations unborn will lament with a sense as of personal bereavement. But in the past the knowl- edge of great events and great characters made its way slowly to the minds of men. The press and the telegraph have this summer assembled all Christendom morning and evening at the door of one sick-chamber. The gentle and wise Lincoln had to overcome the hatred and bitterness of a great civil war. It was the fortune of President Garfield, as it was never the fortune of any other man, that his whole life has been unrolled as a scroll to be read of all men. The recent election had made us familiar with that story of the child- hood in the log cabin, of the boyhood on the canal boat, of the precious school time, of the college days at the feet of our saintly Hopkins, of the school-teacher, of the marriage to the bright and beautiful schoolmate, of the Christian preacher, of the soldier saving the army at Chickamauga, of the statesman leading in great debates in Congress, and of the orator persuading the conscience and judgment of Ohio, and, througli her, saving the 292 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OE nation's honor and credit in the great strife for public honesty, of the judge determining the great issue of the title to the presidency, of the loved and trusted popular leader, to whom was offered the choice of three great offices, Representative, Senator, and President at once. We know it all by heart, as we know the achievements of the brief and brilliant administration of the presidential of- fice and the heroic patience and cheer of that long dying struggle, when every sigh of agony was ut- tered in a telephone at which all mankind were listening. No wonder the heart burst at last. While it was throbbing and pulsing with fever and pain, it furnished the courage which held up for seventy-nine days the sinking hopes of a world. This man touched the common life of humanity, touched its lowliness, touched its greatness, at so many points. His roots were in New England puritanism, were in the yeomanry of Worcester and Middlesex. He grew up to manhood in Ohio. The South had learned to know him. Her soldiers had met him in battle. When he died she was making ready to clasp the hand he was holding out to her returning loyalty. The child in the log cabin knows all about the childhood so like his own. Scholarship mourns the scholar who was struck down when he was hastening to lay his untarnished laurel at the feet of his col- lege. Every mother's heart in America stirred JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2C3 within her when the first act of the new President was to pay homage to his own mother. The sol- diers and sailors of England, the veterans of Tra- falgar and Waterloo, join his own comrades in mourning for a hero whom they deemed worthy to be ranked with the heroes who held out the live- long day with Wellington, or who obeyed Nelson's immortal signal. The laborer misses a brother who has known all the bitterness of poverty and the sweetness of bread earned by the sweat of his brow. The Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, and sovereign of Cyprus and Malta and Gibraltar and Canada and Jamaica, knew her peer when she laid her wreath, last Friday, on the coffin of a king. The last we heard of him in health he was playing like a boy with his boy. As our friend said in the pulpit yesterday, the saints of mankind, when they saw him, knew the birthmark of their race, and bowed their heads. The American people have anointed him as the representative of their sovereignty. Washington and Lincoln came forward to greet him and wel- come him to a seat beside their own. I say there is deeper grief at this hour over the civilized world than at any other single hour in history. It seems to me that the death of President Garfield is the greatest single calamity this country ever suffered. I have no doubt there w r ere hundreds and hundreds of thousands of men who would gladly have bought 294 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF his life with their own, but we shall dishonor our dead here if, even while his grave is open, we al- low ourselves to utter a cry of despair. It is true of nations, even more than of man, that "AVhom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourge th every son whom he receiveth." Our republic was plant- ed in sorrow. One-half of the pilgrims died at Plymouth the first winter, and yet not one of the original colony went back to England. Is there any man now who would they had not died, or wishes they had found summer and plenty and ease on the coast of Massachusetts?' Could we celebrate Yorktown with the same lofty triumph without the memories of Valley Forge and the death of Hale and Warren ? I think even the widow who goes mourning all her days will hardly wish now that our regiments had come home from the war with full ranks. God has taken from us our beloved, but think what has been brought into this precious life. Fifty millions of people, of many races, of many climes, the workman, the farmer, the slave just made free, met together to choose the man whom they could call to the presidency among mankind. God took him in his first hour of triumph and stretched him for seventy-nine days upon a ra.sk. He turned in upon that sick-cham- ber a Drummond light that all mankind might look in upon that cruel assay, and see what manner of men and what manner of women Freedom calls to JAMES A. GARFIELD. 295 her high places. He revealed to them courage, constancy, cheerfulness, woman's love, faith in God, submission to his will. Into what years of Europe, into what cycles of Cathay were ever crowded so much of hope and cheer for humanity as into the tragedy of Elberon? Your prayers were not answered ; the bitter cup has not passed from you, but, so long as human hearts endure, humanity will be strengthened and comforted, be- cause you have drunk it. The following letter, from John G. Whittier, was read at the funeral services of President Gar- field, held in Amesbury : — Danvers, Mass., 9th Mo., 24, 1881. W. H. B. Currier. My Dear Friend, — I regret that it is not in my power to join the citizens of Amesbury and Salisbury in the memorial services on the occasion of the death of our lamented Presi- dent. But in heart and sympathy I am with you. I. share the great sorrow which overshadows the land; I fully appreciate the irretrievable loss. But it seems to me that the occasion is one for thankfulness as well as grief. Through all the stages of the solemn tragedy which has .just closed with the death of our noblest and best, I have felt that the Divine Providence was overruling the mighty affliction — that the patient sufferer at Washington was drawing with cords of sympathy all sections and parties nearer to each other. And now, when South and North, Democrat and Republican, Radical and Conservative, lift their voices in one unbroken accord of lamentation ; when I see how, in spite of the greed of gain, the lust of office, the 296 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF strifes and meanness of party jjolitics, the great heart of the nation proves sound and loyal, I feel a new hope for the republic. I have a firmer faith in its stability. It is said that no man liveth and no man dieth to himself; and the pure and noble life of Garfield, and his slow, long martyrdom so bravely borne in the view of all, are, I believe, bearing for us, as a people, " the peaceable fruits of righteousness." We are stronger, wiser, better for them. With him it is well. His mission fulfilled, he goes to his grave by the lakeside, honored and lamented as man never was before. The whole world mourns him. There is no speech nor language where the voice of his praise is not heard. About his grave gathers, with heads uncovered, the vast brotherhood of man. And with us it is well also. We are nearer a united people than ever before. We are at peace with all; our future is full of promise ; our industrial and financial con- dition is hopeful. God grant that, while our material interests prosper, the moral and spiritual influence of this occasion may be permanently felt; that the solemn sacra- ment of sorrow whereof we have been partakers may be blest to the promotion of the " righteousness which exalts a nation." Thy friend, John G. Whittier. Said Senator Dawes : — "Garfield was indeed a great man. This will be the judgment of those who knew him personally and of history. This tragedy prevents the cor- roboration of that judgment by results ; for he had but just entered upon the work for which his preparation and development had fitted him and has finished nothing but a life of great promise and expectation. His growth has been a wonder- JAMES A. GARFIELD. 297 fill study to those who were by his side during its progress . It was constant to the last moment. The last year had turned .it into an altogether new and untried channel. It had been begun and carried on until that time in quite a different direc- tion. He had never had executive experience, and a modesty and distrust, rare in minds con- scious of great power, led him to hesitate and shrink from what was before him. His first re- mark to a long-tried friend on taking his hand after the Chicago convention was this : 'I fear I am no man for this place ; I have felt that I could reasonably count on six years more of labor and study and growth in the new and larger opportu- nity already secured to me in my accustomed field, but this is an untried sphere to me, and I dread the experiment.' The short time he has been permit- ted, however, to labor in this new field has yet been long enough to bring out great qualities and high purposes that the nation can ill spare. He was conscious of great powers carefully trained, but he lacked confidence to take hold of new things. His mind did not work quickly, though it did surely. Always feeling the ground under every step he took, he never ventured his foot where he could not, by some process of reasoning, however slow, satisfy himself that he knew what was under him. Hence the man who was a great leader in battle, and of unflinching personal 298 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF courage, and better fitted than any contemporary to demonstrate and defend a political principle, had not yet come to be a safe political leader in a sudden emergency, where there is no time for logic or processes of reasoning, but action must follow instinct and first impression. At such times he distrusted himself and left to others, with not a tithe of his real power, the guidance of political movements. As free from political as from personal guile, he was too confiding and open-hearted to be safe in the hands of men less scrupulous and less selfish. " Those who saw him enter public life, and were with him to the end, have in mind a wonderful growth, and have in admiration, also, a wonderful character, personal, mental and moral, ever charm- ing, sure to be instructive and always exemplary. In private intercourse with those he loved he was as simple and trusting as a child, as tender and affectionate as a woman, and as true and valiant as a knight. One of the most touch- ing scenes, illustrative of what manner of man he was, will never be forgotten. The great cares of state had well - nigh worn him out ; the wife of his love lav linorerinor between life and death, and he had been going from official labor and responsibility to her bedside night after night, and, for the last two, had scarcely closed his eyes. The report had gone out that Mrs. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 299 Garfield was dying ; a near friend called to inquire. Coming out of the sick-room, and grasping his hand, the President besrged him to sit down, and there this greatest of all public men unbosomed himself like a broken-hearted woman. Dwelling with surprising tenderness upon the love and beauty of his married life, and the noble character of her who had made it what it was, he exclaimed, with great emotion, C I have had in this trial glimpses of a better and higher life beyond, which have made this life I am leading here seem utterly barren and worthless. Whatever may come of this peril, I fear that I shall never again have ambition or heart to go through with that to which I have been called.' To human view he has not been permitted to finish the work for which he was fitted and to which he aspired, but he has left valuable material for the study and in- struction of public men, covering a greater range of topics, a more thorough investigation, and sounder conclusions than have been left by any one so constantly active in the daily and current demands of public life. Let us thank God for such a life, of such infinite value to the republic. Its example, its teachings, ks ambitions, its lofty aspirations and high resolves, and its demonstra- tions of what man can make of himself, have no parallel in history, and will have no measure in their beneficent effect upon those who shall here- 300 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF after honestly study them. He dies loved, ad- mired and mourned before all others, but not yet fully appreciated. His loss is irreparable, his les- son invaluable." JAMES A. GARFIELD. 301 CHAPTER XLI. Subscription Fund for the President's Family. — Ready Generosity of the People. — Touching Incident. — Total Amount of the Fund. — How the Money was Invested. — Project for Memorial Hospital in Washington. — Cyrus W. Field's Gift of Memorial Window to Williams College. — Garfield's Affection for his Alma Mater. — Reception given Mark Hopkins and the Williams Graduates. — Garfield's Address to his Classmates. Soon after the President's assassination, the New York Chamber of Commerce, headed by Cyrus W. Field and other leading capitalists, started a subscription for Mrs. Garfield and her children. To this fund all classes of the people contributed with a readiness and generosity that gave touching evidence of the sincerity of their love and sym- pathy. Little children sent their hoarded pennies, many a poor working woman denied herself some needed comfort that she might add her mite, and one old man, in tattered clothes, came into the office of Drexel & Co., where subscriptions were received, and putting a bottle of ink on the table, said, — " It's all I have, but I must do something." As soon as the story was told, the ink was taken ,i 302 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF and sold again and again that day, until it brought in fifty dollars. When Mrs. Garfield was first apprised of this subscription fund, she said, — " I wish it were possible for me to go around and see all these dear people ! " After the President's death it was stated that the fund would close on the fifteenth day of Octo- ber. The total amount received was $360,345.74, and this was at once given over to the United States Trust Company, of New York, for in- vestment. The Company paid the amount of $348,968.75 for the purchase of $300,000 four per cent, registered bonds, and the balance of cash, $11,376. ( J9, was placed in charge of this same Trust Company. Among the numerous tributes to the memory of Garfield is a project for a national memorial hos- pital in Washington on the spot where the President was assassinated, and an organization has been formed to carry it into effect. The object has the sympathy and endorsement of Presi- dent Arthur, General Sherman, members of the Cabinet, and other distinguished and influential persons. The land on which the depot stands belongs to Government, it is said, and is held on sufferance by the railroad company. Cyrus W. Field is to place a memorial window in the chapel of Williams College. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 303 "Nothing," says one writer, "has more illus- trated the strong and tender affection which Garfield retained for the master at whose feet he learned the law of love, than the natural way in which he turned to Dr. Hopkins after his career had reached its flower. The first reception in the "White House was given to Mark Hopkins and the Williams graduates. It was the President's own planning. The alumni in Washington, resident and visitors, including a large number of the class of '56, were notified of the President's wishes, and went to the White House marshalled by the venerable doctor. They were drawn up in the form of a horseshoe, and Dr. Hopkins addressed the Chief Magistrate. The speaker was pro- foundly moved, and exhorted his pupil to maintain the high ideals which had marked his past. President Garfield, with wet eyes, replied in one of those moving and inspired speeches which he sometimes uttered. He voiced the deepest love and reverence for his old teacher, and ascribed the good impulse of his career to lessons learned among the hills of Berkshire. The forty or more alumni present were affected to tears." Garfield was greatly attached to his Alma Ma- ter ; on the night previous to his inauguration he met his college classmates, and, in an address to them, spoke as folio avs : 304 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF "Classmates, — To me there is something ex- ceedingly pathetic in this reunion. In every eye before me I see the light of friendship and love, and I am sure it is reflected back to each one of you from my inmost heart. For twenty-two years, with the exception of the last few days, I have been in the public service. To-night I am a pri- vate citizen. To-morrow I shall be called to as- sume new responsibilities, and on the day after the broadside of the world's wrath will strike. It will strike hard. I know it and you will know it. Whatever may happen to me in the future, I shall feel that I can always fall back upon the shoulders and hearts of the class of '56 for their approval of that which is right and for their charitable judg- ment wherein I may come short in the discharge of my public duties. You may write down in your books now the largest percentage of blunders which you think I will be likely to make, and you will be sure to find in the end that I have made more than you have calculated — many more. "This honor comes to me unsought. I have never had the presidential fever, not even for a day; nor have I it to-night. I have no feeling of elation in view of the position I am called upon to fill. I would thank God were I to-day a free dance in the House or the Senate ; but it is not to be, and I will go forward to meet the responsibili- ties and discharge the duties that are before me JAMES A. GARFIELD. 305 with all the firmness and ability I can command. I hope you will be able conscientiously to approve my conduct, and when I return to private life I wic.h you to give me another class-meeting." il 306 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XLII. Removal of the President's Remains. — Monument Fund Committee. — Garfield Memorial in Boston. — Extracts from Address by Hon. N. P. Banks. On the 22d of October, Garfield's remains were removed from the public vault in Lakeview Cem- etery to a private vault on the grounds, there to remain until the completion of the crypt, where they will permanently repose. A Garfield Monument Fund Committee was organized at Cleveland immediately after the fune- ral, and contributions have been received by it from all sections of the country. Upon Thursday, the 20th day of October, Me- morial services were held in Boston at Tremont Temple. From the address delivered by Hon. N. P. Banks we give the following extracts : — "The history of the Plymouth colony of 1620, which preceded the embarkation of the Massachu- setts colony, was blistered with the results of a bitter and apparently relentless destiny, against which it would have been scarcely possible for any people but the Massachusetts Puritans and JAMES A. GAHFIELD. 307 Pilgrims to have secured a triumph like that which the Deity they worshipped vouchsafed to them. " Its founders were fugitives from England and exiles from Holland. They gladly accepted the chances of suffering and death in the New World, to gain liberty of conscience and freedom to wor- ship God. For the first ten years of its existence population increased slowly, and numbered but three hundred souls in 1630. "The Massachusetts colony, with which Ply- mouth was united, left the Old World under happier auspices. It started Avith concessions and congratulations from the Crown. The best men in England were ambitious to share its fortunes. Winthrop, Saltonstall and Sir Harry Vane — r the sad and starry Vane' — were among its leaders; and such men as John Hampden, Pym, Oliver Cromwell, and many others of that heroic type, were restrained from emigration at the moment of embarkation by the order of the king. Four thousand families — twenty thousand souls — people of culture, capacity and character, no de- cayed courtiers or adventurers, but merchants, seamen, husbandmen and others devoted to the highest interests of man, had landed in Boston in ten years from the foundation of the city. "Among them came, in 1630, Edward Garfield, the paternal ancestor of the late President of the 308 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF United States. He was a man of gentle blood, of military instincts and training, possessing some property, and a thoughtful and vigorous habit of mind and body. The earliest record of his name in the annals of the colony indicated an origin from some one of the great German families of Europe, and his alliance by marriage with a lady of that blood and birth confirmed the original im- pression of the people with whom he identified his fortunes. His emigration suggested a purpose consistent with his capacity and character, and with the higher aspirations of the colony. He coveted possession of land, and for that reason probably, among others, settled in Watertown, where territory was abundant, and boundary lines yet delicate and dim, especially toward the west, where they were mainly defined by the receding and vanishing forms of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country. In the realm they had abandoned it w T as a maxim among men that home was where the heart was. But in the New World the colon ists had discovered that both home and heart were where there were liberty and land. rt He chose a residence near Charles River, a stream unsurpassed in beauty by any water that flows, since honored by the residence and immor- talized by the verse of Longfellow, and the original and marvellous industries that enrich its peaceful and prosperous people. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 309 "Edward Garfield, the founder of this new American family, did not long linger near the boundaries of Boston. His first share in the distribution of land to the freemen, by the town, was a small lot or homestall of six acres, on the line of territory afterwards incorporated as the town of Waltham. Another general grant of land by the town, in 1636, f to the freemen and all the townsmen then inhabiting,' one hundred and twenty in number, called the Great Dividends, gave to Garfield a tract of thirty acres, the whole of which was within the territory set off to Wal- tham. In 1650 the land allotted to Mr. Phillips, the first minister of Watertown (about forty acres, in the same locality), was sold by his heirs to Garfield and his sons. A portion of this estate was purchased from the heirs of Garfield by Governor Gore, who constructed upon it, from imported plans and materials, on his return from England, a country seat, still admired as one of the most elegant and stately residences in America. The first distinctive title eve;- given to the terri- tory now embraced within the limits of Waltham was that of 'The Precinct of Captain Garfield's Company.' It is said that, after the incorporation of that town, this name rarely appears on the records of Watertown. "While citizens of Watertown, Garfield and his descendants w r ere assigned to responsible military 310 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF commands by the governors of the colony, and frequently chosen for the board of selectmen and other town offices. Captain Benjamin Garfield held a captain's commission from the governor, was nine times elected representative of the town, and appointed to many other offices. Others were honored in a similar manner in Watertown, in Waltham, and wherever they planted themselves. " They did not hive in the settled and safe centres of the colony, but struck out boldly for the fron- tier, where danger was to be encountered and duty performed. They adhered zealously to the principles of the colony, and the controversies that arose from considerations of that nature, at the very outset of its history, settled upon an unchangeable basis the character of its govern- ment. " An important and instructive illustration of this free spirit of the people occurred in the second year of its settlement. Without previous consul- tation of the several towns, the governor and assistants levied, in 1632, an assessment of eight pounds sterling upon them for construction of military defences in what is now Cambridge. This order was declared to be subversive of their rights, and the people of Watertown, the most populous and influential inland town, met in church, with their pastor and elders, according to their custom, and after much debate deliberately JAMES A. GARFIELD. 311 refused to pay the money, on the ground, they said, 'that it was not safe to pay monies after that sort, for fear of bringing themselves and their pos- terity into bondage.' " When summoned before the governor they were obliged to retract the declaration and submit ; but they set on foot such an agitation through the colony as to secure, within three months of their original debate, an order for the appointment of two persons from each town to advise with the governor and assistants as to the best method of raising public moneys. This order ripened, in 1634, into the creation of a representative body of deputies elected by the people, having full power to act for all freemen, except in elections. This was the origin of the House of Representa- tives in Massachusetts. After ten years' contest the body of assistants to the governor was sepa- rated from the body of deputies, and, sitting as a Senate, left to the deputies chosen by the towns an absolute negative upon the legislation of the colony. Thus was established, substantially as it now exists, the Legislature of Massachusetts. " As the people began to be represented in the government of the colony, so the direction of civil affairs in the towns came to be entrusted to a municipal body of freemen, peculiar to New Eng- land, chosen for that purpose, and known as the board of selectmen. It is a pleasure to know 312 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF that, during the violent contest for this right of representation in State and local governments, Edward Garfield, the earliest American ancestor of the martyr President whose loss we mourn, as a selectman of Watertown, in the very crisis of that contest, did a freeman's duty with a freeman's will, in securing to the people of Massachusetts the right of representation they now enjoy. "The Massachusetts family of Gartields, in the male line at least, were churchmen, freemen, fight- ing men, thoughtful and thrifty men, and working- men. They were enterprising, active, and brave, fond of adventure, distinguished for endurance and strength, athletic feats, sallies of wit, cheerful dispositions, and, like their eminent successor so recently passed away, noted always for a manly spirit and a commanding person and presence. It was a prolific and long-lived race. Marriages were at a premium, and families were large and numerous. Among the people of the Massachu- setts colony who made their way quickly to the frontier when new towns were to be planted, the Garfields were well represented. The founda- tion of a new municipality was then a solemn affair, usually preceded by f a day of humiliation, and a sermon by Mr. Cotton.' When the terri- tory of Massachusetts was overstocked, they passed to other States in New England, and ultimately to the great West. Wherever they JAMES A. GARFIELD. 313 were they asserted and defended the principles they inherited from the founders of Massachu- setts. "Abram Garfield, of the fifth generation, a min- ute-man from Lincoln, engaged in the fight with the British at Concord, and was one of the signers of a certificate, with some of the principal citizens of that town, declaring that the British began that fiu-ht. We should not feel so much solicitude about that matter now. "Abram Garfield, a nephew of the soldier at Concord, whose name he bore, and who repre- sented the seventh generation of the family, settled later in Otsego County, N. Y., where he received the »first fruits of toil as a laborer on the Erie Canal. The construction of canals by the Gov- ernment of Ohio drew him, with other relatives, to that State, where his previous experience gained for him a contract .on the Ohio Canal. * The young men and women who left the earlier settlements for the frontier States sometimes consecrated the friendships of their youth by a contract of mar- riage when they met again in the great West. Abram Garfield in this way met and married (Feb. 3, 1821) Eliza Ballou, a Xew Hampshire maiden, whom he had known in earlier years. It was a long wait, but a solid union. They were nearly twenty years of age when married. A log cabin, with one room, was their home. His vocation 314 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF was that of an excavator of canals in the depths of the primeval forests of Ohio. There was not much of hope or joy in the life before them ; but still it was all there was for them of hope or joy. They could not expect the crown of life until they had paid its forfeit. They adhered to the relig- ious customs of childhood. Their labor prospered. Amid their suffering and toil in the construction of the arteries of civilization and the foundation of States and empires that will hereafter rule the world, four children came to bless them. The last of the four was James Abram Garfield (Nov. 19, 1831), destined, in the providence of God, to be and to die President of the Eepublic. " Garfield had pre-eminent skill in directing and applying the labor and attainments of others to the success of his own work. This is a somewhat rare, but a most invaluable capacity. No one man can do everything. In labor, as in war, to divide is to conquer. There have been men who knew every- thing, and could do everything, — whose incompar- able capacities would have been sufficient, under wise direction, to have given the highest rank among the few men that have changed the destiny of the world ; but who could not succeed in gov- ernment, because they never saw men until they ran against them. " Such admirable qualities, united to such strength JAMES A. GARFIELD. 315 and love for active service, gave him reputation and rank, and opened the way to the campaigns in Kentucky against Marshall, at Prestonburg and Middle Creek, — the last a cause of other vic- tories elsewhere, — and at Tullahoma and Chicka- mauga. " His knowledge of law opened a new field of activity and service, of great benefit to him and to the Government. But little attention had been given by professors of legal science, at the open- ing of the war, to the study of military law. In the field where it was to be administered, great difficulties were encountered in determining what the law was and who was to execute it. A dis- tinguished jurist, Dr. Francis Lieber, was ap- pointed by the Government to codify and digest the principles and precedents of this abstruse de- partment of the science of law. But it opened to Garfield, long before the digest was completed, a peculiar field for tireless research and labor in new fields of inquiry. Once installed as an officer of courts-martial, his services were found to be indis- pensable. From the West he was called to Wash- ington, was in confidential communication with President Lincoln in regard to the military situa- tion in the West, was a member of the most impor- tant military tribunals, became a favorite and protege of the Secretary of War, and, upon the express wish of the President and Secretary, ac- 316 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF cepted bis seat in the House of Representatives, to which he had been chosen in 1862. " His career in Congress is the important record of his life. For that he was best fitted; with it he was best satisfied ; in it he continued longest, and from it rose to the great destiny which has given him a deathless name and page in the annals of the world. " The House of Representatives in the age of Clay, Calhoun and Webster was an institution quite unlike that of our own time. Its numbers then were small ; its leading men comparatively few ; but few subjects were debated, and members of the House rarely or never introduced bills for legislative action. Its work was prepared by com- mittees, upon official information, and gentlemen prepared to speak upon its business could always find an opportunity. Now its numbers have been doubled. More than ten thousand bills for legis- lative consideration are introduced in every Con- gress. The increase of appropriations, patronage and legislation is enormous, and the pressure for action often disorderly and violent. Little cour- tesy is wasted on such occasions, when one or two hundred members are shouting for the floor, and when one is named by the Speaker it must be a strong man, read}', able, eloquent, to gain or hold the ear of the House. Garfield never failed in this. His look drew audience and attention. JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 317 He was never unprepared, never tedious ; always began with his subject, and took his seat when he had finished. He had few controversies, and was never called 'to order' for any cause. He was a debater rather than an orator ; always courteous, intelligent, intelligible, and honorable. The House listened to him with rapt attention, and he spoke with decisive effect upon its judgment. He liked it to be understood that he was abreast of the best thought of the time, had a great re- gard for the authority of scientific leaders, and walked with reverential respect in the tracks of the best thinkers of the age. It is a pleasant thing, this method of settling all problems by demonstration of exact science. Hudibras must have been in error when he spoke so lightly of these scholastic methods, saying, or rather sing- ing,— ' That all a rhetorician's rules Teach him but to name his tools.' "The people watched with great interest his long and terrible struggle for life, and their hearts trembled with alternations of hope and fear, as they studied with close attention the morning and the evening bulletins giving the ebb and flow of life's dark tide with the precision of exact science ; but they read with infinite relief, if not always with satisfaction, the telegrams of the Secretary of State to the American minister at London, stating, 318 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF in the language of common life, the changes that had occurred in the condition of the President from day to day. "As chairman or, prominent member of the principal business committees of the House, Gar- field had always access to the floor, and an eager assembly as his audience. His topics were gener- ally of a national character, connected with the organization and maintenance of the government ; but there is scarcely any subject brought before Congress to which he has not, at some time, given a thorough and able exposition of his views. The best known and most influential of his speeches have been in relation to the war, financial affairs, the currency, and the tariff. These all involved national interests, and exhibit on his part a pro- found study of every subject necessary to their support. He was from the first, and constantly, a hard-money man, a leader in discussion, and a supporter by his votes of every proposition neces- sary to maintain a sound currency. On the subject of the tariff, while he did not deny that, as an abstract question, the doctrine of free trade presented an aspect of truth, yet he always de- clared that under a government like ours protection of national industries was indispensable. He advocated duties high enough to enable the home manufacturer to make a wholesome competi- tion with foreigners, but not so high as to subject JAMES A. GARFIELD. 319 consumers to a monopoly of product or supply. A moderate and permanent protection was the doc- trine he always ably sustained. It would be instructive to recall the expression of his views embodied in his speeches upon these subjects, which he photographed upon the minds of those to whom they were addressed, but it is inappro- priate on the present occasion. Few men in the history of the House of Representatives have acquired a higher reputation, and none will be more kindly and permanently remembered. " There was much force in a declaration made by the Pastor of the Disciples' Church, at the funeral of President Garfield, in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. The gigantic proportions of this apartment excite a strange sensation in every visitor. One familiar with the scene, recalls at his entrance an ancient tradition, often repeated before the war, that this majestic central apart- ment of the Capitol would, some day, witness the coronation of a king. Apart from the unusual solemnity of this occasion, the scene was of an extraordinary character. The light that fell from the dome above gave a solemn aspect to the apartment. Distinguished personages moved silent- ly and slowly to the positions assigned them. Two ex-Presidents, immediate predecessors of the deceased, the only occupants of the presidential 320 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OP • office that have attended at such a time, sat in front of the eastern entrance of the rotunda. The diplomatic corps, in full court costume, were placed in rear of the ex-Presidents. Senators, judicial officers in their robes, officers of the army and navy, in brilliant uniforms, were on the right. Members and ex-members of the House, in large numbers, attended by the Speaker, were massed upon the left, and the" space around them was crowded by citizens from every part of the country. The vast assembly rose as the President, with the Cabinet officers and the stricken family of mourn- ers, passed to their seats near the casket of the deceased Chief Magistrate, — which lay upon the same bier that bore the body of President Lincoln, just beneath the centre of the canopy that from the dome overhangs the rotunda, — guarded by veterans of the Army of the Cumberland. The walls were hung with representations of important events in American history ; — the Landing of Columbus, I)e Soto's Discovery of the Missis- sippi, the Baptism of Pocahontas, the Embarka- tion of the Pilgrims, the Declaration of Indepen- dence, the Surrender of Cornwall is at Yorktown, and the Resignation of Washington. On the belt of the rotunda above were seen Cortez entering the Temple of the Sun in Mexico, the Battle of Lexington, and other studies of varied and mem- orable scenes in the history of the Republic. JAMES A. GARFIELD. 321 " Simple, brief, and impressive ceremonies heightened the deep and general interest of the occasion. The funeral discourse was of a purely religious character, with scarcely more than a brief allusion to the career of the deceased Presi- dent, and no mention, I think, of his title or his name. But these omissions intensified the general interest in his brief personal allusions. 'I da believe,' he said, 'that the strength and beauty of this man's character will be found in his disci-, pleship of Christ.' "It is not my province to speak of the spiritual character of this connection, but in another rela- tion I .believe it is true. " The Church of the Disciples, to which he be- longed, is one of the most primitive of Christian communions, excluding every thought of distrust, competition, or advantage. It gave him a position and mission unique and generic, like and unlike that of other men. While he rarely or never referred to it himself, and wished at times, per- haps, to forget it, he was strengthened and pro-, tected by it. It was buckler and spear to him. It brought him into an immediate communion — a relation made sacred by a common faith, barren of engagements and responsibilities — with multi- tudes of other organizations and congregations, adherents and opponents, able and willing to assist and strengthen him, present or absent, at home or- 322 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF abroad, who dismissed aspersions upon his con- duct and character as accusations of Pharisees against a son of faith, and gave him at all times a friendly greeting and welcome, "whenever and wherever he felt inspired to give the world his thought and word. All great migrations and revo- lutions of men and nations are born of this spirit and power. " In another direction he possessed extraordinary capacities. He was animated by an intense and sleepless spirit of acquisition. It was not, appar- ently, a common thirst for wealth, precedence, or power which stimulates many men in our time. His ambition was for the acquisition of knowledge. From early youth to the day of his last illness it was a consuming passion. He gave to it days and nights, the strength of }'outh and the vigor of middle age. When in the forests of New York, he made the rocks and trees to personate the heroes of his early reading. When engaged in the duties of his professorship, he found time for other studies than those prescribed by the faculty, and for lectures, addresses, and many other intel- lectual pursuits. He studied law while at college without the knowledge of his intimate friends, until he was admitted to the bar. When in Con- gress, he would occupy a whole night in examina- tion of questions to be considered the next day, JAMES A. GARFIELD. 323 and debate them as if nothing unusual had oc- curred. " It was said by one of the wisest of the ancient Greeks that it was ' impossible to penetrate the secret thoughts, quality and judgment of man till he is put to proof by high office and administra- tion of the laws.' Whatever we may think of the splendid record of the late President in every walk of life he followed, it does not enable us to anticipate the character and success of the Admin- istration* upon which he so happily entered. In other positions of public life, the concurrence of so many different influences is required to accomplish' even slight results, that individual credit or responsibility therefor is but slight and intangible. In the administration of government, the highest secular duty to which men are ever called, respon- sibility is indivisible and unchangeable ; and the final results, whether for good or evil, are indel- ibly stamped on the woof and warp of the web of time, and will so remain forever. Good inten- tions are of no account, and a plea of confession and avoidance, — admitting failure and disclaiming error, — so advantageous in other cases, never governs the world in judging men who fail rightly to administer government. We are happy in being absolved from the responsibility of judgment where decision is impossible. 324 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF " Undoubtedly, the open assertion in some parts of the world of the right of assassination as a method of reform in administration and govern- ment may have intensified the general interest in this calamitous event. But the courage and com- posure with which the presidential martyr bore his affliction ; the firmness and constancy of his aged mother ; the serenity and saint-like resigna- tion of the heroic wife, administering consolation and courage to the husband and father, in a voice sweet as the zephyrs of the south, with a spirit as gentle as love, and a soul as dauntless as the hearts of the women of Israel, — were not unobserved or unhonored. It melted hearts in the four quarters of the globe, and drew from the sons of men, in every land and clime, such an attestation and confession of the faith that all created beings are the chil- dren of one Father, as never before fell from human lips. We should be dead to sensibility and honor did we not feel such unwonted tests of the universal scope and sweep of human sympathy vouchsafed to us by the appointed leaders of churches, empires and democracies, and by that august lady the Queen of England and Empress of India, who presides over the councils of the em- pire whence we derive our ideas of Christian faith, language, liberty and law, who gave to the afflicted children of revolted and republican JAMES A. GARFIELD. 325 America the emblems of mourning, reserved by the customs of her court to the best beloved and bravest of her realm, and sent, over her own hand, to the wife, mother and orphans, swift and touching evidence of the strength of her sympathy and the depths of her sorrow— the grandest of sovereigns and noblest of women ! " We turn from this record of active and honor- able service to a brief consideration, such as the occasion permits, of the elements of character which distinguished President Garfield. After all, character is the only enduring form of wealth. It is the power by which the world is ruled, and the only legacy of true value that can be transmitted to posterity. " We cannot forget what occurred during the ad- ministration of Mr. Lincoln, or of his successor, Mr. Johnson. We have witnessed no such politi- cal convulsions in our day. No one ever justified the assassination of Mr. Lincoln on such grounds, or would now counsel such violence against the chiefs of earlier administrations. Neither can it now be done with truth or justice. Those who enlisted in the opposition to past administrations were men whose intellectual and moral natures re- strained them from the execution of purposes dic- tated by passion. To those whose feeble intellects deprive them of moral restraint we should give support, and never justify, by thought or act, con- 326 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF duct that, under other circumstances, might have endangered the lives of every President of the Re- public ! There is no cause or incitement to crime in the political controversies of this year, that might not have occurred under any other adminis- tration ; and no cause or justification, of any kind whatever, for such an ineffable and inexpiable crime as the murder of the mild, generous, warm- hearted, forgiving, and Christian Chief Magistrate whose loss we mourn. ,f Political assassination is not insanity. It pro- ceeds from infection and distemper of the mind. It is not necessarily limited to the reform admin- istrations and. governments, nor to any special form of government. It can as well be applied to the settlement of a grocery bill, if an excitation be created, as to the overthrow of a dynasty. " It is another form of the doctrine of annihilation, and the remedy for its evil is to avoid convulsions, private and public, restrain passion, avoid injustice, practise moderation in all things, and do no evil that good may come. " The year 1881 is the complement of the full half-century since the first open movement was organized for the control or destruction of our government. The lesson of this half-century, with all its trials, sacrifices and triumphs, is that it is good to maintain and defend the government of our country and its lawfully constituted authori- JAMES A. GARFIELD. 327 ties, whether or not we created them or like them. In the contemplation of this half-century, can we find cause to wish the government had been de- stroyed ? Or can we now wish it destroyed ? "The lesson of Garfield's life is an admonition to protect and defend the government. His birth marks the period when it was first assailed by enemies domestic ; and at the close of his life he gave his last hours of health and strength to im- prove and protect it. His last friend should give his last sigh to maintain it, not for his honor, which is untarnished, nor his glory, which is im- maculate, but for his country, which still has perils to encounter, and liberties to defend, for the bene- fit of mankind." 328 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XLin. ■ Southern Feeling. — Memorial Services at Jefferson, Kentucky.— Extracts from Address by Henry Watterson. — Senator Bayard. — . Ex-Speaker Randall. — Senator Hill. — Extracts from some of the Southern Journals. At the United States military post at Jefferson, Kentucky, memorial services were held in the presence of fifteen thousand people. Henry Watterson, the Democratic ex-Congress- man, gave an eloquent address, from which we quote the following : — " I knew him well, and know now that I loved him. He was a man of ample soul, with the strength of a giant, the courage of a lion, and the heart of a dove. There never lived a man who yearned for the approval of his fellow-men, who felt their anger more. There never lived a man who struggled harder to realize Paul's idea, and to be all things to all men. Did ever the character sketched by Paul find a nobler example, for he Was blameless, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, apt to teach, not given to filthy lucre. No one without the little family circle of relatives and JAMES A. GARFIELD. 329 friends in which he lived will ever know how a certain dismal, though in truth trivial, episode in his career cut him to the soul. Born a poor man's son, to live and die a poor man, with opportuni- ties unbounded for public pillage, Avith licensed robbery going on all around him, and he pinched for the bare means to maintain himself, his wife and his little ones with decency and comfort, to be held up to the scorn of men as one not honest ! He is gone now, and before he went he had out- lived the wounds which party friends alike with party foes had sought to put upon his honor and manhood, and maybe to-day somewhere among the stars he looks down upon the world and sees at last how selfish and unreal were the assaults of those in whose way he stood. It is a pleasure to me to reflect amid these gloomy scenes that some friendly words of mine gratified him at a moment when he suffered most. Not in the last campaign, for it would have been a crime in me to have hesi- tated then, but away back when no vision of the presidency had crossed the disc of his ambition, and when the cruelest blows were struck from be^ hind. It is also a pleasure for me to remember the last time I saw him. It was during an all- night session of the House, when in company with Joseph Hawley of Connecticut, Randall Gibson of Louisiana, and Randolph Tucker, we took pos- session of the committee rooms of Proctor Knott, 330 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF who joined us later, and turned all bickerings and jars into happy forgetfulness of section and party. I do well remember how buoyant he was that night in spirit and how robust in thought, full of sugges- tion, and in repartee, unaffected and genial ever ; how delighted to lay aside the statesman and the partisan and be a boy again, and how loth he was, with the rest, to recross the narrow confines which separate the real and ideal, and to descend into the hot abyss below. I could not have gone thence to blacken that man's character any more than to do another deed of shame ; and Eepublican though he was, and party chief, he had no truer friends than the brilliant Virginian whom he loved like a brother, and the eminent Louisianian whose coun- sels he habitually sought. I refer to an incident unimportant in itself to illustrate a character which unfolded to the knowledge of the world through affliction, and whose death has awakened the love and admiration of mankind. " All know that he was a man of spotless integrity who might have been rich by a single deflection, but who died poor, who broadened and rose in height with each rise in fortune, who was not less a scholar because he had wanted early advantages, and who, not yet fifty, leaves as a priceless heritage to his countrymen the example of how God-given virtues of the head and heart may be employed to the glory of God and the uses of men, by one who JAMES A. GARFIELD. 331 makes all things subordinate to the development of the good within him. On all these points we think together ; there are not two opinions. We stand upon common ground ; we shall separate and go hence, and each shall take his way. Interests shall clash, beliefs shall jar, party spirit shall lift its horned head and interpose to chill and cloud our better natures. That is but a condition of our being. We arc mortal and we live in a free land. Out of discussion and dissension ends are shapened ; we rough-hewing j n spite of us. However, occa- sions come which remind us that we have a country and are countrymen ; which tell us we are a people bound together by many kindred ties. No matter for our quarrels, they will pass away. No matter for our mistakes, they shall be mended. But yesterday we were at war one with the other. The war is over. But yesterday we were arrayed in the anger of party conflict ; behold how its passions sleep in the grave with Garfield. I am here to-day to talk to you of him, and through him and in his memory and honor to talk of our country. He was its chief magistrate, our President, represen- tative of things common to us all ; stricken down in the fulness of life and hope by wanton and aimless assassination. He fell like a martyr; he suffered like a hero ; he died like a saint. Be his grave forever and aye a resting place for the people, and for tte seeds that burst thereon to let 332 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF the violets bring spring flowers of peace and love for all the people. Citizens, the flag which waves over us was his flag and it is our flag. Soldiers, standing beneath that flag and this armed fortress of the Republic, I salute your flag and his flag reverently. It, is my flag. I thank God, and I shall teach my children to thank God, that it did not go down amid the fragments of a divided country, but that it floats to-day, though at half mast, as a symbol of union and liberty, assuring and reassuring us, that though the heart that con- ceived the words be cold, and the lips that uttered them be dumb, f God reigns and the government at Washington still lives.' " The tributes paid to the memory of Garfield by his political opponents show strikingly how widely he was honored and beloved by those who knew him as a friend as well as the leader of a party. Senator Bayard always treated the President with affectionate respect, and mourns him deeply. Ex-Speaker Randall "knew him intimately and respected him greatly." Senator Hill is much affected b}' the death. " Poor Garfield," he says, "was a big-hearted and a big-brained man. I shall never forget the last time I saw him. He was so cheerful and apparently happy. I never saw him fuller of mental and physical vigor and of hope for the future than then. I want to always remember him as he appeared tofne then — a per- fect man." JAMES A. GARFIELD. 333 The Courier- Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, said : " The President is dead, and all the nations responding to that touch of sympathy which makes the whole world kin stand uncovered in the pres- ence of a calamity ; for tragedies, ever calamitous, are doubly so when they spring from murder and attach themselves to the head of the State, the symbol of power, the representative of the people and law. If ever mortal stood in these relations to his country and his time, this man did so. It was the universal sense that he did so which brought around his bedside his fellow citizens without distinction of political opinion, and caused women who had never seen him to pray for him, and little children, who conceived not the emer- gency nor the magnitude nor the contingencies hanging upon his life, to ask each day after his well-being, as if he were a father ill and dying in some far-off place. Perhaps, too, the flash of the assassin's pistol let in to many a heart a feeling of honest regret, before dormant and unconscious, that they had consented to see so good and so use- ful a man so pitilessly assailed in his private honor during periods of angry partisan contention, and a consequent wish, personally, to disavow this and to make a part of it at least up to him in his dire misfortune." The Baltimore Sun (Independent), alluding to President Garfield's death, said: "Turning from 334 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF the peculiarly tragic and distressing circumstances of the President's death, 'tis difficult to exaggerate the loss which the nation sustains in his death at this time. Although his Administration was in its infancy, President Garfield had already met the confidence of his country in the integrity of his purposes, the moderation, soundness and con- servatism of his policy." Said another Southern Journal : "In his death, mournful as it is, the sections will evince a common sympathy that may cement more closely the bonds of that fraternity so essential to the keeping of the compact between the States. North, South, East and West will join in the grief over the grave of the dead President — a sure sign that the currents of the national life flow as strong as they ever did in the history of the Union." The JVew Orleans Times snid: " Throughout our whole land parties stand disarmed, and citizens bitterly deplore the death of James A. Garfield. Henceforth he lives in memory, and though he was permitted to accomplish but little during his presidential service, by his death he has given to his countrymen a deeper scrutiny into themselves — a most precious service " The Picayune, after referring to the assassination of President Lincoln, said : " This is a sadder story in our national life. It was Garfield's fortune to come to the high office of chief magistrate at a time JAMES A. GARFIELD. 335 when peace and prosperity reigned throughout the broad confines of this great land. There was naught but sincere respect for his authority among the masses, and earnest wishes in the hearts of nearly all her citizens that his administration might prove a happy one for himself as it promised a prosper- ous one for the country. He was worthy of so proud a position, and in his inaugural proclaimed the new life of a nation united not in name but in truth." 336 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF CHAPTER XLIY. Extracts from some of the President's Private Letters to a Friend in Boston, bearing the same Family Name. — To Corydon E. Fuller, a College Classmate. One of the last letters written by President Garfield was to a gentleman in Boston, who bore the same family name. They were warm friends and mutually interested in the Garfield genealogy. They had often spoken of the pleasure they would take in going over the country in the neighborhood of Boston, where their common ancestors had had their homes, and they had agreed, should chance ever bring them together here, to take a little ex- cursion, and as the President was about starting on a New England tour, the letter related to the long anticipated pleasure. If possible, the President was to take leave of his formal escort at Concord and enjoy a quiet buggy drive with his friend, keeping perfectly incognito. They were to visit the scenes of interest at Concord, where the President's great-uncle, Abram Garfield, from whom he gets his middle name, stood, perhaps, shoulder to shoulder with John Hoar, the grand- JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 337 father of the chairman of the Republican conven- tion at Chicago which so unexpectedly nominated him for his fateful office. Thence they were to drive through Lincoln, Weston, Waltham and YVatertown — towns where the homes of their an- cestors and kinsmen had stood. At Watertown the intention was to rejoin the regular party. The letter was evidently written late on the evening before he was shot, and was in the hand- writing of the President's private secretary, but bore the clear signature of J. A. Garfield. It was not sent from Washington until after Guiteau's shot had been fired, for it bore the postmark of 1 P. M. General Garfield had had considerable correspondence with his friend about family mat- ters, and his letters formed the basis of much of the accurate article on his family genealogy printed in the Herald shortly after the Chicago convention. In a letter he wrote : — " You can hardly imagine the pleasure which your letter of the 3d Inst, has given me. You will better understand why, when I tell you the causes which have so nearly shut me off from any knowledge of my ancestry. My' father moved into the wild woods of Ohio before he was twenty years of age, and died when he was thirty-three, and of course when all his children were small, and I, the youngest, but an infant. Separated thus from the early home of our father, we had 338 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF but scanty means of obtaining anything like ac- curate information of his ancestry. The most I knew, until quite recently, were the family tradi- tions retained in the memory of my mother, as she had heard them from father and his mother. During the last eighteen years I have, from time to time, picked up fragmentary facts and traditions concerning our family and its origin. Many of these traditions are vague and no doubt worthless, but I have no doubt they have some truth in them. One of them is that the family was originally from Wales. This tallies with what you say concern- insr the original Edward Garfield coming from the neighborhood of Chester, Eng. I stood on the walls of Chester a little more than four years ago, and looked out on the bleak mountains of Wales, whose northern boundary lay at my feet, along the banks of the Dee. Possibly I was near our ances- tral home. A Welsh scholar told me, not many years ago, that he had no doubt our family was connected with the builders of an old castle in Wales, long since in ruins, but still known as Gaer- fill Castle. I give } r ou this conjecture for what it is worth. While I was in college at Williams- town, Mass., in 1854 to 1856, I went down to old Tyringham and Lee, in Berkshire County, Mass., and there found a large number of Garfields, some twenty families, old residents of that neighbor- hood. Among them were the names Solomon and JAMES A. GARFIELD. 339 Thomas, which seemed to have continued along in the family. I found that they had come from the neighborhood of Boston. In an old graveyard in Tyringham (now Monterey) I found the tombstone of Lieutenant Isaac Gearfield (for that, I learn, was the early spelling of the name), and on the stone was recorded 1755 as the date of his death. The family told me that he (Lieutenant Isaac) crossed the mountains into the wilderness of west- ern Massachusetts in about 1739, and slept the first night under his cart. ... I am sure I do not need to apologize to you for this long letter, for if it gives you half the pleasure yours has given me, you will not tire of its length. I beg you to write me any further details you may possess, and any you may hereafter obtain." Following are a number of extracts from letters addressed to Mr. Cory don E. Fuller : — "Warrensville, Jan. 16, 1852. "My Dear Corydon : Well, I quit writing that evening to attend the Warrensville Literary Club, of which I am a member. We had a very good time considering the 'timber.' We have resolved ourselves into a senate, each member re- presenting some State in the Union. I am not only President, but also a representative from South Carolina, to watch the interests of my nul- lifying constituents. The bill before our senate for 340 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF our next evening is, ' That we will assist financially the Hungarian exiles, Kossuth and his compatriots, from our national Treasury.' We shall undoubt- edly have a warm time. By the way, what do you think of the effect of the excitement in reference to Kossuth upon our Nation and popular liberty ? How far may our Government safely interfere in the Hungarian struggle? But I am certainly rhapsodical this time. You must write to me and trim me up. I am seated in my schoolhouse, a room about 18 by 20, with a stove in the centre and in school., the scholars being all around me — forty on the list. With these facts before me I am led to exclaim, — " Of all the trades by men pursued There's none that's more perplexing* Than is the country's pedagogue's — It's every way most vexing. Cooped in a little narrow cell, As hot as black Tartarus, As well in Pandemonium dwell, As in this little schoolhouse. " Your friend and classmate, "Jajies A. Garfield." The following is taken from a letter dated Feb. 2, 1852, written near the close of the village school at Warrensville, Ohio, — " Oh, that I possessed the power to scatter the firebrands of ambition among the youth of the ris- JAMES A. GARFIELD. 341 ing generation, and let them see the Greatness of the age in which they live and the destiny to which mankind are rushing, together with the part which they are destined to act in the great drama of human existence. But, if I cannot inspire them with that spirit, I intend to keep it predomi- nant in my own breast, and let it spur me forward to action. But let us remember that knowledge is only an increase of power, and is only good when directed to good ends. Though a man may have all knowledge, and have not the love of God in his heart, he will fall far short of true excellence." Here is an extract from a letter written in April, 1853,— "To my mind the whole catalogue of fashionable friendships and polite intimacies are not worth one honest tear of sympathy or one heartfelt emotion of true friendship. Unless I can enter the inner chambers of the soul and read the inscriptions there upon those ever-during tablets, and thus be- come acquainted with the inner life and know the inner man, I care not for intercourse, for nothing else is true friendship I have no very intimate associates here, and hence, if it please you, I will be social with my pen and be often cheered by a letter from you. Let us in all the varied fortunes of human life look forward to that lamp which will enlighten the darkness of earth, the valley of death, and then become the bright and 342 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEimCES OF morning star in the heaven of heavens. Give my love to your father and mother for they seem like mine also, and you know you have the love of your brother, James." The following shows how keenly sensitive Garfield was, even as a boy, and how early in life he determined to make a name for himself, — " Williamstown, Jan. 28, 1854. " My Dear Corydon : I wish you were here to-night ; I feel like waking up the ghosts of the dead past, and holding communion with spirits of former days. In this calm " night that broodeth thoughts " the shadows of by-gone days flit past, and I review each scene. That long strange story of my boyhood, the taunts, jeers, and cold, averted looks of the rich and the proud, chill me again for a moment, as did the real ones of former days. Then comes the burning heart, the high re- solve, the settled determination, and the days and nights of struggling toil, those dreary days when the heavens seemed to frown and the icy heart of the cold world seemed not to give one throb in unison with mine With regards, I re- main, as ever, your friend and classmate, "James A. Garfield." " Niagara, Nov. 5, 1853. M Corydon, my Brother : I am now leaning against the trunk of an evergreen tree on a beauti- JAMES A. GARFIELD. 343 fill island in the midst of Niagara's foaming waters. I am alone. No breath of wind disturbs the leaves of evergreen, which hang mute and motion- less around me. Animated nature is silent, for the voice of God, like the " sound of many waters," is lifted up from the swathing clouds of hoary foam that rest upon the dark abyss below. ' Oh, fearful stream. How do thy terrors tear me from myself And fill my soul with wonder.' I gaze upon the broad green waters as they come placid and smooth, like firm battalions of embattled hosts, moving in steady columns, till the sloping channel stirs the depths and maddens all the waters. Then with angry roar the legions bound along the opposing rocks, until they reach the awful brink, where, all surcharged with frantic fury, they leap bellowing down the fearful rocks which thunder back the sullen echoes of thy voice, and shout God's power above the cloudy skies ! Oh man ! frail child of dust thou art to lift thy insect voice upcn this spot where the Almighty thunders from the swelling floods that lift to heaven their hoary breath, like clouds of smoking incense. Oh, that the assembled millions of the earth could now behold this scene sublime and awful, and adore the everlasting God whose fingers piled these giant cliifs, and sent his sound- 344 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF ing seas to thunder down and shout in deafening tones, ' We come from out the hollow of His hand, and haste to do His bidding.' " Your friend and brother, "James A. Garfield." Here are a few lilies written in 1859, just after his nomination to the Senate of Ohio, — "Lono- ago, you know, I had thought of a © © 7 t/ *~ - public career, but I fully resolved to forego it all, unless it could be obtained without wading through the mire into which politicians usually plunge. The nomination was tendered me, and by acclama- tion, though there were five candidates. I never solicited the place, nor did I make any bargain to secure it. I shall endeavor to do my duty, and if I never rise any higher, I hope to have the con- solation that my manhood is unsullied by the past." " Williamstown, June 19, 1855. " My Dear Corydon : Your favor of the 4th inst. was received about ten days ago, but I have been entirely unable to answer until this time. A day or two after it came I left for Pittstown, N. Y., to attend a yearly meeting of Disciples, where I spent some four days, and last Saturday I left again for Poestenkill, and spoke to the people Saturday evening and three discourses on Lord's Day. . . . We had good meetings in each place, JAMES A. GARFIELD. 345 and much interest. I cannot resist the appeals of our brethren for aid while I have the strength to speak to them. . . . I tell you, my dear brother, the cause in which we arc engaged must take the world. It tills my soul when I reflect upon the light, joy, and love of the ancient Gospel, and its adaptation to the wants of the human race. . . . I Ions: to be in the thickest of the fight, and see the army of truth charge home upon the battalions of hoary-headed error. But I must be content to be a spy for a time, till I have reconnoitred the enemy's stronghold, and then I hope to work. Ever your friend and classmate, "James A. Garfield." " Dorchester Heights, Jan. 5, 1856. " My Dear Corydon and Mary : I want to pencil a few lines to you from this enchanting spot on the sea-shore, six miles from Boston, and when I return, perhaps I will ink it in a letter to you. I am spending the night here with a class- mate of mine, one of the dearest friends I have in college. I am in an old house — every timber of oak — built more than one hundred years ago. To one who has seen cities rise from the wild forest in the space of a dozen years, and has hardly ever seen a building older than himself, you may be assured that many reflections are awakened by the look of antiquity that everything has around me. 346 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF The quaint old beams and panelled walls, the heavy double windows that look out ocean- Avard, in short, the whole air of the building speaks of the days of the olden time. To think that these walls have echoed to the shouts of loyalty to George the King — have heard all the voices of the spirit-stirring Revolution, the patriotic resolve, the tramp of the soldier's foot, the voice of the beloved Washington, (for within a few rods of here he made his first Revolutionary encampment,) the cannon of Bunker Hill, the lamentations of defeat and shouts of victory — all these cannot but awaken peculiar reflections. To how many that are now sleepers in the quiet church-yard, or wan- derers in the wide, cold world, has this been the dear ancestral hall where all the joys of childhood were clustered. Within this oaken-ceiled chamber how many bright hopes have been cherished and high resolves formed ; how many hours of serene joy, and how many heart-throbs of bitter anguish ! If these walls had a voice I would ask them to tell me the mingled scenes of joy and sorrow they have witnessed. But even their silence has a voice, and I love to listen. But without there is no silence, for the tempest is howling and snows are drifting. The voice of the great waves, as they come rolling up against the wintry shore, speak of Him ' whose voice is as the sound of many waters.' Only a few miles from here is the spot where — JAMES A. GARFIELD. 347 * The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast, And the woods against a stormy sky Their giant branches tossed; And the heavy night hung dark, The hills and waters o'er, When a band of pilgrims moored their bark On the wild New-England shore.' " But the coal has sunk to the lowest bar in the grate beside me — 'tis far past the noon of night, and I must close. ... As ever, your own affectionate James." The following letter, written to Mr. Fuller wdiile Gen. Garfield was chief-of-staff to Gen. Rose- crans, will be of special historical value, — " Headquakteks Dept. of the Cumberland, "Muufeeesboro, Tenn., May 4, 1863. " My Dear Corydon : Yours of April 1 was received by the hand of Lieut. Beeber, and I assure you it was read with great pleasure. When I was in Washington last winter I saw Mr. Col- fax, who spoke very kindly and highly of you. I have now fully recovered my health, and for the last three months have been very hardy and robust. My duties are very full of work here, and I have never been more pressingly crowded with labor than now. I have not retired on an average before two o'clock for the last two months and a half. Gen. Rosecrans shares all his counsels 348 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF with me, and places a large share of the responsi- bility of the management of this wing upon me ; even more than I sometimes wish he did. This army is now in admirable condition. The poor and weak material has been worked out, and what we now have is hard brawn and solid muscle. It is in an admirable state of discipline, and when its engineries are fully set in motion, it will make itself felt. From all the present indications it cannot be Ions; before we meet the rebel armv now in our front, and try its strength again. When that day arrives, it bids fair to be the bloodiest fighting of the war. One thing is settled in my mind. Direct blows at the rebel army, bloody fighting is all that can end the rebellion. In European Avars, if you capture the chief city of a nation, you have substantially captured the nation. The army that holds London, Paris, Vienna or Berlin, holds England, France, Austria or Prussia. Not so in this war. The rebels have no city the capture of which will overthrow their power. If we take Richmond, the rebel Government can be put on wheels and trundled away into the interior with all its archives in two days. Hence our real objective point is not any place or dis- trict, but the rebel army, wherever we find it. We must crush and pulverize them, and then all places and territories fall into our hands as a con- sequence. These views lead me to a hope and JAMES A. GARFIELD. 349 belief that before many days we shall join in a death-grapple with Bragg and Johnson. God grant that we may be successful. The armies are nearly equal in number, and both are tilled with veteran soldiers well drilled and disciplined. The little circumstance you related to me of the soldier in the Fifty-first Indiana touches my heart." [A soldier who was killed had written home to his wife to name their child, born during the former's absence, after Gen. Garfield.] "I wish you would write a letter for me to Joseph Lay, the young man's father, and express my sympathy with him for the loss of his brave son, who was many times with me under the fire of the enemy. I want to know of the health of his family, and especially of that little one to whom the affection of the father gave my name. With the love of other days, I am, as ever, your brother, James." Here is a glimpse of his home life, — " Washington, Oct. 23, 1876. " My Dear Corydon : On Saturday last I ad- dressed a large Republican meeting at Hackensack, four miles from Schraalenburg, where I went with you twenty-two years ago. I have never been so near there before, and it brought up the old memo- ries to be so near. I was called here by telegraph to the bedside of our little boy Edward, who is very 350 LIFE ATNTD PUBLIC SERVICES OF ill and I fear will not recover. • He was recovering from the whooping cough, and his disease went to his brain. He has now been lying in an uncon- scious state nearly four days, and unless the pressure can soon be removed, he cannot last long. He is a beautiful child of two years, and the thought of losing him rives our hearts. But he is in the keeping of our good Father, who knows what is best for us. All the rest of us are well. I have worked very hard this campaign, having spoken almost constantly for two months. You have probably seen that I was re-elected by about 9,000 majority, this being my eighth election ; but of what avail is public honor in the presence of death ? It has been a long time since I have heard from you, and I hope that you will write soon. 'Crete joins me in love to you and Mary. " Ever your friend and classmate, "James A. Garfield." " Washington, Nov. 9, 1876. "My Dear Corydox : I arrived in this city yesterday afternoon and found that your kind let- ter' of the 2d hist, was awaiting me. Our precious little Eddie died on the 25th of October, and the same evening 'Crete and I left with the body, and on the 27th we buried him beside our little girl who died thirteen veins ago. Both are lying in the graveyard at Hiram, and we have come back to JAMES A. GARFIELD. 351 those which are still left us, but with a desolation in our hearts ' ..own only to those who have lost a precious chil m„: V ago. In the little maple grove to the left children played about the country schoolhouse, which has replaced the log one where the dead President first gathered the rudiments upon which he built to such purpose. The old orchard in its sere and yellow leaf, the dying grass, and the turning maple leaves, seemed to join in the general mourning. Adjoining the field where the flag floats is an unpretentious homestead almost as much identified with General Garfield's early history as the one he helped to clear of the forest timber while he was yet but a child, but is now free of buildings. It is the home of Henry B. Boynton, cousin of the dead President, and a brother of Dr. Boynton, who has been so conspicuously connected with the Garfield family since Mrs. Garfield's illness last spring. " General Garfield and I were like broth- ers," said he to a visitor, as he turned from giving some directions to his farm hands, now sowing the fall grain upon ground which the dead President first helped to break. He looked off tearfully, as he spoke, toward the flag at half-mast, marking the birthplace of his life-long friend. " His father died yonder, within a stone's throw of us, when the son was but one and a half years old and I Avas JAMES A. GARFIELD. 363 hut three and a half. He knew no other father than mine, "who watched over the family as if it had been his own. I bore a peculiar relation to the general. His father and my father were half- brothers, and his mother and my mother were sis- ters. This very house in which I live was as muck his home as it was mine." They walked toward the house as he spoke, and had here reached the plain mansion which was the house of the speak- er's ancestors, as well as General Garfield's, and passed inside, to find his good housewife silent and tearful, and whose swollen eyes told plainer than words the terrible sorrow they all felt. " Over there," said he, pointing to the brick schoolhouse in the grove of maples, around which the happy children were playing, Cf is where he and I first went to school. I have read a statement that he could not read or write until he was nine- teen. He could do both before he was nine ; and before he was twelve, so familiar was he with the Indian history of the country, that he had named every tree in the orchard, which his father planted before he was born, with* the name of some In- dian chief. One favorite tree of his he named 'Tecumseh,' and the branches of many of those old trees have been cut since his promotion to the presidency by relic hunters and carried away. General Garfield was a remarkable boy, sir, as well as man. It is not possible to tell you the 364 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES OF fight he made amid poverty for a place in life, and how gradually he obtained it. When he was a boy he would rather read than work. But he became a great student. He had to work after he was twelve years of age. In those days we were all poor, and it took hard knocks to get on. He worked clearing the fields yonder with his brother, and then cut cordwood and did other farm labor to get the necessaries of life for his mother and sisters. "His experience upon the canal was a severe one, but perhaps useful. I can remember the winter when he came home after the summer's service there. He had the chills all that fall and winter, yet he would shake, and get his lessons at home ; go over to the school and recite, and thus keep up with his class. The next spring found him weak from constant ague. Yet he intended to return to the canal. Here came the turning point in his life. Mr. Bates, who taught the school, pleaded with him not to do so, and said that, if he would con- tinue in school until the next fall, he could get a certificate. I received my certificate about the same time. The next year we went to the semi- nary at Chester, only twelve miles distant. Here our books were furnished us, and we cooked our own victuals. We lived upon a dollar a week each. Our diet was strong, but very plain ; mush and molasses, pork and potatoes. Saturdays we JAMES A. GARFIELD. 365 took our axes and went into the woods and cut cordwood ; during vacations we labored in the har- vest field, or taught a district school, as we could. Yonder," said he, pointing off toward a beautiful valley, " about two miles distant stands the school- house where Garfield first taught school. He got twelve dollars a month and boarded around. I also taught school in a neighboring town. You see," con- tinued the farmer, "that the general and myself were very close to one another from the time either of us could lisp until he became President. He visited me here just before election, and looked with grati- fication upon that pole yonder and its flag, erected bv his neighbors and kinsmen. He wandered over the fields he himself had helped clear, and pointed out to me trees, from the limbs of which he had shot squirrel after squirrel, and beneath the branches of which he had played and worked in the years of his infancy and boyhood. M I forgot to say that one of General Garfield's striking characteristics while he was growing up was that, when he saw a boy in the class excel him in anything, he never gave up until he reached the same standard, and even went beyond it. It got to be known that no scholar could be ahead of him. Our association as men has been almost as close as that of boys, although not as constant. The general never forgot his neighbors or less for- tunate kinsmen, and often visited us, as we did him. 366 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF "Just before he was inaugurated I had a conver* sation with him, which impressed me more than any other talk of our lives. He said : ' Henry, I approach the duties of the Presidency with much reluctance. I had thought that at some future time it might be possible for me to aspire to that position, but I had been elected to the Senate, and should have preferred to serve the six years in that body to which my own State people had elected me. It would have been six years of com- parative rest, for service in the Senate is much easier than in the House. I hope I may discharge the duties of the Presidency with satisfaction. There is one thing, however, that distresses me more than all else. All my life I have been mak- ing friends, and I have a great many sincere ones. But from the hour I assume the Presidency I must necessarily begin making enemies. Any man who wants an office and does not get it, will feel him- self aa - 2i'ievcd.' Our conversation at this time was long and earnest, and seemed like returning to the days when Ave were schoolboys together." Garfield was made a Mason in Magnolia Lodge, No. 20, at Columbus, Nov. 22, 1861, while he was commander at Camp Chase. His affiliation at the time of his death was with Pentalpha Lodge, Xo. 23, and Columbia Commandery, No. 2, Knights Templars, at Washington, D. C. Suitar says that he was the eighth Mason, but the first Knight JAMES A. GARFIELD. 367 Templar, "who was ever honored with the Presi- dency. He was a true and courteous knight, and was not only an earnest supporter, but a charter member of Pentalpha Lodge. After his election to the Presidency, his commandery sought to express their esteem for him by attending the inauguration, and, although the Masonic law forbids any inter- ference with or participation in politics, the occasion was regarded by the right eminent grand commander as sufficiently important and devoid of partisan coloring to grant the desired permission for five platoons of sixteen knights each to attend President Garfield. On the 19th of July, 1881, he was elected an honorary member of Hansel- maim Commandery, No. 16, at Cincinnati, and they sent him handsomely engraved resolutions of sympathy, which were brought to his personal notice during his sickness, to which he appro- priately replied through his private secretary. 368 LITE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OE CHAPTER XLVLT. Poems in Memory of Garfield, by Longfellow. — George Parsons Lathrop. — From London Sjiectator. — Oliver Wendell Holmes. — N. Bernard Carpenter. — John Boyle O'Beilly. — Joaquin Miller. M. J. Savage. — Julia Ward Howe. — Bose Terry Cooke. — Prize Ode. — Kate Tannett Woods. To the tributes we have already given, we add a few of the many fine poems published in memory of the martyred President. PRESIDENT GARFIELD. BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. "E venni dal martirio a questa pace." These words the poet heard in Paradise, Uttered by one who, bravely dying here, In the true faith, was living in that sphere, Where the Celestial Cross of sacrifice Spread its protecting arms athwart the skies; And, set thereon, like jewels crystal clear, The souls magnanimous, that knew not fear, Flashed their effulgence on his dazzled eyes. Ah, me! how dark the discipline of pain, Were not the suffering followed by the sense JAMES A. GARFIELD. 369 Of infinite rest and infinite release ! This is our consolation ; and again A great soul cries to us in our suspense : "I come from martyrdom unto this peace!" Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 26, 1881. The Independent. GARFIELD, PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE. (Died Sept. 19, 1881.) What is this silence, that calls? What is this deafness that hears? The silence is Death. Like a voice it falls ; It rings in the heedless ears That never shall hearken again To the words of our blame or praise, Nor the low-hushed moan of a nation's pain As it rolls through the darkened days ! And the motionless body must yield To the spell of that hushed command. Oh, that one of us, dying, had been the shield To save that life for our land ! Man that was trusted.of men — Brave, and not fearing to die More than to face life's meanness, when It clamored its partisan lie ! Though you leave us, we lose you not! In the Republic you live Sacred, and part of its deathless lot, For whose life your life you give. 370 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF Garfield — the name so plain, The name Ave knew so well! — The name we shall never forget again, Of the man who for honesty fell! Like another Winkelried, You drew to yourselves the spears Of tyrannous hate, though yourself must bleed; And left us — our pride and our tears. Legacy meet and rare, Of one who dared to he pure! In the hearts of the people who love what is fair, That precious renown shall endure. O sorrow that falls like a stone In the midst of the calm of our peace, As the waves of pity around you have grown, So may our truth increase ! George Parsons Lathrop. In England, Sept. 20, 1881. New York Tribune. PRESIDENT GARFIELD. The hush of the sick-room: the muffled tread; Fond, questioning eye; mute lip, and listening ear; Where wife and children watch 'twixt hope and fear, A father's, husband's living-dying bed! — The hush of a great nation, when its head Lies stricken ! Lo! along the streets he's borne, Pale, through rank'd crowds, this gray September niorn, 'Mid straining eyes, sad brows unbonneted, And reverent speechlessness! — a " people's voice! " £