History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 140

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574

USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 140

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

His speech in presenting the name of Ohio's candi- date, following, as it did, the great effort of the New York leader, will remain a model of its kind.

THE SUMMER AT MENTOR.

From the convention he found his way to the dear old cottage at Hiram-his last visit to its sequestered walls and shades. From Hiram he returned to Mentor, and all through hailed by gathering throngs. There was no more privacy for him. Though most of his life had been in the public service, he was now dedicated to the open world. Henceforth for all the months, no retreat could become sacred, no retirement a sanctuary.

The new house at Mentor-Lawnfield-beautiful and spacious, was finished in his absence, and thousands came to receive him home.

A few days later he made a visit to the Capital, gath- ered up his papers and books, dispatched them to Men- tor, made his last political speech to ten thousand from the Arlington balcony, sounding the key-note of the campaign, held a continuous reception, and with his pri- vate secretary returned to Mentor.

What months were those from that mid-June till mid- November! Whoever visited Lawnfield during this period will never forget it. There was the public office in the rear of the mansion, filled with secretaries and clerks, books and papers. A telegraph office was established there; immense mails came and departed daily. There was the private office at the top of the stairs, in the house. There were the throngs of visitors, biography writers, newspaper reporters, editors, politicians, members of Congress, Governors of States, Senators, the inquisitive and curious, ministers, men with plans, schemes and ideas, and those with neither. What floods of newspapers and pamphlets! What museums of wood cuts and lithographs ! And there was the great candidate, through it all calm, equable, pleasant, receiving all, charming all. Then came the great delegations and speeches; the journey to New York, the visit to Chautauqua, and so home again; and the meeting with the soldiers; and through it all, the usual and beautiful routine - all the little habits and cus- toms of the household -was never departed from, and into which visitors and temporary guests at once pleas- antly fell.

In the meantime, everywhere outside, through all the land, in every State, district, county and precinct, the war was raged with relentless fury. No candidate was ever subjected to a fiercer or more relentless ordeal. He was pursued to his own home, and the sacred household was no protection. In the changed attitude of the then seeming enemies, no one cares now to recall the unlovely, the cruel aspect of the great contest.

Then came the Ohio and Indiana elections, carried by a movement of the people, whatever may be said of ap-

LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. .

pliances and sinister practices. Yet the battle, though decided, was not ended - was afterward endangered by means which the just and generous masses of all parties condemned.

But the end came with a success so complete and certain that all men acquiesced, and the names, stains, and odors of the strife passed at once from earth and atmosphere, never more to be named in history.

No man was ever subjected to a more severe or a longer continued ordeal; and certainly no man ever bore himself through it with a calmer dignity, or a more serene endurance. Some of the most remarkable of his public utterances were during these trying months. Daily called upon, always responding, always felicitous, always forcible, often striking, sometimes eloquent or touching, never repeating himself, never below himself, never mis- taking, and though watched and followed, never saying a word or uttering a sentiment that did not meet with general approbation; nor one that subjected him to an instant's misapprehension. A volume of these addresses has been published, and nothing so unique has been found in English literature. These, his strong person- ality and widely felt magnetism, were potent auxiliaries in the contest. Men who never saw him were irresist- ibly drawn to him. No man ever took so strong a hold on men's hearts.

The struggle was over, the victory won, yet there was no repose. The great and protracted contest was only to achieve a place where a greater struggle, a higher re- sponsibility, a longer continued campaign, might begin.

SECOND VISIT TO THE CAPITAL.

About the time of the winter holidays the President- elect, accompanied by Mrs. Garfield, made the second of his four last visits to the Capitol. He arrived unan- nounced, and permitted no demonstration during his stay. His purpose was to close up his private affairs as far as practicable, and make a few calls upon cherished friends - the last as it proved. At one of these, toward its close, the lady of the house arose and said to him - "When you go, I shall take my final farewell of Genera Garfield. I shall see the President occasionally, but James A. Garfield disappears from my world." The lady doubtless referred to the great change in the Gen- eral's lite, but the singularity of the words and solemnity of their utterance moved the visitor, and were remem- bered by those present on the occasion.

The rare judgment and dignity with which the candi- date bore himself through the canvass, attended the President-elect during the intervening months ere he

entered upon his duties. He said he should "be a good listener during the winter."

Fortunately, the wisdom and skill of those never called to important places are not wholly lost to the world. No sooner is a man placed in a high position than they at once enlighten him as to his duties; and the President- elect was greatly favored and tored by them. The very profusion of their offerings rendered them perplexing.

From his position and residence, the President of the United States is more to the people of the Capital than he can be to the people of a State, or the inhabitants of any other city. He is a large part of it; the most striking figure in it, the most important factor of its social economy. He can greatly influence its prosperity, advance its growth, do things for it, make direct recom- mendations, and use his good offices in various indirect ways, in aid of its citizens. The nomination of General Garfield gave great satisfaction to the people of the Capi- tal. At the beginning of the campaign, probably there were few business men who did not wish for his election. As the contest became heated and party passions were influenced, they generally ranged themselves with their old party, the Democracy, and it became impossible to find a suitable building on the north side of Pennsylvania avenue to which could be attached a Republican banner. As soon as the result was known, all animosity disap- peared from Washington; indeed from the country. If the canvass was one of the most intensified bitterness in history, the sudden return of good will-of great kindness toward the person of the successful candidate, certainly is without parallel in party annals. So far as he was personally concerned, an opposition party practically disappeared; and with his rare personal endowments it may be questioned whether it would again spring into existence. The Democratic party would exist, with a modified spirit, and holding higher ground, in conse- quence of its defeat by Garfield.

He was alway popular with the people of the Capital, who gave no heed or currency to the aspersions of his fame. Large and reasonable expectations were cherished of his administration. The Rupublicans at the end of their first year of power had abolished slavery in the District. They completed the great, domed capitol dur- ing the war ; established an enlightened system of pub- lic instruction; revolutionized and improved the city, and placed it among the first objects of National prov- idence. In all of these acts of beneficence, which had their origin after he entered Congress, he bore a conspic- uous part. Some of his children were born there-all had received the rudiments of education there, and there was his home.

RESUMING THE NARRATIVE.

INAUGURATION.

When it was ascertained that he was elected, the or- ganizations and orders, the citizens, and sojourners of the Capital, spontaneously united and entered vigor- ously upon preparations for his inauguration. The pro- gramme adopted was one of grandeur and magnificence, hitherto unapproached in the New World, and perhapsso long as the memory of what so speedily followed remains, the splendor and glory of that one day and night will not be again attempted.

On the second of March the President-elect made his entrance into the city-now with acclaim, with triumph- ant music, military and civic array, He came as a wise and humane conqueror comes to his decorated Capital, after the wise and peaceful submission of peoples and nations to his benignant rule without bloodshed. Hun- dreds of thousands from all parts of the Republic came to swell the pageant of his induction. The day, pre- ceded by a night of tempest and snow, came with om- inous clouds and storm. Men said the fortunate star of Garfield would yet rule; and ere mid-day the clouds vanished from the skies, the snow disappeared from the earth, the sun came to light up and glorify the splendor and triumph of a single day. The great procession moved from the Executive Mansion, under the great arch, past the arches of all the States, present with their arms and insignia, passed up Capitol Hill, wheeled to the front of the famous east portico, dipped its banners to the new chief where he stood. The music ceased, silence fell over the thousands. The Chief Justice administered the simple oath of office, and turning with his grand head and face to the uplooking world below and before hin, the President announced in simple terms the principles of his faith and policy; saluted his mother and wife, and turned back to gather up the reins of administration.

What a sinister incident was that, during the return procession of the President. It is well vouched for, has never been explained. At one point a hearse was found in the line, following the President's carriage. All seasons, men and occasions are under the sceptre of death. A funeral train in some way was upon the avenue, and in the jostling presence of the unmanage- able masses, the unseemly carriage of the dead for a brief time took part in the pageant.

A great ball was given that night at the spacious mu- seum building, changed to a wondrous pavilion of light, music, beauty, and splendor.

THE CABINET,

I have claimed for the subject of this sketch an exten- sive and accurate knowledge of men, and have credited

him with an exacting sense of the fitness of things, which would compel the exercise of great care in the selection of instrumentalities. He was personally acquainted with a large number of the men supposed to be eligible to places in his Cabinet ; had served with many of them. Few men in our history have reached the Presidency, of whose powers and abilities to discharge its various duties the country generally has judged so favorably. Probably no one so gifted and cultured had before him reached it. The masses of men and their leaders were in advance prepared to accept his action in a given case without criticism, as judicious and best if not the wisest.

Like Mr. Lincoln, he called two of the competitors for the candidacy at Chicago to the first and second places in his councils.

The first produced surprise, in some quarters, and something more in others, Few, perhaps, questioned the ability and patriotism of the gentleman referred to. It should be remembered that the President knew him thoroughly; knew all that had ever been said of him ; understood his ambitions and the motives likely to in- fluence him; knew what criticism his selection would subject himself to; yet, so far as is known, he was his first and only choice as the head of his Cabinet. A curious paper in the late President's hand is in existence, containing many names grouped for the various places, from the rudiment to the nearly completed list, which he carried to the Capital with him. They all contain but this one name for Secretary of State. It may also be borne in mind, that had he chosen he could have carried Ohio into the convention for this gentleman, and thus have secured his nomination for the Presidency it- self. Instead of attempting that he opposed him. This has some place in estimating the causes and influences which governed his choice. Seemingly nothing has since arisen to compromise its wisdom and fitness.

Securing Mr. Sherman to the Senate, could there have been a more entirely meritorious selection for the Treasury Department? So Pennsylvania was assigned the Depart- ment of Justice. A pure and able lawyer was needed. One with early and assured, anti-slavery opinions and position, with independence of character, was selected.

The grateful sentiment of the country toward Mr. Lincoln was gracefully gratified, and the War office se- cured an able and efficient administrator. The South received just recognition in the person of Judge Hunt, assigned to the Navy, and the Interior placed in the hands of one of the oldest and most experienced of our public men. The fact that General Garfield selected these men, must, with our common mind, go for much in de- termining our estimate of their fitness,

LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD.

POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION.

Practically the new administration ended with the first day of July. The President had formulated no an- nual message; had been called upon to deal with no new complication, had but launched his administration. The minds of his advisers must be explored for all utter- anees, beyond his letter of acceptance and inaugural address .* He succeeded two Republican Presidents, at the head of the same party which had settled the ques- tions of measures and policy, under his advice and leadership. It was not expected that he would depart widely from them. There was little on the surface be- tween the two parties. The canses for disturbance would spring from the Republicans themselves. The old differences, mainly about men, which had hardened to animosities, so hard to be controlled at Chicago, and which weakened the Republican battle of 1880, re-ap- peared at the called session of the Senate, in March, 1881. I only refer to them. All of the elements necessary to a just estimate of them and the parties to them are not in hand, nor is this the time to adjudge them. There may have been error on both sides. The preseience of the President enabled him to see that a direct contest was unavoidable. Unquestionably it were best for him, as for his party and the country, that it take place early and pass away, and he may have pre- cipitated it. However that was, the signs accord with all men's wishes, that the animosities themselves will be en- tombed with the dead President.

THE SOUTH.

To many admitted to the President's conversation, it is known that the South occupied a large share of his thought, and would doubtless have received at his hands every kindness and consideration in his power to render her. Time and new growths are doubtless necessary to restore her to her right position; time and the building up of her material interests and general prosperity. Lit- tle can apparently be done by direct legislation. That little he would doubtless recommend and urge. To people, as to individuals, the best often comes indirectly. Time, with the attention and effort of the Southern peo- ple, turned more directly to their own industries the revelation of their own sources of wealth and material prosperity, the building up of all property and business interests, as the first and most important of things. He would probably have made no formal progresses through the South or elsewhere. He would have taken advan- tage of all occasions to meet them at their own gatherings

and expositions, make himself familiar with their needs and advantages, and let them see and feel the warm and abiding interest he cherished for their well-being and prosperity. The celebration at Yorktown, the cotton ex- position, were to be specially employed for this purpose. No man could have been called to the Presidency of whom the South would expect more, or who had the will and power to do for her so much.

THE CIVIL SERVICE.

To the practical statesman of to-day, undoubtedly civil service reform is one of the toughest problems with which he will be called to deal. It is necessarily that in its essential nature and surroundings. The givings out, and the supposed position of President Garfield, were not satisfactory to many. Curiously enough, all men do not agree in their views of it. He held that the subject was of the gravest importance. He had not developed his ideas in the form of specific recommendations, nor formulated any plan. Unquestionably he contemplated the concurrence of Congress and the Executive. No scheme would be practicable without. A fixed tenure of office for all subordinates was a marked feature with him, while, unquestionably for the gravest reasons, many of the highest functionaries must hold their places at the pleasure of the President .*

The exigeneies of the public service early demonstrated that the State, Treasury, and Post Office departments were in able and vigorous hands.

Undoubtedly among the achievements of the adminis- tration would have been a complete restoration of the American mercantile marine, the re-building of the American navy, and an enlargement and strengthening of the army, to the needs of the National service. So much can be safely said.

LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

The President and his family took possession of the Executive Mansion, and entered upon their new life. Few women, by personal position, within the circles of public and society life at the Capital, more largely en-

*It is said that John Sherman is to prepare a paper from these sources for the Scribner.

* Any scheme of civil service reform that does not fully relieve the President of the fearful burden of seeing and hearing all applicants for all possible places-and many times examine their papers, making en- quiries, hearing charges and counter-charges, carrying forward their cases and finally disposing of them-would leave one of the gravest ills untouched. There is no ruler of a great nation in the world who trans" acts so much of the individual business of the subjects as the President of the United States. Think of President Garfield spending nearly all the hours of every day of his official life in the fearful, thankless, petty, perplexing, wearing labor of seeing all the clamorers for small places in the United States. They were as fatal to Harrison and Taylor as were Booth and Guiteau to Lincoln and Garfield.

RESUMING THE NARRATIVE.

joyed the love, respect, and admiration of the thought- ful and cultured, than she who shared the life and for- tunes of the new head of the Republic. For all of the March evenings and some of the days, the house was open, and a steady succession of visitors shown to the waiting-room till their cards could reach the mistress - following them to the drawing-room, to be graciously re- ceived by the lady, usually supported by Mrs. Blaine or one of the other ladies of the Cabinet ; and attended by Miss Mollie. A usual feature of these evenings was the Mother Eliza, seated in a sheltered place, to whom all the visitors were eager to pay homage. Very often the President, escaping from the besieging throngs, in the upper and executive part of the great building, made his appearance in the rooms, passing from group to group, and thence to the billiard-room, or to the open air for a drive. The memory of these delightful evenings will be long cherished and often recalled.

There was a great multitude of strangers, which seemed fixed in the Capital ; many in the pursuit of places, many cultivated people of leisure, who found the city and its society attractive. Several of the ladies of the new Cabinet set their days and evenings, and a very pleasant semi-season ran through the short vernal months - the spring time of the young administration.

Mrs. Garfield was obliged to restrict her evenings to Wednesdays and Fridays. Then came her own well-nigh fatal illness, which indirectly led to the end of all. The mother and the two youngest children were returned to Ohio; and the recovering mistress of the family, weak and sensitive, was sent away to more quiet scenes, and a purer and more bracing atmosphere. As she entered the depot on the arm of the President the memorable morning of her departure, an almost irresistible impulse to hurry - rush forward through it, as if to escape, came upon her, which the unwarned man, while supporting her, could hardly restrain.

Curiously enough, every member of the Presidential family had a strong repulsion for the Executive Man- sion, quite explicable without resort to the unknown. Large, high, empty, old, dirty, dim, dingy; everything soiled and uncanny. The three older of the young peo- ple were ever ready to escape to places and surroundings more in accord with their lives and sympathies.

What days were those for the President which followed the departure of Mrs. Garfield, toiling vainly to work through the undiminished throng of place-seekers and idle, curious visitors. There were the guardians of the doors below, the ushers and messengers within; the angel of the great stairway at the lower landing; the

usher at the top; the colored porters; the President's ante-rooms. The private secretary's room, with his as- sistants, was the select resort, where, with rare tact and ability the young chief met, received, talked with, sorted out, as with an instinct, the comparatively few to be ad- mitted to the President; and persuaded the multitude that for them it was unnecessary or useless, and who were dismissed with no feeling of repulse or refusal. There were many to whom the doors stood open. There were yet two weeks of June. The programme for the summer was formed, covering three months. The ad- ministration was launched; all the departments at healthy, successful work; peace, favor, and hope, in which the sting of the recent strife was unfelt, pervaded and surrounded the young government, enveloped all the land, and extended to all other lands.

The last night-that of July first, inevitably found many things not done; many unfinished; some to be left with regret ; some gladly postponed, and a few to be escaped from. There were hasty notes and memoranda for the Secretary; many for the Cabinet Ministers and their assistants; and the work for the night and for the time-for all time, ceased.

THE FATAL JULY SECOND.

The nature and spirit of the President were the most elastic and joyous that find abode in the bosoms of men, and he went forth the next morning with a deep, serene exaltation. His remaining children were going with him, going to their mother; finally to Mentor. The whole party preceded him to the depot. Hundreds were in waiting to see him depart. He alighted from his carriage, and arm in arm with his Chief Secretary, as two weeks before with his wife, he entered the same building, was passing the same room. No shuddering impulse came to him; a few steps forward, a slight move- ment near and behind him, a detonation, a puff of white smoke, an ounce of lead through the spinal column, a helpless fall, and that was the end-the final end of all things then and there. The splendid form with its might, its power, its beauty, that had breasted the battle on fire-swept fields, and towered above men in the con- tests of giants in the Capitol, never was to rise again. That great domed head, with its mighty brain, shall never again be lifted in the presence of men; that trumpet voice that called men to stem the bloody fight, that so often rung out over the land proclaiming great truths and calling doubting, discouraged men back to principle and duty, has sunk to a child's whisper. This is the end. Look at him where he fell! Think of it! This is the end! The end of rule, the end of achieve-

LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD.

ment. There is no future, only the secured past. All that he was, all that he had achieved, seemed but pre" paratory steps, preliminary to greater and higher. They are now his and our all. He was never so great, so high, so strong : never with such hold and grash upon empire and men, their love and willing service; and here he perishes under our eyes.

What do we think now of special interpositions; spe- cial raisings up for great work and high destinies? Did they conduct to this, or was there something amiss ? Why was not Grant nominated at Chicago, or Blaine, Sherman, anyone? Was the great contest of 1880, the success, the splendor of induction into office only to conduct him to this hour? Vain babble, and senseless.

The man breathed. His rare union of physical excel- lences, the wonderful force and vigor of the vital organs, though shaken and greatly disturbed by the fatal intruder lodged in their midst, did not cease their functions. Men stood for an instant ghastly with surprise and hor- ror, and then they bore him to an upper room, laid

The qualities of character, of temper, and mind, which had won for the sufferer the first place of power and honor an American can reach; the first in the hearts and judgments of his countrymen; high courage, inflex- ible will, exhaustless endurance, boundless good nature, were never more conspicuous than in all the long, great, losing battle, which he fought-not for himself alone, for ambition, nor love of life, nor yet for wife and chil- dren, dear as they all were; but for the best in his coun- try's hope, the dearest in her history, yet to be com- pleted; the most precious things in the aspirations of the race of men; and he was never so great, so truly a hero, as during all the days of fading life which followed.

And she whose place and love were nearest-parts of

himself-wore through those days in the exercise of qual- ities as high and noble as those of her dying consort. Laboring for him alone, unconscious that she was win- ning for herself a place in history, giving tender grace and dignity to his passing hours; and consecrating her- self to the love and reverence of her countrymen.

The unexpected has attended and ruled the life, as it terminated the career of this remarkable man. His mother had for many months cautioned him to the care of his life against assassins. Vague impressions of evil, impending over the house of Garfield, had disturbed the minds of others." Seemingly he was the most secure of mortals. The absence of enmity, the wide and general favor of men, the wish and expectation of the Nation, the blamelessness of his life, seemed to ensure and guard him against the approach of violence. In his courage and confidence all men shared, and assassination seemed not within the horizon of possibility.

In a way the murder of Mr. Lincoln was within the scope of events. The head of the Nation at war with a him on his left side on a mattress, with his face to an , nation of rebels, assassination to advance the adverse open window, and men of rare skill knelt by him and sought the course of the projectile, took the evidence of witnesses, calculated force, distance, and bearing to di- agnose the probable result. An hour later he was borne back to the Presidential residence. The recovered wife , The first sensation of our people was absolute incredulity was summoned to his side, a council of the skilled and learned pronounced the injury fatal, and named twelve o'clock of that night as the probable limit of existence. The stimulating presence of his wife, and the muster of his own energies which came with the reaction, enabled the stricken man in a way to take the case, and seemingly for a time his destiny, into his own hands. Thenceforward the surgeons and physicians became but his counsellors and assistants. The world knows the history of this wonderful case. It was a National clinic. None will turn to this scant page for a sketch of it. cause, or revenge its failure, was, if not logical, within the rationale of events. Years of battle and bloodshed had schooled the American people for deeds of violence. This day, its spirit and deed, are the antithesis of that. of the event. The first emotion was amazement and horror. In its presence the assassin escaped to the sanc- tuary of a prison. As the confirmed announcement ran through the land, for a time, all the avocations of life ceased. It was the end of orderly events, a dissolution for the moment of the primal bond of society. Men on journeys felt that they must hurry home, and separated families must at once reunite. It crossed the wastes of oceans and startled rulers and peoples alike. It was a great crime against civilization, horrible to all : without aggravation, without palliation.

All government, whatever its form, wisdom or justice, is essentially one and the same thing. All Governors, whatever their dignity and functions, occupy the same real position to the thing government, and persons gov- erned. The history of all races confirms our own, that the persons of the highest functionaries are jeculiail exposed to peril, and the American people will, in duty to their Presidents, and in care of their own well-being, be compelled to employ the best devised means sug- gested by the common experience of mankind to secure both.

The President fell on Saturday, the second day of July. The National spirit ebbed or flowed, as the official bul- letins of his condition gave margin for hope, or cause

RESUMING THE NARRATIVE.

for depression. All stood in suspense awaiting ; as all things seemingly depended on the result. Hot and fiery July ran into more torrid, and less endurable August, and yet he lived. August poured its heat and fervor into fierce September ; and on Tuesday, the 6th of that month, in the cool of the early morning, amid the silent tears and the bowed and uncovered heads of the people of the Capital, he was borne away to the seashore. A few still sheltered a diminished hope of his recovery. With them it had become a sentiment growing stronger under cherishing and tears, as the foundation on which hope alone could stand dissolved under its airy feet How fiercely they defended it. The breath of the ocean toned up the sufferer, and there came back a ray of com- fort-of hope.

There had been the black Fridays and the darker Saturdays. These would recur no more.

Anxious groups gathered at nightfall of the 19th, around the thousands of bulletin boards: and the un despairing went away, with enough to bear them through the night. Ere midnight, as the deepening silence grew solemn, the bells tolled out through all the land; and all the people knew the President was dead.

While these broken lines run on, the Nation and peo- ple are giving their own expression to their great sorrow.

The political changes, if any, to follow this the saddest event in our history, are undeveloped. In the nature of things they will be grave.

The full significance of that event to the Nation and to parties may not appear for years. Not all evil can it be; compensation already appears.

Its effect upon the careers and histories of individuals is less obscure. How many fell with the President! A dissolution of the band of men whom he called about him, seems inevitable. What sad endings and goings away there will be. How many hopes and expectations built on him perished; words spoken that cannot be followed by actions; beginnings broken off; delays that never can be retrieved. Yet how paltry are all these compared with the great loss of the people and Nation. After all, the Republic survives its head-all its heads, and will go on its own high appointed way; the race of men more and greater than the greatest man, and God and the American people will care for those nearest the fallen Chief.

The moral lesson of this event may not now he profitably speculated about. It is an ordeal to the relig- ious faith and sentiment of men. God would not spare his life to the earnest and persistent supplication of the Christian world. In the midst of its fervid outpouring he died. To them it only shows that God knew his pur-

pose better than they, and the means for its accomplish- ment. His plans run through centuries-eternity, and vindicate themselves to the ages, let generations of men clamor as they may. James A. Garfield had worked out all that depended on his life. His death may have been a rebuke to party strife, to public vice. The best loved of all, should be so smitten, that every household and individual should lay it to heart, and be profited. It was needed as a trial of faith, a trier of hearts and lives, a National expiation, it may be.

Those who discredit Providence and all supervising power, nevertheless believe in law, however it became es- tablished. Law as inflexibly rules the actions and minds of men as it does the stars and properties of matter. The event, though seemingly accidental as far as the victim was involved, was nevertheless the product of anterior and ever-present law, became itself a new influence, the source of other events, in the chains of which it was a most important, perhaps productive, link, working out good and ill as men define them, showing results here and hiding them there. In their view much good will flow from this deed in the nature of things. They are not optimists. For them no benignant power will over- rule all the seeming ill for final good. Nor does the con. ceded system of law produce such a result.

It is for most men to see the mighty hand in this. to accept its doings, and trust with humble faith, as would he whom all deplore.

Upon the demise of the President, the instruments of the surgeons revealed the latest known of the unexpected that have waited on his footsteps. It is a solace to know that, in the nature of things, the hurt was unto death. That nothing but the visible laying bare of the Almighty arm by an absolute miracle could restore him. That this was not wrought does not greatly disturb the faiths of men.

The end came on the 19th, one of the nineteens which hung so curiously in the margin of Garfield's strong, healthy mind.

On the 20th he made his fourth and last entry into the Capital. Let the reader contrast it with the scenes when he came to take possession of his Government. Coming embalmed to a city in black. to a silent, weeping people ; and the two days in the rotunda, the Friday's ceremony, the standing of the living President and ex-Presidents by his casket; the solemn movement over the east portico; the procession up the avenue, borne by the hearse now; the deposit in the draped cars, the mourning procession through Maryland, through Penn- sylvania; the reception by the mother State, in whose bosom he is to rest. His tomb is to be built on beauti. ful, sloping ground, overlooking the broad, ocean-like lake, the sight of which in his boyhood awoke his first longing for the sea.

And so comes the end, and with it comes rest. WASHINGTON, D. C., September 24.

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History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 140

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers Number of Pages: 574

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574