Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.—The New York Mob.—Garfield's Memorable Words.—Eulogy upon Lincoln.—Memorial Oration.—Eulogy upon Senator Morton.—Extracts from other Orations.
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.—The New York Mob.—Garfield's Memorable Words.—Eulogy upon Lincoln.—Memorial Oration.—Eulogy upon Senator Morton.—Extracts from other Orations.
It is the morning after the fateful fourteenth of April, 1865. From the Atlantic shore to the Pacific the whole startled nation is in the wildest state of excitement. President Lincoln, with the glorious words of Emancipation still warm upon his lips, has been shot down by the hand of Booth. The newsboys shout through the streets that Seward is dying—that the lives of other Government officers have been assailed!
A furious mob rules the thoroughfares of New York and clamors for revenge. One man who is suspected of rebel sentiments is shot dead on the spot; another instant and his adversary lies beside him in the gutter.
"To theWorld! To the office of theWorld!" shout the rabble, bearing high above their heads a roughly constructed gallows.
Suddenly, a tall, manly figure steps forward with a small flag in his hand.
"Another telegram from Washington!" exclaims a chorus of excited voices.
A dead silence follows, and then, with a reverential glance heavenward, the stranger begins in clear, deep tones,—
"Fellow-citizens! clouds and darkness are round about Him. His pavilion is dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Justice and judgment are the establishment of His throne. Mercy and truth shall go before His face. Fellow citizens, God reigns, and the Government at Washington still lives!"
An eye-witness writes of the memorable scene:
"The crowd stood riveted to the ground with awe, gazing at the motionless orator, and thinking of God and the security of the Government in that hour. As the boiling wave subsides and settles to the sea, when some strong wind beats it down, so the tumult of the people sank and became still. All took it as a divine omen. It was a triumph of eloquence, inspired by the moment, such as falls to but one man's lot, and that but once in a century. The genius of Webster, Choate, Everett, Seward, never reached it. What might have happened had the surging and maddened crowd been let loose, none can tell. The man for the crisis was on the spot, more potent than Napoleon's guns at Paris. I inquired what was his name. The answer camein a low whisper, 'It is General Garfield of Ohio!'"
"God reigns; and the Government at Washington still lives!" With what majestic eloquence those immortal words come back to us to-day! With what quickened sympathies we re-read his grand eulogy delivered a year later in Congress, upon Abraham Lincoln, the martyred president!
Have not the American people repeated one of those "times in the history of men and nations when they stand so near the veil that separates mortals from immortals, time from eternity, and men from their God, that they can almost hear the beatings and feel the pulsations of the heart of the Infinite?"
Through its parting folds the thin veil has admitted another "martyr president to the company of the dead heroes of the Republic." Shall not the whispers of God be heard by the children of men? Awe-stricken by His voice, shall not the American people again "kneel in tearful reverence and make a solemn covenant with Him and with each other that this nation shall be saved from its enemies, and the temples of freedom and justice built upon foundations that shall survive forever?"
Upon the birthday of Lincoln, February 12th, 1878, when Carpenter's painting of "The Emancipation"was presented to Congress by Mrs. Thompson, Garfield delivered another memorial oration, from which we quote the following beautiful passages:—
"The representatives of the nation have opened the doors of this Chamber to receive at her hands a sacred trust. In coming hither, these living representatives have passed under the dome and through that beautiful and venerable hall, which, on another occasion, I have ventured to call the third House of American Representatives, that silent assembly whose members have received their high credentials at the impartial hand of history. Year by year, we see the circle of its immortal membership enlarging; year by year, we see the elect of their country, in eloquent silence, taking their places in this American pantheon, bringing within its sacred precincts the wealth of those immortal memories which made their lives illustrious; and year by year, that august assembly is teaching deeper and grander lessons to those who serve in these more ephemeral Houses of Congress.
"Abraham Lincoln" (and may we not say the same of James Abram Garfield?) "was one of the few great rulers whose wisdom increased with his power, and whose spirit grew gentler and tenderer as his triumphs were multiplied.
"His character is aptly described in the wordsof England's great laureate—written thirty years ago—in which he traces the upward steps of some
'Divinely gifted man,Whose life in low estate began,And on a simple village green;'Who breaks his birth's invidious bar,And grasps the skirts of happy chance,And breasts the blow of circumstance,And grapples with his evil star;'Who makes by force his merit known,And lives to clutch the golden keys,To mould a mighty State's decrees.And shape the whisper of the throne;'And moving up from high to higher,Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope,The pillar of a people's hope,The centre of a world's desire.'
'Divinely gifted man,Whose life in low estate began,And on a simple village green;
'Who breaks his birth's invidious bar,And grasps the skirts of happy chance,And breasts the blow of circumstance,And grapples with his evil star;
'Who makes by force his merit known,And lives to clutch the golden keys,To mould a mighty State's decrees.And shape the whisper of the throne;
'And moving up from high to higher,Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope,The pillar of a people's hope,The centre of a world's desire.'
"Such a life and character will be treasured forever as the sacred possession of the American people and of mankind."
Again, in Garfield's eulogy upon Senator Morton of Indiana, how truly the words apply to himself:—
"His force of will was most masterful. It was not mere stubbornness, or pride of opinion, which weak and narrow men mistake for firmness. But it was that stout-hearted persistency which, having once intelligently chosen an object, pursues itthrough sunshine and storm, undaunted by difficulties, and unterrified by danger.
"He possessed an intellect of remarkable clearness and force. With keen analysis he found the core of a question, and worked from the centre outward.... Few men have been so greatly endowed with the power of clear statement and unassailable argument. The path of his thought was straight,—
'Like that of the swift cannon-ballShattering that it may reach, andShattering what it reaches."
'Like that of the swift cannon-ballShattering that it may reach, andShattering what it reaches."
"When he had hit the mark, he used no additional words, and sought for no decoration. These qualities, joined to his power of thinking quickly, placed him in the front rank of debaters, and every year increased his power."
One of Garfield's most popular eulogies was that upon John Winthrop and Samuel Adams, from which we quote the following striking passages:—
"It must not be forgotten that while Samuel Adams was writing the great argument of liberty in Boston, almost at the same time Patrick Henry was formulating the same doctrines in Virginia. It is one of the grandest facts of that grand time that the colonies were thus brought, by an almost universal consent, to tread the same pathway, and reach the same great conclusions.
"But most remarkable of all is the fact that, throughout all that period, filled as it was with the revolutionary spirit, the men who guided the storm exhibited the most wonderful power of self-restraint. If I were to-day to state the single quality that appears to me most admirable among the fathers of the revolution, I should say it was this: that amidst all the passions of war, they exhibited so wonderful a restraint, so great a care to observe the forms of law, to protect the rights of the minority, to preserve all those great rights that had come down to them from the common law, so that when they had achieved their independence, they were still a law-abiding people."
When a resolution of thanks was about to be passed in Congress to General Thomas for his generalship in the battle of Chickamauga, Garfield moved an amendment, by inserting the name of General Rosecrans.
After an eloquent appeal in behalf of his old commander, he closed with the following words:—
"Who took command of the Army of the Cumberland,—found the army at Bowling Green, in November, 1862, as it lay disorganized, disheartened, driven back from Alabama, and Tennessee,—and led it across the Cumberland, planted it in Nashville, and thence, on the first day of the new year, planted his banners at Murfreesboro; in torrents of blood, and in the moment of our extremestperil, throwing himself into the breach, saved by his personal labor the Army of the Cumberland and the hopes of the Republic? It was General Rosecrans. From the day he assumed the command at Bowling Green, the history of that army may be written in one sentence—it advanced and maintained its advanced position—and its last campaign under the general it loved was the bloodiest and most brilliant.
"The fruits of Chickamauga were gathered in November, on the heights of Mission Ridge and among the clouds of Lookout Mountain. That battle at Chattanooga was a glorious one, and every loyal heart was proud of it. But, sir, it was won when we had nearly three times the number of the enemy. It ought to have been won. Thank God it was won! I would take no laurel from the brow of the man who won it, but I would remind gentlemen here, that while the battle of Chattanooga was fought with vastly superior numbers on our part, the battle of Chickamauga was fought with still vaster superiority against us.
"If there is any man upon earth whom I honor, it is the man who is named in this resolution—General George H. Thomas. I had occasion, in my remarks on the conscription bill a few days ago, to refer to him in such terms as I delighted to use; and I say to gentlemen here that if there is any man whose heart would be hurt by this resolutionas it now stands, that man is General George H. Thomas. I know, and all know, that he deserves well of his country; and his name ought to be recorded in letters of gold; but I know equally well that General Rosecrans deserves well of his country.
"I ask you then, not to pain the heart of a noble man, who will be burdened with the weight of these thanks that wrong his brother officer and superior in command. All I ask is that you will put both names into the resolution, and let them stand side by side."
It is needless to add that the amendment was accepted, and that the name of General Rosecrans was inserted with that of General Thomas.
The Home in Washington.—"Fruit between Leaves."—Classical Studies.—Mrs. Garfield.—Variety of Reading.—Favorite Verses.
The Home in Washington.—"Fruit between Leaves."—Classical Studies.—Mrs. Garfield.—Variety of Reading.—Favorite Verses.
In a private letter to Colonel Rockwell, dated August 30th, 1869, Garfield writes:—
"It seems as though each year added more to the work that falls to my share. This season I have the main weight of the Census Bill and the reports to carry, and the share of the Ohio campaign that falls to me; and in addition to all this I am running in debt and building a house in Washington.
"On looking over my accounts, I found I had paid out over five thousand dollars since I first went to Congress, for rent alone, and all this is a dead loss; so, finding an old staff-officer (Major D. G. Swaim), I negotiated enough to enable me to get a lot on the corner of Thirteenth and I Streets, north, opposite to Franklin Square, and I have got a house three-quarters done. It may be a losing business, but I hope I shall be able to sell it when I am done with it, so as to save myself the rent."
This house, where Garfield and his family spent so many happy hours during their winter sojourns in Washington, is a plain brick mansion with a wing built out on the east side to accommodate his fine library. The parlor windows look out upon Franklin Square and the corner of I and Thirteenth Streets.
To a visitor ushered into this pleasant, cheery drawing-room, the first object that greeted the eye was an excellent portrait of "Grandma Garfield," which hung over the grand piano. On the opposite side was a beautiful painting of "Little Trot," the baby-girl whose loss the loving father never ceased to deplore. The room was tastefully but simply furnished, and in the small sitting-room, leading out of the parlor, the pretty desk piled up with books and papers, seemed the most important piece of furniture.
The dining-room with its Japanese dado, and its chairs and table of Austrian bent wood was a particularly pleasant room. Just above the mantel hung a half-finished sketch of an old-time knight balancing in one hand an empty glass, and leaning the other upon an inn table.
An artist friend began the painting with the intention of carrying out an ideal that Garfield had once expressed at a Shakespearian gathering. Dying before the picture was finished, the painter left only an outline of the idea, but that outline,Garfield valued very highly. His love for pictures was almost as great as his love for books, and the walls of this plain little house in Thirteenth Street were adorned with many choice paintings and engravings.
Just over the dining-room was the library where Garfield spent the greater part of his time, when free from congressional duties. In the centre stood a large black walnut office-desk with its accompaniments of pigeon-holes, boxes and drawers, filled to overflowing. Six or seven book-cases, holding in all some three thousand volumes, stood against the walls; and scrap-books of all shapes and sizes confronted you everywhere.
It used to be a common saying in Congress that no man in Washington could stand before the army of facts that Garfield could bring forward at a moment's notice. This readiness was largely due to his systematic course of reading, and his invaluable method ofindexing. For instance: if an author's views on some subject struck him as particularly good and worth remembering, he would immediately make a note of it in his commonplace-book, giving with the topic, the volume, and page where the extract could be found. In this manner a rich fund of information was always at hand; his "fruit between leaves" was always ready to gather.
The record of the Congressional Library showsthat he took out more books than any other member of Congress; and his reading embraced every variety of subject, history, biography, law, politics, philosophy, government, and poetry.
At one time, during an unusually busy session, a friend found him behind a big barricade of books.
"I find I'm overworked," he said, "and need recreation. Now my theory is that the best way to rest the mind is not to let it lie idle, but to put it at something quite outside the ordinary line of employment. So, I am resting by learning all the Congressional Library can show about Horace, and the various editions and translations of his poems."
Mrs. Garfield showed the same love for the classics as her husband. A year or two ago, he said,—
"I taught my wife Latin at Hiram, and she was as good a pupil as I had. She is now teaching the same Latin to my two big boys."
Mary Clemmer wrote of her:—
"Mrs. Garfield has the 'philosophic mind' that Wordsworth sings of, and she has a self-poise, a strength of unswerving absolute rectitude. Much of the time that other women give to distributing visiting cards, Mrs. Garfield has spent in the alcoves of the Congressional Library, searching out books to carry home to study.... Shehas moved on in the tranquil tenor of her unobtrusive way, in a life of absolute devotion to duty; never forgetting the demands of her position or neglecting her friends, yet making it her first charge to bless her home, to teach her children, to fit her boys for college, to be the equal friend, as well as the honored wife, of her husband."
From a letter of Garfield's to President Hinsdale we follow the indefatigable reader in still another course of study:—
"Since I left you I have made a somewhat thorough study of Goethe and his epoch, and have sought to build up in my mind a picture of the state of literature and art in Europe, at the period when Goethe began to work, and the state when he died. I have grouped the various facts into order, have written them out, so as to preserve a memoir of the impression made upon my mind by the whole. The sketch covers nearly sixty pages of manuscript. I think some work of this kind outside the track of one's every day work is necessary to keep up real growth."
In another letter to the same friend, he writes:—
"I have found a book which interests me very much. You may have seen it; if not I hope you will get it. It is entitled, 'Ten Great Religions' by James Freeman Clarke. I have read the chapter on Buddhism with great interest. It is admirably written, in a liberal and philosophicspirit, and I am sure will interest you. What I have read of it leads me to believe that we have taken too narrow a view of the subject of religion."
Again, when a fit of sickness confined him to the house, he says—
"I am taking advantage of this enforced leisure to do a great deal of reading. Since I was taken sick I have read the following: Sherman's two volumes, Leland's 'English Gypsies', George Borrow's 'Gypsies of Spain', Borrow's 'Rommany Rye', Tennyson's 'Mary', seven volumes of Froude's England, several plays of Shakespeare, and have made some progress in a new book, 'The History of the English People,' by Prof. Green of Oxford."
For light literature, Garfield usually turned to Thackeray, Scott, Dickens, Jane Austen, Kingsley, or Honoré de Balzac. He was fond of poetry, and his voluminous scrap-books contained many gems, from one of which we cull the following verses, said to be his especial favorites.—
"Commend me to the friend that comesWhen I am sad and lone,And makes the anguish of my heartThe suffering of his own,Who coldly shuns the glittering throngAt pleasure's gay leveeAnd comes to gild a sombre hourAnd give his heart to me."He hears me count my sorrows o'er;And when the task is doneHe freely gives me all I ask,—A sigh for every one.He cannot wear a smiling faceWhen mine is touched with gloom,But like the violet seeks to cheerThe midnight with perfume."Commend me to that generous heartWhich like the pine on high,Uplifts the same unvarying browTo every change of sky,Whose friendship does not fade awayWhen wintry tempests blow,But like the winter's icy crownLooks greener through the snow."He flies not with the flitting stork.That seeks a southern sky,But lingers where the wounded birdHath lain him down to die.Oh, such a friend! He is in truth,Whate'er his lot may beA rainbow on the storm of life,An anchor on its sea."
"Commend me to the friend that comesWhen I am sad and lone,And makes the anguish of my heartThe suffering of his own,Who coldly shuns the glittering throngAt pleasure's gay leveeAnd comes to gild a sombre hourAnd give his heart to me.
"He hears me count my sorrows o'er;And when the task is doneHe freely gives me all I ask,—A sigh for every one.He cannot wear a smiling faceWhen mine is touched with gloom,But like the violet seeks to cheerThe midnight with perfume.
"Commend me to that generous heartWhich like the pine on high,Uplifts the same unvarying browTo every change of sky,Whose friendship does not fade awayWhen wintry tempests blow,But like the winter's icy crownLooks greener through the snow.
"He flies not with the flitting stork.That seeks a southern sky,But lingers where the wounded birdHath lain him down to die.Oh, such a friend! He is in truth,Whate'er his lot may beA rainbow on the storm of life,An anchor on its sea."
Tide of Unpopularity.—Misjudged.—Vindicated.—Re-elected.—The De Golyer Contract.—The Salary Increase Question.—Incident related by President Hinsdale.
Tide of Unpopularity.—Misjudged.—Vindicated.—Re-elected.—The De Golyer Contract.—The Salary Increase Question.—Incident related by President Hinsdale.
It was impossible for a man of strong independent views like Garfield, to mount the ladder of fame so rapidly without meeting some opposition.
A lawyer by profession, he was at one time called to appear in the Supreme Court in behalf of some Confederates who had been tried by a court-martial and condemned to death. Of this case an able writer says, the rebels had been "tried by martial law in a State, in time of peacede factoin the State, and in a section of State not under martial law. The legal question was, whether any military body had such power under the circumstances. Should the civil power be ignored in time of peace, or in sections of the country where martial law had not been proclaimed? It was a case for which Garfield received no pay, and was undertaken as a test of this important principle."
By his clear, forcible presentation of the case and the law, in which he was fully sustained by theCourt and the presiding justice—the criminals were finally set at liberty.
When the Ohio district that sent Garfield to Congress, heard that he had been pleading in Court for condemned rebels, a large proportion voted against him. As soon, however, as the facts of the case were fully known, the tide of popular feeling again turned towards their favorite leader, and Garfield was re-elected.
The De Golyer contract was the next to excite unfavorable comment. But again, when a thorough investigation had been made, Garfield was found to be entirely innocent of the charges brought against him.
Mr. Wilson, the chairman of the Congressional Committee of Investigation, gives a clear statement of the case as follows:—.
"The Board of Public Works at Washington was considering the question as to the kind of pavements that should be laid. There was a contest as to the respective merits of various wooden pavements. Mr. Parsons represented, as attorney, the De Golyer & McClellan patent, and being called away from Washington about the time the hearing was to be had before the Board of Public Works on this subject, procured General Garfield to appear before the Board in his stead and argue the merits on this patent. This he did, and this was the whole of his connection in the matter.It was not a question as to the kind of contract that should be made, but as to whether this particular kind of pavement should be laid. The criticism of the committee was not upon thepavementin favor of which General Garfield argued, but was upon thecontractmade with reference to it; and there was no evidence which would warrant the conclusion that he had anything to do with the latter."
There were forty kinds of pavement presented, and for drawing up a brief in favor of the De Golyer patent, Garfield received a fee of five thousand dollars.
This was an honorable business transaction. "There was not in my opinion," adds Mr. Wilson, "any evidence that would have warranted any unfavorable criticism upon his conduct."
Garfield defended himself in a manly, straightforward manner. "If anybody in the world," he said in conclusion, "holds that my fee in connection with this pavement, even by suggestion or implication, had any relation whatever to any appropriation by Congress for anything connected with this District, or with anything else, it is due to me, it is due to this committee, and it is due to Congress, that that person be summoned. If there be a man on this earth who makes such a charge, that man is the most infamous perjurer that lives, and I shall be glad to confront him anywhere in this world."
The political opponents of Garfield delighted to call him a "salary grabber," but with how much justice the following facts will show.
On the 7th of February, 1873, a bill was presented in Congress, together with a report submitted by B. F. Butler, from the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, for the passing of the so-called retroactive law. Its object was to increase the pay of members of Congress for past services, a measure that Garfield strenuously opposed from the first. A few days later Butler tried to incorporate it with the miscellaneous appropriation bill. Of the whole matter, Garfield spoke as follows:—
"I wish to state in a few words the condition of the salaries-increase question in the conference committee of the Senate and the House. The Senate conferees were unanimous in favor of fixing the salary at $7,500 and cutting off all allowance except actual individual travelling expenses of a member from his home to Washington and back again, once a session. That proposition was agreed to by a majority of the conferees on the part of the House. I was opposed to the increase in the conference as I have been opposed to it in the discussion and in my votes here; but my associate conferees were in favor of the Senate amendment, and I was compelled to choose between signing the report and running the risk of bringingon an extra session of Congress. I have signed the report, and I present it as it is, and ask the House to act on it in accordance with its best judgment."
Garfield felt that Congress had no right to increase its own pay, but those who favored the plan had attached it to another bill that he very much desired to see passed.
President Hinsdale who was in Washington at the time, says,—
"There is an incident connected with that bill which I will relate, not because I was concerned in it, but because it shows something of the working of Garfield's mind. I got to Washington on Saturday, and on Sunday there was a long session of the committee on appropriations devoted to the discussion of the increase of salaries. This feature was a rider on one of the most important appropriation bills. Garfield opposed the rider, but was overruled by the committee. On Monday, I happened to pass the room of the committee on appropriations and I found General Garfield walking up and down the corridor. He said to me,—
"'I've got 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 GeneralButler, 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.
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.
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 alleged 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 railroad brought it again into notice.
By using the charter of this Credit Mobilier, Mr. Oakes Ames and his associates saw an opportunity of making large sums of money. They bought up a majority of the stock of the 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 smallerstockholders 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 to invest.
The following July, 1867, 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 chairman, "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?"
"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 never parted with any money, nor received any money on that transaction?"
"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 Mr. Ames, not to General Garfield.
It was conclusively proved that Garfield's name was not among 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 addedperjury, these lines are not addressed to him. If there be one who thinks that any part of my public life has been gauged on 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 CincinnatiEnquirerat 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 yet 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 livefinely, 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 Garfield'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 Congress of the United States), I have tried to do one thing. I have represented, for many years a district in Congress whose approbation I greatly desired, 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 Garfield. 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 WashingtonEvening Star:—
"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 playTheir 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 linesOf 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!"
"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 playTheir 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 linesOf 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!"
Private Residence of Gen. James A. Garfield.Private Residence of Gen. James A. Garfield, Mentor, Ohio.
After the Ordeal.—Unanimous Vote of the General Assembly 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.
After the Ordeal.—Unanimous Vote of the General Assembly 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 Senator 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.
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 fine farm of a hundred and twenty acres.
The little cottage upon the ground would accommodate 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 pleasantest rooms on the second floor are fitted up especially for "Grandma Garfield;" one of these has a large, old-fashionedfire-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 snuggery." 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 reference, 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 society at Washington.
"Isn't it strange," exclaimed Garfield, to one of his guests, "how a man will revive his early attachment to farm-life? For twenty-five years I scarcely remained on a farm 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 forward each year to his summer at Mentor.
Oftentimes, his visitors would find him out in the fields, tossing hay with his boys, superintending the farm-work, or planning some new improvement.
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. He 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,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 Eastern 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-bewitching smile, are the most attractive features of a thoroughly expressive face. She is a quick observer, 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 examination 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.
"I had," said Garfield, "a personal acquaintance with General McDowell, and I knew him to be an upright man and a good officer, and consequently 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 become so familiar to us, is a bright, active old lady of eighty years.
"I have seen Garfield," writes Mr. Campbell, the editor of theWheeling Intelligencer, "in the midst of his plain home life—beneath his Western Reserve cottage farm-house. 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,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 confront the glory of the Heavenly City."