From pioneer home to the White House : life of Abraham Lincoln: boyhood, youth, manhood, assassination, death [excerpts]

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FROM

PIONEER HOME

TO

THE WHITE HOUSE.

LIFE OF

ABRAHAM LINCOLN:

BOYHOOD, YOUTH, MANHOOD, ASSASSINATION, DEATH.

BY

WILLIAM M. THAYER,

AUTHOR OF " FROM LOG CABIN TO THE WHITE HOUSE," ETC.

TOit]^ 3EuIos2
By HON. GEORGE BANCROFT.

ENLARGED, REVISED, AND NEWLY ILLUSTRATED.

NORWICH, CONN. :

THE HENRY BILL PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1882.

'^- G-reditzer.

Cepyright, 1882,
By William M. Thayer.

All Rights Reserved.

Boston Steeeottpe FotiNDBY,
1 Feabl Street.

ALL WHO HONOR TRUE MANHOOD,
Cfjts "Ealuvxz,

PORTRAYING THE SIMPLICITY, TACT, TALENTS, SELF-RELIANCE,
AND STERLING HONESTY OF

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

IN HIS EARLY CONFLICT WITH POVERTY AND HARDSHIP,

AND HIS REMARKABLE PUBLIC

LIFE,

lis Sinccrclg anU 'SHUctianatel^ ©clitcatelj.

PREFACE.

'T^HE author of this volume wrote the first Life of
Abraham Lincoln — The Pioneer Boy, and
HOW HE BECAME PRESIDENT — which, after a very-
large sale, passed out of print in consequence of the
destruction of the plates by fire. A Campaign Life
of only thirty-two pages, relating chiefly to his public
career, was issued at the West, after his nomination for
the Presidency in i860; but The Pioneer Boy was
the first complete biography of the man. Dr. Holland
said of it, several years later, in his Life of Lincoln,
" A singularly faithful statement of the early experience
of Abraham Lincoln." The materials for the Cam-
paign Life spoken of were furnished by Mr. Lincoln,
and he very kindly directed that pamphlet, with a
quantity of unused matter, to be passed into our hands,
together with the names and addresses of several of
his early associates, reared with him in the wilderness,
and of intimate friends in later life, from whom the
most valuable information, never before given to the
public, was received. From these sources of knowledge
The Pioneer Boy was prepared.

In the preparation of this new, larger and more elab-
orate Life of Lincoln, we have had, in addition to the
above sources of information, others of even greater
value, at least so far as his character and public services
relate.

6 PREFACE.

Subsequent to the issue of the former volume, the
author, having in view the preparation of a more
thorough biography at a future day, gathered much
valuable information from public men, who were on the
most intimate terms with President Lincoln at Wash-
ington, as Sumner, Wilson, Buckingham, and Ames,
who are dead, and others who are still living. Also,
periodical literatuje has furnished many facts and anec-
dotes, from time to time, which have been carefully
laid aside. Last, though by no means least, access to
the numerous lives of Lincoln published since his death
— Dr. Holland's, Lamon's, Barrett's, Leland's, Forney's,
and Raymond's — has been especially serviceable in the
preparation of this volume. That very interesting
work of Carpenter — Six Months in the White
House — has furnished a fund of incident, illustrative
of Mr. Lincoln's character and ability.

From these ample sources of material, the author
has endeavored to make a biography for popular read-
ing such as the times demand. The very large sale of
his recent life of President Garfield — From Log-
Cabin to the White House — created an active de-
mand for The Pioneer Boy, which fact seemed to
mark the present time as providential for the issue of
this new life of the martyr President.

The perusal of this work will satisfy the reader that
the author's claim, in the Preface to the Log-Cabin,
that Garfield and Lincoln were remarkably alike in the
circumstances of birth, early struggles, and later ex-
perience, was fully justified. The fact is without a
parallel in the history of public men — such marvellous
coincidences from their birth in log-cabins to their

PREFACE. 7

assassination in the White House. Apart from this
likeness, however, the hfe of Lincoln as an example of
industry, tact, perseverance, application, energy, econ-
omy, honesty, purity, devotion to principle, and triumph
over obstacles in a successful career, presents a profit-
able study to the youth and young men of this and
other lands. The only parallel to it is that of Pres-
ident Garfield, with which we aim to connect this later
volume. The names of these two illustrious statesmen
are for ever associated in the history of our Republic.
It is well nigh impossible to separate them in the
thoughts of men. Statesmen of such power and in-
fluence, beginning their lives in want and obscurity
and ending them in the White House, cut off at last
by the shot of the assassin, must find their niche
together in the temple of fame. One other name only
of the great and good men of the past naturally affiliates
with these two — that of George Washington — the life
of whom will follow this as soon as it can be prepared,
bearing the title. From Farm House to the White
House. These three — Washington, Lincoln, and
Garfield — remarkably alike in their early precocity
and the wisdom and influence of manhood — furnish
stimulating examples to American readers.

Incidents are brought to the front in this life of
Lincoln, as they were in that of Garfield, and they
are made to portray the life of the man. Facts are
better than logic to exhibit the elements of personal
character; therefore, we let incidents tell the story of
his life.

When Abraham Lincoln was consulted respecting
his biography, after his nomination for the Presidency

e PREFACE.

in i860, he replied: " You can find the whole of my
early life in a single line of Gray's Elegy :

" ' The short and simple annals of the poor.' "

While this apt reply revealed the simplicity of the
man, it introduced the biographer at once to the open-
ing of a marvellous life. For, surely, that is a marvel-
lous life, when a boy, reared in a floorless log-cabin,
works his way, by dint of perseverance, upward and
onward, into the highest office of the land.

The chief object of the book is to show how its
hero won his position ; yet it incidentally exhibits the
manners and customs of the times, and section of
country, in which he was reared.

' Provincialisms are intentionally avoided, as well as
that singular perversion of the English language that
characterized the unlettered people of Kentucky and
Indiana sixty years ago.

When Mr. Lincoln was alive, and the honored Pres-
ident of the United States, one of his old friends and
neighbors wrote to us : "I have known him long and
well, and I can say in truth, I think (take him altogether)
he is the best man I ever saw. Although he has never
made a public profession of religion, I nevertheless
believe that he has the fear of God before his eyes, and
that he goes daily to a throne of grace, and asks wis-
dom, light, and knowledge, to enable him faithfully to
discharge his duties." The reader will find abundant
confirmation of the friend's eulogy in this volume,

W. M, T.
Franklin, Mass., March, 1882.

K- atn.Mig'TBjif "g^w ru f^. Jt\ fiTa^

Birthplace of Abraham Likcoln.

{

3

CHAPTER I.

BIRTHPLACE.

HE miserable log cabin which the artist fur-
nishes further on in this chapter, tells the
tale of poverty and lowliness into which
Abraham Lincoln was born. It was a floor-
less, doorless, windowless shapty, situated in one of
the most barren and desolate spots of Hardin county,
Kentucky. His father made it his home simply be-
cause he was too poor to own a better one. Nor was
his an exceptional case of penury and want. For the
people of that section were generally poor and un-
lettered, barely able to scrape enough together to keep
the wolf of hunger from their abodes.

Here Abraham Lincoln was born February I2th>
1809. His father's name was Thomas Lincoln; his
mother's maiden name was Nancy Hanks. When
they were married, Thomas was twenty-eight years of
age, and Nancy, his wife, twenty-three. They had
been married three years when Abraham was born;
Their cabin was in that part of Hardin County which is
now embraced in La Rue County, a few miles from
Hodgensville — on the south fork of Nolin Creek. A
perennial spring of water, gushing in silvery brightness
from beneath a rock near by, relieved the barrenness of

A SCHOOLBOY. 3/

a Christian man when he entered upon his pubhc
career, yet he evinced a remarkable familiarity with
the Scriptures. His conversation and public addresses
were often enlivened by quotations and figures from
the Bible. In the sequel it will appear that this one
book must have been the source of that honesty, noble
ambition, adherence to right, and dependence upon
Providence, which signalized his public career.

Three incidents of his life in the White House show
his familiarity with the Bible. At one time he was
very much annoyed by men who complained of promi-
nent ofBcials. To one of these parties, he said, one
day, " Go home, my friend, and read attentively the
tenth verse of the thirteenth chapter of Proverbs."
That verse is, "Accuse not a servant to his master,
lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty." General
Fremont, whom he had relieved of his command, con-
sented to run against him for the Presidency, after
Lincoln's renomination for the office. A small follow-
ing of disappointed politicians and military aspirants
rallied around Fremont. About the time the latter
withdrew his name, — satisfied that his candidacy would
make more enemies than friends, — Mr. Lincoln said to
a public man, who introduced the subject, " Look here ;
hear this ; " and he proceeded to read the following
from the First Book of Samuel, " And every one that
was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and
every one that was discontented, gathered themselves
unto him, and he became captain over them, and there
were with him about four hundred men."

At one time Henry Ward Beecher criticized his ad-
ministration sharply in the " Independent," of which

CHAPTER IV.

A NEW HOME MADE.

T was in the new home in Indiana that
Abraham began to be a genuine pioneer
boy. The ax was the symbol of pioneer
hfe; and here he began to swing one in
dead earnest. From the time he was eight years old
until he had past his majority, he was accustomed to
the almost daily use of the ax. His physical strength
developed with wonderful rapidity, so that he became
one of the most efficient wood-choppers in that region.
After he became President, and the "War of the
Rebellion " was on his hands, he visited the hospi-
tals at City Point, where three thousand sick and
wounded soldiers were sheltered. He insisted upon
shaking hands with every one of them ; and, after per-
forming the feat, and friends were expressing their
fears that his arm would be lamed by so much hand-
shaking, he remarked, — " The hardships of my early
life gave me strong muscles." And, stepping out of
the open door, he took up a very large, heavy ax
which lay there by a log of wood, and chopped vigor-
ously for a few moments, sending the chips flying in
all directions ; and, then pausing, he extended his right
arm to its full length, holding the ax out horizon-

A NEW HOME MADE. 5/

tally, without its even quivering as he held it. Strong
men who looked on — men accustomed to manual labor
— could not hold the same ax in that position for a
moment. When the President left, a hospital steward
gathered up the chips, and laid them aside carefully,
" because they were the chips that Father Abraham
chopped."

It was necessary for the Lincoln family to erect a
habitation as soon as possible, and "a half-faced camp"
could be more easily and quickly built than a cabin,
because it could be constructed of "poles" instead of
logs. For this reason, Mr. Lincoln decided to erect
the "camp" for a temporary abode, and the next year
build a substantial log-cabin. He could cut the logs
and prepare slabs during the winter, so that the labor
of erecting a cabin would not be great after the plant-
ing of the next spring was done.

A "half-faced camp" was "a cabin enclosed on three
sides and open on the fourth," a very poor habitation
for the cold winters of Indiana. But pioneers accepted
almost any device for a shelter, and made the best of
cold, hunger, and hardship.

Abraham began pioneer life by assisting his father
in erecting the "camp." Cutting "poles" was an
easy method of initiating him into the hard work of
chopping wood. It was not, however, until the follow-
ing summer when the more substantial cabin was
erected, that Abraham engaged in the enterprise with
all his heart. A severe winter and unusual exposure
caused him to appreciate a better habitation.

After "clearing some land, and planting com and
vegetables," in the spring of 1817, and the summer

The Pioneek Boy.

Mother of Abraham Lincoln.

DARKER DAYS. 8 1

may be dead when we don't know it, the same as she's
dead when he don't know it."

"Well, there's something in that," answered his
father ; "but we'll see how you can make out writing a
letter."

Pen and paper were provided, and Mr. Lincoln pro-
ceeded to dictate the letter. He directed him to write
about the death of Mrs. Lincoln, when it occurred, and
under what circumstances, and to invite him to visit
them, and preach a funeral sermon. He also gave a
description of their new home, and their journey
thither, and wrote of their future prospects.

"Now read it over," said Mr. Lincoln.

"The whole of it.?"

" Of course ; I want to hear it all. I may think of
something else by that time."

Abraham commenced to read it, while his father sat
the very picture of satisfaction. There was genuine
happiness to him in having his son prepared to write a
letter. Never before had there been a member of his
family who could perform this feat. It was a memor-
able event to him.

"See how much it is worth to be able to write," said
he, as Abraham finished reading the letter. "It's worth
ten times as much as it cost to be able to write only
that one letter."

" It ain't much work to learn to write/' said Abra-
ham ; " I'd work as hard again for it before I'd give
it up."

" You'd have to give it up, if you were knocked about
as I was when a boy."

"I know that."

UPWARD AND ONWARD. 147

One of the finest and most touching tributes ever
paid to his memory was spoken by his mother to Mr.
Herndon, and we quote it here because it had reference
to his early life. She said: —

" Abe was a poor boy, and I can say what scarcely
one woman — a mother — can say, in a thousand.
Abe never gave me a cross word or look, and never
refused, in fact or appearance, to do any thing I re-
quested him. I never gave him a cross word in all
my life. . . . His mind and my mind — what little
I had — seemed to run together. . . . He was
here after he was elected President." Here she
stopped, unable to proceed any further, and after her
grateful emotions had spent themselves in tears, she
proceeded : " He was dutiful to me always. I think
he loved me truly. I had a son, John, who was raised
with Abe. Both were good boys ; but I must say,
both being now dead, that Abe was the best boy I
ever saw, or ever expect to see. I wish I had died
when my husband died. I did not want Abe to run
for President ; did not want him elected ; was afraid
somehow, — felt it in my heart ; and when he came
down to see me, after he was elected President, I felt
that something would befall him, and that I should see
him no more."

Mr. Lamon relates that, when this interview closed,
and Mr. Herndon was about to retire, Mrs. Lincoln
took one of his hands in both of hers, and ringing it,
with the tears streaming down her cheeks, as if loath
to separate from one who knew her "Abe" so
intimately, said : *' Good-by, my good son's friend.
Farewell"

UPWARD AND ONWARD. 151

that he remarked to a Baptist minister who called at
his house : —

"I have here a composition on Temperance, written
by Abe Lincoln, and I think it is a wonderful produc-
tion for such a boy to write. I want you should read
it, and see if you do not agree with me."

" I should be glad to read it, here and now," replied
the minister. " I'm glad that Abe is writing on that
subject." And he applied himself to reading the com-
position at once.

" I agree with you entirely," said the minister, com-
pleting the reading;" it is a remarkable production
for such a boy."

" I would like to see it printed in this temperance
paper," continued Mr. Wood, holding the paper up.

" It is worthy of a place in it," added the minister.

" They publish articles that are not half as good,"
responded Mr. Wood. " You can get this composition
to the editor ; it is right in your way."

"Yes, I can take it there, and should be glad to
do it."

" Well, you take it, and I'll make it right with Abe."

" He won't have any objection, if he is like most
boys/' remarked the minister. " He'll be a little proud
to appear in print."

The minister took the article along with him, and,
subsequently, it appeared in the columns of the paper.
Mr. Wood read it over again in print, and remarked :
"It excels anything there is in the paper." Abra-
ham was both gratified and encouraged by the publi-
cation of his article. The paper was lent to the
families in the neighborhood, after they heard that

UPWARD AND ONWARD. 157

Whatever these "plays" were, Abraham was "a bright
particular star" in them, whenever and wherever his
presence could be secured.

From the time Abraham was eighteen years of age,
his physical strength was remarkable. Some of the
stories about his strength, told by the neighbors, are
almost incredible. He was not only a giant in stature,
but a giant in strength. Observers looked on amazed
at the exhibition. Richardson, a neighbor, declares
that he could carry a load to which the strength of
three ordinary men would scarcely be equal. He
saw him quietly pick up and walk away with "a chicken-
house, made of poles pinned together, and covered, that
weighed at least six hundred, if not much more." At
another time, the Richardsons were building a corn-
crib; Abe was there; and, seeing three or four men
preparing "sticks" upon which to carry some huge
posts, he relieved them of all further trouble by shoulder-
ing the posts, single-handed, and walking away with
them to the place where they were wanted. " He could
strike with a mall," says old Mr. Wood, "a heavier
blow than any man. . . . He could sink an axe deeper
into the wood than any man I ever saw."* Wrestling
was a common and popular sport among pioneers, and
here Abraham excelled all his companions. The sequel
will show how his remarkable physical strength aided
him in the labors, burdens, trials, and responsibilities
of his public life.

* Lamon's Life of Lincoln, p. 52.

A Flat-Boatman.

ON THE FLAT-BOAT. 1 63

pains to explain, and could do it so simply. He was
diffident then, too."

To return to the trip to New Orleans. As soon
as the cargo was loaded, the two boys started upon
their voyage, Abraham serving as " bow-hand, to work
the front oars." It was a very important event in the
life of our young friend, and his heart was greatly
elated. He was floating out into the broad world now.
His young eyes would behold its sights and scenes for
the first time. It is not strange that he pushed out
into the Ohio with a glad heart, and moved down to-
wards the "father of waters" with such anticipation
as never fired his breast before.

" I say, Abe, how many times are you going to upset
before reaching the Mississippi .-' " asked Allen.

" I hardly think we shall do it more than once,"
answered Abraham, " unless you have a better faculty
than I have for loading up again in the water." ,. ^^^j,^

" I didn't think of that ; it would be a hard matter
to reload at the bottom of the river."

" Yes ; and we must look out for accidents, or your
father will wish he had never sent us. I hope we
shall make a capital thing of it."

" I hope so too, or we shall never have another such
a chance. The old man never would have sent me
if it had n't been for you, Abe."

" How so .? "

"Because he thinks you can do most anything
that's possible, and so he was willing to risk me and
all the cargo with you."

" Pshaw ! You are fooling now."

" No such thing ; it's the living truth. I expect he

CHAPTER XIII.

SUNDRY INCIDENTS.

|HERE is very satisfactory evidence that
Abraham went on a trading trip for his
father before he served Mr. Gentry, and
that he built a boat himself for the expedi-
tion. For Mr. Carpenter, the painter, in his " Six
Months in the White House," has the following from
Mr. Lincoln's lips, related to show how he came
into possession of the first dollar he could call his
own : —

In the Executive Chamber, one evening, there
were present a number of gentlemen, among them
Mr. Seward.

A point in the conversation suggesting the thought,
the President said : " Seward, you never heard, did
you, how I earned my first dollar.-' " "No," rejoined
Mr. Seward. "Well," continued Mr. Lincoln, "I was
about eighteen years of age. I belonged, you know,
to what they call down South, the ' scrubs ; ' people
who do not own slaves are nobody there. But we
had succeeded in raising, chiefly by my labor, suffi-
cient produce, as I thought, to justify me in taking it
down the river to sell.

I/O PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

"After much persuasion, •! got the consent of
mother to go, and constructed a' little flat-boat, large
enough to take a barrel or two of things that we had
gathered, with myself and little bundle, down to New
Orleans. A steamer was coming down the river. We
have, you know, no wharves on the Western streams ;
and the custom was, if passengers were at any of the
landings, for them to go out in a boat, the steamer
stopping and taking them on board,

" I was contemplating my new flat-boat, and won-
dering whether I could make it stronger or improve it
in any particular, when two men came down to the
shore in carriages, with trunks, and looking at the dif-
ferent boats, singled out mine, and asked, ' Who owns
this ? ' I answered, somewhat modestly, ' I do.' ' Will
you,' said one of them, 'take us and our trunks out to
the steamer.' 'Certainly,' said I. I was very glad to
have the chance of earning something. I supposed
that each of them would give me two or three bits.
The trunks were put on my flat-boat, the passengers
seated themselves on the trunks, and I sculled them
out to the steamboat.

" They got on board, and I lifted up their heavy
trunks, and put them on deck. The steamer was
about to put on steam again, when I called out that
they had forgotten to pay me. Each of them took
from his pocket a silver half-dollar, and threw it on the
floor of my boat. I could scarcely believe my eyes as
I picked up the money. Gentlemen, you may think
it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to
me a trifle ; but it was a most important incident in
my life. I could scarcely credit that I, a poor boy,

SUNDRY INCIDENTS. 175

Through Abraham's influence a "speaking-meeting,"
or, as we call it now, a lyceum, was started at Gentry-
ville.

" It will be very improving," said Abraham to Nat
Grigsby, "to say nothing about the fun of the thing."
He was making a plea for such an institution.

" If we were all like you, Abe, there would be both
improvement and fun in the thing, but we are not,"
answered Nat. " I'll do what I can, though."

" And that is all any of us can do."

" What will you do at your speaking-meeting } " Nat
continued.

" Speak pieces, discuss questions, and read compo-
sitions," answered Abraham. " We can have real good
times."

" We might if we could all speak and write and argue
as you can," responded Nat. " But most of us will
have to take back seats in such a meeting, I tell you.
But I go in for it."

All the young people favored the enterprise finally,
and not a few of the older ones. It started with flying
colors, and Abraham was in his element. The pieces
he had committed to memory as a pastime now served
him a good purpose, and, more than ever, the people
extolled him. Old Mr. Gentry said, " Abe will make
a great man sure as he lives." One of the enthusiastic
women declared, " He will be President of the United
States yet."

In the discussions, Abraham was logical and witty ;
and every body was on the alert to hear him speak.
Among the questions discussed were, " Which is the
stronger, wind or water .•* " and " Which has the most

176 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

right to complaiiij the negro or the Indian ? " Abra-
hain had picked up much information concerning
wind and water, so that he was not at all limited for
materials in the discussion. On the other question he
had very definite views of his own, and not a little in-
formation collected from here and there. He hated
Indians out of respect to his ancestors, if for no other
reason ; still, he considered them an abused race. But
he spoke for the negro in that debate, and made his
first public plea for the enslaved, at that time, on the
free soil of Indiana.

That Abraham did not improve in his personal ap-
pearance, as he did in knowledge, is evident from a
remark of Miss Roby, when he went to live with Mr.
Gentry. She said, "Abe was then a- long, thin, leggy,
gawky boy, dried up and shrivelled." He appeared to
be much older than he was. Caring little or nothing
for dress, he continued to wear apparel of the genuine
pioneer pattern, which made his homeliness more
homely. A remark of Dennis, on one occasion, was
quite expressive : " Abe has too much legs to be hand-
some ; " and it was true.

Still, he was the centre of attraction in all circles.
Men, women and children loved to hear him talk.
They would gather about him to listen, whether in
heuse or field. He continued to improve, too, in this
regard. Nat Grigsby says : —

" When he appeared in company, the boys would
gather and cluster around him to hear him talk. He
was figurative in his speeches, talks, and conversations.
He argued much from analogy, and explained things
hard for us to understand by stories, maxims, tales.

ANOTHER TRIP TO NEW ORLEANS. 197

of ways to overcome the difficulties of navigating
Western rivers. It was several years, however, before
his thoughts and studies thereupon took tangible
shape in the form of an invention. After he was
elected President, the Washington correspondent of
the Boston Advertiser wrote as follows concerning
it: —

" Occupying an ordinary and common-place position in one of
the show cases in the large hall of the Patent Office is one little
model which, in ages to come, will be prized as at once one of
the most curious and one of the most sacred rehcs in that vast
museum of unique and priceless things. This is a plain and
simple model of a steamboat, roughly fashioned in wood, by the
hand of Abraham Lincoln. It bears date in 1849, when the
inventor was known simply as a successful lawyer and rising
politician of Central Illinois. Neither his practice nor his poli-
tics took up so much of his time as to prevent him from giving
much attention to contrivances which he hoped might be of
benefit to the world and of profit to himself.

" The design of this invention is suggestive of one phase of
Abraham Lincoln's early life, when he went up and down the
Mississippi as a flat-boatman, and became familiar with some of
the dangers and inconveniences attending the navigation of the
Western rivers. It is an attempt to make it an easy matter to
transport vessels over shoals and snags and sawyers. The main
idea is that of an apparatus resembling a noiseless bellows placed
on each side of the hull of the craft, just below the water-line,
and worked by an odd but not complicated system of ropes,
valves and pulleys. When the keel of the vessel grates against
the sand or obstruction, these bellows are to be filled with air .
and thus buoyed up, the ship is expected to float lightly and
gayly over the shoal which would otherwise have proved a serious
interruption to her voyage.

" The model, which is about eighteen or twenty inches long,
and has the air of being whittled with a knife out of a shingle
and a cigar-box, is built without any elaboration or ornament, or

198 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

any extra apparatus beyond that necessary to show the operatioa
of buoying the steamer over the obstructions. Herein it differs
from very many of the models which share with it the slielter of
the immense halls of the Patent Office, and which are fashioned
with wonderful nicety and exquisite finish, as if much of the
labor and thought and affection of a lifetime had been devoted to
their construction. This is a model of a different kind ; carved
as one might imagine a retired rail-splitter would whittle, strongly,
but not smoothly, and evidently made with a view solely to con-
vey, by the simplest possible means, to the minds of the patent
authorities, an idea of the purpose and plan of the simple inven-
tion. The label on the steamer's deck informs us that the patent
was obtained ; but we do not learn that the navigation of the
Western rivers was revolutionized by this quaint conception.
The modest little model has reposed here sixteen years ; and,
since it found its resting-place here on the shelf, the shrewd in-
ventor has found it his task to guide the Ship of State over
shoals more perilous, and obstructions more obstinate, than any
prophet dreamed of when Abraham Lincoln wrote his bold auto-
graph on the prow of this miniature steamer."

When the boat was safely over the dam, in the
deep pool below, it was re-loaded, and then sped on
its way. At Salt Creek, Offutt stopped to make a
purchase of live hogs, but the wild vicious animals
were determined not to go on board ; and they were
full of fight. Once on board, they might make fearful
war upon each other, causing much trouble to the
trader and his crew. After vainly trying to drive the
hogs towards the river, Abraham remarked : —

"It's no use; they are too ugly to go. where you
want them to go."

" They wouldn't be hogs, if they did," responded
Offutt. " You'll have to get up some sort of a tack-
ling, Abe, to get them aboard, as you got the boat

232 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

The method of electing captain was peculiar ; per-
haps the best method for that place, under the circum-
stances. The two candidates were required to take
their positions opposite each other, at a suitable dis-
tance ; and, at a given signal, each volunteer went
to the one whom he desired for his captain. Three-
fourths of the whole number at once took their stand
with Abraham ; and, when those who first went to
Fitzpatrick saw the overwhelming majority for Abra-
ham, one by one they left the former and joined the
latter, until but one or two stood with Fitzpatrick.

"1 felt bad for Fitzpatrick," said Green; "he was
the most lonesome-looking fellow I ever saw."

" He might have known that we shouldn't vote for
him when Abe is about," remarked Herndon. " He
was too anxious to serve his country."

These, and kindred remarks, were bandied about
after the company had indulged in vociferous cheering,
that Black Hawk might have heard if he had been
within a reasonable distance.

"A speech from the captain," was the imperative
call from the company ; and Abraham promptly accom-
modated them to one of his best efforts, in which he
thanked them for the honor conferred, maintained that
their choice might have fallen upon one much better
qualified for the position than himself, and promised
that he would do the best he could to prove himself
worthy of their confidence.

"Captain Lincoln!" exclaimed William Greene,
addressing Abraham facetiously, and tipping his hat ;
and, henceforth, "Captain Lincoln" was alone the
soubriquet by which he was known.

Interceding for an Indian in the Black-Hawk War.

CHAPTER XIX.
UNSOUGHT HONORS.

N his return from the Black Hawk war,
Lincoln took up his abode in the family of
J. R. Herndon. The people of New Salem
gave him a hearty welcome, and delighted
to call him " Captain Lincoln." The Herndon family
were soon more strongly attached to him than ever.
" He had one of Herndon's children around with him
nearly all the time," says an eye-witness. " He was
at home wherever he went, and made himself wonder-
fully agreeable to the people he lived with, or hap-
pened to be visiting," says Mr. Herndon. That his
kind and benevolent disposition did not suffer by his
service in the army is quite evident from a remark of
Mr. Herndon, "He was kind to the widow and
orphan, and chopped their wood."

He was casting about for some employment, where-
by to earn a livelihood. For some reason, to us
unknown, the blacksmith's trade attracted his atten-
tion.

"What do you think of my learning the black-
smith's trade ? " he said to his friend, William Green,
one day.

244 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

"A blacksmith ! " exclaimed William with much sur-
prise. "That would be quite a descent from Captain
Lincoln to smitJiy Lincoln. You are joking, cap'n."

"Never was more serious in my life, William. A
blacksmith is of more practical use to the community
than a captain in an Indian war."

"But less ^/(?; J in it," replied Green, "You don't
seem to understand that war makes heroes, and
heroes get into political life. Why, Abe, we're going
to send you to the legislature."

"None of your bantering, William," Lincoln
answered, supposing that his friend was joking. "I'm
talking business."

"So am I. Haven't you heard, Abe, that the Clay
men are going to run you for the legislature,-'"

"No, nor you. Yesterday I heard the names of
John T. Stuart, Colonel Taylor and Peter Cartwright,
named as Jackson candidates ; and nobody would think
of running me against such men,"

"All that may be, and there may be a half-dozen
other candidates; but we are going to run you
against the whole batch, unless you positively de-
cline."

"You are crazy, William, and all the rest of you
who entertain such a thought. What! run me,
nothing but a strapping boy, against such men of
experience and wisdom! Come, now, no more of
your gammon."

"Then you won't believe me,''"

".I didn't say so."

"Well, believe it or not, you will be waited upon by
older persons than I am, to get your consent."

UNSOUGHT HONORS. 245

And, sure enough, he was waited upon by several of
the most influential citizens of New Salem, within
twenty-four hours thereafter, to ask his consent to run
as a candidate for the legislature.

"It will only subject me to ridicule," he said.

"Why so?" inquired one of the number.

"For the folly of running against such men as
Stuart and Cartwright."

"Not if you beat them."

" That is impossible. I should not expect to be
elected, if I should consent to be a candidate."

"I don't know about that," answered one; "we
expect to elect you."

" But I have lived in the county only a few
months, and am known only in New Salem, while
the other candidates are known in every part of the
county. Besides, it is only ten days before the
election, and there is little time to carry your
measures."

" Very true ; but there is a principle involved in
your nomination, and we shall sustain that, whether
you are elected or not."

Here was a point of importance. There were no
distinct political parties then in the State, as there
are now. But there were "Jackson men and Clay
men," not to mention others. Abraham was a " Clay
man," while the majority vote of the county, at the
previous presidential election, was cast for Jackson.
In these circumstances there was little prospect that
the young candidate would be elected.

Suffice to say that Abraham at last yielded very
reluctantly, and became a candidate. He was not

246 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

elected ; but his popularity may be learned from the
fact that he stood next to the successful candidate,
and only a few votes behind him. " His own precinct,
New Salem, gave him 277 votes in a poll of 284," — all
but seven. No one was more surprised than Abraham
himself. Although he was not elected, yet the result,
in the circumstances, was a signal triumph.

Mr. R. B. Rutledge was the citizen who really
secured Lincoln's consent to be a candidate. He
had heard him make a speech before the "New Salem
Literary Society," on one occasion, which impressed
him so much that he did not hesitate to say, "Abe
will make a great ma.n." Of that speech he says:
"As he rose to speak, his tall form towered above the
little assembly. Both hands were thrust down deep in
the pockets of his pantaloons. A perceptible smile at
once lit up the faces of the audience, for all anticipated
the relation of some humorous story. But he opened
up the discussion in splendid style, to the astonish-
ment of his friends. As he warmed with his subject,
his hands forsook his pockets and enforced his noble
thoughts with awkward gestures. He pursued the
question with reason and argument so pithy that all
were amazed." The president, at his fireside, after the
meeting, remarked to his wife, "There is more in
Abe's head than wit and fun. He is already a fine
speaker, and all that is needed is culture, to enable
him to reach the high place which I believe is in store
for him."

While Mr. Rutledge admitted to Abraham that
there was little or no chance of his election, he assured
him that the canvass would bring his name prominently

UNSOUGHT HONORS. 247

before the voters of the county for future use. His
arguments prevailed with Lincoln.

Candidates for State ofifices were obliged to take the
stump, and declare their sentiments and vindicate
them. Abraham followed the custom, and made
several speeches, with the expressed condition, how-
ever, that "his friends should not laugh at him." His
first speech was made at Pappsville, about eleven miles
west of Springfield. It was as follows : —

"Gentlemen and fellow-citizens, I presume you all
know who I am. I am humble Abraham Lincoln. I
have been solicited by many friends to became a can-
didate for the Legislature. My politics are short and
sweet : I am in favor of a national bank ; I am in
favor of the internal improvement system and a high
protective tariff. These are my sentiments and politi-
cal principles. If elected, I shall be thankful ; if not,
it will be all the same."

The brevity of his speech was the fruit of his
modesty, which did not fail to captivate his hearers.
He made several other speeches, and issued an address
also, of considerable length and real merit, to the voters
of the county. In closing that address, he said: —

" Considering the great degree of modesty that
should always attend youth, it is probable that I have
been more presuming than becomes me. However,
upon the subjects of which I have treated, I have
spoken as I have thought. . . . Every man is said
to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or
not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great
as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by
rendering myself worthy of their esteem."

A SUCCESSFUL LAWYER. 287

benefactress seeking a benefactor in the once poor boy
she helped in her humble abode.

" Aunt Hannah " believed that her boy was not
guilty of murder — that the fatal blow was not struck
by him, but by another — that others sought to fasten
the crime upon him because of his bad reputation. At
the close of the interview, Lincoln was of the same
opinion ; or, at least, thought there was no positive
evidence that her son was the murderer. His heart
was so thoroughly moved for the old lady, that he
resolved to save her boy from the gallows if possible.
The excitement was intense, and everybody seemed
willing to believe that Armstrong killed Metzgar.
Lincoln saw that it would be well-nigh impossible to
secure an impartial jury in these circumstances, and
he said to Mrs, Armstrong : —

" We must have the case put off if possible, until
the excitement dies away."

"And let my son lie in prison all the while," Mrs.
Armstrong answered, as if horrified by the thought
that he should be incarcerated so long.

" There is no other alternative. Better that than
to be condemned and executed in advance," Lincoln
rejoined calmly.

" True, very true ; but I'm impatient to see him free
again."

" That is not strange at all, but I am satisfied that
the case cannot be conducted so favorably for him now,
when the public mind is so excited."

" I understand you exactly," responded Mrs. Arm-
strong, " and shall agree to any decision you make. The
case is in your hands, and you will conduct it as you
think best."

Mary T. LiNCOL>r.

288 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

"Another thing too," added Lincoln, " I need more
time to unravel the affair. I want to produce evidence
that shall vindicate William, to the satisfaction of
every reasonable man."

Lincoln secured the postponement of the trial until
the following spring ; and he spent much time, in
the interval, in tracing evidence, laboring as assidu-
ously to pay his old debt of gratitude as he would
have done under the offer of a fee of five thousand
dollars.

The time for the trial arrived, and it drew together a
crowd of interested people, nor were they under so
much excitement as they were when the case was
postponed. The " sober second thought " had moder-
ated their feelings, and they were in a better frame of
mind to judge impartially.

The witnesses for the State were introduced ; some
to testify of Armstrong's previous vicious character,
and others to relate what they saw of the affair on the
night of the murder. His accuser testified in the
most positive manner that he saw him make the
dreadful thrust that felled his victim.

" Could there be no mistake in regard to the person
who struck the blow .'' " asked the counsel for the
defence.

" None at all : I am confident of that," replied the
witness,

" What time in the evening was it ? "

" Between ten and eleven o'clock."

" Well, about how far between } Was it quarter-
past ten or half-past ten o'clock, or still later ? Be
more exact, if you please."

A SUCCESSFUL LAWYER. 289

" I should think it might have been about half-past
ten o'clock," answered the witness.

" And you are confident that you saw the prisoner
at the bar give the blow ? Be particular in your
testimony, and remember that you are under oath."

" I am ; there can be no mistake about it."

" Was it not dark .? "

" Yes ; but the moon was shining brightly."

" Then it was not very dark, as there was a
moon ? "

" No ; the moon made it light enough for me to see
the whole affair."

" Be particular on this point. Do I understand you
to say that the murder was committed about half-past
ten o'clock, and that the moon was shining brightly at
the time .' "

"Yes, that is what I testify."

"Very well; that is all."

His principal accuser was thus positive in his testi-
mony, and the sagacious attorney saw enough therein
to destroy his evidence.

After the witnesses for the State had been called,
the defence introduced a few, to show that young
Armstrong had borne a better character than some of
the witnesses gave him, and also that his accuser had
been his personal enemy, while the murdered young
man was his personal friend.

The counsel for the Commonwealth considered that
the evidence was too strong against Armstrong to
admit of a reasonable doubt of his guilt ; therefore, his
plea was short and formal.

All eyes were now turned to Lincoln. What could

290 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

he say for the accused, in the face of such testimony?
Few saw any possible chance for Armstrong to escape :
his condemnation was sure.

Mr. Lincoln rose, while a deeply impressive stillness
reigned throughout the court-room. The prisoner sat
with a worried, despairing look, such as he had worn
ever since his arrest. When he was led into the court-
room, a most melancholy expression sat upon his brow,
as if he were forsaken by every friend, and the evidence
presented was not suited to produce a change for the
better.

His counsel proceeded to review the testimony, and
called attention particularly to the discrepancies in the
statements of the principal witness. What had seemed
to the multitude as plain, truthful statements he showed
to be wholly inconsistent with other parts of the
testimony, indicating a plot against an innocent man.
Then, raising his clear, full voice to a higher key, and
lifting his long, wiry right arm above his head, as if
about to annihilate his client's accuser, he exclaimed :
" And he testifies that the moon was shining brightly
when the deed. was perpetrated, between the hours of
ten and eleven o'clock, when the moon did not appear
on that night, as your .Honor's almanac will show, until
an hour or more later, and consequently the whole story
is a fabrication."

The audience were carried by this sudden overthrow
of the accuser's testimony, and they were now as bitter
against the principal witness as they were before
against the accused.

IJncoln continued in a strain of singular eloquence,
portraying the loneliness and sorrow of the widowed

A SUCCESSFUL LAWYER. 291

mother, whose husband, long since gathered to his
fathers, and his good companion with the silver locks,
welcomed a strange and penniless boy to their humble
abode, dividing their scanty store with him, and,
pausing, and exhibiting much emotion — "that boy
stands before you now pleading for the life of his
benefactor's son — the staff of the widow's declining
years." The effect was electric ; and eyes unused to
weep shed tears as rain. With unmistakable expres-
sions of honest sympathy around him, Lincoln closed
his remarkable plea with the words, " If justice is done,
as I believe it will be, before the sun sets, it will shine
upon my client a free man."

The jury returned to the court-room, after thirty
minutes of retirement, with the verdict of " Not
Guilty." Turning to his client, Lincoln said, " It is
not sundown, and you are free! "

A shout of joy went up from the crowded assembly;
and the aged mother, who had retired when the case
was given to the jury, was brought in with tears of
gratitude streaming down her cheeks, to receive her
acquitted boy, and thank her noble benefactor for his
successful effort.

" Where is Mr. Lincoln } " she asked. And from her
saved boy, she pressed her way through the crowd to
him, and, seizing his hand convulsively, attempted to
express her gratitude, but, utterance was impossible.
Tears only told how full her heart was. Lincoln
answered only with tears for a few moments. At
length, however, controlling his feelings, he said : —

" Aunt Hannah, what did I tell you ? I pray to God
that William may be a good boy hereafter — that this

It m NOT SiNDowN, a.>d -iou ARE Free." — Pao-e

291.

322 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

gathered, the excitement of Chicago was repeated on
a smaller scale, and the nominee was overwhelmed
with congratulations. Taking the telegram up, Mr.
Lincoln remarked : —

"Well, gentlemen, there is a little woman at our
house who is probably more interested in this dispatch
than I am ; and if you will excuse me, I will take it up
and let her see it."

The committee of the Chicago Convention officially
notified Mr. Lincoln of his nomination, at his home
on the following day. A few citizens, desiring that
their distinguished townsman should conform to an
old political custom, on so important an occasion, pur-
chased a quantity of the choicest liquors they could
find, and sent them to his house. Mr. Lincoln
promptly returned them, with the characteristic mes-
sage : —

" You know that we never do any such thing at our
house."

The correspondent of the "Portland Press," who
was present, says that, after the official ceremonies
and formal introductions ended, a servant brought in a
waiter, containing a large pitcher and several glass tum-
blers, when " Mr. Lincoln arose, and gravely addressing
the company, said : ' Gentlemen, we must pledge our
mutual healths in the most healthy beverage which
God has given to man — it is the only beverage I have
ever used or allowed in my family, and I cannot con-
scientiously depart from it on the present occasion — it
is pure Adam's ale, from the spring ; ' and, taking a
tumbler, he touched it to his lips, and pledged them
his highest respects in a cup of cold water. Of course

384 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

done. Why, he is an old neighbor of mine, and I
can't allow him to be shot," Judge Kellogg continued,
under increasing heat.

" Well," answered Mr. Lincoln, " I don't believe that
shooting him will do him any good. Bring me a pen."

Without getting out of bed, he wrote a pardon for the
judge to forward at once to the boy so near his doom.

Benjamin Owen, a young soldier of Vermont, was
sentenced to be shot for sleeping at his post. The
family were plunged into agony by the dreadful tidings.
For some reason, a reprieve was granted him for sev-
eral days, when he wrote the following letter to his
father :

"Dear Father, — When this reaches you I shall be in
eternity. At first it seemed awful to me, but I have thought
about it so much now that it has no terror. They say they will

not bind me, but that I may meet my death like a man

You know I promised Jemmy Carr's mother I would look after her
boy, and when he fell sick I did all I could for him. He was not
strong when he was ordered back into the ranks, and the day
before ihat night, I carried all his luggage, besides my own, on
our march. Toward night we went in on double quick, and
though the luggage began to feel very heavy, everybody else was
tired, too ; and as for Jemmy, if I had not lent him an arm now
and then he would have dropped by the way. I was all tired out
when I came into camp, and then, it was Jemmy's turn to be
sentry, and I would take his place ; but I was too tired, father, I
could not have kept awake if I had had a gun at my head. But
I did not know it until — well, until it was too late. . . . Our
good colonel would save me if he could. He says, forgive him,
father, he only did his duty. And don't lay my death against
Jemmy. The poor boy is broken-hearted, and does nothing but
beg and entreat them to let him die in my stead. I can't bear to
think of mother and sister. Comfort them, father ! God help
me, it is very hard to bear ! Good-by, father ! God seems near

HIS GREA T INTEREST IN SOLDIERS. 385

and dear to me ; not at all as if he wished me to perish forever,
but as if he felt sorry for his poor, sinful, broken-hearted child,
and would take me to be with him and my Saviour, in a better,
better life ! God bless you all !

His sister, who had read much about the President's
tender heart, seized the letter, and quickly as steam
could carry her was in Washington, in the presence of
Mr. Lincoln.

"Well, my child, what do you want so bright and
early this morning .-* " the President asked.

" My brother's life," she said, with much emotion.

"Who is he.?"

She told him, and for what he was sentenced to be
shot.

" Oh, yes, that fatal sleep," responded Mr. Lincoln ;
"thousands of lives might have been lost by that
sleep."

" So my father said ; but he was so tired carrying
Jemmy's baggage ;" and here she put his letter into
the President's hand, saying that "would tell him all
about it."

Mr. Lincoln read Benjamin's letter ; when, with tear-
ful eye and melted heart, he quickly wrote an order for
his pardon, and, lest there might be some delay in the
conveyance of the message, he ordered his own car-
riage and delivered it personally to the proper authori-
ties. Before leaving his office, however, he said to the
sister:

" Go home, my child, and tell that father of yours,
who could approve his country's sentence, even when
it took the life of a child like that, that Abraham Lin-
coln thinks the life far too precious to be lost."

386 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE. •

He ordered a furlough for the soldier-boy, also, that
he might return with his sister to Vermont ; and when,
subsequently, brother and sister came to the White
House, the President, in his private room, fastened a
badge of office upon his shoulder, saying, "the shoulder
that could carry a sick comrade's baggage, and die for
it so uncomplainingly, must wear that strap."

The father of a soldier applied to Congressman
Kellogg, of whom we have spoken, for the pardon of
his son, under sentence of death. Mr. Kellogg felt that
it was a case where executive clemency ought to be
exercised ; and he said to the distressed father, " you
wait here until I go and see what can be done."
He went directly to President Lincoln, and laid the
case before him. When he reached that part of
the narrative which related to a fearful charge
across a bridge, wherein the soldier displayed re-
markable heroism, Mr. Lincoln started up, and asked
earnestly : —

"Do you say that the young man was wounded.^"
as if he were overjoyed to find a decent reason for
saving another life.

" Yes, badly wounded," added Mr. Kellogg.

"Then he has shed his blood for his country? " sug-
gested Mr. Lincoln.

" Yes, and ghed it nobly," responded Mr. Kellogg.

" Kellogg ! " continued the President, brightening up,
" is there not something in the Bible about the shed-
ding of blood for the remission of sins.^"

" I think you are right," replied Mr. Kellogg.

"Well, it is a good point, and there is no going be-
hind it," rejoined the President. And, taking up his

HIS WORK FOR THE, COLORED RACE. 417

memorable document in the future history of our
country. We furnish it complete : —

" Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a pro-
clamation was issued by the President of the United States, con-
taining, among other things, the following, to wit :

" That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves
within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof
shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be
then, thenceforth and forever free, and the Executive Govern-
ment of the United States, including the military and naval
authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of
such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons,
or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual
freedom.

" That the Executive will, on the first day of January afore-
said, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States,
if any, in which the people therein respectively shall then be in
rebellion against the United States, and the fact that any State,
or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith repre-
sented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen
thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters
of such States shall have participated, shall, in the absence of
strong countervaihng testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence
that such State or the people thereof are not then in rebellion
against the United States."

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-
chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of ac-
tual armed rebelhon against the authority and Government of the
United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for sup-
pressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eigKt hundred and sixty-three,
and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed
for the full period of one hundred days from the day of the first
above-mentioned order, designate, as the States and parts of

41 8 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

States wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in re-
bellion against the United States, the following, to wit : Arkansas,
Texas, Louisiana, except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaque-
mines, Jeifersbn, St. John, St, Charles, St. James, Ascension,
Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin and
Orleans, including the City of New Orleans, Mississippi, Ala-
bama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and
Virginia, except the forty-eight counties designated as West Vir-
ginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton,
Elizabeth Cit)-, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the
cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and which excepted parts are,
for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

" And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I
do order and declare that all persons held as slaves witliin said
designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward
shall be free ; and that the Executive Government of the United
States, including the Military and Naval authorities thereof, will
recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons.

" And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free,
to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence, arid
I recommend to them that in all cases, when allowed, they labor
faithfully for reasonable wages.

" And I further declare and make known that such persons of
suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the
United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other
places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

" And upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, war-
ranted by the Constitution, upon mihtary necessity, I invoke the
considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Al-
mighty God.

" In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused
the seal of the United States to be affixed.

" Done at the City of Washington, this first day of
January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight

■- ■ 'J hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the eighty-seventh."

" By the President : " Abraham Lincoln.

"William H. Seward, Secretary of Stale."

424 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

without the latter. The address was brief, direct, and
affecting, as follows : —

Fellow-countrymen, — At this second appearing to take the
oath of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an ex-
tended address than there was at first. Then, a statement, some-
what in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper.
Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declara-
tions have been constantly called forth on every point and phase
of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses
the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented.
The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is
as well known to the public as to myself ; and it is, I trust, reason-
ably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the
future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all
thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All
dreaded it — all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address
was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving
the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking
to destroy it without war — seeking to dissolve the Union and
divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war ; but
one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive ;
and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And
the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not
distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern
part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful
interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of
the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was
the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even
by war ; while the government claimed no right to do more than
to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party ex-'
pected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has
already attained. Neither anticipated that the caus^ of the con-
flict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should
cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less
fundamental and astounding^. Both read the same Bible and

STILL IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 425

pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the
other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a
just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of
other men's faces ; but let us judge not, that we be not judged.
The prayers of both could not be answered — that of neither has
been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.
" Woe unto the world because of offences ! for it must needs be
that offences come ; but woe to that man by whom the offence
Cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of
those offences which, in the Providence of God, must needs come,
but which, having continued through His appointed time. He now
wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this
terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came,
shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attri-
butes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him .''
Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty
scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it
continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred
and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop
of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the
sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said,
" The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none ; with charity for all ; with firmness
in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish
the work we are engaged in ; to bind up the nation's wounds ; to
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow
and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just
and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.

Charles Sumner said of this address : ",The Inaugu-
ral Address which signalized his entry for a second
time upon his great duties was briefer than any similar
address in our history ; but it has already gone farther,
and will live longer, than any other. It was a continu-
ation of the Gettysburg speech, with the same sublimity
and gentleness. Its concluding words were like an
ancrelic benediction."

R'ETAPrr. OF lA^AR-

SHOT OF THE ASSASSIN. 439

Harris, Major Rathbone, Captain Robert Lincoln, and
his almost distracted mother, with other friends. At
the announcement of Surgeon-General Barnes, that,
there was "not a ray of hope," Secretary Stanton burst
into tears, saying, —

" Oh, no ! General, no, no ! "

Senator Sumner stood holding one of the President's
hands, sobbing as if parting with his father. Mrs.
Lincoln walked to and fro from room to room, wringing
her hands in despair, exclaiming, —

" How can it be so .'' Why did he not shoot me
instead of my husband } "

Again and again she would leave the room, but soon
return, wringing her hands in agony, reiterating, —

" Why is it so .'' I must go with him ! "

Captain Robert Lincoln bore himself with great
firmness, comforting his mother in the most affection-
ate manner, and entreating her to look to God for
support. Occasionally, unable to control his feelings,
he retired to the hall, and gave vent to his deep sorrow
for a moment, and then returned with renewed strength,
to assuage the grief of his mother.

Such a night of woe and anguish was never known
before in Washington. The weary hours dragged
heavily because of their weight of sorrow. The mur-
dered one lay unconscious of his sufferings and the
grief of friends around his bed, through all the dis-
mal night. Before eight o'clock in the morning.
Secretary Stanton sent the following telegram over
the land : —

"Abraham Lincoln died this morning at twenty-two
minutes after seven o'clock."

FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 457

During the two days the remains reposed in Chicago,
five hundred thousand mourners paid their tributes of
respect to their lamented fellow-citizen and neighbor.

But at his home, in Springfield, among his former
intimate friends and townsmen, the most touching
scenes occurred. Many sobbed aloud as they looked
upon his familiar face in death. Old men and women,
young men and maidens, mourned as for a brother and
father. From the country around, for fifty miles and
more, people came wearing badges of mourning — so
many thousands that the town could scarcely contain
them. And when the body was conveyed to the Oak
Ridge Cemetery, where Bishop Simpson delivered a
funeral oration, acres of ground were one vast '* sea of
upturned faces." In just two weeks from the time the
funeral cortege left Washington, upon its march of six-
teen hundred miles, the remains were deposited in the
grave, over which a grateful country has reared a costly
monument.

Conspicuous among the mottoes displayed in the
town, were these two : —

" Sooner than surrender this principle, I would be assassinated
on the spot."

"Washington, the Father of his country; Lincoln, the Sav-
iour."

The closing paragraph of Bishop Simpson's eloquent
eulogy shall close our story of him who worked his way
from his pioneer home to the White House: —

" Chieftain ! farewell ! The nation mourns thee. Mothers
shall teach thy name to their lisping children. The youth of our
land shall emulate thy virtues. Statesmen shall study thy record
and learn lessons of wisdom. Mute though thy lips be, yet they

458 PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE.

still speak. Hushed is thy voice, but its echoes of liberty are
ringing through the world, and the sons of bondage listen with
joy. Prisoned thou art in death, and yet thou art marching
abroad, and chains and manacles are bursting at thy touch. Thou
didst fall not for thyself. The assassin had no hate for thee. Our
hearts were aimed at, our national life was sought. We crown
thee as our martyr — and humanity enthrones thee as her triumph-
ant son. Hero, martyr, friend, farewell ! "

CHAPTER XXX.

ORATION BY HON, GEORGE BANCROFT.

j|UR grief and horror at the crime which has
clothed the continent in mourning, find no
adequate expression in words, and no reUef
in tears. The President of the United
States of America has fallen by the hands of an
assassin. Neither the office by which he was invested
by the approved choice of a mighty people, nor the
most simple-hearted kindliness of nature, could save
him from the fiendish passions of relentless fanaticism.
The wailings of the millions attend his remains as
they are borne in solemn procession over our great
rivers, along the seaside, beyond the mountains, across
the prairie, to their resting-place in the valley of the
Mississippi. His funeral knell vibrates through the
world, and the friends of freedom of every tongue and
in every clime are his mourners.

Too few days have passed away since Abraham Lin-
coln stood in the flush of vigorous manhood, to permit
any attempt at an analysis of his character, or an ex-
position of his career. We find it hard to believe that
his large eyes, which in their softness and beauty
expressed nothing but benevolence and gentleness, are

FROM

LOG-CABIN

T-HE ^A^HITE HOUSE.

LIFE OF

JAMES A. GARFIELD:

BOYHOOD, YOUTH, MANHOOD, ASSASSINATION, DEATH,
FUNERAL.

BY

WILLIAM M. THAYER,

AUTHOR OF " FROM PIONEER HOME TO THE WHITE HOUSE," ETC

By HON. JAMES G. BLAINE.
ENLARGED, REVISED, AND NEWLY ILLUSTRATED.

' ■ NORWICH, CONN.:
THE HENRY BILL PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1882.

VAHJ

.3 2 u o :

JT'3

■- ' ' Copyright, 1882,

By William M. Thayer.

All Rights Reserved.

.OiS ".SiUOU i.

Boston Stebeotype Fodndby,
i Peasl Stekst.

ALL WHO HONOR TRUE MANHOOD,
Cfjts Folume,

PORTRAYING THE INDUSTRY, COURAGE, DECISION, ENERGY,

PERSEVERANCE, AND NOBLE CHARACTER

OF THE LATE PRESIDENT

JAMES A. GARFIELD,

IN HIS EARLY STRUGGLES FOR A LIVELIHOOD AND EDUCATION,
AND HIS GRAND PUBLIC CAREER,

JEs Sincerelg anli ^ffectionatelg IBcIitcatelr.

PREFACE.

Eighteen years ago the author prepared a book
for youth and young men upon the Hfe of Abraham
Lincoln, entitled The Pioneer Boy, and how he
BECAME President. The favorable reception of that
volume carried it through thirty^ix editions. After
the nomination of General Garfield for the presi-
dency, it was thought that a similar work upon his
life would furnish one of the noblest examples of
success to all wiio honor true manhood.

With the plan of making the volume not a work
for the campaign, but a standard volume for the
family for the years to come, months were employed
in gathering and preparing the material.

The materials for the work were furnished by
General Garfield ; several of his early associates,
two of whom were born in log-cabins near him ;
several of his teachers and pupils ; the owner and
captain of the canal-boat on which he served ; and
intimate friends of his manhood, — the most reliable
sources of information possible. The materials for-
cibly impressed us with the similarity between the
lives of President Lincoln and President Garfield.

6 PREFACE.

Both of these statesmen were born in log-cabins,
built by their fathers, in the wilderness, for family
homes. Both were poor as mortals can well be.
Both were born with talents of the highest order;
but neither enjoyed early advantages of schools and
teachers. At eight years of age Lincoln lost his
mother ; and when Garfield was eighteen months
old he lost his father. Both worked on a farm,
chopped wood, and did whatever else was needful
for a livelihood, when eight years of age. Both
improved every leisure moment in study and read-
ing. Both read all the books that could be borrowed
for miles around ; and each was known, in his own
township and time, as a boy of remarkable mental
ability and promise. Both of them early displayed
great tact and energy, turning a hand to any kind of
labor, — farming, chopping, teaming, carpentering.
In his youth, Lincoln ran a flat-boat down the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, eighteen hun-
dred miles, on a trading expedition ; Garfield, at
about the same age, served on a boat of the Ohio
and Pennsylvania Canal, driving mules and acting
as steersman. Both were well known for their in-
dustry, tact, perseverance, integrity, courage, econ-
omy, thoroughness, punctuality, decision, and benevo-
lence. Both taught school in the backwoods as soon
as they knew enough to teach. Each of them studied
law when pursuing another vocation for a livelihood.

PREFACE. 7

— Lincoln a surveyor, and Garfield a teacher. Each
became a member of the legislature in his native
State before thirty years of age. Both served the
country in war, when about the same age, — Lincoln
in the "Black Hawk War," and Garfield in the "War
of the Rebellion." Each was the youngest member
of the legislature, and the youngest officer in the
army when he served. The talents and eloquence of
both made them members of Congress, — Lincoln
at thirty-seven years of age, and Garfield at thirty-
three ; each one of them being the youngest mem-
ber of the House of Representatives at the time.
Both of them took high rank at once as debaters
and eloquent speakers, as well as stalwart opposers
of slavery. Both, also, won a reputation for wit
and humor and geniality, making them popular with
both sides of the House. Neither of them were
candidates in the National Conventions that nomi-
nated them for the Presidency, — both were com^
promise candidates when it became apparent that
union could be secured upon no others. Their names
were introduced amid the wildest enthusiasm ; thou-
sands cheering, hats swinging, handkerchiefs waving,
and the bands playing national airs. The nomination
of each was hailed with demonstrations of joy through-
out the country.

And now, the most remarkable of all coincidences
in their lives we record with sadness, — both died

8 PREFACE.

in the Presidential office by the assassin's shot.
History has no parallel for this amazing fact. We
search in vain the annals of all countries for a kin-
dred record. Beginning life in the obscurity of the
wilderness, and ending it on the summit of renown !
Their first home a log cabin ! their last, the White
House ! Beloved by a trusting nation, and shot by
the assassin !

A more inspiring example to study and imitate
cannot be found in the annals of our Republic, As
a model of whatever belongs to noble traits of char-
acter, heroic achievements, and the highest success
fairly won, we present him in this book.

W. M. T,
Franklin, Mass., 1882.

Note. — This book has been revised, greatly enlarged, and
embellished with new portraits and illustrations, and is printed
from new electrotype plates.

FROM LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

CHAPTER I.

FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL.

RUMOR came to the log-cabin that a

school would open soon at the village,

one-and-a-half miles distant. It was only

a rumor at first, but the rumor grew into

fact in the course of a week.

"Jimmy must go, mother," said Thomas, who was

nearly thirteen years old, a boy of heroic spirit and

true filial and fraternal devotion.

" Yes, Jimmy must go," responded his mother, with

such a smile as lights up the face of those mothers

only who think what a treasure and joy there is in the

little three-year old ; for Jimmy had not yet reached

his fourth birthday. " I wish you could go, Tom,

also," she added.

" I wish I could, too," the thoughtful lad replied ;

" but the potatoes would hardly be dug, and the corn

would hardly be harvested, nor the winter rye be put

in, if I should go. The girls and Jimmy can go, and

my work will get us food and clothes." The last

sentence was spoken with so much interest, as if the

son and brother found his highest pleasure in being

able to run the little farm alone, while his sisters

23

24 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

and precious little brother could attend the school
together, that his good mother could scarcely sup-
press her honest pride over the unselfish and noble
boy. Her maternal pride came very near making
a demonstration and applying some pet names to
Thomas, but her excellent judgment, which usually
ruled, guided her into a wiser course, and she let the
occasion pass with only a few well-chosen words of
approval.

" It is a good chance for Jimmy," added Thomas,
after a moment had passed, in which remark his
mother saw the "heap " of love he had for his little
brother ; and every one else would see it now, tod,
could they understand "the circumstances. More
than one person had remarked that Thomas thought
a " heap " of James.

': It was a busy time in the cabin, preparing the
children for school. The girls and Thomas went
to school before the family removed to Orange, so
that it was not a new thing to them. Besides, their
mother had taught them much. She had made no
special effort to teach James, except to tell him Bible
stories, and answer his multitudinous questions in her
instructive way. Still, James knew nearly all his
letters, and was better versed in Bible history than
most children of his age at the present day. The
stories of the Ark, Cain and Abel, Joseph, Ishmael,
Isaac, Jacob, Absalom, Daniel, the Bethlehem Babe,
and many others, were familiar to him at that time.
The little fellow possessed a remarkable memory,
and he was bright and sunny, the light and joy of
the log-cabin. It would not suffice to say that his

FJUST DAY AT SCHOOL. 25

mother thought that he was particularly a bright
and talented boy ; for mothers are quite apt to think
very well of their offspring. But when we 'add that
Thomas and his sisters, and the neighbors also, re-
garded James as a very precocious and promising lad,
the reader may safely conclude that the hero of this
volume was none of your simple-minded " children of
the woods " — neither a juvenile drone nor ignoramus.
He was just the little fellow to make music at home
or in the school-house.

"Jimmy can't walk half the way," said Thomas;
" he will be tired to death before he hardly gets out
of sight of home."

" I'll see to that," replied his sister, with an air of
assurance that indicated her plans were all laid.
"Jimmy won't be tired."

" What is going to prevent it } " inquired Thomas.

"You'll see," answered his sister, somewhat eva-
sively, though Thomas knew by her appearance that
there was real significance in what she said.

" Well, what's up now ? " added Thomas, sure that
some project was in her head.

" Nothing is up, except Jimmy ; he will be up — on
my back," answered the brave girl, who had resolved
to spare her lively little brother's legs by carrying him
to school.

" Carry Jimmy to school ! " exclaimed Thomas ;
" you will be more tired than he will be to walk. It
is a bigger load than our great-grandfather carried in
the Revolutionary war. You'll get sick of that."

"It won't be the first thing I am sick of that I
have done," was all the girl's reply.

12 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

woods were burned over ; and sometimes pioneer
cabins were destroyed, and the crops on little farms in
the wilderness were injured.

" It is coming this way certainly," said Mr. Garfield,
with some anxiety, after satisfying himself as to the
danger. " I'm afraid it will make trouble for us.
Mehetabel, run to the house with my axe, and bring
me the shovel."

The girl was assisting her father. Within five
minutes Mr. Garfield had the shovel, and Mrs. Gar-
field, and all the children except the baby, were out to
watch the fire.

"We must fight it," said Mr. Garfield, "or only
ashes will be left of our home at sundown."

" I fear as much," replied Mrs. Garfield. " These
forest fires are terrible."

" Mehetabel, you and Thomas follow me ; " and
he ran across the house-lot to the edge of the woods
to prevent the fiery demon from attacking his habita-
tion.

Thomas and his sister followed. The fire reached
the spot almost as soon as they did, and the battle
with it began. It was a long and hard fight. Mr.
Garfield met the enemy with all the vigor of a father
contending for his children. He fully realized what
their situation would be if the sun should go down
upon the ruins of their home, and the thought im-
pelled him to superhuman efforts. For nearly two
hours, in the burning sun of a hot July day, he fought
the fire with his strong arm. Sometimes the battle
seemed to turn in favor of the fiery element, and
again the resolute pioneer appeared to have the

WW^'

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_ -^

^ ^ £

'^^

-^^

rE%

^fer- „

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^fefcJ

Birthplace of James A. Garfield.

FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL. 33

advantage over it. At last, however, the fire was
conquered, or rather, was prevented from devour-
ing the little cabin and desolating the crops, though
it swept on beyond the farm, whither the wind
drove it.

Thoroughly heated and exhausted, Mr. Garfield sat
down upon a stump to rest, and enjoy the cool,
refreshing breeze that sprang up from the West. He
did not dream that he was exposing his health by
sitting, covered with perspiration, in that cool wind.
But that night he was seized violently by congestion
of the throat, and his stout frame writhed in pain,
threatening speedy dissolution. As early in the
morning as possible, Mehetabel was posted away to
Mr. Boynton's, and Thomas to a neighbor in another
direction, for their assistance. There was no phy-
sician within many miles ; but one of the neighbors
summoned claimed to possess some medical knowl-
edge, and the patient was passed over into his hands,
substantially, after he arrived. He applied a blister,
thereby aggravating the disease, and hurrying the
sick man to his grave. Mrs. Garfield did all that
true love and remarkable efficiency could do to save
her husband, but her tender and faithful ministrations
were fruitless ; he sank rapidly, and at last died with-
out a struggle. His last words were, looking upon his
children, and then addressing his wife :

" I have planted four saplings in these woods ; I
must now leave them to your care."

Oh, what a dark pall settled upon that abode ! A
happier family never dwelt in a palace than was found
in that cabin. And now the burden of sorrow that

34 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

rested upon the widowed wife and fatherless children
was gauged by the greatness of bereaved affection.
Little James was but eighteen months old when his
father died — too young to understand the irreparable
loss, or to feel the pangs of grief that well-nigh
crushed other hearts. It was well that his baby-
spirit could not take in the sorrow of that hour ;
there was anguish enough in that stricken home with-
out adding his touching wail thereto.

The neighbors came, what few there were (only
four or five families within a radius of ten miles), and
sympathized and wept with the widow and fatherless
ones. With their assistance the lifeless remains were
enclosed in a rough box, and borne out through the
low doorway, and buried in a corner of the wheat-field,
near by. No sermon, no remarks, no prayers, except
the silent prayers that went up for grace from aching
hearts ! Reader, you will never know, you never can
know, nobody can ever know, except by the dreadful
experience, what the death and burial of a loved one
is in the wilderness, amid the gloom and silence of
primeval forests. That bereaved widow still lives,
and after the lapse of nearly fifty years she bears the
marks of that great sorrow. A kind Providence that
" tempers the wind to the shorn lamb " has wonder-
fully sustained her, and she has found her Saviour to
be as "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."
Still the brow of almost eighty years is furrowed by
the severity of that affliction.

An incident should be recorded here. It occurred
a short time before Mr. Garfield's death ; and he was
reading a volume of Plutarch's "Lives," with James

4^

MOTHKK OF JaMKS A. GAKFIELD.

BEFORE SCHOOL-DAYS. 4 1

for Thomas and his sisters to attend, so that he had
all the time there was from morning until night to
labor, and wait — wait for the seed to grow. He did
his work, apparently, with as much ease and efficiency
as a young man of twenty would have done it.

But another trial awaited the afflicted family.
Food was becoming scarce, and no money to purchase
more. An examination satisfied the widow that the
corn would be exhausted long before harvest unless
the family were put upon a daily allowance. So,
without speaking of this new trial to her children,
she counted the number of weeks and days to har-
vest-time, and estimated the amount of corn that
would be required each day. To her surprise and
grief, a fair daily allowance would exhaust the bin of
corn before harvest. She took in the situation at
once, and, bravely and quickly as a general on the
field of battle, decided she would forego supper her-
self that the children might have enough. For a
while the devoted mother lived upon two meals a day,
though working harder than she had ever worked any
previous summer ; for she assisted Thomas on the
farm to the extent of her strength, and even beyond
her strength.

A few weeks elapsed, and the doting mother dis-
covered some mistake in her calculations, and she was
startled to find that the present daily allowance of
corn would consume the last ear before the new crop
could be gathered. Without a murmur, and with a
martyr spirit, she resolved to forego dinner ; and
from that time until harvest she indulged in but one
meal a day. All this self-denial was practised in a

42 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

manner to conceal it as much as possible from the
children. They were growing and hearty, and Thomas
especially needed substantial food, since he was doing
almost a man's labor. Seldom was a pioneer family
found in more straitened circumstances in mid-sum-
mer than was Widow Garfield's in the year 1834.
Had not the spirit of a Revolutionary matron presided
over that cabin, and the grace of Him who does not
suffer a sparrow to fall without his notice sustained
the presiding genius, the history of that family would
have closed that year in the forests of Ohio.

But the harvest came, and a blessed harvest it was !
The crops were abundant, and of excellent quality.
Want fled at the sight of the bending sheaves and
golden ears. The dear mother had come off con-
queror in her long contest with the wolf of hunger,
and her heart overflowed with gratitude to the Great
Giver. The twenty-third Psalm had new significance
in that log-cabin, — " The Lord is my shepherd, I
shall not want," etc., — and the grateful mother re-
peated it over and over, from day to day, as the real
language of her soul in the hour of deliverance from
distressing want. The first full meal which the
abundant harvest brought was a benison to that
household, and never again did hunger and starvation
threaten to destroy them.

We have told the reader somewhat about the father
of this family, and now that so much has been said of
the mother we need to say more. We stop here to
record briefly some facts of her early history.

She was a descendant of Maturin Ballou, a Hugue-
not of France, who was driven from that country on

BEFORE SCHOOL-DAYS. 45

"Jimmy ought to have had a pair a long time ago,
and he would have had a pair if there had been any
way for me to earn them."

" Well, you can send word to the shoemaker as
soon as you please," continued his mother; "the
quicker the better."

James was three and a half years old at that time,
and he had not known the luxury of a pair of shoes,
no, not even in the winter. To come into the posses-
sion of the first pair of shoes, in these circumstances,
was an event of great importance. To a child in the
woods, it was like the accession of a fortune to a poor
man, now. Be assured, reader, that Jimmy greeted
the advent of the shoemaker with hearty good-will
when he came ; and he came very soon after the shoe
question was settled, for Thomas lost no time in se-
curing his services.

Then, in that part of the country, shoemakers did
not have shops of their own, but they went from cabin
to cabin, boarding with the families while they were
making shoes for the members. In this case, the
cobbler boarded with Mrs. Garfield, and his board
paid part of the cost of the shoes. Shoemakers were
not experts in the business, at that time and in that
region, so they required much more time to produce a
pair of shoes ; and when they were completed, no one
could say that their beauty added to their value.
They answered every purpose, however, in a region
where fashion was at a discount.

The acquisition of that pair of shoes elated the
little possessor more than an election to Congress did
less than thirty years thereafter. He was rich now.

46 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

and well equipped for pioneer life. He could defy the
snows of winter as well as the stubs of summer.

One thing more should be told here. Abram Gar-
field and his noble wife were Christians. Before re-
moving to Orange, they united with a comparatively
new sect, called Disciples, though Campbellites was a
name by which they were sometimes known, in honor
of the founder of the sect, Alexander Campbell.
Their creed was very short, plain, and good. It was
as follows :

I. A belief in God the Father.
.2. That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living
God, the only Saviour.

3. That Christ is a Divine Being.

4. That the Holy Spirit is the Divine agent in the
conversion of sinners, and in guidance and direction.

5. That the Old and New Testament Scriptures are
inspired of God.

6. That there is future punishment for the wicked,
and reward for the righteous.

7. That God hears and answers prayer.

8. That the Bible is the only creed.

With such decided opinions, of course their cabin
home was dedicated to God, and the Bible was the
counsellor and guide of their life. The voice of prayer
was heard daily in the rude abode, and the children
were reared under the influence of Christian instruction
and living.

It has taken us so long to relate the history of this
family previous to Jimmy's first day at school, that
we must now hasten to meet the children, on their
return, as told in the next chapter.

68 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

frequently. Thomas sometimes complained of it. He
lodged with James, and the latter would toss and tum-
ble about, often awaking Thomas by his movements,
kicking off the clothes, and thereby putting himself
and brother to considerable inconvenience. Often
he would turn over, and feeling cold after having
kicked off the bedclothes, he would say in his sleep, —

"Tom, cover me up." '

Thomas would pull the clothing over him, and lie
down to his dreams, but only to repeat the operation
again and again. It was said of James, twenty-five
years after that time, when he had become a general,
that, one night, after a terrible battle, he laid down
with other officers to sleep, and in his restlessness he
kicked off his covering ; then, turning partly over, he
said,-- I ^atfc • • -

"Tom, cover me up,"

An officer pulled the blanket over him, and awoke
him by the act. On being told of his request in his
sleep, James thought of his good brother Thomas and
of the little log-house in the woods of Ohio ; and he
turned over and wept, as he did in childhood when
the teacher concluded that he could not make a
scholar of him.

At the beginning of the school the teacher had
said : IsfJiii

" At the close of the term I shall present this Tes-
tament (holding up a pretty Testament of rather
diminutive size) to the best scholar, — best in study,
behavior, and all that makes a good scholar."

It was a new thing to them, and it proved quite an
incentive to most of the pupils. Several tried hard

78 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

James' heart early, is quite evident from some remarks
of his to young men after he was forty years old :

" Occasion cannot make spurs, young men. If you
expect to wear spurs, you must win them. If you
wish to use them, you must buckle them to your own
heels before you go into the fight. Any success you
may achieve is not worth having unless you fight for
it. Whatever you* win in life you must conquer by
your own efforts, and then it is yours, — a part of
yourself. . , . Let not poverty stand as an obstacle
in your way. Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can
testify ; but nine times out of ten the best thing that
can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard,
and compelled to sink or swim for himself. In all my
acquaintance I have never known one to be drowned
who was worth saving. . . . To a young man who
has in himself the magnificent possibilities of life, it is
not fitting that he should be permanently commanded ;
he should be a commander. You must not continue
to be employed ; you must be an employer. You must
be promoted from the ranks to a command. There is
something, young men, that you can command ; go
and find it, and command it. You can at least com-
mand a horse and dray, can be generalissimo of them,
and may carve out a fortune with them."

Another incident of James' early life illustrates the
phase of his character in question, and, at the same
time, shows his aptitude in unexpected emergencies.
He was eight or ten years of age when it occurred, a
pupil in school with his cousin, Henry Boynton. Sit-
ting side by side, one day they became more roguish
than usual, without intending to violate the rules of

92 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

tunity for special efforts in this direction, though every-
day in the week bore witness in the same line.

We must not close this chapter without reference
to one fact connected with the Garfield family that is
worthy of particular attention. It was their "coat-
of-arms." A coat-of-arms formerly was a " habit worn
by knights over their armor. It was a short-slaved
coat or tunic, reaching to the waist, and embroidered
with their armorial ensigns and various devices."
The Garfield coat-of-arms consisted of a shield, with
a gold ground, three horizontal crimson bars crossing
it in one corner, over it a helmet with raised visor,
together with a heart, and above the whole an arm
wielding a sword, on which was inscribed the motto.
In cruce vinco — "In the Cross I Conquer."

What we wish to say about this coat-of-arms relates
to the motto. It tells of a courage that was born
of faith in God, such as was found in the Ohio cabin,
and without which the sorrows and hardships that
invested its early history would have proved too
much for flesh and blood. It is a grand spirit to
brood over a human habitation, beneath whose roof
childhood buds and blossoms into true life. It
appropriates the Sabbath, Bible, and every other hal-
lowed power that is accessible, to the " life that now
is," because of another ''life that is to come.'" It was
this spirit that James nursed from his mother's breast,
and inhaled from the domestic atmosphere that
wrapped his boyhood, to arouse heroic qualities,
and bend them to victorious work.

When James was about ten years old, his uncle,
Amos Boynton, organized a congregation in the

124 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

board was twelve feet long ; and by the time he had
planed ten of them his mind was fully made up to
what nobody knew except himself. They found out,
however, at night. All through the day the plane
was shoved rapidly, and great beads of sweat stood
upon the boy's brow, but no tired look invested his
couAenance for a moment. Before the sun went
down he exclaimed, laying aside the plane, —

" One hundred boards, Mr. Treat, done ! count
them and see."

" Not a hundred, my boy, you don't mean that, do
you.?"

"Count them, and see ; a hundred boards accord-
ing to my count."

" A great day's work, if that is the case," said
Mr. Treat, as he proceeded to count the boards.

" One hundred it is, surely," remarked Mr. Treat,
completing the count. " Too much for a boy of your
age and size to do in one day. I wouldn't advise you
to do more than half that another day."

" I'm not much tired," said James.

" That is not the thing, my boy ; thirty years from
now you may feel tired from this day's labor more
than you do now."

" If it takes as long as that to get tired, then the
tired part is far off," responded James, not appreciating
the wise remark of his employer.

"Well, now comes the best part of your day's
work, the pay," remarked Mr. Treat. " Let us see ;
one hundred boards takes one hundred cents to pay
for them ; that is just one dollar ! A great day's work
for a boy-carpenter ! Now, you count, and I'll count."

Earning his first Dollar.

v:.:; BOY CARPENTER. 1 25

And he proceeded to count out one hundred cents,
making quite a little pile of coin when the dollar, all
in cents,' was ready for James' pocket.

Reader, we might as well stop here as to pro-
ceed further with the history of that day's labor. It
would be quite impossible to describe James' feelings
to you, as he pocketed the one hundred cents and
started for home. That old jacket never covered just
such a breast as it did then. If we could only turn
that bosom inside out, and have a full view of the
boy's heart, we should learn what no writer can ever
describe. It was a man's heart in a boy's breast.
There was not room for it under the jacket. It
swelled with inexpressible emotions, as ground-swells
sometimes lift the ocean higher than usual. " One
hundred cents, all in one day ! " The more he thought
of it on his way home the prouder grew the occasion.
" Seventy-five days like that would yield him as much
as Thomas brought home from Michigan ! " The
thought was too great for belief. That would not be
half so long as Thomas was gone, and away from
home, too. And so he thought and pondered, and
pondered and thought, on his way home, his boyhood
putting on manhood in more than one respect. He
was "Great Heart," bare-footed and in jean trousers.

Whether James intended to ape Thomas or not, we
cannot say ; but, on reaching home, he unloaded the
coppers into his mother's lap, saying, —

"Yours, mother."

" All that, James ? "

"One hundred cents," was James' reply.

"What ! earned a dollar to-day ? "

THE TURNING-POINT. 21/

" * I want to see you alone,' said young Garfield.

" The doctor led the way to a secluded spot in the
neighborhood of the house, and there, sitting down
on a log, the youth, after a little hesitation, opened his
business.

" * You are a physician,' he said, ' and know the fibre
that is in men. Examine me, and tell me with the ut-
most frankness whether I had better take a course of
liberal study. I am contemplating doing so ; my de^
sire is in that direction. But if I am to make a failure
of it, or practically so, I do not desire to begin. If
you advise me not to do so I shall feel content.' ,

" In speaking of this incident, the doctor has re-
marked, recently : ' I felt that I was on my sacred
honor, and the young man looked as though he felt
himself on trial. I had had considerable experience
as a physician, but here was a case much different
from any other I had ever had. I felt that it must be
handled with great care. I examined his head, and
saw that there was a magnificent brain there. I
sounded his lungs, and found that they were strong,
and capable of making good blood. I felt his pulse,
and saw that there was an engine capable of sending the
blood up to the head to feed the brain. I had seen
many strong physical systems with warm feet, but
cold, sluggish brain ; and those who possessed such
systems would simply sit around and doze. Therefore
I was anxious to know about the kind of an engine to
run that delicate machine, the brain. At the end of
a fifteen minutes' careful examination of this kind,
we rose, and I said, " Go on, follow the leadings of
your ambition, and ever after I am your friend. You

2l8 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

THE TURNING-POINT. 21/

" ' I want to see you alone,' said young Garfield.

" The doctor led the way to a secluded spot in the
neighborhood of the house, and there, sitting down
on a log, the youth, after a little hesitation, opened his
business.

" ' You are a physician,* he said, ' and know the fibre
that is in men. Examine me, and tell me with the ut-
most frankness whether I had better take a course of
liberal study. I am contemplating doing so ; my de^
sire is in that direction. But if I am to make a failure
of it, or practically so, I do not desire to begin. If
you advise me not to do so I shall feel content.' .

" In speaking of this incident, the doctor has re-
marked, recently : ' I felt that I was on my sacred
honor, and the young man looked as though he felt
himself on trial. I had had considerable experience
as a physician, but here was a case much different
from any other I had ever had. I felt that it must be
handled with great care. I examined his head, and
saw that there was a magnificent brain there. I
sounded his lungs, and found that they were strong,
and capable of making good blood. I felt his pulse,
and saw that there was an engine capable of sending the
blood up to the head to feed the brain. I had seen
many strong physical systems with warm feet, but
cold, sluggish brain ; and those who possessed such
systems would simply sit around and doze. Therefore
I was anxious to know about the kind of an engine to
run that delicate machine, the brain. At the end of
a fifteen minutes' careful examination of this kind,
we rose, and I said, "Go on, follow the leadings of
your ambition, and ever after I am your friend. You

S

^

S

^ ^

^
^

^JOHE^TURNING-PQIMI^..^ 217

2l8 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

have the brain of a Webster, and you have the physi-
cal proportions that will back you in the most hercu-
lean efforts. All you need do is to work. Work
hard, do not be afraid of overworking, and you will
make your mark," ' "

"I wish you had a better. suit of clothes, James,"
remarked his mother, " but we shall have to make
these do, I guess." It was the same suit he had on
when he called upon Dr. Robinson. Indeed, he pos-
sessed no other suit. The trousers were nearly out at
the knees, but under the skilful hand of his mother,
they were made almost as good as new.

" Good enough, any way," said James, in reply to
his mother's wish. It was fortunate that he was not
the victim of a false pride : if he had been, he would
not have consented to attend a " seminary " in that
plight.

It was settled that the boys should board them-
selves, each one carrying his own outfit in utensils and
provisions, doing it as a matter of economy.

When Mrs. Garfield had scraped together all the
money she could for James, the amount was only
about eleven dollars.

" That will do to begin with," he remarked. " I
can earn more,"

KEEPING SCHOOL. 25 I

" Perhaps I shall be back before noon, through with
school-keeping," signifying that the boys might run
over him at the outset.

" I expect that you will succeed, and be the most
popular teacher in town," was his mother's encour-
aging reply. She saw that James needed some brac-
ing up in the trying circumstances.

James had determined in his own mind to run the
school without resorting to the use of rod or ferule, if
possible. He meant that his government should be
firm, but kind and considerate. He was wise enough
to open his labor on the first morning without laying
down a string of rigid rules. He simply assured the
pupils he was there to aid them in their studies, that
they might make rapid progress ; that all of them
were old enough to appreciate the purpose and advan-
tages of the school, and he should expect their cordial
cooperation. He should do the best that he could to
have an excellent school, and if the scholars would do
the same, both teacher and pupils would have a good
time, and the best school in town.

Many older heads than he have displayed less wis-
dom in taking charge of a difficult school. His method
appeared to be exactly adapted to the circumstances
under which he assumed charge. He was on good
terms with the larger boys before, but now those har-
monious relations were confirmed.

We must use space only to sum up the work of the
winter. The bad boys voluntarily yielded to the teach-
er's authority, and behaved creditably to themselves
and satisfactorily to their teacher. There was no at-
tempt to override the government of the school, and

252 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

former rowdyism, that had been the bane of the
school, disappeared. The pupils bent their energies
to study, as if for the first time they understood what
going to school meant. James interested the larger
scholars in spelling-matches, in which all found much
enjoyment as well as profit. He joined in the games
and sports of the boys at noon, his presence proving a
restraint upon the disposition of some to be vulgar
and profane. He was perfectly familiar with his
scholars, and yet he was so correct and dignified in his
ways, that the wildest boys could but respect him.

James "boarded around," as was the universal
custom ; and this brought him into every family, in the
course of the winter. Here he enjoyed an additional
opportunity to influence his pupils. He took special
pains to aid them in their studies, and to make the
evenings entertaining to the members of the families.
He read aloud to them, rehearsed history, told stories,
availing himself of his quite extensive reading to
furnish material. In this way he gained a firm hold
both of the parents and their children.

His Sabbaths were spent at home with his mother,
during the winter. The Disciples' meeting had
become a fixed institution, so that he attended divine
worship every Sabbath. A preacher was officiating
at the time, in whom James became particularly inter-
ested. He was a very earnest preacher, a devout
Christian, and a man of strong native abilities. He
possessed a tact for " putting things," as men call it,
and made his points sharply and forcibly. He was
just suited to interest a youth like James, and his
preaching made a deep impression upon him. From

26o LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

"You will never regret the step, I am sure. You
get something in a college education that you can
never lose, and it will always be a passport into the
best society."

From that time James was fully decided to take a
college course, or, at least, to try for it ; and he im-
mediately added Latin and Greek to his studies.

During the last year of his connection with Geauga
Seminary, James united with the Disciples' church in
Orange. He took the step after much reflection, and
he took it for greater usefulness. At once he became
an active, working Christian, in Chester, He spoke
and prayed in meeting ; he urged the subject of reli-
gion upon the attention of his companions, privately
as well as publicly ; he seconded the religious efforts
of the principal, and assisted him essentially in the
conduct of religious meetings. In short, the same
earnest spirit pervaded his Christian life that had dis-
tinguished his secular career.

In religious meetings, his simple, earnest appeals,
eloquently expressed, attracted universal attention.
There was a naturalness and fervor in his addresses
that held an audience remarkably. Many attended
meetings to hear him speak, and for no other reason.
His power as a public speaker began to show itself
unmistakably at that time. No doubt his youthful ap-
pearance lent a charm to his words.

" He is a born preacher," remarked Mr. Branch to
one of the faculty, "and he will make his mark in that
profession."

" One secret of his power is, that he is wholly un-
conscious of it," answered the member of the faculty

THIRD YEAR AT SCHOOL. 2/ 1

James closed his connection with the Geauga Semi-
nary at the expiration of the fall term, leaving it with
a reputation for scholarship and character of which the
institution was justly proud. As we have said, he
taught school during the following winter. It was at
Warrensville, where he had taught before. He re-
ceived eighteen dollars a month, and board, with the
esteem and gratitude of his patrons.

We should not pass over the oration that James
delivered at the annual exhibition of Geauga Seminary,
in November, 1850. It was his last task performed
at the institution, and the first oration of his literary
life. The part assigned to him was honorary ; and he
spent all the time he could spare, amid other pressing
duties, upon the production. He was to quit the
institution, and he would not conceal his desire to
close his course of study there with his best effort.
He kept a diary at the time, and his diary discloses
the anxiety with which he undertook the preparation
of that oration, and the thorough application with
which he accomplished his purpose. Neither ambition
nor vanity can be discovered, in the least degree, in
his diary, that was written for no eyes but his own.
His performance proved the attraction of the hour.
It carried the audience like a surprise, although they
expected a noble effort from the ablest student in the
academy. It exceeded their expectations, and was
a fitting close of his honorable connection with the
school.

Returning home, he found his mother making prep-
arations to visit relatives in Muskingum County,
eighteen rniles from Zanesville.

THE ECLECTIC INSTITUTE. 279

out upon a noble work, and we must help him all we
can."

" How do you know that you can do the sweeping
and bell-ringing to suit us ? " inquired another trustee
of James.

" Try me — try me two weeks, and if it is not done
to your entire satisfaction I will retire without a word."
James' honest reply settled the matter.

James was nineteen years old at this time ; he be-
came twenty in the following November. So he was
duly installed bell-ringer and sweeper-general.

Hiram was a small, out-of-the-way town, twelve
miles from the railroad, the " centre " being at a cross-
road, with two churches and half a dozen other build-
ings. The institution was located there to accommo-
date the sons and daughters of the Western-Reserve
farmers. President Hinsdale, who now presides over
the college (it was elevated to a college, twelve or fif-
teen years ago), says : " The Institute building, a plain
but substantially built brick structure, was put on the
top of a windy hill, in the middle of a corn-field. One
of the cannon that General Scott's soldiers dragged to
the city of Mexico in 1847, planted on the roof of the
new structure, would not have commanded a score of
farm-houses. Here the school opened, at the time
Garfield was closing his studies at Chester. It had
been in operation two terms when he offered himself
for enrolment. Hiram furnished a location, the board
of trustees a building and the first teachers, the sur-
rounding country students, but the spiritual Hiram
made itself. Everything was new. Society, tradi-
tions, the genius of the school, had to be evolved from

STUDENT AND TEACHER. 311

James took out an insurance upon his life, and
when he carried it to his brother he remarked :

•' If I live I shall pay you, and if I die you will suffer
no loss."

What James accomplished during the three years
he was at Hiram Institute, may be briefly stated,
thus : The usual preparatory studies, requiring four
years, together with the studies of the first two years,
in college, — the studies of six years in all, — he mas-
tered in three years. At the same time he paid his
own bills by janitor and carpenter work, and teach-
ing, and, in addition, laid up a small amount for col-
lege expenses.

CHAPTER XXI.

IN COLLEGE.

jT the close of the summer term at Williams
College, candidates for admission, who pre-
sented themselves, were examined. James
presented himself to Dr. Hopkins very dif-
ferent, in his personal appearance, from the well-
worded and polished letter that he wrote to him. One
describes him — " As a tall, awkward youth, with a great
shock of light hair, rising nearly erect from a broad,
high forehead, and an open, kindly, and thoughtful
face, which showed no traces of his long struggle with
poverty and privation."' His dress was thoroughly
western, and very poor at that. It was evident to Dr.
Hopkins that the young stranger before him did not
spend much time at his toilet ; that he cared more for
an education than he did for dress. Of course. Dr.
Hopkins did not recognize him.

" My name is Garfield, from Ohio," said James.
That was enough. Dr. Hopkins recalled the capital
letter which the young man wrote. His heart was in
his hand at once, and he repeated the cordial hand-
shake that James felt when he read in the doctor's
letter, "If you come here, we shall be glad to do what
we can for you." James felt at home at once. It
312

IN COLLEGE. 313

was such a kind, fatherly greeting, that he felt almost
as if he had arrived home. He never had a natural
father whom he could remember, but now he had found
an intellectual father, surely, and he was never happier
in his life. Yet a reverential awe possessed his soul
as he stood before the president of the college, whose
massive head and overhanging brow denoted a giant in
intellect. James was perfectly satisfied that he had
come to the right place, now ; he had no wish to be
elsewhere. He had read Dr. Hopkins' Lectures on
the " Evidences of Christianity," and now the author
impressed him just as the book did when he read it.
The impression of greatness was uppermost.

James passed the examination without any difficulty,
and was admitted to the Junior class. Indeed, his
examination was regarded as superior. He was qual-
ified to stand abreast with the Juniors, who had spent
Freshman and Sophomore years in the colleges. And
this fact illustrates the principle of thoroughness, for
which we have said James was distinguished. In a
great measure he had been his own teacher in the
advanced studies that he must master in order to en-
ter the Junior class ; yet he was thoroughly prepared.

" You can have access to the college library, if you
remain here during the summer vacation," said Dr.
Hopkins to him. "If you enjoy reading, you will have
a good opportunity to indulge your taste for it."

"I shall remain here during vacation, and shall be
thankful for the privilege of using the library," an-
swered James. " I have not had the time to read
what I desire, hitherto, as I have had to labor and
teach, to pay my bills. It will be a treat for me to

IN COLLEGE. 319

studies of the college, and he became so proficient in
it within one year, that he could converse considerably
in the language. But all this was little labor in com-
parison with his work at Hiram. He found much
time to read, and to engage in the sports of the Cam-
pus. The latter he enjoyed with a keen relish ; no one
entered into them more heartily than he did. His
college mates now recall with what enthusiasm he
participated in their games. This was indispensable
for his health now, as he had no labor with plane or
hammer to perform.

The " Williams Quarterly " was a magazine sup-
ported by the college. James took great interest in it,
and his compositions frequently adorned its pages,
both prose and poetry. The following was from his
pen in 1854: —

"AUTUMN.

" Old Autumn, thou art here ! Upon the earth
And in the heavens the signs of death are hung ;
For o'er the earth's brown breast stalks pale decay,
And 'mong the lowering clouds the wild winds wail.
And sighing sadly, shout the solemn dirge
O'er Summer's fairest flowers, all faded now.
The Winter god, descending from the skies,
Has reached the mountain tops, and decked their brows
With ghttering frosty crowns, and breathed his breath
Among the trumpet pines, that herald forth
His coming.

*' Before the driving blast
The mountain oak bows down his hoary head,
And flings his withered locks to the rough gales
That fiercely roar among his branches bare,
Uplifted to the dark, unpitying heavens.

320 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

The skies have put their mourning garments on,
And hung their funeral drapery on the clouds.
Dead Nature soon will wear her shroud of snow,
And lie entombed in Winter's icy grave !

" Thus passes life. As heavy age comes on
The joys of youth — bright beauties of the Spring
Grow dim and faded, and the long, dark night
Of death's chill winter comes. But ^s the Spring
Rebuilds the ruined wrecks of Winter's waste.
And cheers the gloomy earth with joyous hght.
So o'er the tomb the star of hope shall rise,
And usher in an ever-during day."

" Garfield, what are you going to do with yourself
this vacation.?" inquired Bolter, just as the fall term
was closing.

" I am considering that question, now. How should
I make it teaching penmanship, do you think .'' "

" You would do well at it ; and the vacation is long
enough for you to teach about ten lessons."

James was a good penman, for that day, and he had
taken charge of a writing-class in school, for a time.
The style of his penmanship would not be regarded
with favor now by teachers in that department ; never-
theless it was a broad, clear, business style, that coun-
try people, at least, were then pleased with.

" Think I could readily get a class .'* " continued
James.

" No doubt of it. Strike right out into the country
almost anywhere, and you will find the way open."

" I am quite inclined to take a trip into New Hamp-
shire, to see what I can do. I have some distant rela-
tives there : my mother was born there."

326 LOG-CABIN rO WHITE HOUSE.

"This subject is new to me; I am going to know
all about it."

He sent for documents, studied them thoroughly,
and was fully prepared to join the new republican
party, and also to support John C. Fremont for presi-
dent of the United States. The students called a
meeting in support of Fremont, and James was invited
to address them. The scope and power of his speech,
packed with facts and history, showed that he had
canvassed the subject with his accustomed ability ;
and even his classmates, who knew him so well, were
surprised,

" The country will hear from him yet, and slavery
will get some hard knocks from him," remarked a
classmate.

Just afterwards the country was thrown into the
greatest excitement by the cowardly attack of Preston
Brooks, of South Carolina, upon Charles Sumner.
Enraged by his attacks upon slavery, and urged for-
ward, no doubt, by southern ruffians, Brooks attacked
him with a heavy cane, while Sumner was writing at
his desk in the United States senate. Brooks intended
to kill him on the spot, and his villainous purpose was
nearly accomplished.

On receipt of the news at Williams College, the
students called an indignation meeting, at which
James, boiling over with indignant remonstrance
against such an outrage, delivered the most telling and
powerful speech that had fallen from his lips up to
that time. His fellow-students listened with wonder
and admiration. They were so completely charmed
by his fervor and eloquence that they sat in breathless

IN COLLEGE. I27

attention until he closed, when their loud applause
rang through the building, repeated again and again
in the wildest enthusiasm.

" The uncompromising foe to slavery ! " exclaimed
one of his admirers.

" Old Williams will be prouder of her student than
she is to-day, even," remarked another.

And many were the words of surprise and gratifica-
tion expressed, and many the prophecies concerning
the future renown of young Garfield.

We said that James rejected fiction from his reading,
on principle. When about half through his college
course he found that his mind was suffering from
excess of solid food. Mental dyspepsia was the con-
sequence. His mind was not assimilating what he
read, and was losing its power of application. He was
advised to read fiction moderately. " Romance is as
valuable a part of intellectual food as salad of a dinner.
In its place, its discipline to the mind is equal to that
of science in its place." He finally accepted the theory,
read one volume of fiction each month, and soon found
his mind returning to its former elasticity. Some of
• the works of Walter Scott, Cooper, Dickens, and
Thackeray, not to mention others, became the cure of
his mental malady. His method of taking notes in read-
ing was systematically continued in college. Historical
references, mythological allusions, technical terms, and
other things, not well understood at the time,* were
noted, and afterwards looked up in the library, so that
nothing should remain doubtful or obscure in his mind.
" The ground his mind traversed he carefully cleared
and ploughed before leaving it for fresh fields."

CHAPTER XXIII.

FROM PEACE TO WAR.

T is impossible for a public speaker of
Garfield's power to keep out of politics.
In political campaigns the public demand
his efforts ; men will not take no for an
answer. It was so with Garfield. He was impressed
into the service by leading citizens of his county. In
the autumn after his return to Hiram, before he
hardly had time to become settled in his great work,
his efforts on the platform were sought ; and the new
Republican party, on the anti-slavery basis, with its
first candidate, John C. Fremont, a man of Garfield's
stamp in vigor, courage, and force of character, was
exceedingly taking to him. Nobody had to tease him •
long for a speech. Often he went in the evening to
make a speech, five, six, ten miles distant, returning
after the address. Usually he took a student with
him for company and improvement. As soon as they
started he would open conversation, seldom upon the
subject of his discourse, but upon some topic of real
value to the student. Going and returning, his con-
versation was continued without the least abatement.
Alphonso Hart, a stalwart Democrat of Ravenna,
346

^c-'^:^^—

^^<i^

hd:i'o'4 EB.Sy.j K:M,is,lTi„,

FROM PEACE TO WAR. 347

delivered a speech in Hiram, full of slavery and
Democratic sophistries and errors. Garfield heard it,
with many Republican citizens.

" Reply to it, Mr. Garfield," appealed an influential
citizen to him. " Floor him."

"That can easily be done," Garfield answered;
" but is it wise .-' "

" It is always wise to refute error and wrong any-
where."

" I confess that I should enjoy handling him with-
out gloves for an hour."

" Handle him, then," urged the citizen. " It will
do the Republican party a world of good."

Other citizens put in their pleas for him to answer
Hart.

" You are just the one to do it."

" Everybody wants you should answer him."

" It will make votes for Fremont."

"Come, now, do gratify the public desire."

In this way, Garfield was beset with pleas to
answer the Democratic orator ; and he consented.
The meeting was in the Disciples church, and it
was packed to its utmost capacity. Garfield's reply
was devoid of all bitterness, but was powerful with
logic and facts. He hauled over the record of the
Democratic party, with its endorsement of slavery
with all its horrors, and he made that record appear
black enough. The effort was both able and trium-
phant, and the fame of it rapidly spread throughout
the county. Appeals for more speeches came in
from all the region about, and finally a discussion was
arranged between Garfield and Hart, to take place at

348 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

Garrettsville on a given day. Crowds flocked to hear
the debate. Garfield was in his element on that day, for
he had posted himself thoroughly upon the history of
the Democratic party, and the aims of its southern
leaders to make slavery national. His antagonist was
completely discomfited in the discussion. He had
counted without his host. He was floored. Garfield's
success lifted him at once into enviable notoriety as a
political debater and orator, and, from that time,
remarks like the following were common :

"He must go to the legislature."

" We must send him to congress."

" Just the man to follow that old anti-slavery war-
horse, Giddings."

"You'll see him President, yet."

And so the enthusiastic awakening expended itself,
in a measure, upon Garfield's supposed future career.
One year later, the position of representative to the
State legislature was tendered him.

" No ; my work is here in the Institute. I have no
ambition to enter political life. I must decline the
proposition." Garfield thus replied out of an honest
heart.

Again and again he was urged to accept the posi-
tion, but to every one his answer was the same.

" My work is here, and my heart is here, and my
DUTY is here." No appeals could move him.

In 1859, th^ faculty of Williams College invited
him to deliver the master's oration on Commence-
ment day. It was a rare compliment the faculty paid
him by this invitation, for it was but three years after
he had graduated. Accepting the invitation, and pre-

FROM PEACE TO WAR. 349

paring himself carefully for the occasion, he left
Hiram for Williamstown, Massachusetts, accompanied
by his wife, taking the first pleasure-trip of his life.
He descended the St. Lawrence river to Quebec, and
then crossed the New England states to his des-
tination. A warm welcome awaited him there. Nor
were the numerous friends who gathered disappointed
in the orator of the day. His praises were on every
lip.

On his return, when he had reached Mentor, in his
own state, a delegation of citizens met him with an
unexpected proposition.

" We want you to become a candidate for state
senator."

" Indeed ! " exclaimed Garfield, very much surprised
by the proposition. " I thought Mr. Prentiss was the
man."

"Mr. Prentiss has just died, very suddenly."

Mr. Prentiss was a man well advanced in life, a
very popular citizen of Ravenna, whose re-election
had been determined upon. But his sudden death
frustrated their plans ; and now all hearts turned to
the young principal of Hiram Institute.

" You are the first choice of the leading Repub-
licans of the district."

" I thank you sincerely for thinking of me, and,
really, it is a temptation to receive this offer ; but I
do not see how I can consistently consent."

" Your name will enable us to carry the district for
the Republicans easily," urged another one of the
delegation. " I hope you will not decline without
giving the subject some thought."

FROM PEACE TO WAR. 37 1

Sandy Valley expedition. Garfield knew at once that
it was Brown, and immediately forwarded funds to the
hospital, asking that he should have every possible
care and comfort. The letter which acknowledged
the remittance announced that the poor fellow had
died — died, muttering, in his delirium, the name ' Jim
Garfield.'

" Garfield gave him a decent burial, and this was
the last of the poor fellow."

General Garfield's tact, sagacity, fidelity, spirit of
self-sacrifice, and undaunted courage, so conspicuous
in his early life, are illustrated by his famous ride
from General Rosecrans to General Thomas, when
the army of the Cumberland was almost routed in the
famous battle of Chickamauga. It was necessary for
General Thomas to know the disaster that had be-
fallen Rosecrans' forces, in order to meet the rebel
General Longstreet victoriously. Garfield proposed
to undertake the fearful ride. Edmund Kirk, war
correspondent of the " New York Tribune," de-
scribed it as follows :

" Rosecrans hesitates, then says, * As you will,
general;' and then, reaching Garfield his hand, he
adds, while his face shows his emotion, ' We may not
meet again ; good-bye ; God bless you ! ' Though
one of the bravest men and ablest soldiers that ever
lived, Rosecrans has a heart as tender and gentle as a
woman's. He thinks Garfield is going to wellnigh
certain death, and he loves him as David loved Jona-
than. Again he wrings his hand, and then they part
— Rosecrans to the rear, to rally his broken troops,
Garfield to a perilous ride in pursuit of Thomas.

572 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

" Captain Gaw and two of his orderlies go with
Garfield to guide the way. They make a wide detour
to avoid the Confederates, and, by the route they take,
it is eight miles of tangled forest and open road be-
fore they get to Thomas, and at any turn they may
come upon the enemy.

"At Rossville they take the Lafayette Road,
guiding their way by the sound of the firing, and
moving cautiously, for they are now nearing the
battle-field. The road here is scarcely more than a
lane, flanked on one side by a thick wood, and on the
other by an open cotton-field. No troops are in sight,
and on they gallop at a rapid pace ; and they have
left Rossville a thousand yards behind, when sud-
denly, from along the left of the road, a volley of a
thousand Minie-balls falls among them, thick as hail,
wounding one horse, killing another, and stretching
the two orderlies on the ground lifeless. They have
ridden into an ambuscade of a large body of Long-
street's skirmishers and sharpshooters, who, entering
the fatal gap in the right centre, have pressed thus
far upon the flank of Thomas.

" Garfield is mounted on a magnificent horse, that
knows his rider's bridle-hand as well as he knows the
route to his fodder. Putting spurs to his side, he
leaps the fence into the cotton-field. The opposite
fence is lined with gray blouses, and a single glance
tells him that they are loading for another volley.
He has been in tight places before, but this is the
tightest. Putting his lips firmly together, he says to
himself, ' Now is your time ; be a man, Jim Gar-
field ! ' He speaks to his horse, and lays his left

FROM PEACE TO WAR. 373

hand gently on the rein of the animal. The trained
beast yields kindly to his touch ; and, putting the
rowels into his side, Garfield takes a zigzag course
across the cotton-field. It is his only chance ; he
must tack from side to side, for he is a dead man if
they get a steady aim upon him.

" He is riding up an inclined plane of about four
hundred yards, and if 'he can pass the crest, he is in
safety. But the gray fellows can load and fire twice,
before he reaches the summit, and his death is a
thing certain, unless Providence has more work for
him to do on this footstool. Up the hill he goes,
tacking, when another volley bellows from out the
timber. His horse is struck, — a flesh wound, — but
the noble animal only leaps forward the faster. Scat-
tering bullets whiz by his head, but he is within a few
feet of the summit. Another volley echoes along the
hill when he is half over the crest, but in a moment
more he is in safety. As he tears down the slope, a
small body of mounted blue-coats gallop forward to
meet him. At their head is General Dan McCook,
his face anxious and pallid. * My God, Garfield ! ' he
cries, ' I thought you were killed, certain. How you
have escaped is a miracle.'

" Garfield's horse has been struck twice, but he is
good yet for a score of miles ; and at a breakneck pace
they go forward through ploughed fields and tangled
forests, and over broken and rocky hills, for four
weary miles, till they climb a wooded crest, and are
within sight of Thomas. In a slight depression of
the ground, with a group of officers about him, he
stan.,s in the open field, while over him sweeps the

374 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

Storm of shotted fire that falls in thick rain on the
high foot-hill which Garfield is crossing. Shot and
shell and canister plough up the ground all about
"Garfield ; but in the midst of it he halts, and with up-
lifted right arm, and eyes full of tears, he shouts, as
he catches sight of Thomas, ' There he is ! God
bless the old hero ! he has saved the army ! '

" For a moment only he halts, then he plunges
down the hill through the fiery storm, and in five
minutes is by the side of Thomas. He has come out
unscathed from the hurricane of death, for God's
good angels have warded off the bullets, but his noble
horse staggers a step or two, and then falls dead at
the feet of Thomas."

Garfield's terrible ride saved the army of the Cum-
berland from remediless disaster.

Another incident illustrative of his life-long inde-
pendence in standing for the right, befriending the
down-trodden, and assailing slavery, was his refusal
to return a fugitive slave. One of his staff told the
story thus :

" One day I noticed a fugitive slave come rushing
into camp with a bloody head, and apparently fright-
ened almost to death. He had only passed my tent
a moment, when a regular bully of a fellow came
riding up, and, with a volley of oaths, began to ask
after his 'nigger.' General Garfield was not present,
and he passed on to the division commander. This
division commander was a sympathizer with the theory
that fugitives should be returned to their masters, and
that the Union soldiers should be made the instru-
ments for returning them. He accordingly wrote a

TOP OF THE LADDER. 379

army pay, to become soldiers, instead of drafting
and forcing them to serve. The bounty bill was
very popular with his own party, and drafting was
very unpopular. General Garfield did not consider
the popularity or unpopularity of the measure at all,
but he opposed it with all his might, on the ground
that bounties recruited the army with unreliable
soldiers, necessitated an expense that the government
could not long endure ; and besides, he claimed that
the government had a right to the services of every
able-bodied male citizen, from eighteen to forty-five
years of age, and they should be drafted to the extent
of the country's need. When the vote was taken,
Garfield voted against his own party, with only a
single member of it to stand with him. A few days
thereafter, Secretary Chase said to him :

" General Garfield ! I was proud of your vote the
other day. Your position is impregnable ; but let me
tell you, it is rather risky business for a member of
congress to vote against his own party."

" Risky business," exclaimed Garfield, " for a man
to stand upon his conscience ! His constituents may
leave him at home, but what is that compared with
trampling upon his convictions .'' "

A few days afterwards. President Lincoln went
before the military committee, of which Garfield was
a member, and told them what he did not dare to
breathe to the country :

" In one hundred days, three hundred and eighty
thousand soldiers will be withdrawn from our army,
by expiration of the time of their enlistment. Unless
congress shall authorize me to fill up the vacancy by

38o LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

draft, I shall be compelled to recall Sherman from
Atlanta, and Grant from the Peninsula." ,

Some of the committee endeavored to dissuade him
from such a measure, saying that it would endanger
his re-election, to adopt a measure so unpopular. Mr.
Lincoln stretched his tall form up to its full height,
and exclaimed, —

" Gentlemen, it is not necessary that I should be
re-elected, but it is necessary that I should put down
this rebellion. If you will give me this law, I will put
it down before my successor takes his office."

A draft-law for five hundred thousand men was
reported to the House, when Garfield made one of his
most eloquent and patriotic speeches in its favor,
carrying it by storm. Congress and the whole coun-
try soon came to feel that Garfield was right.

A few months later, Alexander Long, Democratic
member of the house from Ohio, in sympathy with
the authors of the rebellion, rose in his seat, and
proposed to recognize the southern confederacy.
This treasonable act caused Garfield's patriotic blood
to boil in his veins, and he sprang to his feet and
delivered one of the most powerful philippics ever
heard in the American congress. Calling attention
to the traitor of the American revolution, — Benedict
Arnold, — - he said, —

" But now, when tens of thousands of brave souls
have gone up to God under the shadow of the flag ;
when thousands more, maimed and shattered in the
contest, are sadly awaiting the deliverance of death ;
now, when three years of terrific warfare have raged
over us ; when our armies have pushed the rebellion

TOP OF THE LADDER. 381

back over mountains and rivers, and crowded it into
narrow limits, until a wall of fire girds it ; now,
when the uplifted hand of a majestic people is about
to hurl the bolts of its conquering power upon the
rebellion ; now, in the quiet of this hall, hatched in
the lowest depths of a similar dark treason, there
rises a Benedict Arnold, and proposes to surrender
all up, body and spirit, the nation and the flag, its
genius and its honor, now and forever, to the accursed
traitors to our country ! And that proposition comes
— God forgive and pity my beloved state — it comes
from a citizen of the time-honored and loyal common-
wealth of Ohio !

" I implore you, brethren in this house, to believe
that not many births ever gave pangs to my mother
state such as she suffered when that traitor was born !
I beg you not to believe that on the soil of that state
another such a growth has ever deformed the face of
nature, and darkened the light of God's day."

This single paragraph shows the spirit of this noble
effort.

President Lincoln vetoed a bill, in 1864, providing
for the organization of civil governments in Arkansas
and Louisiana, and appointed military governors.
Many Republicans criticized him severely ; among
them, Garfield. His constituents disapproved of his
course, and resolved not to renominate him. The
convention of his congressional district, the nineteenth
of Ohio, met, and General Garfield was called upon
for an explanation. When he went upon the plat-
form, the delegates expected to hear an apology from
him ; but instead, he boldly defended his course, and

384 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

gallows was carried through the crowd, lifted above
their heads, the bearers muttering, "Vengeance ! " as
they went. The prospect was that the office of the
" World," a disloyal journal, and some prominent sym-
pathizers with the rebellious South, would be swal-
lowed in the raging sea of passion. The wave of pop-
ular indignation was swollen by the harangues of
public speakers. In the midst of the terrible excite-
ment, a telegram from Washington was read, — Sew-
ard IS Dying." For an instant, vengeance and death
upon every paper and every man opposed to Lincoln
seemed to move the mighty crowd. Possibly the
scene of the French revolution would have been repro-
duced in the streets of New York, had not a man of
commanding figure, bearing a small flag in his hand,
stepped forward and beckoned to the excited throng.

" Another telegram from Washington ! " cried hun-
dreds of voices. It was the silence of death that
followed. It seemed as if every listener held his
breath to hear.

Lifting his right arm toward heaven, in a clear,
distinct, steady, ponderous voice, that the multitude
could hear, the speaker said :

" 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
habitation of His throne ! Mercy and truth shall
go before His face ! Fellow-citizens : God reigns,
and the Government at Washington still lives ! "

The speaker was General Garfield. The effect
of his remarkable effort was miraculous. Another
said of it : —

TOP OF THE LADDER. 385

"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. As the
rod draws the electricity from the air, and conducts it
safely to the ground, so this man had drawn the fury
from that frantic crowd, and guided it to more tran-
quil thoughts than vengeance. It was as if some
divinity had spoken through him. It was a triumph
of eloquence, a flash of inspiration such as seldom
comes to any man, and to not more than one man in
a century. Webster, nor Choate, nor Everett, nor
Seward, ever reached it. Demosthenes never equalled
it. The man for the crisis had come, and his words
were more potent than Napoleon's guns at Paris."

This incident illustrates several of the qualities of
Garfield's character that we have seen in his early life,
— his sagacity, tact, quick-witted turn in an emer-
gency ; his magnetic power, and familiarity with, and
confidence in, the Bible. All along through his public
career the attainments, habits, and application of his
youth contributed to his marvellous success.

As his character and abilities added dignity to the
office of janitor and teacher in his early manhood, so
they dignified all the offices that he filled throughout
his public career.

In scholarship and familiarity with general litera-
ture Garfield stood without a peer in Congress. Mr.
Townsend said of him : " Since John Quincy Adams,
no President has had Garfield's scholarship, which is
fully up to this age of wider facts." A Washington
writer said : " Few public men in this city keep up
literary studies. General Garfield is one of the few."

386 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

Another said, " Garfield is a man of infinite resources.
He is one of the half-dozen men in Congress who
read books." President Hinsdale said, "He has great
power of logical analysis, and stands with the first in
power of rhetorical exposition. He has the instincts
and habits of a scholar. As a student, he loves to
roam in every field of knowledge. He delights in
creations of the imagination, poetry, fiction, and art ;
loves the abstract things of philosophy ; takes a keen
interest in scientific research ; gathers into his capa-
cious storehouse the facts of history and politics, and
throws over the whole the life and power of his own
originality. . . . No public man of the last ten years
has more won upon our scholars, scientists, men of
letters, and the cultivated classes generally. . . . His
moral character is the fit crown of his physical and
intellectual nature. His mind is pure, his heart kind,
his nature and habits simple, his generosity unbounded.
An old friend told me the other day, " I have never
found anything to compare with Garfield's heart."

Smalley said, —

"There is probably no living political orator whose
efforts before large audiences are so effective. He
appeals directly to the reason of men, and only after
carrying his hearers along on a strong tide of argument
to irresistible conclusions, does he address himself to
their feelings. . . . He has a powerful voice, great per-
sonal magnetism, and a style of address that wins confi-
dence at the outset, and he is master of the art of binding
together facts and logic into a solid sheaf of argument.
At times he seems to lift his audience up and shake it
with strong emotion, so powerful is his eloquence."

TOP OF THE LADDER. 387

The following are some original sentiments and
maxims, from his numerous public addresses, just the
thoughts for every youth of the land to ponder :

" There is no more common thought among young
people than that foolish one, that by and by some-
thing will turn up by which they will suddenly
achieve fame or fortune. No, young gentlemen;
things don't turn up in this world unless somebody
turns them up."

" I feel a profounder reverence for a boy than a man.
I never meet a ragged boy on the street without feel-
ing that I owe him a salute, for I know not what possi-
bilities may be buttoned up under his shabby coat."

" There is scarcely a more pitiable sight than to see
here and there learned men, so called, who have
graduated in our own and the universities of Europe
with high honors, and yet who could not harness a
horse, or make out a bill of sale, if the world
depended upon it."

" Luck is an ignis fatuus. You may follow it to
ruin, but not to success."

"Be fit for more than the one thing you are now
doing."

" If the power to do hard work is not talent, it is the
best possible substitute for it."

"Every character is the joint product of nature and
nurture."

" For the noblest man that lives there still remains
a conflict."

"The privilege of being a young man is a great
privilege, and the privilege of growing up to be an
independent man, in middle life, is a greater."

388 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

" I would rather be beaten in right than succeed in
wrong."

"Whatever you win in life you must conquer by
your own efforts, and then it is yours — a part of your-
self."

" If there be one thing upon this earth that mankind
love and admire more than another, it is a brave man,
— it is a man who dares look the devil in the face, and
tell him he is a devil."

" The student should study himself, his relation to
society, to nature, and to art, and above- all, in all, and
through all these, he should study the relations of
himself, society, nature, and art to God, the Author of
them all."

"Great ideas travel slowly, and for a time noise-
lessly, as, the gods whose feet were shod with wool."

" Truth is so related and correlated that no depart-
ment of her realm is wholly isolated."

" I would rather be defeated than make capital out
of my religion."

" Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a
war that has no ideas behind it is simply brutality."

" It is a fearful thing for one man to stand up in
the face of his brother man and refuse to keep his
pledge ; but it is a forty-five million times worse thing
for a nation to do it. It breaks the mainspring of
faith."

" The flowers that bloom over the garden wall of
.party politics are the sweetest and most fragrant that
bloom in the gardens of this world."

" It was not one man who killed Abraham Lincoln :
it was the embodied spirit of treason and slavery.

TOP OF THE LADDER. 389

inspired with fearful and despairing hate, that struck
him down in the moment of the nation's supremest joy."
" When two hundred and fifty thousand brave spirits
passed from the field of honor through that thin veil
to the presence of God, and when at last its parting
folds admitted the martyr-president to the company of
the dead heroes of the republic, the nation stood so
near the veil that the whispers of God were heard by
the children of men."

His great popularity and usefulness as a representa-
tive very naturally suggested his name to the Repub-
licans of Ohio, when a United States Senator was to
be elected by the legislature, in January, 1880, to suc-
ceed Mr. Thurman. When the subject was opened to
Garfield, he remarked :

"Just as you please ; if my friends think it best, I
shall make no objection."

"We want you should go to Columbus when the
election is pending."

" I cannot consent to any such plan. I shall not lift
my finger for the office. I never sought an office yet,
except that of janitor at Hiram Institute. If the people
want me, they will elect me."

"Very true," urged his friends; "it is no engineer-
ing or finessing that we desire you to do at Columbus.
We only want you to be where your friends can see
you and confer with you."

" And that will be construed into work for the office,
the very appearance of which is distasteful to me. I
decline peremptorily to go to Columbus." This was
Garfield's characteristic decision and reply.

390 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

When the legislature assembled, the feeling was so
strong for Garfield that all other candidates withdrew,
and he was nominated by acclamation at the party
caucus, and unanimously elected.

After the election was over, he visited Columbus,
and addressed both branches of the legislature in joint
convention. The closing paragraph of his remark-
able speech illustrates the courage and independ-
ence of the man ; qualities that have recommended
him to the confidence and support of the people. He
said :

" During the twenty years that I have been in pub-
lic life, almost eighteen of it in the congress of the
United States, I have tried to do one thing. Whether
I was mistaken or otherwise, it has been the plan of
my life to follow my convictions, at whatever personal
cost to myself. I have represented for many years a
district in congress whose approbation I greatly de-
sired ; but though it may seem, perhaps, a little egotis-
tical to say it, I yet desired still more the approbation
of one person, and his name was Garfield. He is
the only man that I am compelled to sleep with, and
eat with, and live with, and die with ; and if I could
not have his approbation I should have had bad com-
panionship."

In view of this last triumph, President Hinsdale
said :

" He has commanded success. His ability, knowl-
edge, mastery of questions, generosity of nature, devo-
tion to the public good, and honesty of purpose, have
done the work. He has never had a political ' machine.'
He has never forgotten the day of small things. It is

TOP OF THE LADDER. 39 ^

difficult to see how a political triumph could be more
complete or more gratifying than his election to the
senate. No bargains, no ' slate,' no 'grocery,' at Co-
lumbus. He did not even go to the capital city. Such
things are inspiring to those who think politics in a
bad way. He is a man of positive convictions, freely
uttered. Politically, he may be called a ' man of war ; '
and yet few men, or none, begrudge him his triumph.
Democrats vied with Republicans the other day, in
Washington, in their congratulations ; some of them
were as anxious for his election as any Republican
could be. It is said that he will go to the senate with-
out an enemy on either side of the chamber. These
things are honorable to all parties. They show that
manhood is more than party."

And so James, the hero of our tale, stood upon the
highest round of the ladder of fame, save one !

The final step to the top of the ladder followed
quickly ; so quickly that he had not time to take
his seat in the United States senate. He had but
just planted his feet upon the highest round of the
ladder, save one, when the call to come up higher —
to the top — was heard from Maine to the Golden
Gate.

The National Republican Convention, five months
later, assembled to nominate a candidate for the presi-
dency of the United States. James A. Garfield was a
member of that convention, and his magnetic presence
was the occasion of much enthusiasm and applause.
Although he was not a candidate for the position,
whenever he arose to speak, or moved about in the
vast audience, he was greeted with hearty cheers. He

392 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

was evidently eti rapport with the crowded assembly.
After thirty-four ineffectual ballots, about fifty mem-
bers of the convention cast their votes for James A.
Garfield in the thirty-fifth ballot. The announcement
created a furore of excitement, as it indicated a break-
ing up of the factions, and a probable union of all
upon the most popular Republican in the convention.
Instantly the delegates of one state seized their ban-
ner with a shout (the delegates of each state sat to-
gether, their banner bearing the name of their state),
bore it proudly forward, and placed it over the head of
the aforesaid patriot and statesman, followed by other
delegations, and still others, until seven hundred dele-
gates upon the floor, and fifteen thousand spectators
in the galleries, joined in the remarkable demonstra-
tion, and cheer upon cheer rent the air, as the ban-
ners, one after another, were placed in triumph over
the head of their hero, declaring to the world, without
the use of language, that James A. Garfield was the
choice of the convention for President of the United
States ; the magnificent ovation terminating by the
several bands striking up " Rally Round the Flag,"
fifteen thousand voices joining in the chorus, and a
section of artillery outside contributing its thundering
bass to the outburst of joy. It was a wild, tumultuous
scene of excitement, the spontaneous outburst of
patriotic devotion to the country, such as never trans-
pired in any political assembly before, and, probably,
never will again. It was something more, and differ-
ent from the usual excitement and passion of political
assemblies ; it was an inspiration of the hour, begot-
ten and moved by more than mortal impulse, — the

TOP OF THE LADDER. 393

interposition of Him who has guided and saved our
country from its birth !

That spontaneous burst of enthusiasm really nomi-
nated General Garfield for President. The thirty-
sixth ballot, that followed immediately, was only a
method of registering the decision of that supreme
moment.

The news of General Garfield's nomination flew
with the speed of electricity over the land, creating
unbounded joy from Plymouth Rock to the Pacific
Slope. The disappointments and animosities of a
heated contest vanished at once before the conceded
worth and popularity of the candidate. Partisans
forgot the men of their choice, in their gladness that
union and harmony signalized the close of the most
remarkable political convention on record.

He was elected President of the United
States on the second day of November, eighteen

HUNDRED and EIGHTY.

He carried twenty of the thirty-eight states, securing
213 of the 369 electors. In his native town of Orange
every ballot was cast for him.

The time between the election and inauguration of
General Garfield was characterized by good feeling and
general hopefulness. The almost unprecedented ex-
citement of the political campaign subsided into national
tranquillity and peace, in which the two great political
parties seemed to be more harmonious than ever. Mr.
Garfield's popularity won the esteem of leading men
who opposed his election, and some of them publicly
declared their entire confidence in the man and their
profound respect for his great talents. The striking

CHAPTER XXV.

IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

HE Fourth of March, 1881 —the day of the
inauguration of General Garfield as Presi-
dent of the United States — will be remem-
bered for its bleak, uncomfortable, stormy
morning, threatening to spoil the preparations for a
grand military and civic display. About ten o'clock,
however, the storm subsided, and the clouds partially
broke. The city was crowded with visitors from dif-
ferent sections of the country, among them many civic
organizations and military companies which had come
to join in the procession. The wide-spread interest in
the occasion was due to the fame of the President-
elect and the era of good feeling that succeeded his
election. Not only his personal friends, but many
others in every part of the land, exerted themselves to
make the occasion memorable, beyond all similar
demonstrations. General Garfield's college classmates
were there, to the number of twenty, to congratulate
him upon his remarkable public career. On the even-
ing of March third, they tendered to him a reception
at Wormley's Hotel in Washington, renewing old
friendships around the festive board, each member of

39S

396 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

the class feeling himself honored in the high honor the
country had bestowed upon his gifted classmate. In
response to a toast on that occasion, General Garfield
said : —

" Classmates : To me there is something exceed-
ingly 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 private citizen. To-morrow I shall be
called to assume 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 judgment
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 lance in the House or the
Senate. But it is not to be, and I will go forward to
meet the responsibilities and discharge the duties that
are before me with all the firmness and ability I can

IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 397

command. I hope you will be able conscientiously to
approve my conduct ; and when I return to private life,
I wish you to give me another class-meeting."

The ceremony of inauguration was arranged for
twelve o'clock, noon. Before that hour arrived, more
than one hundred thousand people thronged the
streets of the city to witness the unusual display.
Every State of the Union was represented in the
seething multitude ; and hundreds of public men were
present — senators, representatives, governors, judges,
lawyers, clergymen, and authors. A large number of
veterans of the late war were there to honor their
beloved comrade of other days who was going up
higher.

The ceremony was to take place at the Capitol, and
preparations were made at the White House, whence
the presidential party would be escorted.

At half -past ten o'clock a chorus of bugles an-
nounced the arrival of President Hayes and Presi-
dent-elect Garfield from the hotel, who were received
in the ante-room by Mr. Pendleton, and for a brief
moment the ladies and gentlemen and other invited
friends in the House greeted each other in the red
room. Col. Casey then announced that everything
was ready, and assigned the party to carriages in
the following order : First, Gen. Garfield's mother
and wife, Mrs. Hayes, Mollie Garfield and Fanny
Hayes ; second, Mrs. Dr. Davis, Mrs. Herron of
Cincinnati, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews and Miss Bullard
of Cleveland ; third, Mrs. Mason and three daughters
of Cleveland ; fourth, Harry, Jimmy and Irving Gar-
field and Scott Hayes ; fifth, Messrs. Swaim and Rock-

IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 399

front, where the platform was erected from which the
vast assemblage would listen to the inaugural address.
When the dignitaries with their families were finally-
arranged, silence was maintained for a few moments
that the group might be photographed. Then Mr.
Garfield stepped to the front and delivered his noble
inaugural address, in tones so clear and eloquent that
the multitude, even in the distance, heard. Before he
closed his address the clouds broke above him, and
pure sunlight fell in benediction on his head. As he
concluded. Judge Waite, of the Supreme Court, pre-
sented the Bible to him on which the Presidents are
sworn, and proceeded to administer the oath. At the
conclusion. President Garfield reverently kissed the
sacred volume, and returned it to the judge. Then,
turning to his aged mother, who had wept tears of joy
during the delivery of his address, he imprinted a kiss
upon her cheek, and another upon that of his wife,
the two persons, next to himself, most deeply inter-
ested in the transaction of that memorable hour.
The President and his attendants withdrew amidst
the wildest demonstrations of joy by the concourse
of people.

Immediately followed the imposing military and
civic procession, which was said to be more elaborate
and grand than anything of the kind ever witnessed
in the capital of the nation. It was three hours
passing a given point, and was reviewed by Presi-
dent Garfield from a stand erected in front of the
presidential mansion.

An eye-witness describes the scene as follows :
"One hundred thousand people stood in Pennsyl-

CHAPTER XXVI.

ASSASSINATION.

jHILE the contest was going on in the New-
York legislature over Senator Conkling's
re-election, an attempt was made upon the •
President's life, which startled and shocked
the nation. He had arranged a journey to New Eng-
land, for the purpose of attending the Commencement
at Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. ; the annual
meeting of the American Institute of Instruction at
St. Albans, Vt. ; extending his trip into Maine, where
he would be the guest of Mr. Blaine, Secretary of
State ; thence into New Hampshire, in response to an
invitation by the legislature of that state, then in
session ; returning through Boston to Washington ;
hoping thereby to recruit his somewhat exhausted
energies by a brief respite from official duties.
On Saturday morning, July 2, he left the Execu-
tive Mansion at a few minutes past nine o'clock, in
his carriage with Secretary Blaine, for the Baltimore
and Potomac Railroad Depot. At twenty minutes
past nine o'clock he entered the depot, arm in arm
with Mr. Blaine, when two pistol-shots were fired in
quick succession, the first one sending a ball through
404

ASSASSINATION. 405

the right coat-sleeve of the President, doing no damage,
the second one driving a ball deep into his body above
the third rib. The unexpected shot well-nigh para-
lyzed the bystanders. Mr. Blaine turned to seize the
assassin, but found him already in the hands of an
officer. As he turned back, the President sank heavily
upon the floor, and the fearful tidings spread through
the city : " The President has been assassinated ! " The
telegraphic wires took up the terrible news and con-
veyed it over the country, startling every town, village,
and hamlet as they never were startled except by the
assassination cf President Lincoln. By twelve o'clock,
■ the entire country was apprised of the appalling calam-
ity, except in sections beyond the reach of telegraphs
and telephones. The dreadful news flashed over the
Atlantic cable, astounding and affecting Europeans
almost as sensibly as it did Americans. Surprise and
grief were universal. "It was a marvellous tribute,"
said George William Curtis. "In Europe, it was
respect for a powerful state ; in America, it was affec-
tion for a simple and manly character." The deed was
done "in the most peaceful and prosperous moment
that this country has known for half a century," as
Mr. Curtis wrote ; " and the shot was fired absolutely
at a man without personal enemies, and a President
whom even his political opponents respect." The
manifestations of unfeigned sorrow were gauged by
this remarkable fact. The South seemed to vie with
the North in profound grief over the fearful crime and
heartfelt sympathy for the illustrious sufferer. In their
dire extremity and deep sorrow, Christian men and
women, led by the ministers of religion, gathered in

408 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

genial, calm and hopeful, that both friends and phy-
sicians thought it was the harbinger of recovery.
Once he said to Mr. Blaine, who was sitting at his
bedside, " What motive do you think that man could
have in trying to assassinate me "i " Mr. Blaine
answered, "I do not know, Mr. President. He says
he had no motive. He must be insane." The Pres-
ident responded to this, with a smile, " I suppose he
thought it would be a glorious thing to emulate the
pirate chief." At another time his son James was
sobbing at his bedside, when he addressed him lov-
ingly, " Don't be alarmed, Jimmy ; the upper story
is all right ; it is only the hull that is a little dam-
aged." He was somewhat impatient for the arrival
of his wife, as were all the friends present, and when
Colonel Rockwell announced that she had left Long
Branch on a special train, he responded with much
emotion, " God bless the dear woman ! I hope the
shock will not break her down." Dr. Bliss stated,
that often, during the afternoon, he became even
jocular, conversing more than the physicians thought
for his good, but doing it, evidently, to encourage the
depressed friends around him. He told Dr. Bliss
that he desired to be kept accurately informed about
his condition. " Conceal nothing from me," he said,
"for, remember, I am not afraid to die." About four
o'clock in the afternoon, the evidence of internal
hemorrhage became unmistakable, and it was feared
he might not live until Mrs. Garfield arrived. Dr.
Bliss and his medical associates were making an ex-
amination, when he inquired what the prospects were.
" Are they bad, doctor ? Don't be afraid ; tell me

4i6 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

King of Belgium, Emperors of Russia, Japan and
China, and Germany, and other foreign rulers, sent
despatches full of sorrow and expressions of good-
will. Some of them repeated their telegrams on
receipt of more favorable news respecting the Presi-
dent's recovery. Victoria said : —

" I wish to express my great satisfaction at the very favorable
accounts of the President, and hope that he will soon be consid-
ered out of danger."

Even the Indians of our country, in whose welfare
the President had been so deeply interested, were
profoundly touched by the appalling news ; and on
receipt of the intelligence that hopes of his recovery
were entertained, Moses, the chief of the Confederate
tribes of Washington Territory, sent the following : —

" Tell the Great Chief at Washington that it makes our hearts
sad to hear of the cowardly attempt made on his life. Chief
Moses and all of his people offer their warmest sympathy to the
Great Father and his family. He has always been a good friend
to the Indians. We are glad to hear that he is recovering, and
hope his life may be spared."

All classes, parties and sects, except some Mormons
and Socialists, appeared to feel deeply the calamity
to the nation, and to indulge the most heartfelt desire
that the President's life might be spared. It was a
demonstration of esteem and confidence, as honorable
to the citizens of our country as it must have been
grateful to the President and his family. The patri-
otic words of the illustrious sufferer, in the outbreak
of the late " War of the Rebellion," have peculiar
significance now to every thoughtful American : " I

ASSASSINATION. 42 1

" Governor's Office, Columbus, O., July 10.
" Present indicarions strongly encourage the hope that the
President will recover from the effects of the horrible attempt upon
his life. It must occur to all that it would be most fitting for the
Governors of the several States and Territories to issue procla- 1
mations setting apart a day to be generally agreed upon for
thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God for the blessed deliver-
ance of our President, and for this great evidence of His goodness
to this nation. If this suggestion meets your approbation, permit
me to name the Governors of New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky,
Maryland, and Ohio, as a committee to fix upon a day to be so
observed. Please reply.

(Signed) Charles Foster."

The suggestion was a proof of the strong place the
President occupied in the affections of the people ;
and there was evidence that every state in the Union
would unite in such an expression of gratitude to God,
if his life were spared. North and South, East and
West, the interest was profoundly impressive ; in no
part of the country was it more beautiful than in the
South. The Atlanta Constitution came to us with
this delightful tribute : —

"An element that contributes largely to increase
the sympathy of the Southern people is the happy
family relations of the President. It was remembered
how, upon the occasion of the inauguration, he turned
from the applauding crowd to kiss his wife and his
white-haired mother ; and many a Southern wife and
mother wrung their hands in grief when the news of
his assassination was received, and cried : ' Oh, what
will his wife do } How will his mother bear it .-* '
Gracious little hints, shining here and there through
the bewildering dullness of political discussions, have

422 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

given the people a tolerably clear idea of the exquis-
ite beauty and harmony of the President's family
relations, in such charming contrast to the showy
shoddyism of the capital, and this knowledge has had
a potent effect on the public mind. It is no small or
unimportant thing that, in the midst of conditions
altogether heartless, and surrounded by influences
calculated to destroy reverence for the family hearth,
the home life of the President of the Republic should
be ideally perfect, and the fact that it is, brings him
and his family very close to the hearts of the Ameri-
can people. But it is not necessary to endeavor to
account for or to explain Southern manifestations of
sympathy for the stricken President. They were
spontaneous and they are not fleeting We know a
little girl — the daughter of a Confederate officer who
fought through the war — who, upon being told last
Sunday morning that the President was still alive,
quietly replied, ' I know it. I prayed last night that
he might live.' The child had prayed with faith, and
was certain her prayer would be answered. This
Sunday morning there is every indication that the
President will be spared to his family and to the coun-
try, but to the stricken man — to fair-faced wife and
white-haired mother — the South, standing in the
shadow of great troubles of her own, still sends forth
her sympathy."

A Democratic member of Congress, Representa-
tive Hurd, in publicly expressing his unfeigned grief
over the President's critical condition, told this
story : —

"It happened once that I — a young member —

In Reclining-chair at Long Branch.

CHAPTER XXVII.

DEATH — FUNERAL CEREMONIES.

jITHIN ten minutes after the physicians and
Mrs. Garfield retired, the President awoke
with a groan. Placing his hand upon his
heart, he said to General Swaim, "Oh,
Swaim ! what a terrible pain I have here ! " Dr. Bliss
was summoned from an adjoining room, hastily, and
the moment he fastened his eye upon the sufferer, he
exclaimed, "My God, Swaim, he is dying; call Mrs.
Garfield." From that moment he appeared to be un-
conscious, although he fixed his eyes upon his wife as
she hurriedly entered the room, and seemed to follow
her as she moved around to the other side of the bed
to take his hand in hers. His eyes were wide open,
but dazed ; his pulse only fluttered ; he gasped, and
was no more. At thirty-five minutes past ten o'clock,
Dr. Bliss pronounced life extinct ! A sudden and ter-
rible change from the hope inspired at ten o'clock !
The President of the United States — her favorite son,
scholar, and statesman — -was dead !

The unutterable sadness of that moment in the
Francklyn Cottage can never be put upon paper. The
idol of the family and nation had ceased to live, and

439

436 LOG-CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE.

prayers, and a brief address by his pastor, Dr.
Powers. The singing was the sweetest for the
occasion that Washington could furnish, the piece
rendered being a favorite hymn of the deceased :
" Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep ! " His pastor said :
"The cloud so long pending over the nation has at
last burst upon our heads. We sit half crushed amid
the ruin it has wrought. We remember with joy his
faith in the son of God, whose gospel he sometimes
himself preached, and which he always truly loved.
And we see light and blue sky through cloud
structure, and beauty instead of ruin ; glory, honor,
immortality, spiritual and eternal life, in the place
of decay and death. The chief glory of this man,
as we think of him now, was his discipleship in the
school of Christ. It is as a Christian that we love to
think of him, now. It was this which made his life to
man an invaluable boon, his death to us an unspeak-
able loss, his eternity to himself an inheritance in-
corruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. He
was no sectarian. His religion was as broad as the
religion of Christ. He was a simple Christian, bound
by no sectarian ties, and wholly in fellowship with all
pure spirits. He was a christologist rather than a
theologist. He had great reverence for the family
relations. His example as son, husband and father,
is a glory to this nation. He had a most kindly
nature. His power over human hearts was deep and
strong. He won men to him. He had no enemies.
The hand that struck him was not the hand of his
enemy, but the enemy of the position, the enemy of
the country, the enemy of God. He sought to do

DEATH —FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 437

right, manward and God ward. He was a grander
man than we knew. He wrought even in his pain a
better work for the nation than we can now estimate.
He fell at the height of his achievements, not from
any fault of his ; but we may in some sense reverently
apply to him the words spoken of his dear Lord : ' He
was wounded for our transgressions ; he was bruised
for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was
upon him.' As the nations remembered the Mace-
donian as Alexander the Great, and the Grecian as
Aristides the Just, may not this son of America be
known as Garfield the Good } Our President rests ;
he had joy in the glory of work, and he loved to talk
of the leisure that did not come to him. Now he has
it. This is the clay, precious because of the service
it rendered. He is a freed spirit ; absent from the
body, he is present with the Lord. On the heights
whence came his help, he finds repose. What rest
has been his for these four days ! The brave spirit
which has cried in its body, ' I am tired,' is where the
wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at
rest. The patient soul which groaned, under the
burden of the suffering flesh, ' O, this pain,' is now in
a world without pain. Spring comes, the flowers
bloom, the buds put forth, the birds sing ; autumn
rolls round, the birds have long since hushed their
voices, the flowers faded and fallen away, the forest
foliage assumes a sickly, dying hue ; so earthly things
pass away and what is true remains with God. The
pageant moves, the splendor of arms and the banners
glitter in the sunlight, the music of instruments and
of orators swells upon the air. The cheers and

CHAPTER XXVIII.

MR. BLAINE'S EULOGY ON PRESIDENT GARFIELD.

OR the second time in this generation the
great departments of the Government of
the United States are assembled in the
Hall of Representatives to do honor to the
memory of a murdered President. Lincoln fell at the
close of a mighty struggle in which the passions of men
had been deeply stirred. The tragical termination of his
great life added but another to the lengthened succes-
sion of horrors which had marked so many lintels with
the blood of the first born. Garfield was slain in a
day of peace, when brother had been reconciled to
brother, and when anger and hate had been banished
from the land. " Whoever shall hereafter draw the
portrait of murder, if he will show it as it has been
exhibited where such example was last to have been
looked for, let him not give it the grim visage of
Moloch, the brow knitted by revenge, the face black
with settled hate. Let him draw, rather, a decorous,
smooth-faced, bloodless demon ; not so much an
example of human nature in its depravity and in its
paroxysms of crime, as an infernal being, a fiend in the
ordinary display and development of his character."

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