THE
LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES
OF
JAMES A. GARFIELD,
TWENTIETH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
INCLUDING
FULL AND ACCURATE DETAILS OF HIS EVENTFUL ADMINISTRATION,ASSASSINATION, LAST HOURS, DEATH, Etc.
TOGETHER WITH
NOTABLE EXTRACTS FROM HIS SPEECHES AND LETTERS
BY E. E. BROWN.
BOSTON
D. LOTHROP COMPANY
32 FRANKLIN STREET
Copyright, 1881,
By D. Lothrop & Co.
DEDICATION.
And bowed her crowned head above our slain."
INTRODUCTION.
BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D. D.
More eloquent voices for Christ and the gospel have never come from thegrave of a dead President than those which we hear from the tomb of ourlamented chief magistrate.
Twenty six years ago this summer a company of college students had goneto the top of Greylock Mountain, in Western Massachusetts, to spend thenight. A very wide outlook can be gained from that summit. But if youwill stand there with that little company to-day, you can see fartherthan the bounds of Massachusetts or the bounds of New England, or thebounds of the Union. James A. Garfield is one of that band of students,and as the evening shades gather, he rises up among the group and says,"Classmates, it is my habit to read a portion of God's Word beforeretiring to rest. Will you permit me to read aloud?" And then taking inhis hand a pocket Testament, he reads in that clear, strong voice achapter of Holy Writ, and calls upon a brother student to offer prayer."How far the little candle throws its beams!" It required real principleto take that stand even in such a company. Was that candle of the Lordafterward put out amid the dampening and unfriendly influences of a longpolitical life? It would not be strange. Many a Christian man has hadhis religious testimony smothered amid the stifling and vitiated air ofparty politics, till[Pg vi] instead of a clear light, it has given out onlythe flicker and foulness of a "smoking wick."
But pass on for a quarter of a century. The young student has become aman. He has been in contact for years with the corrupting influences ofpolitical life. Let us see where he stands now. In the great RepublicanConvention at Chicago he is a leading figure. The meetings have beenattended with unprecedented excitement through the week. Sunday hascome, and such is the strain of rivalry between contending factions thatmost of the politicians spend the entire day in pushing the interests oftheir favorite candidates. But on that Lord's day morning Mr. Garfieldis seen quietly wending his way to the house of God. His absence beingremarked upon to him next day, he said, in reply, "I have moreconfidence in the prayers to God which ascended in the churchesyesterday, than in all the caucusing which went on in the hotels."
He had great interests at stake as the promoter of the nomination of afavorite candidate When so much was pending, might he not be allowed touse the Sunday for defending his interest? So many would have reasonedBut no! amid the clash of contending factions and the tumult ofconflicting interests, there is one politician that heard the Word ofGod sounding in his ear "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thywork