The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-09-24 00:00:00

In noticing the death of President Garfield, the
Evening Standard gives the following particulars of his
1, career :

The sentiment throughout the entire Union, ever since
the date of the wanton attack on the Chief of the State, can
only be compared to that which prevaded this country dur-
ing the illness of the Prince of Wales some years ago. Garfield,
if not a great man—that is to say, a man of the calibre of Wash-
ington or Lincoln—was a very popular one, because of his con-
sistency and uprightness, his engaging personal manners,
and what our cousins term "the excellence of his record." It
may be well here briefly to recall the 3ircumstances attending
the dastardly outrage which has for the second time within
a score of years deprived the great Republic of its ruler.
Shortly after breakfast hour on the 2nd of July last, the
deceased and Mr. Secretary Blaine left the White House on
their way to the railway depot. Secretaries Lincoln, Windom,
and Hunt had preceded the President, and had taken their
seats in the special carriage that yr az to convoy Ow party to New
York. Just as the President had entered the doorway of the
general passengers room, two pistol shots were fired in rapid
succession from the rear. The first shot passed through the
right coat sleeve of the President, inflicting no injury ; but the
second entered his body above the third rib. Wheh struck,
the President turned sharply round, but before he could
take a step he fell heavily to the floor, the blood spurting
profusely from a jagged wound caused by the ball. The
assassin, whose name is Charles Guiteau, of Illinois, was at
once arrested. He is a lawyer by profession, and is 36 years
of age.
Up to the time of the Republican Convention at Chicago
last summer, the name of Garfield had scarcely been men-
tioned on this side of the Atlantic. Even after the voting in
the Convention had begun, Mr. Garfield's chances seemed to
be of the slenderest; but presently he came to the front,
and was pitted against General Hancock as a candidate for
the blue ribbon of American public life. The early career of
the late President resembles in many respects that of Presi-
dent Lincoln. James Abram Garfield came of New England
ancestry, being ninth in direct descent from Edward Garfield,
who emigrated from the Welsh border to Massachusetts in
1636. Abram Garfield, the father of James, married Eliza
Ballon, the descendant of a Huguenot family, and soon after
the marriage they removed to north-eastern Ohio. From his
father, it is said, the President inherited a large brain and a ro-
bust frame, and from his mother personality and principles
which moulded his character. His father bought .a tract of 80
acres of forest in Orange Township, Cuyahoga county, and on
this he built a rough log house with a good deal
of mud about it. Here, on November 19, 1831, James
Abram Garfield, the future President of the United States,
first saw the light. He was the youngest of four
children, and before he was two years old his father
died. The widow and her little ones got somehow
through a rough winter of 1831, but very soon afterwards
50 acres out of the 80 were disposed of. Young James
was four years old before he had a shoe on his feet.
Thomas, his elder brother, managed to earn some money on
the neighbouring farms, and subsequently James and his sister
were sent to school. It is said that the late President
proved himself a most apt pupil, but the schoolmaster could I
never get him to sit still, and at length he was obliged to
overlook this peculiarity. Time went on, and when James
was twelve years old and his brother twenty-one, they set to
work to make their mother a comfortable home. The future
President for two years did carpentering during the intervals
of his school work, and built four or five barns in the district
of Cuyahoga. He next worked as a clerk and salesman in it
1 store for fourteen dols. a month. Whilst in this placebo con-
ceived a desire to go to sea and make a career for himself.
With a small bundle of clothes and a few dollars in his
pocket, the boy trudged off 17 miles to Cleveland; but his
endeavoirrs to find a berth in a schooner were unsuccessful,
and in July, 1817, he engaged himself as a driver to a canal
boat. In this capacity he remained for four months, ex-
periencing a rough, hard life, and 14 times in that period
was immersed in the water. On the last occasion his
escape from drowning was so marvellous that be said : "I'll
go home, get an education, and be a man." At the
age of 16 he again commenced his studies. His
mother and brother gave him 17 dollars, which was the last
help he had from them, and alternately working and study-
ing, he spent three years at Chester. It was not long before
he was enabled to drop carpentering and woodcutting, and
proeure a living by teaching. In the year 1851 he went
to the collegiate school at Hiram, and paid at first for his
instzuction by acting as janitor and bell-ringer; he subse-
quently became a teacher, and, it is said, a great favourite
with the students. From Hiram, Garfield went to Williams'
College, and here in 1856 he graduated with high
honours, distinguishing himself by his industry, social
manners, and readiness in debate. At this College
he remained as Latin and Greek teacher, and in 1858 married
'Lucretia Rudolph, his former pupil at Hiram, and his class-
mate at Chester. lie had seven children by her, five of
whom survive. As tea& —at Williams' College, and af ter-
aius as see pi estuenb, varneid won toe love and catoom of
a crowd of pupils. He did not, however, as a young man,
give much attention to politics ; but after the Kansas
Nebraska Legislation he joined the Republican Party. In
1859 he was elected to the State Senate, and although only
28, he at once took a prominent position as a debater. _
In 1861, the War of Independence broke out, and at the
call of his country he resigned his scholastic appointment,
and went to command the little army which kept Kentucky
safe in the Union. Colonel Garfield, for he was
soon promoted, was brigadier general under General
Rosencranz, and threw into the service all the
zeal that characterised him la other pursuits ; at
Chickmauga, however, his military career practically
closed. After his campaign in Eastern Kentucky,
he was elected to Congress from his native State, Ohio.
He took his seat—the youngest man in the Legislature—in
December, 1863, and did good service to his party. His speech
on the Constitutional Amendment to Abolish Slavery was
very ably delivered. General Garfield was also an able
lawyer, and has argued several important cases at the
bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. In the
Legislature he soon took a prominent position, and
after Mr. Blaine's elevation to the Upper Chamber
he became the Republican leader in the House of
Representatives. In accepting his own nomination for the
Presidency, James Abram Garfield wrote :—" It is certain
that the wounds of the war cannot be completely healed,
and the spirit of brotherhood cannot fully pervade the whole
country, until every citizen—rich or poor, white or black—
is secure in the free and equal enjoyment of every civil and
political right guaranteed by the Constitution and the
, laws."

The Times, in a biographical notice of President
Garfield, gives the following particulars of his boy-
hood:—

His mother, who has lived to see her son first installed in
the White House and then struck down in his prime by an
assassin's hand, was a native of New Hampshire. His
father was of Massachusetts stock, and traced his family
back to Ins, when his ancestor, Edward Garfield, was one
of the proprietors of Watertown, and came with Governor
Winthrop to find freedom of conscience in New Eng-
land. The President's father, Abram Garfield, settled
In the Ohio forest a year before the birth of his
youngest child, James Abram, bought a tract of wooded
land, built a log-hut, and in three years had cleared
a portion of the forest and begun the cultivation of
the soil. When his corn was in the ear the neighbouring
woods caught fire, and threatened to destroy the ripening
crop. Mr. Garfield, by great exertion, threw up a dyke of
fresh earth between the corn and the fire. His crop was
saved, but the farmer, overheated and wearied, became
chilled while returning to his hut, and died of inflammation
of the throat. The mother was left with two sons and two
daughters, and passed through extraordinary struggles and
privations. She tilled the land with the oxen which her hus-
band had left her, and made her children's clothing with her
own hands, and clothed the children of a neighbouring shoe-
maker, who, in return, made boots for her little ones. In the
winter, when they could not labour in the fields, the chil-
dren went to school, President Garfield told one of his
biographers that at from three to ten years of age he
attended school daily ,• but after ten he worked in the
summer on the farm. He gained his first prize at the age of
four. It was a copy of the New Test ament given to the best reader
in the primary class. He eagerly read all his mother's scanty
stock of books, learnt to recite by heart almost the whole
of the "English Reader," borrowed "Robinson Crusoe,"
" Josephus, "Goodrich's History of the United States,"
and Pollok's solemn poem on the "Course of Time."
But his favourite work in "Josephus " was "The Wars
of the Jews," and he was never tired of poring over
accounts of battles and adventures by sea and land, tales of
bold buccaneers, of Algiers and the Spanish Main. Much
later in life, when he had become a distinguished member of
Congress, he said—' I tell you I would rather now command
a fleet in a great naval battle than be anything else on this
earth. The sight of a ship still fills me with a strange fasci-
nation.' He was strong in his boyhood, and a great fighter,
and was consumed by a burning passion to go to sea. At
the age of 16 he could do a man's work, and contracted with
his cousin to cut 100 cords of wood for 25 dols. The task
was performed in a tract of high woodland which commanded
a view of the blue waters of Lake Erie and the shipping in
the port of Cleveland

The Daily Telegraph, in its obituary notice of President
Garfield, says :—" We know not whether there is truth in
the story told by Professor S. Brainerd, for many years
Principal Examiner in the United States Patent Office,
respecting the young Garfleld's first entrance upon the
path of educational progress, but at any rate the story
Is too good to be omitted here. Professor Brainerd,
who, at the time to which he refers, was a teacher
of 'Object Lessons' in the public schools of Cleveland,
was upon one occasion giving a public lecture and
endeavouring to illustrate the advantages of education
and inftustry under the free institutions of the United States.
By way of illustration he picked out from a crowd of youths
a bare-footed, tow-headed fellow,' remarking, 'This boy, if
he will only devote himself to study and take advantage of
his opportunities, may yet be President of the United
States. The `boy ' seemed to be more struck by the remark
than any other of the audience, and soon after the lecture he
presented himself as a pupil. That boy,' said Professor
Brainerd, when relating the story, now General
Garfield.'"

The intelligence of the death of President Garfield was
received throughout the United Kingdom with feelings of
universal regret. During the last few days the bulletins had
been looked forward to with interest, and the sad
news was not unanticipated. The death of this brave
man has been the topic of conversation everywhere, and
the feeling expressed by all classes of the community
has been one of heartfelt sympathy with Mrs. Garfield
and the American people generally at their sad bereavement.
Mr. Garfield was more than six feet in heieht, with broad
shoulders, a massive head, and a robust, muscular frame.
He began life with a sound constitution, which was well
developed by his outdoor labour in his youth. In his tem-
perate and well-ordered existence the only form of dissipa-
tion was in long vigils over his books. Reading was his
great passion and relaxation. He consoled himself for hard
work. "Pickwick' he often began but never finished,
because be wished to keep some part of it fresh and un-
touched for the future Throughout the war he carried
"Horace" in his pocket, and in his recently published cor-
respondence are long letters written from the scene of
military operations discussing minute shades of construction
in the poet who left his shield behind him. He learnt French
while in Congress to study the financial history of the
assignats, and was a tireless student of English
etymology.
President Garfield was not rich, having only a small house
in Washington and a farm of 120 acres in Ohio. This is at
Mentor, where the President was accustomed to spend all
the time he ckaild spare from Washington and to labour with
his hands and direct his men. The farm house is a low, old-
fashioned building of a storey and a half high, but has been
supplemented by out-buildings, one of which General Gar-
field usedufor -office-and library purposes. .A drive of two
miles through the woods from the Garfield farm brings the
visitor to the lake shore and the bathing place among the
breakers.

The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon writes to the New York Herald
as follows :—" All through the President's illness a sympathy
has been felt among us akin to that which would have been
created by the sickness of our own Queen. The bravery of
the sufferer, the graciousness of his life, and the goodness of
the cause which he represented, all unite in deepening the
intense regret felt among the Christian people of England.
This sympathy has greatly tended to draw the two nations
into closer fraternity, and thus some meastu, of good has
arisen out of a gigantic evil.—C. H. SPURGEON."
General Garfield has left no will. His estate is valued at
25,000 dols., and he held life insurance policies for as much
more.
- • - •- -•-

---
General Garfield was the 20th President of the United
States in succession from George Washington, who filled the
high office eight years, or tw® terms, from 1789.
It is stated that the late President insured his life in the
New York Life Insurance Company only about a month
before he was shot.

By a singular coincidence, it was on the anniversary of
Chickamauga, in which he bore so brilliant a part, that
President Garfield died, and, strangely enough, in the house
of an Englishman.

POREIGN SYMPATHY.

Expressions of regret for the President's death and of sym-
pathy wits the American nation in their loss, are reported
from all parts of the world.
In Paris, the numerous American establishments hung out
flags dressed with crape and there was quite a procession to
the Legation and to the house of the American Minister.
Lord Lyons and the other members of her Majesty's Embassy,
and Sir Charles Mice and the members of the commission
for negotiating the treaty of commerce were among the
visitors. Telegrams of condolence were sent to• Washington
by the President of the Republic, and all official dinners and
receptions were put off as a tribute of respect. At the
assembling of the Congress at the Exhibition of Electricity
the sad event was announced by M. Cochery, and the meet-
ing at once adjourned. The Americans have since draped
the whole of their section with festoons of crape.
A St. Petersburg telegram states that immediately on
receivin,* the news of the President's death, the Emperor of
Russia sent a sympathetic telegram to Washington.
On the news becoming known at Rome, King Humbert
Immediately telegraphed orders to express to the Govern-
ment of the United States the deep sorrow of himself, the
Queen, and the Royal family. Similar sentiments were ex-
pressed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in the name of
the Government and.the entire nation.

At Tuesday's sitting of the International Literary Congress
at Vienna, the President announced the death of General
Garfield, and the entire Congress rose to its feet in honour of
the memory of the late President.

At Bombay (a Standard telegram says) the progress of
President Garfield's illness has beeza watched with great
attention and interest, and the native population have fully
shared in the general feeling. The news of his death has
excited a universal feeling of profound regrPt, and the
deepest sympathy is expressed for Mrs. Garfield.

THE NEW PRESIDENT.

A Reuter's telegram, dated New York, Sept. 20, says :
General Chester Arthur took the oath of office as President
of the United States last night, at his residence here,
before two of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State
of New York.

General Chester A. Arthur, who now succeeds to the
Presidency of the United States, was born in Franklin
county, Vermont, on October 5, 1830. His father was
the Rev. William Arthur, a Baptist minister, who
emigrated to America, from the county of Antrim,
Ireland, in his eighteenth year. General Arthur was
educated at Union College ; afterwards taught for
two years in a country school in Vermont: and then,
having raised 500 dollars by rigid economy, went to New
York, became a law student And was admitted to the bar.
He was a delegate to the Convention at Saratoga which
founded the Republican party, and has always taken a pro-
minent part in the politics of the State and city of New
York During the war he was Quartermaster-General of
the State. In 1872 he was appointed by General Grant
Collector of the Port of New York, and his removal from
that office in 1878 by President Hayes caused much stir at
that time; General Arthur being looked upon as an obstacle
in the way of that reform of the Civil Service which Mr.
Hayes unsuccessfully endeavoured to effect. After his re-
moval General Arthur returned to his law practice, and was
lately at the head of one of the best-known legal firms in,
New York.