Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1880-09-09

ship is shown to best advantage when
the fight is a fair one, and waged on
grounds where each party thinks itself
strongest. Then mis- solid shot of ar
gument are exceedingly effective. On
the stump Garfield is one of the very
best orators in the Republican party.
He has good voice, an air of evident
sincerity, great clearness and vigor of
statement and way of knitting his
arguments together so as to make a
speech deepen its impression on the
mind OF the nearer until the climax
is reached.
With the single exception of 1857.
when he made tour in Europe, he has
done hard work on the stump for the
republican party in every campaign
since he entered Congress. For the
past ten years his services have been in
demand IN all parts of the country.
He has usually reserved half his time
for the Ohio canvass, and given the
other half to other States. The Novem-
Der election finds him worn and hag-
gard with travelling and speaking in
the open air, but his robust constitu-
ton always carries him through, and
after few weeks rest on his farm he
appears in Washington refreshed and
ready for the duties of the session.
HIS INDUSTRIOUS HABITS.
OF his industry aud studious habits
great deal might be said, but single
illustration will suffice. Once during
the busiest part of very busy session
at Washington, friend found him in
his library behind a big barricade of
books. This was no unusual sight, but
when the visitor glanced at the volumes
he saw they were all different editions
of Horace, or books relating to that
poet. find I am overworked and
need recreation," said the General.
Now, my theory is that the best way
to rest the mind is not to let it be idle.
but to put it at something quite outside
of the ordinary line of it's employment.
So [ am resting by learning all the
Congressional Library can show about
Horace, and the various editions and
TRANSACTIONS of his POEMS" General
Garfield never went through the lower
grades of law practice. After he made
his reputation in Congress ne was occa-
sionally associated with Jeremiah S.
Black, in important Supreme Court
cases, where his power of close, logical
argument made his aid OF great value.
He has never sought law business and
has never accepted any which interfered
with his public duties.
GENERAL GARFIELD's HOME LIFE.
General Garfield is the possessor of
two homes, and his family migrates
twice year. Some ten years ago, find
ing how unsatisfactory life was in hotels
and boarding houses, he bought lot of
ground on the corner of Thirteenth
and LIST Sts., in Washington, and with
money borrowed of a friend built a
plain, substantial three-story house. A
wing was extended afterward to make
room for the fast growing library. The
: The money was repaid in time, and was
probably saved in great part from what
would otherwise have gone to landlords.
The children grew up in pleasant home
surroundings, and the house became a
centre Of much simple and cordial hos
pltallty. Five or six years ago the little
cottage at Hiram was sold, and for a
time the only residence the Garfelds
had IN his district was a Summer house
he built on Little Mountain, a bold
elevation in Lake County, which COM
mands view of thirty miles of rich
farming country stretched along the
shore Of Lake Erie. Three years ago
he bought farm in Mentor, in the
same county, lying on both sides of the
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern
Railroad. Here his family spend all
the time when he is free from his duties
in Washington. The original farm
house was low, old fashioned, story
and-a-half building, and its limited ac-
commodations were supplemented by
numerous cutbuildings, one of which
General Garfield uses for Office and
library purposes. Last Spring he had
the house enlarged and remodeled, so
that it now has a handsome modern
look. The farm contains about 100
acres of excellent land in high state
of cultivation, and the Congressman
finds recreation, of which he never
tires, in directing the field work and
making Improvements in the buildings,
fences, and orchards. Cleveland is only
twenty-five miles away; there is a post
Office and railway station within half
mile, and the pretty country town of
gainesville is but five miles distant.
One of the pleasures of Summer life
on the Garfield farm is drive of two
miles through the woods to the lake
shore and oath in the breakers.
Visitors who come unannounced often
find the General working in the hay
field with his boys, with his broad, gen.
ial face sheltered from the sun under
big chip hat and his trousers tucked in
pair of cowhide boots. He is a
thorough countryman by instinct. The
smell of the good brown earth, the low
ing of cattle, the perfume of the new