Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-08-19
GEN. GARFIELD ON THE STUMP.
A THRILLING APPEAL TO
YOUNG MEN.
ElOquence Which Stirs Like the Sound
Ofa Trumpet.

a trip-hammer. We subjoin its closing
appeal to young men. We do not know
where to look for anything equally eff
fective in touching pathOs, irresistible
Fhumor and stirring eloquence:
/ ANAPPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. -
u Now, fellow citizens, word before l
4 leave you, on the eve of the holy day of
Coda fit moment to cOnsecrate our
selves finally to the great work of next
Tuesday morning l see in this great
audience tonight a great many young
men, young men who are about to cast
their first vote. l want to give you a
word of suggestion and advice. heard
very brilliant thing said by boy the
other day up in one of our northwestern
counties. He said to me, General, 1
have a great mind to vote the Demo
cratic ticket" That was not the bril-
liant thing. [Laughter.I said to him,
"Why?" "Why," said he, "my father is
Republican, and my brothers are Re-
publicans, and 1 am Republican all
over, but l want to be an independent
man, and 1 don't want anybody to say,
That fellow votes the Republican tick
ct because his dad does and have half
mind to vote the Democratic ticket
just to prove my independence" 1 did
did not like the thing the boy suggested,
/ but did admire the spirit of the boy
/ that wanted to have some independence
of his own.
Now, 1 tell you, young man, don't 't.vote
| the Republican ticket just because your
| father votes it. Don't vote the Demo-
cratic ticket, even if he does vote it.
But let me give you this one word of
| advice, as yon are about to pitch your
tent in one of the great political camps:
Your life is full and buoyant now, and
beg you, when you pitch your tent,
pitch it among the living and not among
the dead. [Applause.] If you are at
at all inclined to pitch it among the
Democratic people and with that party,
let me go with you for moment while
| we survey the ground where l hope you
will not shortly lie. Laughter. 1t is
sad place, young man, for you to put
your young life into. 1t is to me far
more like graveyard than camp for
the living. Look at it! 1t is billOwed
all over with the graves of dead issues,
of buried opinions, of exploded theories,
of disgraced doctrines. You can not
! live in comfort in such plrce. Laugh
| teri Why, look herei Here is a little
double mound. | look down on it and |
Tread, Sacred to the memory of Squatter
Sovereignty and the Dred Scott Deci
sion." A million and half of Demo-
Gratis voted for that, but it has been dead
fifteen years-died by the hand of Abra-
ham Lincoln, and here it lies. Ap-
plause.l Young man, that is not the
place for you.
But look little farther. Here is an
other monumental black tOmb-and
beside it, as our distinguished friend
said, there towers to the sky mOnu
ment of four million pairs of human
fetters taken from the arms of slaves,
and read on its little headstone this:
SACRED to the memory of human slave
ry." For forty years of its infamous
life the Democratic party taught that
it was divine-Gods institution. They
defended it, they stood around it, they
followed it to its grave as mourner.
But here it lies, dead, by the hand of
Abraham Lincoln. Applause. Dead
by the power of the Republican party.
Applause Dead by the justice of AL
mighty God. Great applause and
cheers. Don't camp there, young man.
But here is another-a little birthstone
tomb laughter and l read across its
yellow face in lurid, bloody lines, these
words: Sacred to the memory of State
Sovereignty and Secession" Twelve
millions of Democrats mustered around
it in arms to keep it alive; but here it
lies, shot to death by the million guns
of the Republic. Applause. Here it
lies, its shrine burnt to ashes under the
blazing rafters of the burning Confeder-
acy. Applause.l 1t is dead. l would
not have you stay in there minute,even
in this balmy night air, to look at such
a place. Laughter
But Just before l leave it 1 discover a
new-made grave, a little mound-short.
The grass has hardly sprouted over it,
and all around it | see torn pieces of pa
per with the word fiat" on them laugh
teri, and 1 look down in curiosity, won
dering what the little grave is, and
read on it, Sacred to the memory of the
Rag Baby [laughterl, nursed in the
brain of all the fanaticism of the world
Ilaughter], rocked by Thomas Ewing,
George H. Pendleton, Samuel Cary, and
a few others throughout the land" But
it died On the 1st of January, 1879, and
the one hundred and forty millions of
gold that God made, and not fiat power,
lie upon it's little carcass to keep it down
forever. Prolonged applause.l
Oh, young man, come out of that
Laughter. That is no place in which
to put your young life. Come out, and
come over into this camp OF liberty, of
order, of law, of justice, of freedom
lament, of all that is glorious under
these night stars.
Is there any death here in our camp? |
Yesl yesl Three hundred and fifty |
thousand soldiers, the nOblest band that
ever trOd the earth, died to make this
camp camp of glory and of liberty for
ever. Tremendous applause.
But there are no dead issues here. |
There are no dead issues here. Hang |
out our banner from under the blue sky |
this night until it shall sweep the green
turf under your feet! 1t hangs over our
camp. Read away up under the stars
the inscription we have written on it
loi these twenty-five years.
Twenty-Five years ago the Republican
party was married to Liberty, and this
is our silver wedding, fellow citizens.
[Great applausel A worthily married
pair love each OTHER better on the day |
of their silver wedding than on the
day of their first espousals, and we
are truer to Liberty to-day, and dearer
to God than we were when we spoke our
first word of liberty. Read a way up
under the sky across our starry ban
ner that first word we uttered twenty
five years agol What is itP slavery
shall never extend over another foot of
the territories of the great West" Ap-
plause. Is that dead or alivep Alive,
thank God, for evermorel Applause.
And truer tonight than it was the hour
it was writtenl [Applause.l Then it
was hope, a promise, purpose. To
night it is equal with the stars-immortal
history and immortal truth. Applause.
Come down the glorious steps of our
banner. Every great record We have