The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1881-10-13
AEEcDorEs OF GARFIELD.
Pleasing "Reminiscences by Represent
sfiSs Wi liamS, of wisconsin.

Pleasing "Reminiscences by Represent.
siise Williams, of wisconsin
! Milwaukee Sentinel.
/ Congressman Williams was in the
CITY lew days ago, and. IN answer &c
questions as To his acquaintance with
lne laH3ented President, replied:
disappearing to sit within one seat OF
him for four ears in the house, /, with
Others. perh ,ps, had a better opportuni-
~ Ia s-e lin Ia all his moods than those
mere removed. In action he was a gil
| ant; of duty he was great noble boy.
| lie nsvtr knew what ansterity of man.
ner or ceremonious dignity meant.
After some of his greatest efforts in the
house, such as will 1--we in history,
he would turn to me or any
| one else, and say: Well, old
boy, how was lhat?' Every man WAS
his conf1dant and friend, so far as the in
ierchange of every day good feeling was
1 concerned. He once told me how he
| prepared his speeches; that first he fill
ed himself with the subject, massing all
the facts and principles involved, so far
as he could; then he took pen aud pa-
| per and wrote'down the salient points in
/ what he regarded their logical order
Then he scanned these critically. and
fixed them in his memory. And then,
said lie, i leave the paper in my room
and trust To the emergency He told
me that when hc spoke at the serenadc
| in New York a year ago he was so
pressed by callers that the only opportu-
nifty he had for preparation was to look
the door and walk three times around
the table when he was called out TO the
balcony to begin. Ali the world knows
what that speech was. He was
wrapped up in his family. His two boys
4 l..
adjournment and loiter about his desk
with their books in their hands. After
the House adjourned other members
would go off in cars or carriages, or
walk down the avenue IN groups. But
Garfield, with boy on each side OF him,
would walk down Capitol Hill, as We
would say in the country, cross lots, all
three chatting together on equal terms.
He said TO me one day during the presi-
dental canvass, while the tears came
TO his eyes: Il have done no more CON-
ing up from poverty than hundreds and
thousands of others, but / am thankful
that have been able TO keep my family
by my side and educate my child
rem He was a man with whom
anybody could differ with
impunity. / have said repeatedly that
were Garfield alive and fully recovered,
and dozen of his intimate friends were
to go to him and advise that Guiteau be
let eff, he would say: Yes, let him CO.
The man positively knew no malice.
And for such a man to be shot and tor
tured like dog and by dog! He was
extremely sensitive. l have seem him
come into the house in the morning
when some guerrilla of the press had
stabbed him deeper in feelings than
Gulteau's bullet did in body, and when
he looked pallid from suffering and
the evident loss of sleep; but he would
utter no murmur, and in a short time
his great exuberanc eOfspirits would sur
mount all, and he would be boy again.
He never went to lunch without troop
of friends with him. He loved to talk
at the table. and there is no gush in say
ing he talked like god, socially and in
tellectually. Some of his off hand ex-
pressions were like burst of inspira-
ton. Like all truly great men, he did
not seem TO realize his greatness Aud,
as have said, he would talk as cordial
" and confidentially with child as
with a monarch. l only refer to his
conversations with me because you ask
me TO, and because | think his Off-hand
talks revealed his real traits best. Com
ing on the train from Washington after
his nomination he said: Only think
of this! | am yet young man; if
elected and ! serve my term l
shall still be a young man.
Then what am l going to do?
There seems TO be no place in America
for an ex.president!' And then came in
what thought the extreme simplicity
and real nobility of the man. Why
said he, Il had no thought of being nom-
mated. / had bought me some new
books and was getting ready for the SEN
ate.' laughed at the idea of his buy
ing books, like boy going to college,
and remembered that during his con-
gresslonal career he had furnished ma
terial for few books himself. And
then, with that peculiar roll of the body
and slap on the shoulder with the left
hand, which all will recognize, he said /:
tWhyi do you know that up TO 1856
never saw Congressional Globe, nor
knew what one wasp Ana he
then explained how he stumbled
| on to copy in the hands
of an opponent in his first public anti
slavery debate. A friend remarked the
other day that Garfield would get as en-
| thusiastic IN digginga six-foOt ditch with
his own hands as when making speech
in congress. Such was my observation.
Going down the lane he seemed to for
get for the time that there was any pres
idenlial canvass pending. He would re-
| fer to one thing then another, and always
with that off-hand originality which was
his great characteristic. Suddenly pick
| ing up a smooth, round pebble, he said ::
Look at thatl Every stone here sings of
| the sear Asked why he bought his farm
| he said he had been reading about metals
that you could draw them to a certain
| point a million times and not impair their
strength, but if you passed that point
once you could never get them back.
| So said he, i bought this farm TO shift
the muscles of my mind! Coming TO
| two small wooden structures in the field,
! he talked rapidly of how the neighburs
guessed he would do in congress, but
| would not make much of n fist at farm
| ing. He called my attention to his corn
and buckweat and Othc: crops, and said
that, pointing TO a certain field, was a
| marsh, but he Inderdrained il with tile
and found spring water flowing out of
| the bluff; he also found he could get a
tive-foot fall, and with pumps of a given
dimension, could throw water back so
rods to his house and so feet above it.
But SAID he, in his jocularly impress
sive manner, Il did my surveying before
did my wOkr
Mr.. Williams added that had not Gar
field expressed wish To he buried in
Cuyahoga cemetery, the place for his
body to rest was on the hillside where
he did his engineering in sight of the
lake and the Lake Shore road, where a
monument erected high by the Nation
would be seen by the millions that
passed and repassed forever. Mr. VIII,
lians said, in conclusion, the roots oil
Garfield's life ran deep into the hearts OF
his wife and children and it was hard tO
tear them out. That he had great conf
dence in Arthur's executive ability, and
believed he was wholly sincere in all his
acts.