Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-09-27
The Grief of To-Day.

The great heart of the American Nation is
big with unutterable woe, and the great eyas
of the Republic are trickling with tears over
the death of one of the grandest types of men
of modern times. Commencing at the lowest
round of the ladder of human life, JAMES A..
GARFIELD assembled gradually, yet surely, each
step higher, until he reached the round
at the top, and then, as the Poet
Willis expressed 1t, from that he stepped
Unto THE ski" No man, since the days of
Washington, ever entered upon public life
with purer motives, than JAMES A. GARFIELD.
No man, since the days of Washington, in
, his public career, more clearly exemplified
the moral grandeur of the really truly great
American statesman, than did JAMES A. GAR
FIELD. As gladiator in the political arena,
he was just, kind, magnaminous. AS pa
triot in the field, ne was true to the union, to
the flag, to principles. AS a man, honest,
sincere, pure. As President, impre enable to the
| assaults of corruption, incorruptible, moving
on that high plain OF craftsmanship to which
| the people bowed with reverence, and love,
and admiration, and sublime faith, and cher
ished hopes. And then, in the hallowed mellow
ness of his mstured life, surrounded with low
ing friends and devoted and endeared fam
lily circle; proud in the consciousness of hav-
ing wronged no man; walking Gods free earth
s'the noblest Roman of them al, ," in mo.
ment of innocent enjoyment, he is
struck down by the bullet OF the
assassin, and this great nation OF
10000, 900 of people, sway too and fro, as
the tidings came ticking over the wires, "Iht
president is shoth' How TREMENDOUSLY human
hearts beat! How lips quivered! How voices
faltered ere words were uttered! How anx
iously people gathered in groups, and in whis
pered tones discussed the probabilities of the
great and good mans death! Human ener
gies were paralyzed. The globe itself appeared
to stop on its axis: tears seemed to gust
from the sky; all nature wept.
And then, for days, and weeks, and months
how patiently the people of all sects, OF al
denominations, of all political creeds, of al
colors, waited and hoped and prayed thai
JAMES A. GARFIELD might live. The grea1
human heart became a thermometer Of hope
and fear. The mornings dawn brought sun
shine; the EVENINGS shadow darkness ant
despair. And all this time, lying upon hi
couch, SO calm, so pleasant and resigned, sc
noble, so heroic, so grand, was JAMES A. GAR
FIELD, passing slowly, but surely passing into
the shadow of death.
Neither ancient nor modern history car
record scene more sublimely touching
or inexpressibly heroic, than that Of oul
martyred president as he layed upon his bee
of sickness, tortured with pain, racked with
fever, the great American nation bending over
and carefully watching his emaciated form, a!
day after day it threw off it's materiality ant
began putting on the ha5iliaments of q highe
and nobler lfe-nothing, l say, in histor!
has parallel to this impressive scene durine
the last earthly days of JAMES A. GARFIELD
trustful; not afraid to die, not anxious to live
serve the interests Of the natiol
that was bowed and weeping at his bedside
His sickness, his pains, his fortitude, his suf
ferings, mellowed party asperlties and calmet
the political sea. Party recriminations foatet
off with the mourning fog, and when, at last, b
assembled to better existence, he left the ma
ton more closely cemented in brotherly love
in the union of common feeling, common
country, a common end, than has existed be
fore in the United States for the past thirt,
years.
What scene! There, in the capital of thi
great nation, with the "heavens hung will
black" with one living president, two ex
presidents, one vice president and dead presi
dent, the living commingIing with $4,000, 00
of people, mourning over the loss of their be
loved chieftain, with every nation of the worlt
bowed in grief at the silent feet of the dea'
and lamented GARFIELD! The muf1ed drums
the measured tread of many feet, the flown,
tears, the aching hearts, the silent lips, al
speak of the last end, of the last act, of tn
last great statesman in American history!
Noble President Unsullied Patriot! I'm
daunted Hero! Farewell l can but throw
small sprig of evergreen upon the casket tina
| contains tiny pulsless form, and as l do so, il
is in the name and in behalf of the grea
American people, who will revere thy memor,
to the end of their lives, because thou wer
their friend, their counsellor, their hope-th
highest type of TRUE MAN! Yours,
| T. M. NEwsoN.
st, Paul, Sept. 25, 1881.