Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1881-10-13

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the issue of our national currency
through soulless corporations.
The "Queen's Floral Tribute"
The Chicago Sentinel.
Much has been said about the floral
tribute which the queen of England,
through her diplomatic agent in Wash
ington, laid upon the coffin of the dead
president A newspaper correspond
ent at Cleveland spoke of it as "a beau
tiful floral tribute, significant Of the
sorrow and sympathy felt by the ruler
of parent empire in the grief that has
befallen the young republic"
And it is reported that Mrs. Garfield
was so well pleased with it that to the
exclusion of all Others she requested
that it remain on the coffin during the
trip from Washington to Cleveland.
The bereaved widow of the late
president, during the terrible ordeal
through which she has been called to
pass has displayed so much genuine
dignity, excellent taste and rare goO1
sense, that in this particular instance
of having been foolishly llattered by
the attentions of woman who hap
pens to wear a "crOwn" no one eau feel
like criticzing her unkindly.
But it is well enough in passing
to express few thoughts that natur-
ally arise in connection with the mat
ter.
In the first place the queen" Of Eng
land can have no real genuine sym.
pathy with the American people, their
free institutions, their ideas Of self
government, their natural antagonism
to monarchial governments, their ira.
ditions of equality and fraternity.
Forty years ago when the little
barefoOted boy, James A. Garfield, was
trudging along on the tow-path, driy.
ing Il pair of mules hitched to 4
canal boat, the "Queen" of England |
from her "rOyal throne would not
have tolerated his uncouth presence,
nor even have tolerated the suggestion
that the future held for linn Il position
equal to that of her own.
She has no sympathy with the social |
idea which can promote ragged canal !
boat boy to the ruership of Il great ma
tiOn.
During the long years of Garliclds !
manly struggles which hn'lly culmin-
ated in his elevation to the presidency, |
the "Queen" of England would have |
strewn no flowers in his pathway. In
her own country she even crect5 insur- |
mountable barriers across such path |
ways as Garfield trod. The poor, rag
ged boys of England, however intelli |
gent and worthy they may be, see no
doors opened through which they may
enter, crowned with the hOnors Of |
rulership; they see no hOnored graves |
decked with floral tributes from
the "queen;" the future gives forth |
to them no promise of reward for
grand achievements; they can never
hope that the utmost that they can gain |
will equal that which perhaps some
titled nincompoop enjoys as a mere in
heritancc.
And Mrs. Garfield, as a farmers |
daughter that she was, would have re-
ceived no more consideration within
the "cOurt circles" of Queen" Victoria
than would the little tow-path boy who |
afterwards became president.
There should be no sentimental |
gratitude over the floral tribute of |
"Queen" Victoria. The social idea
which recognizes the position which a
man occupies and yet ignores the man
hood by which he won that position
should find little favor among the
American people.
A handful of wild ilOwers laid upon
the coffin of the dead president by the
plainest and most obscure of Americas
women should be regarded as a greater
tribute than the costly wreath which
the queen" of England contributed.
Till the "Queen" of England recog-
nizes the God-given right of liberty,
equality and fraternity; till she recOg-
nizes the right of her own ragged boys
to become her own successor; till she
recognizes the right of the English peo-
pie themselves to say who shall be her
successor, let her not presume to lay
floral tributes upon the graves of
American presidents.