New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-28
PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY.

snv"A sFa
PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY.
...,,v,xa FEW visIroRs-JUDGE FoLGER AND THE
= pxry-oEYKRALsHIP-TALKs WITH CURIOUS
e ~r,,,.crrps-rHK INAUGURAL MESSAGE.
taY TELEGRAPH TO THE rRIBuNEI
.....,o. Ohio. Feb. 27.--It takes moral courage
!. - ofY railroad train at Mentor nowadays. In
9 fonr hours more it will be about as easy
80 '.s;nnortaut an act as one could well perform
81. ;,st now the fierce sunlight Of publicity beats
80, hi. little wayside station. and no one can
- its elare. When the word goes
80. through the train that is approaching
sstor the passengers shake off their drowsiness ana
look about with stray and incoherent allus'ons 70
.fysr6eld,s as il they supposed ne might become u.
.lupost any moment prominent oo)ect III 'ne "os
md dreaxy landscape. When the porter cahs o"s
: Nentor.s and one passenger rises the Sou'aiui
. drummer who enjoys travelling 30 muoh 'ns' no
bas been revelling in all the discomiorts ol 'ne
lesping-car ever since he started, wnks very saUa
,lorsly at his companion. and that companion--a
~.nt,sman Of prominent nose and sooty counte-
canca Who looks az If be were on bis way to supply
tha Southwest with srspenders and bargains IN
neckties-is yisibly suspicious. The passenger
eerees from the car conscious that oil the people
vho ueer ont of the windows ct him are wondering
what particular Office he is coming out to get.
Az for the inhabitants of Mentor they take 1t all
Cor granted The hardly gets his foot down
nm the platform before the bows with the MUDDY
brokep-down hacks cry out +" Here y are! Hack TO
;ar6eld's! Hack to Garfeld's! Take yer cheapF
The tail Of the ofice-seeker Is over the unior-
innate passenger, aud he cannot shake IL on Even
the station master looks at him with shrewd derlsiVe
slance that is Enthusiastically Western ana seems
10 say. Well, young man, what do you WANT
Something neat and comfortable. suppose
take 1t that You don't expect 70 90
Secretary of the Treasury" Aud when Tue
passenger admits that he does want to 60
10 General Garfelds house. aud actually hires So
sailed hack for that criminal purpose he feels that
.hs crcunstartial evidence against him is complete
He resigns himselft to his fate, while the hafdozen
natives on the platform regard him with that calm
asdain only to be attained by men who expect no
offices and have no hacks to let. The hack-drvers
have had prosperous career of 1t since the Presl-
Dental lightning struck this hamlet last june
How many people have carried over since he
was nominstedi Well, guess about thousand.
took over sixty in one day." said this particular
hack-driver.
II suppose youye got them all classified into the
man who want Cabinet places and the men who
want fore$gr missions ars--" es1-
"No I didr't run my nose into that much"
said the hack-driyer with just the possibility In ms
voice Of contempt for Cabinet offices and foreign
missions.
.Do know Garfield at ALI Well. guess know
him about as well as any of 'em "-this gravely but
with n little twitchina of pride about the mouth
he's as plain a man as Pve ever seen. He's
mighty nice man. Ali of which is sincere enough
and plainly said without regard to the thousand
foreu the driver has had.
GENERAL GARFIELDs HOME
II would be hard to imagine more uninteresting
road than that which the Mentor pilgrims have
travelled this winter. But 1t does not seem to have
discouraged them. Leaving the little station
behind and the plain little hotel where statesmen OF
National reputation have waited over between
trains and Cabinet Offices. possible and impossible
have learned the virtues of real country sausage
and genuine cider-tbe road runs straight away
through fat country which the winter has made
very dreary. The road is one broad path of mud.
Here and there on either side are plain country
houses with no pretension to ornament. and behind
us are the spires of two village churches-f 1t can be
called yilage-which are as plain as the houses.
A drive of ten minutes brings You to O
comfortable frame house, little larger and
newer and sprucer than the rest. but still very
plain house, looking more like the home OF mod
erately well-to-do farmer with simple tastes than
the homo Of the President-elect Of the United
States. One sees barns and buildings back of the
house anfl catches glimpse of the 100 acres which
make up the Garfield farm. One Of these buildings
is the little office where the General has been in
the habit of doing much Of his work
and which has served for months past ai
a hive for newspaper correspondents and reporters
Considering what he must have gone through. thu
good temper Of the Newfoundland dog on the piazzs
is something to be wondered at. One would neve
suppose from the lazy manner In which he rises ant
comes forward that he had been In the turmoil o.
politics for nearly year, and had seen his home
overrun with politicians every day and every houl
Of The day..
Thanks perhaps to the rain, and perhaps to th'
fact that the time Is short before the inaugura
tion, General GarfeIds last Sunday at home was a
quiet one. There were few visitors, and there wa
not even the hustle of packing trunks. 1t would
have interested anybody but q doubter Of
Republican simplicity to come into thi'
houss this quiet Sunday afternoon and b'
& told that tomorrow Its owner is Il
stsrt for Washington to take the chief office IL
The sfsatAst Republic ever known. As you entel
soa eoms into wide, square halfway. On the
nsnsn ststty parlor where q lady sits reading al
su'euy = z the White House. of which she Is TO
sns missrcu next week, had ncveI
entered her thoughts, and bright
faced young girl with the old-fashioned
namc OF Molly. household word IN that same
eccentric mansion. is sorting out her music. The
room is tastefully furnished. but far from ex
pensively. The portrait Of General GarHeld's
venerable and devoted mother hangs on the wall.
Out IN the hall is big s,ovs, giving generous
Warmth. A tall Dutch clock ticks in one corner