Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1881-11-07
of one heart and one mind-that they

tens of thousands places of prayer to-
day; dropping flags, dark draperies and
speaking flowers, subdued songs, words
of sorrow and submission, and fearful
prayers, tell of the great anguish that
has smitten the American people.
And this wave of sorrow reaches other
lands, for the voice of mourning is heard
throughout Christian civslizatiom. The
English court is in mourning by order
of its womanly, noble queen-'a sympa-
thetic act never known before for the
death of an American citizen. In Eng
land, Scotland, Spain, France, Switzer-
land, Germany, Sweden, and IN the isles
of the sea, tolling bells, lowered" flags
and fearful faces testify of the sympathy
for this nation and of the sorrow felt by
the nations of the earth for the death of
our princely and great ruler.
No need of asking Why these tears
and other tokens of great grief? This
lamentation of the people, SO unique be-
cause so universal, is not unworthily be-
slowed.
2. A prince and great man is fallen
in death. James A. Garfield was a
prince and great man in the higher
sense of these terms. His life and its
lessons have honored God and helped
his fellow men. He has been man in
the best and highest sense of the term.
The dying David's charge to his son
Solomon: "Know thou the God of thy
fathers, and serve him. -. Be strong,
therefore, and show thyself man" apt
ly applies to James A. Garfield. He
has known God and served him and his
generation we'll. He has been strong
and shown himself man. The proper
contemplation of human character is
subject worthy the highest consideration
of an intelligent people and is profitable
for all. Not merely from a human
standpoint should we consider character
and form conclusions, but from the high
er standard of moral requirements and
by the divine rule for regulating the
conduct of moral agents. From this
standpoint and by this rule-not by the
light of human reason alone, but the
light of heavenly revelation-let US
consider the character of President Gar
field, form our conclusions, find our con-
solations, draw our lessons and follow
the light of his example so far as that
example accords with this moral rule of
manly rectitude.
To be prince and great man in
this higher sense by this higher stand
ard one must have both great mind
and good morals, and make the most of
bis God-given faculties both by culture
and by conservation of himself to God
and the good of his fellow creatures.
AS prince, General Garfield had
powers that prevailed in almost every
position in which Providence seemed to
place him. His national endowments
early gave promise of great possibilities.
His mental faculties were of hi gh order,
we'll balanced, and so capable of high
attainments by culture and of great
achievements by conservation to noble
aims in life.
In the New York Independent, its
Washington correspondent, more than a
year ago, wrote: "One sometimes meets
man in whom there seems to be mate
rial enough, person and mental, to make
up half-dozen of the average sort.
This impression one gets from General
Garfield" To some, Mary Clemmer's
estimate of him may seem exaggeration,
but 1t is not great extreme.
He had sound mind in sound
body. He had great vitality to fire and
feed his great brain. His mental facial
ties we're faithfully cultivated. His
God-given talents gained other talents
by constant improvement.
In boyhood he was nervous, restless
active and ambitious. He early sought
learning for learning's sake-because he
loved to learn and acquire knowledge
for the pleasure it gave him. The his
torian tells us of his carrying his read
ing book home from the log school-houst
and studying it lying on the floor of hi
mothers log-cabin. seeking knowledg'
which is power, from the pages of hi
highly-prized books by the evening fire
J light, of his attending Chester academy
with two companions like himself to-
!; poor to pay for board, and so in an ole
, cast-off building cheaply rented, cooking
his own food. and sleeping on a palle
/ of straw laid on the floor; of his cuttin,
: cord-wood and doing carpenters worl
! springs and summers that he might e
9 to school falls and winters; of his ap
plication to the trustees of Hiram col
/ lege for the chance of sweeping floors
| building fires and ringing the bell a
: part pay toward the expenses of his ed
e ucation; of his student course and grad
f uation under the presidency of the cele
d brate1 Mark Hopkins at Williams col
G lege; of his practice of speaking i
| lyceum debates, his constant reading an
e continuous mental development; of hi