St. Landry democrat., 1881-10-08

|
the fact that this Nation of ours, which has
grown to such wondrous might and power
before the whole earth, and which is, in fact,
| the hope of the world in all that relates to
| the highest civilization. that sympathy for
| this Nation md respect for this gre 1t power
| lead to these offerings of coincidence and ex-
presSiOns of sympathy and grief from the
various nations of the earth, and because they
have learned to respect this Nation, and reco2-
nixe that the Ma i'm is stricken in the fatal
blow that has taken away our President from
us. And yet this VIII by no means account
for this marvellous and worldwide sympathy
of which we are speaking. Yet it cannot be
attributed to mere intellec ual gr atneSs, for
there we been and there ure other great
men; and acknow lodging all that the most
enthusiastic heart could claim 10 our beloved
leader, it is bit fair to say that there have
been more eminent educators, there have been
greater soldiers. there have been most skilIful,
and experienced, and powerful legislators
and leaders of mighty parties and poit !cai
forces. There is no one department i'll
which he has won eminence where the world
might not point TO Others who attained higher
and more intellectual greatness. 1t might
not be considered more r.ghteously here than
in many other cases; yet, perhaps it is rare
in the history of men and i'll the history of
nations that any man has combined SO
much of excellence i'll all those various depart
ments, aud who. educator, and Il law
yer, and q legislator and a soldier, and a
party chieftHin. and a ruler, has done so WELL
so thoroughly well, in all departments, and
brought out such successful results As to in
spire confidence and command respect aud APP
prevail in every path of life in which. he has
walked and in every department Of public ac-
tivity which he has occupied. Yet l think when
we come to d proper estimate of his character
and seek after the secret of their worldwide
sympathy and affection, we shall find it rather
in the richness and integrity of his moral
nature and in that sincerity, in that transpa-
rent honesty, in that trtithfuiness that laid
the basis for everything Of greatness to which
we do honor to-day. l may state here what
perhaps is not generally known as an Illus
tration of this When James A. Garfield was
yet mere lad in this county. a series OF e.
lgiouS meetings were held in one of the towns
ofCuyahoga County by a minister b. no means
attractive as an orator, possessing none of the
sraces of an orator, and marked only by
entire sincerity, by good reasoning powers,
and by earnestness in seeking to win souls
from sin to righteousness. The lad Gaifield
attended these meetings for several nights,
and after listening night after night to the
sermons he went one day to the mlalster
and said to him: Sir. L have been
listening to your preaching night after
night. and l am fully persuaded that, if these
things you say are true, it is the duty and the
highest interest of every man, and especially
of every yolng man, to accept that religion
and seek to be man. But really | don't
know whether this thing is tFEe or not. |
cant say | dis5elieye it, but l dare not say
that fully and honestly believe it. If l were
c,,ro hat ,ncff lodi,
give it my heart and my life So, after II long
talk, the minister preached that night on the
text, "What Is Truth" and proceeded 10
show that, notwithstanding all the various
and conflicting theories and opinions in eth
icat science, and Notwithstanding all the vari-
Gus and conflicting opinions in the world,
there was one assured and eternal alliance for
every human soul in Christ Jesus, as TO
the way of the truth and the line that
every soul Of man was safe with jesus Christ;
that He never would misead; that any young
man giving Him his hand and heart and walk
ing in His pathway would not go astray, and
that whatever might be the solution of ten
thousand insoluble mysteries, at the end of
all things the man who loved Jesus Christ and
walked after the footsteps of Jesus, and real
lied in spirit and life the pure morals and the
sweet piety, that he tonight was safe if safety
ever else were unsafe; safe whatever els e might
prove unworthy and perish forever. And Gar
field seized upon it after due reflection, and
came forward and gave his hand to the minis
Ter in pledge Of acceptance of the guidance of
Christ for his life, aud turned back upon
the sins of the world forever. The
boy is father to the man, and that pure
honesty and integrity, and that fear
less spirit to inquire, and that brave
surrender of all the charms of sin to convic-
ton of duty and aght, went with him from
that boyhood throughout his life, and crowned
him with the honors that were so cheerfulEy
awarded to him from all hearts over this vast
land. There was another thing. He passed
all the conditions of virtuous life, between the
log-cabin in Cuyahoga and the White House,
and in that wonderful, rich and varied expert
ence, still moving up from high to higher, he
has touched every heart in all this land in
some point or other, and he became the rep
resentative of all hearts and lives in this land,
and not only the teacher but the interpreter
of all virtues, for he knew their wants. and
he knew their condition, and he established
legitimately ties of brotherhood with every
man with whom he came in contact. take it
that this law lying at the basis of his
character, this rock on which his whole life
rested, followed up by the perpetual and en-
during industry that marked his whole career,
made him at once the honest and The capable
man who invited in every act of his life and
received the confidence and the love, the I'M
bounded confidence and trust. of all who
learned to know him. There is yet one other
thing that ought to mention here. There was
such an admirable harmony of all his powers;
there was such beautiful adjustmentsof the
physical, intellectual and moral in his being;
there was such an equitable distribution of
physical, Intellectual and moral forces, that
his nature looked out every way to get at
sympathy with everything, and found about
equal delight in all pursuits and studies;
so that he became. through his industry and
honest ambition, really an encyclopedia; there
was scarce any single word that you could
touch to which hewould not respond in way