Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-09-20
The Dead President.

"The President is dead" So ends
the hope that is buried in the grave.
sThe gallant struggle. the heroic endurI
lance, the splendid courage that made
/ his couch of agony the centre Of the
seyes of his people were in vain, and
the high minded statesman, the loving
husban and fond father, has passed
away in the splendor of his powers and
the vigOr of his manhood, wept by his
sloved ones, mourned by his country and
famented by the world.
For him who quit the delights of pri-
avate life for the stony heights which am
lbition strives to scale, up which he toll
led full high, as the great are
wont to climb, it had been
better had he foregone the
march. But the story of his lie, as il
tells of his manly struggles, is sublime
: in the lesson Of its patience and single
ness of purpose, and in its tragic close is
epic in the splendor of its courage and
THE grandeur of its fOrtItude.
In boyhood he was brave; in youth he
was manly; in the field he was gallant;
lin all his trusts he was faithful. Broad
minded, great hearted, he dared to do
fright, and this is his prOudest guerdon.
: We are all brothers to-day, and while
we read the record of his struggles and
striumphs, and recall his grand battle
: with death, we may assuage our
grief for the fallen Chief Magistrate in
: admiration of the indomitable boy, the
sresolute man, the accomplished states
man, the devoted father and Christian
gentleman. The following sketch of the
5 Industrious deceased was prepared at the
commencement of his successful contest
5 for the Presidency, by E. V. Smalley,
and appeared originally in the New York
! Tribune:
8 James Abraham Garfield was born Novem
Der 19, 1881, in the township Of Orange, Cuya-
5hoga county, Ohio. about fifteen miles from
{ came from New York, but. like his mother, was
S OF New England stock. James was the young
kest Of four children. The father died in 1898.
<leaving the family dependent upon the small
Farm and the exertions Of the mother. There
was nothing about the elder Garfield to distin
: guish him from ihe other plodding farmers of
: the rather sterile township Of Orange. No one
Scould discern any qualities in him, which, trans
United to the next generation, might help TO
make a statesman, unless it was industry; but
4 his wife, who is still living at an advanced age
was always fond Of reading, when she could
{ get leisure from her hard household duties, and
was thoroughly capable woman, Of strong
will, stern principles and more than average
force Of character. OF the children, no one
abesides James has made the slightest mark in
I the world. The older brother is a farmer in
Michigan, and the two sisters are, believe
Farmers wives. James had a tough time of it
as a boy. He toiled hard on the farm, early
land late In summer, and worked at the carpen
ter's bench in winter. The best of it was that
i he liked work. There was not a lazy hair on
his head. He had an absorbing ambition to get
an education, and the only road open to this
end seemed that Of manual labor. Ready
money was hard to get in those days. The Ohio
{Canal ran not far from where he lived, and
9hnding that the boatmen got their pay in cash
and earned better wages than he could make at
farming or carpentry, he hired out as a driver
on the toW-path, and soon got up to the digniI
ity OF holding the helm OF boat. Then he de
termined to ship as a sailor on the lakes, but
an attack Of fever and ague interfsred with his
! plans. He was i'll three months, and when hel
recovered he decided to go to school called
.GeauRa Academy. In an adjoining county. His
mother had saved a small sum of money, which
she gave him, with few cooking utensils and
"a stock Of provisions. He hired a small room
and cooked his own food to make
lhis expenses a. light as posi-
,ble. lie paid his own way after
that, never calling on his mother for any more
assistance. By working at the carpenters
bench mornings and evenings and vacation
times, and teaching country schools in the win.
ter, he managed to attend the academy during
the spring and fall terms, and to save little
money towards going to college. He had ex
scellent health, a robust frame and a capital
memory, and the attempt to combine mental
and physical work, which has broken down
many farmer boys ambitions to get an educa1
ttion, did not hurt him
GARFIELD AT COLLEGE.
when he was about twenty-three years of
age he concluded he had got about all there
I was to be had at the obscure crossroads
academy. He calculated that he had saved
about half enough money to get through col
sIege. provided he could begin, as he hoped
with the junior year. He got a life insurance
policy and assigned it to a gentleman as SCI
scurity for a loan to make up the amount he
Hacked. In the fall Of 1854 he entered the
Junior class Of Williams College, Aassachu7
sets, and graduated in 1856 with the meta
4 physical honors OF his class. have seen q
sdaRuerreotype Of him taken about this time
3 1t represents a rather awkward youth, with a
shock Of light hair, standing straight up from
big forehead. and frank, thoughtful face
! OF a very marked German type. There is not
a drop Of German blood in the Garfield family,
but this picture would be taken for some Fritz
or Carl, just over from the fatherland.
81 Before he went to college Garfield had con-
Injected himself with the Disciples. sect hsv1
Ting numerous membership in Eastern and
Southern Ohio. West Virginia and Kentucky
where its founder, Alexander Campbell, had
Travelled and preached. The principal pecu-
liararities of the denomination are their refn-
sal to formulate their beliefs into creed, the