The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1881-11-09
4 CONFEDERATE rR1BUrE


HENRY WATTEkb0N's EUL0GT or GARFIELD
| knew him we'll. knew him and / knew
that loved him. He was i man of ample
soul and the strength Of giant; the courage
of lion aud the heart of dove. Never
lived man who yearned more for the approval
of his fellow men, who felt their anger more.
Never lived a tiaii who struggled harder to
realize Pauls IDEAL and to be g all things to
all men, Nor did ever the character sketch.
ed by Paul find nobler example, for he was
"blaineless, vgilant, sober, of good behavior
apt to teach, not given to filthy lucre."
No one without the little family circle of
relatives and friends in which he lived will
ever know how a certain dismal, though in
truth trivial, episode in his career Gu. him to
the SOUL. Born a poor mans son to live aud
die poor man, with opportunities unbound
ed for public pillage, with licensed robbery
gong on all about him, and he pinched for
the bare means to maintain himself, his wife
aud little ones with decency and comfort, to
be held up to the scorn of men as one not
honest. ~
| He is gone now, and before he went he had
outlived the wounds which party friends alike
with party foes had sought to put upon his
honor and mayhap to-day somewhere among
the stars he looks down upon the world, and
sees at last how false, how sofdd, how selfish
and unreal we're the assaults Of those in whose
way he stood. 1t isa pleasure to me to re-
fleet amid these gloomy scenes that some
| friendly words of mine gratifcd him at q mo-
ment when he suffered most Not in the last
campaign, for it would have been a crime in
me to have hesitated then, but away back
when no vision of the Presidency had crossed
the disc of ambition, and when the crneest
blows were struck from behind.
| 1t is, also, pleasure to me to remember
the last time saw him. 1t was at night
session of the house, when, In company with
Joseph Hawley, of Connecticut, Randall Glib
sou, of Louisiana, and Rudolph Tucker, of
| Virginia, We took possession of the committee
room of Proctor Knott, who Joined us later,
and buried all chickering's and Jars in happy
forgetfulness of section aud party l do we'll
remember how buoyant he was that night in
spirit, and how robust In thought how full
of suggestion, quick in repartee, unaffected
and genial how delighted to lay aside the
statesman and the partisan and be boy
again, and how 10th he was with the rest To
recross the narrow confines which separate
the real aud ideal, and to descend into the hot
abyss below. could not have gone thence
to blacken that mans character any more
than do any other deed of shames and repub-
licau though lie was, and party chief, lie had
no truer friends than the brilliant Virginian
whom he loved like a brother and the eminent
Louisianian whose couDsels he habitually
sought. l refer to one incident, unimportant
! in itself, to illustrate a character which, I'M
folded to the knowledge Of the world through
afliction and death, has awakened the adj
miration aud love of mankind.
All know now that he was man of spotless
integrity, who might have been rich by
single DETECTION, but who died poor; who
broadened and rose In height with each rise Ia
| fortune; who was not less scholar because
he had wanted early advantages, and who,
not yet so, leaves rs priceless heritage to bis
countrymen the example of how God-giyen
virtues of the head and heart may be employed
to the glory Of God and the uses of men by
one who makes all things subordinate to the
development of the good within him.
But yesterday we we're at war one with the
other; the war is over. But yesterday we
were arrayed in angry party conflict behold
how its passions sleep In the grave with Gar
field. am here to-day to talk to you of him
aud through him, and in his memory and
honor to talk of our country.
Citizens, the flag which waves over us was
his flag and it is our flag.
| Soldiers, standing beneath that flag and in
this armed fortress of the republic, salute
your flag and his flag reverently. 1t is my
flag, thank God, and shall teach my child
rem to thank God that 1t did not go down In
the fragments of divided country, but that
it floats to-day, though at balf-msst, as
symbol of Union and liberty, assuring and re-
assuring Us that though the heart that con-
ceived the words be cold and the lips that ut
tered them be dumb, "God reigns, and the
government at Washington still lives.