Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-10-08
WAsHrNerox. september %. ISL.

the bereavement OF our reoerai neau.
When the blow fell I, for one, remembered
the many friends once knew there, and
wondered just where each one was when
the news came, and what was said by each,
and what form the general mourning would
take. cannot know where my distant
friends ali were, but can tell them through
your columns where your correspondent
was when the cataclysm came. I was a
guest at the country seat of Hon. John Il.
Starin, in Montgomery county, N. Y, a
stately home that is called the Seem of
the Mohawk Valley" Mr.. Starin, whose
business lies in New York harbor-where
he is more commonly known as "Commo-
dore" Starin, from his large interest in
shipping and transportation-was, during
his four years in Congress (which ended
last March,, the occupant of a seat adjoin-
ing General Gar6eld's, and was his warm
personal friend. Last fall he gave $50. COO
to the campaign in his State, after first de-
Ginning peremptorily denomination to
Congress Only the ladies Of his family
were at home during my late visit, and we
did not hear of the Presidents death till
Tuesday morning at breakfast, when it was
telephoned from the village near by. The
point on which least has been said, but of
which l have specialized the most during
these weeks OF
WEARING SUSPENSE,
Is s'What were the thoughts of the
President as he lay slowly wasting unto
death q Never before, it would seem,
had a man 50 much to live for. But
ne was a philosopher, and, too, he had
a soldiers heart. / remember once of
asking him, during a long talk upon
the railroad cars journeying from Cleve-
land to Columbus, if he thought when
he enlisted that he would come out Of the
war alive. He said, slowly and gravely,
g / gave myself fully up to my country
and God for life or for death. l said to
myself, : If | come out with enough of my
body left to keep the breath of LIE in it,
shall consider that as just SO much of my
offering given back to me. | am sorry
that the Presidents intimate friends
were SO kept away from him In his
illness a great many seed-thoughts
were thus lost to the world.
If we reflect that his brother and his two
sisters, those with whom he had 'tplayed
beneath the same green tree, his beloved
mother, and his ardent, fraternal young
pastor, were never hidden to his side-that
he saw only four members of his Cabinet
during the entire time, and them only
once each only three of his children at
all, and two of those three only once or
twice each; but the conclave of physicians
many times a day, and the son of DR..
Bliss constant satellite at his fathers
elbow, ostensibly as an assistant, We can
but feel that the nations patient" was
not dealt with in the nations common
sense way. Once during his illness, when
asked what he thought be could eat, he
replied heartily, "One of sister Mary's good
dinners" That sister is Mrs. Larrabee, of
Scion the other, Mehitable, or 90 Hitty,"
is Mrs. Trowbridge. Thomas Garfield, |
their elder brother, is plain, substantial
farmer near Grand Rapids, Mich. He has
several children, including a son named |
} ames Abram, for his uncle. Not to seem
too resolutely "dweller among the
tombs, let me talk to you of
THE NEW PRESIDENT
Awhile. We have magnetic man in
President Arthur. He is more than six
feet tall, handsomer than his picture, and
quietly elegant in manner. What could
be finer in its way than his demeanor since
! uly I'd, notably the interview with Mrs.
Garfield during his call at the White
House soon after, during which he raised
her hand to his lips and said, impulsively,
''God knows, madam, do not want to be
President" But destiny has made him
sach, and he has entered upon
his duties self possessed and strong.
The Senate became much attached |
TO him as its presiding officer, and indi-
vidual Senators who have called on him |
at the residence of Senator Jones since his
inauguration, say warmly that he will be /
the most elegant and courtly Chief Msgis- !
trate the country has known since the days /
of the older Presidents. Washington is |
pleased with his choice of place of wor-
ship = st. Johns tEpiscopaD Church, |
quaint and olden, half overgrown with |
ivy, fronting Lafayette park and the Ex-
ecutive Mansion. Here he attended SER
vice the morning of the Presidents funeral
at Cleveland, and is soon to select a pew
for permanent occupancy. This was the /
favorite church of the earlier Presidents. |
It is the same attended by your Senator
Miller and his family. l say yoar Senator
Miller, for now New York has also Sem
ator of that name-Hon. Warner Miller, |
of Herkimer, member of the Forty-sixth |
and member-elect of the Forty-seventh |
Congress. He is
FORCE
Among the anti-machine Republicans of
New York. is at y the youngest United
States Senator, and is an exemplary and I
valuable man. The best sources of in
formation now foreshadow an entire change
of Cabinet. No one has right to COM
plain of this. Cabinet officers sustain an
intimate and delicate relation to their |
chief, and President Arthur ought no more
80 be required to keep his predecessors /
Cabinet than to marry his predecessors
widow. Apropos of this subject, IL is said |
to be not unlikely that he may bring a new
and stately bride to the White House in
due time. Mrs. Arthur, to whom her hus-
band was devotedly attached, died in Feb
ruary, 1879, leaving son, now IL, and a
daughter now u years of age. She was
Miss Herndon, daughter of Lieutenant
William L. Herndcn. United States Navy,
who entered the navy from Virginia, and |
after serving as young officer in our feet
at the Mexican war, became distinguished I
for his exploration of she Amazon, and /
more so by the circumstances of /
valor under which he lost his life as
commander of the Inflated Central America,
which Californians well remember. |
In tremendous gale of Cape Hatteras.
If my informant is correct, the vessel went |
down, during her passage from Chagres
60 New York. Captain Herndon exerted
himself TO the utmost to save the lives of |
his passengers and crew, resolutely refus. |
ing to leave his ship till every one else was
saved. When the last boat-load whom he |
was able to rescue put off from the ship,
he took out his watch and said to one of
them, GivethistomY and wentdown
with his vessel. A monument to his men,
,,rv o,, the Grounds of the Annanoiis Naval