Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-10-02
GARFIELD'S TWO ESPECIAL
 FRIENDS.

The man who has formed no sincere
 and lasting friendships is indeed alone
 in the world. He IS an uneasy cobble-
 stone Tn the structure of the great sO-
 cial fabric, instead of the square, sohd | block that should lie at it's foundations
 secure in the cement of human svmpa-
 thies. Where the love of family, kin
 dred or friends is not stroug within us.
 We cannot be possessed of any true love
 for the State-the example of Brutus to
 the cOntratry notwithstanding. And
 here we are reminded of a very promi-
 inent and pleasant feature in the charac-
 ter of our departed President. Through
 out the long and grievous hours of his
 bodily anguish, he never for a single
 moment, lost sight of the tender rela- | tons which bound him early to those
 who have long had claims upon his heart
 or kindly affections, and many of whom
 have stood faithful guardians beside his
 bed of pain from the day of his attempt
 ed assassination to the last sad hour.
 Prominent among these latter are
 Judge Advocate General D. G. Swain and Colonel A. F. Rockwell. whose DOT
 traits we give above, and who are con
 fessedly the two most intimate friends Garfield had outside of his more im- mediately family. These gentlemen
 were in constant and unwearied at- tendance upon the distinguished suffer- er from the moment he fell a victim tO the bullet of the assassin; theIr presence not only meeting his own grateful ap- proval, but the sanction of his physicians also.
 While the first place must, of course. be accorded to Mrs Garfield and the medical attendants of the President in this long vigil, the active solicitude and watchful anxiety of Colonel Rockwell General Swa-m next attract our 'atten- tiOn. So long and so close their inti- macy with his Excellency and constant their presence in his sick chamber, their private utterances in relation to his condition daily, had almost the weight of the official bulletins themselves. So generally conceded was this latter that, during theIr visits to the White House, prior to the removal of the patient to Long Branch, they were assalled whenever they were observed in public by crowds Oi anxious enquir- CTS who felt that, for surety, the two tried and esteemed friends of the suffer- CT, and his faithful companions for years, l could give most trustworthy infOrma- tion as to his true condition. In every instance they stood prominently forward as the opponents of the Presidents pri- vate desires, hopes and fears and all matters not properly pertaining to his physicians or his Cabinet, or within the province of that watcher of all watchers-his devoted wife
 So recent the occurrence, 1t will be re- membered that both these gentlemen took a most prominent part il perfecting the arrangements for the removal of His Excellency from the White House, and that, through their active vigilance and the anxious support of the Cabinet, so perfect, to the minuteSt detail, were these arrangements, that history fails Co re- cord their parallel in any similar or kin dred case. All that human ingenuity could devise or accomplish with a view to conveying, without even the slightest Jar, feeble patient, whose life hung in the balance, a journey by land of two l hundred and fifty miles, was effected in l a manner SO skillful and triumphant as to be regarded as little less than mirac- | ulOus. It was as if the whole project | were a single piece of the most perfect | and nOiseless mechanism, that, once set | in motion, accomplished its mission | without even the faintest vibration, and ! then ran down in utter silence. The lit- | ter on which the patient sufferer was | carried from bis weary chamber to the | vehicle that was to convey him to the | railroad station was so cons tructed as | to preclude the possibility of even the ! slightest jar, and when he was placed | upon 1t, prominent among the eight ! bearers were his two faithful friends. ! Colonel Rockwell and General Swain. In addition, the car that was to trans port him to ElberOn was fitted mp with | the greatest skill and ingenuity; and | the complicated mattrass upon which | he was to perform the journey was tested by Colonel Rockwell | himself, who reclined upon 1t during a short trial trip of the train previous to its departure from Washington, and was found to be all that could be desired, SO far as a well man could determine. And SO, from the sawdust strewu m the streets at Washington tO prevent a jar of | the wheels of the vehicle that conveyed the sufferer to the station, tO the new track laid from the main line at Long Branch to the cottage where the Presi- dent was housed, every project and arrangement was perfection itself.
 But these two gentlemen as well as the cabinet of the President, together with his other near and active friends, may be regarded IS simply having occu- pied a position in which they were acci- dentally enabled to give expression and effect to the heartfelt sentiment of the whole American people in relation to the disaster that had overtaken the Chief Executive and the nation; for how ever creditable their motives and senti- ments to their own hearts, there Is not one true man in the United States but would, to the extent of his ability, have acquitted himself in that sad crisis as faithfully and lovingly as they did. The fusion of parties here Is complete; and although the lines may properly be newly drawn on some future and nec- essary occasion, yet 1t Is proud thing for us to be able to say, that in the shadow of this great calamity that has befallen us, they have become obhter- sted for the time being at least.
 Last of the RenagadPs,