Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-09-29

mon consent of the delegates he was Sc
lected as the most, perhaps the only,
available man. The result of the elee-
tion proved the wisdom of the choice.
When once the contest was decided,
opponents united with supporters in de-
claring, what had never been denied ex-
cept in heated campaign arguments, that
Gen. Garfield was an honest and able
man. When he was shot down, this ap-
proval deepened into genuine esteem
and even love, and, for the first time, for
several generations at least, Republican
and Democrat, North and South, have
been united in common sympathy.
That one on whom Sc much enthusiasm
centered, and who seemed to he the cho-
sen instrument of sectional reconcilia-
tion, should, after all. be called upon to
pass from earth in his Eftieth year, with
the good work just begun, appears, at
first thought, an evil without alIeVia-
tion. Is 1t such?
While there is not man or woman
in the Union who would not, if able,
have restored the sufferer to health,
both for the nations sake and his own,
yet his martyrdom will entwine his
memory with tsnderer recolleetions
than would be associated with future
years of successful craftsmanship. In
AL important sense he gave his life for
the people, for t was the Magistrate,
not the man, at whom Guiteau struck.
He survived long enough 20 become the
object Of the. most engrossing solicitude,
and the awakener of all that is noblest
and most unselfish in the human heart.
He was thus the Martyr of reconcilia-
tion, as Lincoln was the martyr of re-
construction. The river of death sepa-
rated both from actual entrance into the
promised land. opened through them to
their constituency.
For a little more than eleven weeks
the stricken President lay on his sick
bed at Washington and Long Branch.
The clearer glance of posterity will rec
ogniZe, rs We, with tear-blinded eyes,
can only imperfectly see, that these
eleven weeks embraced the crowning
period of his life work. He had been =
conscientious and faithful teacher, and
so have many others he had fought well
on the battlefield and in Congress, and
as able men have done the same. But
the qualities there displayed, and high
er ones also, found their grandest, sweet
est expression during those eleven weeks
of torture. for such they were. The for
titude, the resignation, the geHtleness,
the affectionate anxiety for family and
friends which marked his whole sick
ness were extraordinary. 1t is rare that
strong and active men, men ready to en-
dure hardships on any great emergency,
manifest womanly patience and thor
0ugh resignation when overwhelmed
with bodily ills. But this Garfield did.
He was the greatest man as patient"
says Dr.. Bliss, whom. / have ever seen.
Never nurmur from him. Certainly,
if it is necessary, was his inyariable an
swer when asked to endure any unpleas-
ant or painful treatment"
The eleven weeks have thus bequeath-
ed to us an example of resignation. a
union of greatness and goodness seldom
realized. Had the patient recovered,
one might have fancled that the forces
of slowly returning health gave him 81
lent aid, but as we now know, his equa-
nimity was maintained in spite of the
ever closer approach of death. Distance
generally lends enchantment to the view
Of .indiyiduals as of landscapes, but
Garfield has grown as we have known
him better by getting nearer to him.
His sick room has been thrown wide
open to the peoples gaze. Every phase
Of his treatment and of his disease has
been described, and admirably has he
sustained the test. Had he been shot
lead the public would have regretted
the upright official and the gifted states
nan and scholar, but it would not have
the gentle hero in whom every
nan feels that he has lost brother.
While his official position gave pecu-
lar interest and Importance to his ex-
ample, and made his case that of the na-
ion, it was the undeserved suffering OF
, really good man that aroused the SYM
)athy of the nation and the world Our
Presidential history has few romantic
Personal love and loyalty
we're never until Row fully ard general
y combined in regard to Chief Magis-
rate. Washington was hedsed around
With certain kingly divinity; Jackson
lad his ardent but generally selfish par
isans, while Lincoln Was first really
appreciated when we had lost him Gar
ield's wound developed the latent loyal
rxFa frr ha 1lesc,
and his grand endurance
las greatly .deepenei, broadened, and
the sentiment. We do not sup
,ose that selfshness, sectionalism, or
actions are dead in our land, but they
laye been put in the background for the
irst time in our history, and more ex-
;ellent way has been forcibly impressed
lpon the people. The lesson will not
)e wholly lost, and the suffering Presi-
lent, no less surely, because uncon-
directed this reform from his
lick chamber. IL the nation is obedient
20 its new light, the result will be Gar
ield's master work.
It Is most sad that If we reach loftier
heights of craftsmanship and social life,
le to whom we owe the first impulse
should not be with US to receive our
hanks and assist our further progress.
He has gone, but there still remains that
noble wife, one of the heroines of the
domestic circle, and their children. Her
devotion to her sick husband and her
rue refinement. as evidenced in the
.alm, patient discharge of narrowing
iuty, yielding neither to hysterical de
,pair nor to assumption of undue
have shown her to be the
worthy wife of Americas best loved
President. She has uneomplainingly
borne q very heavy burden, and We