Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-07-19
WIFE CT TILE PRESIDENT.

In presenting 10 our readers the portrait
of the first lady of the land, it is source
Of the most profound sorrow to US, as it is
to the whole civilized world, that the suns
shine has been SO suddenly strick en- out o
her life by the hand of an assassin, and
that too, while she seemed standing on
he threshold of one of the most glorious
futures possible to her sex on this wide
continent Although dire the calami
which has just befallen her and the Ba>
t on, and though terrible the ordeal
through which she is now passing they do
aot involve all her claims upon our sym
patty. AS e noble and self-sacrifcIng
wife fond and affectionate mother. and
kind and un wavering friend, she stands
out in bold relief also, eiicting that un-
feIgned admiration and heartfelt respect
accorded so generally to the pure and the
good why may have attained to high po-
sit on in any relation whatever
Mrs. Garfield, whose m-id name was
L1cretia Rudolph, was born near Hiram,
Portage County, Ohio, in 1887. She was
the daughter of respec' able farmer who
had 81 til Gle Mt means to aft her an excel
lent education, and whose surroundings in
dictated lovs of refinement not generally
observable among the sparse population of
the place From her childhood she was
| thoughtful, amiable and industrious and
IS she grew in years her intellectual bias
became so marked. and its fruits so prom
Using. that all her friends and family enter
t ined, without hesitation, the bright hopes
| that have, long since been more than re-
allied.
In 1858, Miss Rudolph, who had been
studying at the academy in viii, b Presi-
| dent Garfield was then pr, fessor, became
the wife of the latter. The match was one
| purely of love, inasmuch as neither party
was oveFburdened with wealth. They bad,
| however, what was better and more endur-
ing-brave, sturdy and honest hearts, sus-
tanned by spirit of truth and love, S well
as by the supporting arm of a liberal
| education. From the moment that the
| nuptial knot was tied, Mrs Garfield set
about the business of life more seriously
than ever, could have been possible, and at
once began wreathlng with flowers the yoke
she had assumed with such purity, and af-
fectionate strength of soul Modest as were
their means, she made their first new home
| one of sunshine aud love. And when a
young family began to gather round her
| hearthstone, she commenced that course of
! treslde education and training which has
proved so eminently successful the world
over-thst system of maternal culture and
care to which some of even the greatest
minds of the age have freely confessed
| their indie btedness. Nor was she helps
| meet to her noble partner in one or two
relations only; for, from time to time, if
report speaks truly. it was his habit, in any
circumstances of difficulty, to draw upon
her intellectual resources and unfailiD g
clear-sightedness. Obviously. therefore,
they were as one in all that was essential to
human happiness; and hence the ever
deepening love and affection which has
characterized their lives up to the present
hour.
twill not, then, be difficult to conceive
of her disrsy anu anguish when, on Sat-
urday, the second day of this current
month, the intelligence reached her at Eli
boron, New jersey, that the President, her
husband, was wounded. but mot danger
ously," by an assassin, while entering the
depot Of the Baltimore and Potomac Rail-
| road at Washington. A few moments pre-
vious, delicate as was her health, her face
| had been radsnt with joy; for on
that day she was TO have joined the
President with her children in