The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1881-09-29
MONDAYS MouRNING.


day, paid tribute TO the memory OF
their fallen chief Fifty millions of
people joined in expressions of grief
that this Union had been chastised
in the assassination of its chief Off
Ger, and sadly and solemnly did this
vast representation of humanity
bow their heads and bend their
knees in deep humiliation. Minute
guns, aud the muffied drum at the
head of moving columns, and toll
ing bells, announced the fact that the
remains of the late mightiest living
official of the western hemisphere
were being conveyed to the lowly
tomb, to mould and decay and min
gle with the mother of all that here
hath visible life. Millions of men
and women and little children
joined in one great memorial tribute
to the once mighty living, the now
powerless dead. Innumerable
choirs joined in swelling
anthems to the Most High, and elo-
quent tongues pictured the virtues
and were silent upon the faults of
the honored dead. There was mourn
ing from the icy shores of Alaska to
the warm surf that beats upon the
coast of Texas from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, and the sounds of
mourning throughout this boundless
country were echoed through the
civilized world. Men die at the rate
of 10000 per day, but in the pres
ence of even these appalling figures
of this terrible evidence of mans
mortality-the struggling millions
inhabiting earth pay but n passing
thought to death. Yet it is the end
OF all commanding the con-
sideratIon of kindred and friends,
while the multitude stands unmoved
in its pallid presence. Not so in the
case of Mr.. Garfield. He was the
president OF a great people, cherish
ing their political Institutions, and
the great political family, of which
he was the temporary lead, joined
in mourning his death and in follow
ing the course of the draped cata-
falque 10 the tomb. While to de-
gree it was a personal tribute, it was
more an evidence of patriotism,
burning in the hearts of fifty mil
lions of people. Without considera-
ton of party or creed they had wit
| messed the personal head of their
great political society succumb i'll
death to the assassin, and without
dissent they accepted the act as not
alone an assault upon the president,
but all attempted blow at the free
discharge of the highest duties of
the government. The mourners of
yesterday stood awed in the pres
ence of long suffering and death,
while the flush of shame tinged
thousands of cheeks at the thought
of the country's chief magistrate
having been assassinated. This is
no time TO consider the causes lead
ing to the humiliating end, but po-
tent causes, reflected in the mind
of base man, did exist, and
found expression in a manner
shocking TO the sensibility of
every true lover of republican in
situations and of popular govern
ment. The faith to'which Mr.. Gar
field chung, it is said, with loving
tenacity, teaches that divine power
shaped the ends encompassing even
the last days of the departed, and
this faith teaches that we must eXer-
else generosity towards all men,
even toward the assassin who per-
formed his part in carrying out the
DEGREES of Fate. This faith teaches
that Providence controls and directs
the giving and the taking of life !;
that Providence decides when a
babe must be born, and when the
reaper must stick in his scythe and
gather another sheaf into the gar
ners of immortality. Itteaches Gods
love and kindness toward men, and
that in His inscrutable ways there
is something above the power of
human understanding that wisdom
directs all things, even the assas-
sims bullet, and that mans duty is
not to murmur, but, like Job. TO
submit. The Christian mind can
therefore feel that there is more,
prospectively, of good in Mr.. Gar
fields death than in his life; and
these fifty millions of people may
turn from their mourning with the
hope that such results hang upon the
future.