Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-09-10


southern end of the State. With ir-
rigation we cannot have large farms
and a sparse population, but must have
small farms and thickly-settled country-a
country in which not only agriculture, but
all the mechanical and manufacturing indus
tries will be introduced. and will prosper,
each living and prospering on and virtually
assisting the other.
THE sUPERsTITIoNs OF A GREAT nIAN.
The personality of the President has
been an object Of such prominence in the
public mind of late that nothing relating
to him is devoid OF interest. A recent
publication in an Eastern journal has in.
troduced to public notice mental charac-
terigt;c OF peculiar interest. It is stated
by Mr.. Henry, Marshal of the District of
Columbia, an intimate personal friend of
the President, that the latter entertains a
superstitious regard for numbers and dates
Mr.. Henry is quoted as saying: General
"Garield has always had an idea that he
"knew exactly how long he was going to
live. He used to say that there was
something in him which told him things
"of that kind, and they always proved cor
erect. When l first knew Garfield, which
"was while he was at Hiram College, he
fused to say that he was going to die at the
cage that his father died. That is, 49, He
fused to resort to all sorts of arguments to
support his theory, but when SO had come
'around and found him still living, of course
he had to give that up. Well, soon after
" that the war broke out and Garfield en-
"hsted. l know that l shall never return
&C. from the war alive, he said. 4 may not
8" be shot, but if not I will die. | will not
{" outlige it,. He was made commander Of
" the Forty. second Ohio volunteers, and
" though he was never wounded I think he
{" hadmore miraculous escapes than any man
that ever saw. He had bullets through
{" his hats and bullets through his clothing,
"but he was not shot. He then became
convinced that he would die at A. He
"knew that was what the number of the
regiment meant He would 90 to
"hotel, and if the number of his room
"chanced to be 40, or any product or null
"tiple of AZ, he would say There, do
"'you see that number [ tell you it
"'means me. OF course his friends
would plague him a great deal about
" this, and accuse him of being super
"stitious, but he chung to his belief If
I" the number of the house he was STOP
"ping at was AZ, and he knew it, he would
"be uneasy or if it was S4 OR 2l it would
"be all the same. He would multiply or
"divide to suit the case, and find his ~.
awe were riding together on railroad
train once, and our car CHANGED to stop
opposite to freight car numbered 1927.
"' There, he would say, do you see my
number ? No, no; where?' why,
"'between that l and II Then he
got to be 40. l know that to this
"day General Garfield looks upon 40
as his unlucky number.
The existence of this vein of imaginative
superstition in the mind of the President
has long since been suspected. Shortly
after his election reporter called upon
him at his home in Mentor, and subse-
quently published an account of his inter.
view. He asked General Garfield if he |
had heard that an eagle had alighted upon
his house in Washington at the precise |
moment in which his nomination was de- |
clared in the Chicago Convention. The
General replied that he had heard of the |
and that he had himself by in
quiry verified the story, and that by due
which allowed for difference
of longitude, the nomination and the perch
ing of the eagle were synchronous. The rea-
son and intellect of the clear, cool, healthy
mind rejects all such chimeras and halluci.
nations with justiiable contempt. and rea'
son and intelligence are right. Regard for
signs, omens, premonitions, lucky and IN
lucky days, the mystic significance of
numbers with the esoteric significance of
dreams, are the adumbrations OF rudi-
nentary witchcraft, sorcery and magic. 1t
loes not follow, however, that all who are
haunted by these faint remnants of hered-
tary superstitions are intellectually weak
or foolish Great intellects, like that of
John Stuart Mill, may secure total eman.
,ipation from them, but it is at the sacri.
ice Of every attribute of poetic feeling or
elastic imagination. Imagination is the au-
lola of the intellect. 1t casts twilight
nto the region of the unknown, and
through its shadowy vagueness catches fugi-
i've glimpses OF things unreal. The blending
zone between the known and the unknow.
lble has always been the debatable
,round between reason and superstition,
he conflict line between science and
orcery. There is but little distinction
between superstition and sentiment, and
something of the former may be suspected
n all minds strongly imbued with the lat
er. General Garfeld's mind presents a
trong combination of reasoning and mag
native faculties. His power OF clear.
orcible, logical deduction is not surpassed
~ the coolest intellect, but his most
reasonings are always set
n an underglow OF poetic fervor and
inted with the warmth of imagination.
n all his forensic efforts arguments appear
o have wings and to fly rather than forge
head by less poetic progress. Beyond
his the entertainment OF absurdities of
many kinds is not to be taken as an indi-
,ation of mental feebleness in all other re.
ards. Sentiment and reason are indie
PENDENT circles in the mind which nowhere
ntersect. Religions appear in endless va J