Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-03-08


were early apparent and carried him be-
yond the dogmas of sect and the restraints
of association. The liberal tendency which
he anticipated rs the result Of wider cul.
ture was fully realized. lie was emanci-
pated from mere sectarian belief, aud with
eager interest pushed his investigations in
the direction OF modern progressive
thought. He followed with quickening
step in the paths Of exploration and spec.
ulation SO fearlessly todden by Darwin.
by Huxley, by Tyndall. and by other
living scientists efthe radical aud advanced
type. = But however high Garfield
reasoned Of " fixed fate, free will, fore
knowledge absolute" he was never sepa-
rated from the church of tho Disciples in
his affections and in his associations. For
him it held the ark of tho covenant. To
him it was the gate of heaven. The world
of religious belief is full of solecisms and
contradictions. A philosophic observer
declares that men by the thousand will
die in defence of a creed whose doctrines
they do not comprehend and whose tenets
they habitually violate. 1t is equally true
that men by the thousand will cling to
church organizations with instructive and
undying fidelity when their belief in ma
turer years is radically different from that
which inspired them as neophytes.
On the morning Of Saturday, July Sec
ond, the president was n contented and
happy man-nOt in an ordinary degree,
but ioyfully, almost boyishly happy. On
his way 10 the railroad station to which he
drove slowly, in conscious enjoyment of
the beautiful morning, with an unwonted
sense Of leisure and keen anticipation of
pleasure, his talk was all in the grateful
and gratulatory vein. He felt that after
four months of trial his administration
was strong in its grasp of affairs, strong in
popular favor and destined to grow still
stronger; that grave difficulties confront.
ing him at his inauguration had been safely
passed; that trouble lay behind him and
not before him; that he was soon to meet
the wife whom he loved, now recovering
from an illness which but lately had dis.
quicted and at times unncrved him; that
he was going to his alma mater to renew
the most cherished association ofhis young
manhood, and to exchange greetings with
those whose deepening interest had fol-
lowed every step Of his upward progress
from the day he entered upon his college
course until he had attained the loftiest
elevation in the gift of his countrymen.
Surely if happiness can ever come form
honors or triumphs Of this world, on that
quiet July morning James A. Garfield
may well have been happy man. No
forcboding of evil haunted him; no slight
est premonltion of danger clouded his sky.
His terrible fate was upon him in an in
slant. One moment he stood erect, strong,
confident in the years stretching peacefully
out before him. The next he lay wounded,
bleeding, helpless, doomed TO weary weeks
of torture, TO silence and the grave.
Great in life, he was surprisingly great
in death. For no cause, in tho very frenzy
of wantonness and wickedness, by the red
hand of MURDER lie was thrust from the
full tide Of this worlds interest, from its
hopes, its aspirations, Its victories, into the
visible presence of dcath-and he did not
quail. Not alone for the one short mo-
ment in which, stunned and dazed, be
could give up life, hardly aware of its re-
liuquishment, but through days of deadly
langour, through weeks of agony. that
was not less agony because silently borne,
with clear sight and calm courage, he
looked into his open grave. What blight
and ruin met his angushed eyes, whose
lips may tell-what brilliant, broken plans,
what bailled, high ambitions, what sunder-
ing of strong, warm, manhood's friend
ships, what bitter rendering ofsweet house
hold ties Behind him proud, eXpectant
nation, Il great host of sustaining friends,
Il cherished and happy mother, wearing
the full, rich honors of her early toll and
tears; the wife of his youth, whose whole
life lay in his the little boys not yet
emerged from childhood's day of frolic
the fair, young daughter; the sturdy sons
just springing into closest companioDship.
claiming everyday and every day rewardng
fathers love and care; and in his heart
the eager. rejoicing power to meet all
demand. Before him, desolation and great
darkness And his soul was no shaken.
His countrymen we're thrilled with instant,
profound and universal sympathy. Mas
terful in his mortal weakness, he became
the centre Of q nations love, enshfined in
the prayers of world But all the love
and all the sympathy could not share with
him his suffering. He tIod the winepress
alone. With unfaltering front he faced
death. With unfailing tenderness he took
leave of life. Above the demoniac hiss OF
the assassn's bullet ho heard the voice OF
bOl' w I'LL SIN lJlc ICsls, uiLlOtt lt oONcu
to the Divine decree.
AS the end drew near, his early cravings
for the sea returned. The stately mansion
of power had been to him tho wearsome
hospital of pain, and he begged to be taken
from its prison walls, from its oppressive,
sitting air, from it homelessress and its
hopclessncss. Gently, silently, the love OF
a great people bore tho pale sufferer to the
longedfor healing of the eea, to live or
die, us God should will, within sight of its
heaving pillows, within sound of Its mani
fold voices. With wan, fevered face lifted
TO the cooling breeze, lie looked out wist-
fully upon the oceans changing wonders
on its far sails, whitening in the morning
light; on its restless waves, rolling shore
ward to break and die beneath the noon.
day sun; on the red clouds of evening.
arching low to the horizon; OH the serene
and shining pathway Of the stars. LIST US
think that his dying eyes read mystic
meaning which only tho rapt and parting
soul may know. Let us believe that in the
silence of the recedng world he heard the
great waves breaking on q further shore,
and felt already upon his wasted brow the
breath Of the eternal morning.
------D--%------------
IN experiment in feeding enslagc made
from the husks and stalks Of sweet corn
has Just been made ut the canning factory
of j. Winslow Jones Il Co, at Bridgon,
Me- Eighteen cattle were fed for four
weeks, and n careful record kept. In eight
I o 4 -