The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-03-08
submit to tyranny even Efrom the
E~orl Monorurra

himself IN discovering every trac
Of his forefathers in parish registrie
and army rolls. Sitting with |
friend in the gallery of the House o
Commons one night after lonI
days labor in this field of researeA
he said with evident elation that j.
every war in which for three centu
ries patriots OF English blood hat
struck sturdy blows for constitution
al government and human liberty
his family had been represented
They were at Marston Moor, a
Naseby and Preston they were al
Bunker Hill, at Saratoga and a
Monmouth, and in his own person
had battled for the same great cause
in the war which preserved the
Union of the States.
Losing his father before he was
two wears old, the early life of Gar
field was one of privation, but its
poverty has been made indelicately
and unjustly prominent. Thousands
of readers have imagined him as a
ragged, starving child, whose reality
too often greets the eye in the squal-
id sections of our large cities. Cen
eral Garfeld's infancy and youth
had none of their destitution, none
of their pitiful features appealing to
the tender heart and to the open
hand of charity. He was a poor
boy in the same sense in witch
Henry Clay was a poor boy; III
which Andrew Jackson was poor
boy in which Daniel Webster was
poor boy; in the same sense in
which large majority ofsthe emf
nent men of America in all genera
tons have been poor boys. Before
a great multitude of men in a public
speech, Mr.. Webster bore this testi-
mony:
81 did not happen to be born in a
log cabin, but my elder brothers and
sisters were born in q log cabin rails
ed amid the snowdriits of New
Hampshire. at 2 period so early that
when the smoke rose first from its
rude chimney and curled over the
frozen hills there was no similar ev-
idence of white mans habitation
between it and the settlements on
the rivers of Canada. Its remains
still exist. | make to it an annual
visit. | carry my children to it to
teach them the hardships endured
by the generations that have gone
before them. / love to dwell on the
tender recollections, the kindred ties,
the early affections, and the touch
ing narratives and incidents which
mingle with all know OF this prim-
tive family aboie."
With the requisite change of scene
tie same wor, : would aptly portray
the early dHys of Garfield. The
poverty Of the frontier, where all
are engaeed in a common struggle
and where common sympathy and
hearty cooperation tighten the bur
ceGle oe eeeh, i9 a-ss- eiferes.s Pe-
erty, different in kind, different in
influence and effect from that con-
scious and humiliating indulgence
which is every day forced to con-
trast itself with neighboring wealth
on which It feels sense of grinding
dependence. The poverty of the
frontier is indeed no poverty. 1t is
but the beginning of wealth, and has
the boundless possibilities of the fu-
ture always opening before it. No
man ever grew up in the agricultur-
al regions of the West where a house
raising. or even corn-husking, is
matter of common interest and help
fulness, with any other feeling than
that of broad-minded, generous in
dependence. This honorable inde-
pendence marked the youth of Gar
field as it marks the youth of mill
ions of the best blood and brains
now training for the future citizen
ship and future government OF the
republic. Garfield was born heir to
land, to the title of freeholder which
has been the patent and passport of
self-respect with the Anglo-Saxon
race ever since Hengist and Horsa
landed on the shores of England.
His adventures on the canal-an al
tentative between that and the deck
OF Lake Erie schooner-was a
farmer boys device for earning mon
ey, Just rs the New England lad be-
gins possibly great career by sail
ing before the mast on a coasting
vessel or on merchantmen bound
to the farther India or to the China
Seas.
No man feels anything OF shame
in looking back to early struggles
with adverse circumstances, and no
man feels q worthier pride than
when be has conquered the obsta-
cles OF mis- progress. But no one of
noble mould desires to be looked
upon rs having occupied menial
position. rs having been re-
pressed by q feeling of inferiority, or
as having suffered the evils of pow
erty until relief was found at the
hand of charity. General Garfeld's
youth presented no hardships which
love and energy did not over
come. subjected him TO no priva-
tions which he did not cheerfuliy
accept, and left 10 memories save
those which were recalled with ce-
Eight, and transmitted with oroft
and with pride.
Garfel6s early opportunities for
securing an education were extreme
" limited. and yet were sufficient to
develop in him an intense desire to
learn. He could read at three years
Of age, and each winter he had the
of the district school. He
read all the books to be found with
in the circle of his acquaintance !
some Of them he got by heart. While
vet in childhood he was a constant
student of the Bible, and became ia
miliar with its literature. The digni-
ty and earnestness of his speech in
his maturer life gave evidence of this
early training. At eighteen years of
age he was able to teach school, and
thenceforward his ambition was TO
obtain college education. To this
sud ne ben: all his efiarts, working
IN the harvest field, at the carpen-
.er's bench. and. in the winter sea-