Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-03-08
NO. Is

elocution of the preacher and declared
that it had impaired new and deeper
meaning to the majestic utterances OF
Saint Paul. He referred often in af-
ter years to that memorable service,
and dwelt with exaltation of feeling
upon the radiant promise and the as
sured hopo with which the great apos-
tie of the Gentiles was persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall he able to separate US from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord
The cfowning characteristic of Gen
eral Garfeld's religious opinions, as in
deed, of all opinions, was his liberality.
In all things he had charity, Tolerance
was of his nature. He respected In
others the qualities which be possessed
himself-sincerity of conviction and
frankness of expression. With him
man believes, but does he believe it {!
The lines of his friendship and bis con-
fidence encircled men of every creed,
and men of no creed, and to the end of
his life, on his ever-lengthening list Of
friends, were to be found the names of
pious Catholic priest and Of an hon.
est-minded and generous-hearted Free
thinker.
On the morning of Saturday, July
I'd, the president was contented and
happy man-not in an ordinary degree,
but joyfully, almost boyishly happy.
On his way to the railroad station to
which he drove slowly in conscious en-.
joyment of the beautiful morning, with
an unwonted sense of leisure aud a
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 popu-
lar favor and destined to grow strong
er that grave difficulties confronting
him at his Inauguration had been safe
ly 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 had
but lately disquieted and ut times al
most unneryed him; that he was going
to his alma mater to renew the most
cherished associations of his young
manhood. and to exchange greetings
with those whose deepening interest
had followed every step of his upward
progress from the day he entered his
college course until he had attained
the loftiest elevation in the gift of his
countrymen.
Surely if happiness can ever come
from the honors or triumphs of this
world, on that quiet July morning
James A. Garfield may well have been
a happy man. No foreboding of evil
haunted him; no slightest premonition
of danger clouded his sky. His terri
BILE fate was upon him in an instant.
One moment he stood erect. strong,
confident in the years stretching peace
fully 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 the
very frenzy of wantonness and wicked
ness, by the red hand of fmurder. be was
thrust from the full tide of this worlds
interest, from its hopes, its aspirations,
its victories, into the visible presence
of death-and he did not quail. Not
alone for the one short moment In
which, stunned and dazed, he could
give up life, hardly aware Of its relin.
quishments, but through days or dead
ly languor, through weeks of agony,
that was not less agony because silent
ly borne, with clear sight and calm
courage, he looked into bis open grave.
What blight and ruin met his anguish
ed eyes, whose lips may tell-what
brilliant, broken plans, what baffied,
high ambitions, what sundering of
strong, warm, manhood's friendships,
what bitter rendering of sweet house.
hold ties Behind him proud, ex-
pectant nation, great host Of sustain
ing friends, 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 young
daughter; the sturdt sons just spring
ing into closest companionship, claim
ing every day and every day reward
ing a fathers love and care; and in
his heart the eager, rejoicing power to
meet all demand. Before him, DESC
lattion and great darkness And his
soul was not shaken. His country
men were thrilled with instant, pro-
found and universal sympathy. Mas
teful in his mortal weakness, he became
the centre of nations love, enshrined
in the prayers of a world. But all the
love and all the sympathy could not
share with him his suffering. He trod
the wine press alone. With unfailing
tenderness he took leave of life. Above
the demoniac hiss of the assassin's bull
let he heard the voice of God. With
simple resignation he bowed to the
Divine decree.
AS the end drew near, his early crav-
ing for the sea returned. The stately
mansion of power had been to him the
wearisome hospital of pain. and he beg
ged to be taken from its prison walls,
from its oppressive, sitting air, from
its homelessness and hopelessness
Gently, silently, the love of a great
people bore the pale sufferer to the
longed-for healing of the sea. to live or
to die, as God should will, within
sound of its manifold voices. With
wan, fevered face tenderly lifted to the
cooling breeze, he looked out wistfully
upon the oceans changing wonders; on
its far sails, whitening in the morning
light; on its restless waves, rolling
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