Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1883-07-05
GARFIELD.
Annual Address Delivered at the
Commencement Exercises of
HOpedale Normal College by
Hon. j. A. Campbell. of
New Cumberland. W.
Va. June 22. SO.

Mist L Sudll plSSeuI lOl HOui COlI
| sideration some of the elements OF 4
character and phases of life now his
tOric, shall endeavor to do it in such d
way as not to subject me to the charge
of hero worship or fOr~ing upon your
attention the consideration of a charac'
ter however worthy, still, nevertheless
upon which the public mind, perhaps
needs rest. In the life of the late Pres
ident Garfield there are forces and attri
butes partly the result of discipline and
association, bearing strong kinship to
| the ideas and influences which for the
last twenty-five years have prevailed at
Hopedale. 1t is that phase of his quiet
| life, mirroring and rejecting ideas which
have been to some extent impressed On
| the students and alumni of this college
of the people to which l desire partly TO
call your attention. Whatever may be
the initial elements of any life, its char
acter is determined by the external in
fluences that model and modify its de-
yelopment, and GaTGeld's life wonder
fully illustrates that force we call char
acter. Thirty years ago Hiram and
Hopedale were founded, at time of po-
litical. religious and educational revo-
luton in the great State of Ohio, when
the crude and opening mind of great
State was reaching out for the light of
liberty, wherever it might be found, ed
ger to grasp and appropriate whatever
there was of learning that would help
the common people of which it was a
part on its pathway of progress.
Twenty-Five years ago, fresh from the
rural halls of Williams College, at Viii
Jamestown, Mass, this young man took
his place as teacher in the Eclectic
Institute at Hiram, Ohio. 1t had been a
period of incubation and of great ideas.
1t was the beginRing of revolution in
the affairs of this New World At that
time the Southland was the home of
slavery it had reached out and sought
to encircle with chain of eternal bond
age the free territories of the great West.
The spirit Of religious apostolic liberty
was struggling to stand erect, and free
the World from the authoritative dicta
of ecclesiastical dogmas more powerful
than the letter of the living oracles, and
liberal and academic education only
reached the common people through the
channel of denominatiOnal colleges. Co
incident with general educational
awakening in Ohio, and as protest
against these tendencies and influences,
Hiram was established. Joining in this
protest, uniting in this sisterhood thirty
years ago, this living, breathing, aggres-
siYe force you call Hopedale College,
reached out its its hand in friendly well
come.
Look at this picture, then at that.
In the autumn of 1854 this broad
shouldered Saxon-haired, raw country
boy fresh from the woods of Orange,
stood in the classroom of the plain Ec-
lectic Institute at Hiram. Then in the
autumn of 1881, up the broad Euclid
avenue to the heights of Lake View Gem
etery, million of men, representing
whatever is noble and enduring in
American life and citizenship, keeping
step with the representatives of the dy-
nasties of the Old World. followed all
that was mortal of this boy to the grave.
The continents stood uncovered and the
kings of the earth bowed their heads as
the funeral procession passed by. The
vast cathedrals of Europe resOunded
with funeral dirges, reserved only for
kings, as the humble Campbellite disci .
pie was borne to his last resting place.
initial force of character, produced the
completeness of a manhood such as that :?
What other force than the mere prima-
ry force of the creature contributed to
produce life that seems so deep and
full, that it is taken up and made part
of the circulation of every other life
within the Republic? l venture the as
tion that this was largely the result of
the educational forces AMI influences
surrounding him from the period of his
beginning at Hiram up to the time
when he entered upon the broad theater
of war, and the still broader theater of
subsequent congressional action. Since
1876, whenever, from Fanueil Hall, in
Boston, to Farwell Hall, in Chicago, he
has opened his lips in the discussion of
any of the problems of government,men
have stood amazed at the profound re-
search, the broad compass and elevated
tone of the orator, whom they have
recognized as the ablest and most seri-
Gus of our public speakers. And yet re-
cognizing the elemental force of the
man, this greatness is largely the sculp-
tured work of other and milder hands
More than half a score of years before
the founding of Hiram, the anti-slavery
sentiment of Ohio, finding its home on
the Western Reserve, had re-affirmed the
doctrine that all men are created equal.
That idea was of the very earth and
rock wherein the foundation stone of
Hiram was laid. So it was of Hopedale
This young man Garfield, caught the
inspiration of that idea. Another, and
even greater idea was incorporated into
the educational experiment of Hiram.
Twenty-Five years before that,the strong
voice of Alexander Campbell was heard
throughout the Western Reserve, plead
ing for return of protestant churches
to the simple apostolic practice, and
boldly announced that personal i6erty
and free consent in all matters of relig-
ion was the birthright of every soul {;
that no eX-cathedra deliverance of any
ecclesiastical assembly should restrict
the personal liberty of any believer in
the construction of the living oracles.
and that no religious body without their
free consent, should induct any man, wo-
man or child into its organization. This
great idea was likewise caught up. alb
sorbed and appropriated, and entered in
to the intellectual life-blood of the
young student. And what a grand idea
that was to enter into the life of any
man, the absolute, unqualified. unre.
stIicted personal liberty (in all matters
of opinion) of all men protesting Christ,
accepting the New Testament as his
rule of faith and practice, and even
though the humblest man, yet in this
new order of things, standing, in all
matters of opinion equal, and of com
mensurate authority, with any ecumeni-
Cal council or ecclesiastical assembly the
world ever saw. Think of the grandeur
dignity and responsibility such a reIic,
ious disenthrallment brings to every
follower of Christ. This spirit of relig-
ious and intellectual liberty, free maui
ry and broad investigation entered into
the years of academic study and labor
OF Garfield, characterized his methods.
and became an essential part of himself
during his teachers life. He carried
1