Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-06-06

the strength of intellect and will to guide; |
the far-seeing craftsmanship which could |
wisely counsel in national affairs; together |
with the lofty courage which dared any
thing of personal peril to defend the |
assailed and protect the weak. A memorial
of granite strength and of bronze for en-
durance, erected at the opening of this |
noble avenue, hanked by, church and o
public school, erected In honor of one
who united the splendid physical strength
of the old Vickings with the patient endur-
ance of the ancient Roman; a piety with
out cant which might have made him a
devotee, but humanity so broad that he
could not be u recluse; scholar who had
won his way to learning by steps SO diff.
cult that he became the earnest advocate of
education, and the champion OF our free
schools.
At the expense of wearying as with a
''Twice-told Tale those Of nay own genera
tion. 1t is appropriate that | rehearse in
the ears OF those who are younger the
story of his life. One has humorously said
that the greatest care should be exercised
in the selection Of ones parents; and if
this absnrdly impossible privilege had
been granted him, James Abram Garfield
could scarcely have chosen more wisely
for himself. Not the thin blue fluid of
generations OF Unborn kings, or even of an
aristocratic ancestry; but the meeting
streams from CamDrian mountains and
Gallo champuigns, starting far asunder,
but guided by high, pnrposefui Divinity;
| the one making across a wide and almost
| unknown sea, hard in the wake OF the
| pilgrims of the Mayflower; the other in
| the enthusiasm and devotion of the heroic
| faith of the Huguenot seeking what its
| own land had denied it-freedom to wor-
| ship God; these ooursng in the veins and
leaping in the lojns OF half dozen genera
tons Of that New England life which has
l m nil M a n1iDhfV
factor of our national strength, at last
| came together. and in the then wilds of
the western reserve set up new home.
Here in log house was born u man child,
youngest Of four, fatherless at less than
two years of age; but with such a mother,
=, A young widow, scarce 80 years OF age,
like another Anthusa mother OF john
Of Antioch, she lived for her chill
dren; and like the mother of Mencius, the
| Chinese philosopher, who. approaching
the advantage of education by surround
ings, moved four times to get him under
proper influences and set him down at last
by school of philosophy so she gave the
land in order to have the school near her,
and to this log school house came the little
tOddling feet OF a 3years-old who at that
early age began to feel the Unsuitable desire
TO know, which in the following years
grew by that upon which ii fed. cheered
ard aided by his royal mother, and by the
efforts of "A noble, self-sacrilicing elder
brother; but soon contributing to his own
support, reinforced by his own resolute
will and untiring industry, toiling days at
such labor as came to hand, and reading
nights by the light of spluttering tallow
dip. When appliances were poor and in
adequate he made the most of them,
reaching out after helpful companionships,
making the enthusiasms of Others his own,
and availing himself OF all their knowledge,
the while fastening them to him with
hooks OF steel as they saw in him the
promise of his early manhood.
At last he found himself fitted for an ad-
vanced class in college. and began the pro
cess of investigation as to where he might
find what he most craved. Realizing the
inferiority of one.sided culture, and the
|, worthlessness of faith that has never
been tried, he disregarded alike the eCono-
mics of a local institution. and the prelu'
dices of denomination, and sought in the
: older East the choice of an alma mater
and was finally determined IN his selection
by single characteristic sentence in a
letter from chat grand old educator. Mark
self, in his pocket, presented himself al
Williams College, great, awkward, West
2 ern youth who excited the ridicule oi
: many of his fellows by tine uncouthness Of
! his manner, but conquered his way t
Q their hearts by that shortest cut to col
n leEG man s ultCllOIlSt nuIntlN pIuWeSS Oh
, athletic fields, and by his display of ability
! | in the class. room commanded their respect
! II is q mistaken notion that the college
! makes the man; it is the rather true tina
9 the man makes the college, at is not il
our stars. but in ourselves If we are under
9 ings." For while on the one hand, tn,
noblest institution, the greatest advantages
Z | or the amplest means cannot make
:, scholar; bat frequently the liberal paren
! finds TO his disappointment that after fur
! nishing his son with everything tina
S money could buy. he has repeated the ex
c perience of the old New Hampshire farme
| who had not withheld his purse string
4 from the frequent demands of his son VIII
y was being educated in Harvard but dis
!, covered on his graduation that what h
J had acquired was only an untitness an
II disreish for anything that was practical
n and ruefully exclaimed: Like Aaron,
y poured in the gold, and there came fort
Is this calf on the other, no young man i
II this favored land of ours can be kept fror
q an education, if only he wants it badl
enough.
He was no genius, using that muc
abused word in its ordinary acceptatioT
4 but he did have what Carlyle describes q
"a "a genius for hard work" lie did nj
- come to his acquisition of knowledge
u flashes of intuition, nor by strong flight
- over obstacles, but indnstriously deive
,r ing could daunt, and patient industr
w which was unwearied; he toiled on, climl
az ing upward while others slept. an
; graduated with the honors of his oolleg
~ and the respect Of faculty and students.
: No creation of fortuitous accident, /
he earned each promotion by the faithfl
$, discharge of the duties of the lower an
In intermediate station. They said he WI
). ambitious; and if by ambition is meant
a. restless greed for place, and a schemir
~ demagoguery which led him to emplc
~ unworthy means, or even to counterfeit
70 virtue that he did not possess, the char
VI is grave one; and one that where ever
I'd is seen should be rebuked, and by popul
u, condemnation effectually disappointed
is its aim. But if it is meant that
to sought to qualify himself for any static
a to acquire the intellectual and NOR
-, training which would make him fit I
%. the highest, then ne was ambitious and
"a praise him for it. Not place. but abilit
Is not station but fitness for It,
o. Better far be royal soul though new
OF called to a throne, than a craven WI
an who shall digrace throne. L
MS pedestal will but lift into conspicul
n. and put painfully i'll evidence an !
". competence which obscurity had mer
10 fully concealed.
IN He was student always and an inc
LIS pendent thinker, reaching his conclusio
us by thorough investigation. His chart
he teristic modesty would make him defer
til his teachers in matters of fact, but his &c
on ordinations from these facts would be
cd parrot-like repetition of the theories
'g. others. In college he was pupil of Pl
y, fessor Perry, recognized the land over
eu the champion of u school of polite
MS economists at the farthest extreme fire.
tly that with which Garfield after identlf