“The poor, laboring boy, the self-made man, the hopeful, buoyant soul in the face of all difficulties and odds, constitute an example for the American youth, which will never be lost nor grow dim.

“The estimate to be placed on the intellectual abilities of Gen. Garfield must be a very high one.  Nature was bountiful to him, and his acquirements were extensive and solid.  If I might make a comparison, I would say that, with the exception of Jefferson and John Quincy Adams, he was the most learned President in what is written in books in the whole range of American history.

“The Christian character of Gen. Garfield can not, with propriety, be omitted in a glance, however brief, at his remarkable career.  Those who knew him best in the midst of his ambition and his worldly hopes will not fail now at his tomb to bear their testimony to his faith in God and his love for the teachings of the blessed Nazarene.

“It seems but yesterday that I saw him last, and parted from him in all the glory of his physical and mental manhood.  His eye was full of light, his tread elastic and strong, and the world lay bright before him.  He talked freely of public men and public affairs.  His resentments were like sparks from the flint.  He cherished them not for a moment.  Speaking of one who, he thought, had wronged him, he said to me, that, sooner or later, he intended to pour coals of fire on his head by acts of kindness to some of his kindred.  He did not live to do so, but the purpose of his heart has been placed to his credit in the book of eternal life”

A correspondent of the New York Tribune suggests that the following lines, from Pollok’s “Course of Time,” apply with remarkable fitness to his glorious career: 

  “Illustrious, too, that morning stood the man
  Exalted by the people to the throne
  Of government, established on the base
  Of justice, liberty, and equal right;
  Who, in his countenance sublime, expressed
  A nation’s majesty, and yet was meek
  And humble; and in royal palace gave
  Example to the meanest, of the fear
  Of God, and all integrity of life
  And manners; who, august, yet lowly; who
  Severe, yet gracious; in his very heart
  Detesting all oppression, all intent
  Of private aggrandizement; and the first
  In every public duty—­held the scales
  Of justice, and as law, which reigned in him,
  Commanded, gave rewards; or with the edge
  Vindictive smote—­now light, now heavily,
  According to the stature of the crime. 
  Conspicuous, like an oak of healthiest bough,
  Deep-rooted in his country’s love, he stood.”

CHAPTER XXXII.

FROM CANAL-BOY TO PRESIDENT.

James A Garfield had been elected to the United States Senate, but he was never a member of that body.  Before the time came for him to take his seat he had been invested with a higher dignity.  Never before in our history has the same man been an actual member of the House of Representatives, a Senator-elect, and President-elect.