Though defeated by an unfair apportionment of the legislative districts for the senatorship, yet Lincoln so ably fought the great Douglas with such wonderful power as to surprise the nation. Heretofore but little known out of his native State; this debate made him one of the two most conspicuous men in the nation, and the excitement was intensified from the fact that both from that hour were the chosen opponents for the coming presidential contest.
At the ensuing presidential contest Lincoln was elected to the presidency, and the gory front of secession was raised. Forgetting past differences, Douglas magnanimously stood shoulder to shoulder with Lincoln in behalf of the Union. It was the olive branch of genuine patriotism. But while proudly holding aloft the banner of his nation in the nation councils, and while yet the blood of his countrymen had not blended together and drenched the land, the great senator was suddenly snatched from among the living in the hour of the country's greatest need; while the brave Lincoln was allowed to see the end—the cause triumphant, when he was also called from death unto life.
Lincoln elected, though he was, and admitted to have received his election fairly and triumphantly, was yet of necessity compelled to enter Washington, like a thief in the night, to assume his place at the head of the nation. Lincoln met the crisis calmly but firmly. He had watched the coming storm and he asked, as he bade adieu to his friends and fellow-citizens, their earnest prayers to Almighty God that he might have wisdom and help to see the right path and pursue it. Those prayers were answered. He guided the ship of State safely through the most angry storm that ever demanded a brave and good pilot. We can only gaze in awe on the memory of this man. He seemingly knew in a moment, when placed in a trying position that would have baffled an inferior mind, just what to do for the best interest of the nation.
Mr. Lincoln had unsurpassed fitness for the task he had to execute. Without anything like brilliancy of genius, without breadth of learning or literary accomplishments, he had that perfect balance of thoroughly sound faculties which gave him the reputation of an almost infallible judgment. This, combined with great calmness of temper, inflexible firmness of will, supreme moral purpose, and intense patriotism made up just that character which fitted him, as the same qualities fitted Washington, for the salvation of his country in a period of stupendous responsibility and eminent peril.
Although far advanced on the question of slavery, personally, he was exceedingly careful about pushing measures upon a country he knew was hardly prepared as yet to receive such sweeping legislation. An acquaintance once said: 'It is hard to believe that very nearly one-half of the Republican party were opposed to the issue of the proclamation of emancipation.' Thus Lincoln avoided all extremes, and this quality alone made him eminently fit to govern. Yet, when necessary, he was stern and unrelenting. When the British minister desired to submit instructions from his government, stating that that government intended to sustain a neutral relation, he refused to receive it officially. When France demanded recognition by the United States of the government of Maximilian, in Mexico, he steadily refused. He was firm as a rock; he would ride post haste twenty miles to pardon a deserter, but under no consideration could he be induced to suspend hostilities against a people who were trying to destroy the Union. All sorts of political machinery was invented to manufacture public opinion and sentiment against him, but he was triumphantly re-elected in 1864.
The morning of Lincoln's second inauguration was very stormy, but the sky cleared just before noon, and the sun shone brightly as he appeared before an immense audience in front of the capitol, and took the oath and delivered an address, alike striking for its forcible expressions and conciliatory spirit. He spoke something as follows:
"On the occasion corresponding to this, four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. * * * Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish; and the war came. * * * Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayer of both could not be answered. That of neither has been fully. * * * With malice toward none, with charity for all, with the firmness in the right, as God gives us light to see the right, let us finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
He hated slavery from the beginning, but was not an abolitionist until it was constitutional to be so. At the head of the nation, when precedents were useless, he was governed by justice only. He was singularly fortunate in the selection of his cabinet officers, and the reason was he never allowed prejudice to prevent his placing a rival in high office.
Yes, Mr. Lincoln is probably the most remarkable example on the pages of history, showing the possibilities of our country. From the poverty in which he was born, through the rowdyism of a frontier town, the rudeness of frontier society, the discouragement of early bankruptcy, and the fluctuations of popular politics, he rose to the championship of Union and freedom when the two seemed utterly an impossibility; never lost his faith when both seemed hopeless, and was suddenly snatched from earth when both were secured. He was the least pretentious of men, and when, with the speed of electricity, it flashed over the Union that the great Lincoln—shot by an assassin—was no more, the excitement was tremendous. The very heart of the republic throbbed with pain and lamentation. Then the immortal President was borne to his last resting-place in Springfield, Illinois. All along the journey to the grave, over one thousand miles, a continual wail went up from friends innumerable, and they would not be comforted. Never was there a grander, yet more solemn funeral accorded to any, ancient or modern. He was a statesman without a statesman's craftiness, politician without a politician's meanness, a great man without a great man's vices, a philanthropist without a philanthropist's dreams, a christian without pretensions, a ruler without the pride of place or power, an ambitious man without selfishness, and a successful man without vanity. Humble man of the backwoods, boatman, axman, hired laborer, clerk, surveyor, captain, legislator, lawyer, debater, orator, politician, statesman. President, savior of the republic, emancipator of a race, true christian, true man.
Gaze on such a character; does it not thrill your very soul and cause your very heart to bleed that such a man should be shot by a dastardly assassin? Yet on the 14th of April, 1865, J. Wilkes Booth entered the private box of the President, and creeping stealthily from behind, as become the dark deed which he contemplated, deliberately shot Abraham Lincoln through the head, and the country lost the pilot in the hours when she needed him so much.
Edward Everett.
Among the more eminent of eminent men stands Edward Everett in the annals of American history. We do not give his history to show how he struggled through privations, overcoming all obstacles, until victory at last crowned his efforts, as so many of our great men have been obliged to do, but we do delineate his achievements to illustrate what hard work will do, provided a man has ability to develop. Yes, to show what hard work will do. But some will say, 'Well, that does sound well, but I guess if Edward Everett had been an ordinary man no amount of hard work would have made him the Edward Everett of history'; another may say, 'That's so, it is foolish to argue as you do, and hold up such men as examples, intimating that their success is the result of hard work'; and still another may say, 'Say what you will, you cannot gain-say the factor of opportunities, of 'luck,' if you choose to so designate it.'
We do not gain-say anything; we simply point to history; read for yourself. Take eminent men, read their lives, and see if seven-tenths, at least, of our great men did not acquire success through their own effort. Read carefully and see if they did not largely MAKE their own opportunities. True, all cannot be Everetts or Clays, but by extraordinary effort and careful thought, any one will better his or her condition. Sickness may come, they will be the better prepared. Losses will be more easily met and discharged. No man ever succeeded by waiting for something to turn up. The object of this work is not to make people delude themselves by any conceited ideas, but to encourage, to inspire, to enkindle anew the fires of energy laying dormant. The point is, it is not a 'slumbering genius' within people that it is our desire to stimulate, but a 'slumbering energy.' We are content that others should take care of the 'genius'; we are satisfied that any influence, no matter from what source it comes, that will awaken dormant energies will do the world more good than ten times the same amount of influence trying to prove that we are fore ordained to be somebody or nobody.
Mr. Everett was a man who fully comprehended and appreciated this fact. All great men understand that it is the making the most of one's talents that makes the most of our chances which absolutely tells. Rufus Choate believed in hard work. When some one said to him that a certain fine achievement was the result of accident, he exclaimed: "Nonsense. You might as well drop the Greek alphabet on the ground and expect to pick up the Illiad." Mr. Beecher has well said that every idle man has to be supported by some industrious man. Hard labor prevents hard luck. Fathers should teach their children that if any one will not work neither shall he attain success. Let us magnify our calling and be happy, but strive to progress. As before said, Mr. Everett fully understood all this and great men innumerable could be quoted in support of this doctrine.
The year 1794 must ever be memorable, as the year in which Mr. Everett was ushered into the world, in which he was to figure as so prominent a factor. We have written a long preamble, but it is hoped that the reader has taken enough interest thus far to fully take in the points which we have endeavored to make, and it is further hoped that such being the case, the reader will, by the light of those ideas, read and digest the wonderful character before us.
Undoubtedly Everett possessed one of the greatest minds America has ever produced, but if he had rivaled Solomon in natural ability, he could not have entered Harvard College as a student at the age of thirteen had he not been an indefatigable worker, and will any man delude himself into the belief that he could have graduated from such a school at the age of only seventeen, and at the head of his class, had he not exercised tremendous energy. Still further do any of the readers who chance to read this volume think that he was picked up bodily and placed in the ministerial chair vacated by the gifted Buckminister when he was only nineteen because he was lucky? A city preacher at nineteen! Occupying one of the first pulpits in the land at nineteen! "Why, he was gifted." Of course he was, and he was a tremendous worker. Thus was his success enhanced.
At twenty he was appointed to a Greek professorship in Harvard College, and qualified himself by travel in Europe for four years. During that time he acquired that solid information concerning the history and principles of law, and of the political systems of Europe, which formed the foundation of that broad statesmanship for which he was afterward distinguished. During his residence in Europe his range of study embraced the ancient classics, the modern languages, the history and principles of the civil and public law, and a comprehensive examination of the existing political systems of Europe. He returned home, and from that time until his death he was recognized as one of the greatest orators of his time. In 1825 to 1835 he was a distinguished member of the national congress. He then served three successive terms as governor of Massachusetts. In 1814 he was appointed minister to the English court. It was an important mission, for the relations of his government with that of England, then wore a grave aspect. His official career in London was a marked success. His personal accomplishments made him a friend and favorite with the leading men and families of England. After this he was sent as a commissioner to China, and after his return from abroad, he was at once chosen President of Harvard College.
He entered upon the duties of this new office with his characteristic energy and enthusiasm, but ill-health compelled his resignation at the end of three years. Upon the death of his bosom friend, Daniel Webster, he was appointed to succeed to Webster's position at the head of President Fillmore's cabinet. Before the close of his duties as Secretary of State, he was chosen by the Massachusetts State Legislature to a seat in the National Senate. Once more overwork compelled his withdrawal from active responsibility, and in May, 1854, under the advice of his physician, he resigned his seat. But he was content to remain idle only a few months when he entered with great zeal upon a new enterprise.
The project of purchasing Mount Vernon and beautifying it as a memento of esteem to the 'Nation's father' attracted his attention, and his efforts in behalf of the association to raise money for the above-named object netted over $100,000, besides his valuable time, and paying his own expenses. He afterwards raised many more thousands of dollars for the benefit of numerous charitable societies and objects. Emerging from private life at the opening of the civil war he gave himself incessantly to the defense of the Union. He died on the 14th of January, 1865, and was mourned throughout the whole North. Eulogies innumerable were called forth by the death of this intellectual phenomenon of the nineteenth century.
Edwin M. Stanton.
Edwin M. Stanton, whom President Lincoln selected for his Secretary of War, notwithstanding the fact that he had served in the cabinet of Buchanan, was born at Steubenville, Ohio, December 19th, 1814, and died in Washington, D. C., December 24th, 1869.
When fifteen years old he became a clerk in a book-store in his native town, and with money thus accumulated, was enabled to attend Kenyon College, but at the end of two years was obliged to re-enter the book-store as a clerk.
Thus through poverty he was deterred from graduating, but knowledge is just as beneficial, whether acquired in school or out. Thurlow Weed never had the advantages of a college, but stretched prone before the sap-house fire, he laid the foundation upon which he built that splendid reputation as an able editor; Elihu Buritt never saw the inside of a college school-room as a student, but while at the anvil, at work as a blacksmith, with book laying on a desk near, he framed the basis of that classical learning which made him, as master of forty different languages, the esteemed friend of John Bright and others of the most noted people the world has ever known.
As it was with them, so it was with Stanton. He had but little advantages, but he would not 'down.' It is said that if Henry Ward Beecher had gone to sea, as he desired to do, he would not have long remained, for in him was even then a 'slumbering genius,' But he himself once said that had it not been for his great love of work he never could have half succeeded. Ah, that's it; if ability to accomplish hard 'digging' is not genius, it is the best possible substitute for it. A man may have in him a 'slumbering genius,' but unless he put forth the energy, his efforts will be spasmodic, ill-timed and scattered.
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
Young men, there is truth hidden in these words, despite what some writers would make you think. They would argue that if you are to be a Milton, a Cromwell, a Webster, or a Clay, that you cannot help it, do what you will. Possibly, this may be so; it may not be thought proper for me to dispute their lordship, but it does seem to me that such arguments can give but little hope; if they have influence at all it cannot be an inspiring one. No, never mind the reputation; never pine to be a Lincoln, or a Garfield, but if you feel that your chances in youth are equal to theirs, take courage—WORK.
If you are a farmer strive to excel all the surrounding farmers. If a boot-black, make up your mind to monopolize the business on your block. Faculty to do this is the 'best possible substitute for a slumbering genius,' if perchance you should lack that 'most essential faculty to success.' At any rate, never wait for the 'slumbering genius' to show itself,—if you do, it will never awake but slumber on through endless time, and leave you groping on in midnight darkness.
But to return to Stanton. Whether he possessed a 'slumbering genius' does not appear, but certain it is that by down-right hard work he gained a knowledge of the law, and was admitted to the bar in 1836, when in his twenty-first year. While yet a young lawyer he was made prosecuting attorney of Harrison county. In 1842 he was chosen reporter of the Ohio Supreme Court, and published three volumes of reports.
In 1847 he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but for nine years afterward retained his office in Steubenville, as well as that in Pittsburgh. In 1857 his business had so expanded that he found it necessary to move to Washington, D. C., the seat of the United States Supreme Court. His first appearance before the United States Supreme Court was in defence of the State of Pennsylvania against the Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company, and thereafter his practice rapidly increased.
In 1858 he was employed by the national government as against the government of Mexico on land titles, deeds, etc. This great legal success, together with several others, won for him a national reputation. It has been stated by one of the leading jurists in the United States that the cause of nine out of ten of the failures in the legal profession is laziness, so common in lawyers, after being admitted to the bar. Once in, they seem to think that they have but to 'sit and wait' for business. Possibly their eye has, at one time or another, caught those sentiments so dear to some writers in regard to 'the slumbering genius.' Be that as it may, it is very evident that Stanton had never been idle, and was seldom obliged to 'refer to his library' before answering questions in relation to the law.
He was called to the high position of attorney-general in President Buchanan's cabinet, and on January 11th, 1862, nine months after the inauguration of Lincoln, he was placed in the most responsible position in his cabinet at that time,—Secretary of War. His labors in this department were indefatigable, and many of the most important and successful movements of the war originated with him. Never, perhaps, was there a more illustrious example of the right man in the right place. It seemed almost as if it were a special Provincial interposition to incline the President to go out of his own party and select this man for this most responsible of all trusts, save his own.
With an unflinching force, an imperial will, a courage never once admitting the possibility of failure, and having no patience with cowards, compromisers or self-seekers; with the most jealous patriotism he displaced the incompetent and exacted brave, mighty, endeavor of all, yet only like what he exacted of himself. He reorganized the war with Herculean toil. Through all those long years of war he thought of, saw, labored for one end—victory. The amount of work he does in some of these critical months was absolutely amazing by its comprehension of details, the solution of vexed questions, the mastery of formidable difficulties, wonder was it his word sometimes cut like a sharp, quick blow, or that the stroke of his pen was sometimes like a thunderbolt. It was not the time for hesitation, or doubt, or even argument. He meant his imperiled country should be saved, and whatever by half-loyalty or self-seeking seemed to stand in the way only attracted the lightning of his power.
The nation owes as much to him as to any one who in council or in field contributed to its salvation. And his real greatness was never more conspicuous than at the time of Mr. Lincoln's assassination. His presence of mind, his prompt decision, his unfailing faith and courage strengthened, those about him, and prevented the issue of a frightful panic and disorder following that unexpected assault upon the life of the republic. To have equipped, fed, clothed and organized a million and a-half of soldiery, and when their work was done in two days, to have remanded them back to the peaceful industries from which they had been called; to have had the nation's wealth at his disposal, and yet so incorruptible that hundreds of millions could pass through his hands and leave him a poor man at the end of his commission, shattered in health, yet from necessity obliged to resume his legal practice, must for all time rank him among the world's phenomena. Such a man, so true, so intent upon great objects must many a time have thwarted the greed of the corrupt, been impatient with the hesitation of the imbecile, and fiercely indignant against half-heartedness and disloyalty. Whatever faults, therefore, his enemies may allege, these will all fade away in the splendor with which coming ages will ennoble the greatest of war ministers in the nineteenth century. He will be remembered as "one who never thought of self, and who held the helm in sunshine and in storm with the same untiring grip."
Nor were his services less valuable to his country when, after the surrender of the Confederate armies, the rebellion was transferred to the White House, and he stood the fearless, unflinching patriot against the schemes and usurpations of its accidental occupant. Mr. Stanton entered on his great trust in the fullest prime of manhood, equal, seemingly, to any possible toil and strain. He left his department incurably shorn of health. He entered upon it in affluence, with a large and remunerative practice. He left it without a stain on his hands, but with his fortune lessened and insufficient. Yet, when it was contemplated by some of his friends, after his retirement, to tender him a handsome gift of money, he resolutely and unhesitatingly forbade it, and the project had to be abandoned. He was as truly a sacrifice to his country as was the brave soldier who laid down his life in the prison-pen or sanctified the field with his blood. For an unswerving and passionate patriotism, for a magnificent courage, for rare unselfishness, for transcendent abilities, for immeasurable services to his country; the figure of the greatest war minister in modern times will tower with a noble grandeur, as undimmed and enviable a splendor as that of any in the history of the Republic; which, like his friend and co-worker, the great Lincoln, he gave his life to save.
Andrew Johnson.
The life-career of the seventeenth president of the United States well illustrates the spirit and genius of our free institutions. Four of the incumbents of the national executive chair were born in North Carolina. Of these, the subject of this sketch was one, being born in the above-named State, December 29th, 1808.
His father, who died in 1812, was sexton of a church and porter in the State bank. Extreme poverty prevented Andrew from receiving any schooling, and at the age of ten he was apprenticed to a tailor. A gentleman was in the habit of visiting the shop and reading to the workmen, generally from the 'American Speaker.' Andrew became intensely interested, especially in the extracts from the speeches of Pitt and Fox. He determined to learn to read, and having done this he devoted all his leisure hours to the perusal of such books as he could obtain. In the summer of 1824, a few months before his apprenticeship expired, he got into trouble by throwing stones at an old woman's house, and ran away to escape the consequences. He went to Lauren's Court House, South Carolina, and obtained work as a journeyman tailor.
In May, 1826, he returned to Raleigh. Mr. Selby, his former employer, had moved into the country, and Johnson walked twenty miles to see him, apologized for his misdemeanor and promised to pay him for his unfulfilled time. Selby required security, which Johnson could not furnish, and he went away disappointed. In September he went to Tennessee, taking with him his mother, who was dependent upon him for support. He worked a year at Greenville when he married, and finally settled, deciding to make that town his home.
Thus far his education had been confined to reading; but now, under the tuition of his wife, he learned to 'write and cipher.' During this time he became prominent in a local debating society, formed of resident young men and students of Greenville College. One student says; "On approaching the village there stood on the hill by the highway a solitary little house, perhaps ten feet square,—we invariably entered when passing. It contained a bed, two or three stools, and a tailor's platform. We delighted to stop because one lived here whom we knew well outside of school and made us welcome; one who would amuse us by his social good nature, taking more than ordinary interest in us, and catering to our pleasure."
Mr. Johnson, taking an interest in local politics, organized a workingman's party in 1828, to oppose the 'aristocrat element,' which had always ruled the town. Considerable excitement ensued, and Johnson was elected an alderman by a large majority. He rose to be mayor, member of the State legislature, and a representative in Congress, holding the last office for ten years.
In 1853 he was elected governor, and re-elected in 1855. The contest was exciting, and violence and threats of murder were frequent. At one meeting Johnson appeared with pistol in his hand, laid it on the desk, and said: "Fellow-citizens, I have been informed that part of the business to be transacted on the present occasion is the assassination of the individual who now has the honor of addressing you. I beg respectfully to propose that this be the first business in order: therefore if any man has come here to-night for the purpose indicated, I do not say to him let him speak, but let him shoot." After pausing for a moment, with his hand on his pistol, he said, "Gentlemen, it appears that I have been misinformed. I will now proceed to address you upon the subject that has brought us together."
Mr. Johnson's next office was as a member of the national Senate, where he ably urged the passage of a bill granting to every settler 160 acres of public land. When Tennessee passed the ordinance of secession he remained steadfast for the Union. Although a Democrat, he had opposed many of their measures in the interest of slavery, and now gravitated toward the Republican party. In nearly every city of his native State he was burned in effigy; at one time a mob entered a railroad train on which he was known to be and attempted to take him, but he met them with a pistol in each hand, and drove them steadily before him off the train. His loyal sentiments, his efforts to aid Union refugees, and the persecution he received at home commended him to the North. In 1862 he was appointed military governor of Tennessee, in which position he upheld the Federal cause with great ability and zeal. In the winter of 1861-2 large numbers of Unionists were driven from their homes in East Tennessee, who sought refuge in Kentucky. Mr. Johnson met them there, relieved the immediate wants of many from his own purse and used his influence with the national government for the establishment of a camp where these refugees found shelter, food and clothing, and were to a large extent organized into companies and mustered into the national service. His own wife and child were turned out of their home and his property confiscated. All through his duties as military governor of Tennessee Johnson displayed great ability and discharged the duties of his office fearlessly, amid eminent personal peril.
On June 7th, 1864, the Republican convention held at Baltimore, having re-nominated Mr. Lincoln, chose Mr. Johnson for the second place on their ticket. They were inaugurated March 4th, and April 14th the President was assassinated, and within three hours after Lincoln expired Andrew Johnson was president of the United States.
Soon after his inauguration as President of the United States, in the course of a speech on the condition of the country he declared, "the people must understand that treason is the blackest of crimes, and will surely be punished." Now follows the strangest scenes imaginable, coming from such a man as he had always, until now, proved himself to be. As this part of ex-President Johnson's life has been given great prominence, we forbear to speak further in relation to it. We are constrained, however, to say that it was sad to see a man, thus late in life, destroying in a few months a good character, as a citizen, and reputation as an able statesman, which he had been so many years building, and in which he had so eminently succeeded. In 1866 the University of North Carolina conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.
On the 31st of July, 1875, this wonderful man, who had risen from the tailor's bench, to the highest place within the gift of a great nation, then to be disgraced and vanquished at his own bidding, died a disappointed man.
James A. Garfield.
Our country probably never produced a character more perfectly rounded, physically, intellectually and morally than that which is presented to us in the person of James A. Garfield, who was born in a log cabin in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, November 19th, 1831.
His childhood was passed in almost complete isolation from social influences, save those which proceeded from his mother. His father had died when James was only eighteen months old, and when old enough to be of any use he was put to work on the farm. The family was very poor, and his services were needed to help 'make both ends meet.' At school, as a little boy, he allowed no one to impose upon him. He is said to have never picked a quarrel, but was sure to resent any indignity with effect, no matter how large a boy the offender happened to be. He attended school during the cold months when it was impossible to be of value on the farm; summers he generally 'worked out,' at one time being a driver-boy on the canal.
He attended school at the Geauga Seminary, where he got through his first term on the absurdly small sum of seventeen dollars. When he returned to school the next term he had but a six pence in his pocket, and this he dropped into the contribution box the next day at church. He made an arrangement with a carpenter in the village to board with him, and have his washing, fuel and light furnished for one dollar and six cents per week. The carpenter was building a house, and Garfield engaged to help him nights and Saturdays. The first Saturday he planed fifty-one boards, and thereby made one dollar and two cents. So the term went, and he returned home, having earned his expenses and and three dollars over.
The following winter he taught school at $12 a month and 'boarded around.' In the spring he had $48, and when he returned to school he boarded himself at an expense of thirty-one cents a week. Heretofore, he had supposed a college course beyond him, but meeting a college graduate who explained that it was barely possible for a poor boy to graduate, if he worked and attended alternate years, he determined to try it. After careful calculation Garfield concluded he could get through school within twelve years. He accordingly began to lay his plans to graduate. Think of such determination, dear reader, and then see if you can reasonably envy the position attained by Garfield. He appeared as a scholar at Hiram, a new school of his own denomination, in 1851. Here he studied all the harder, as he now had an object in life. Returning home he taught a school, then returned to college, and attended the spring term. During the summer he helped build a house in the village, he himself planning all the lumber for the siding, and shingling the roof. Garfield was now quite a scholar, especially in the languages, and upon his return to Hiram he was made a tutor, and thenceforward he worked both as a pupil and teacher, doing a tremendous amount of work to fit himself for college. When he came to Hiram he started on the preparatory course, to enter college, expecting it would take four years. Deciding now to enter some eastern institution, he wrote a letter to the president of each of the leading colleges in the east, telling them how far he had progressed. They all replied that he could enter the junior year, and thus graduate in two years from his entrance. He had accomplished the preparatory course, generally requiring four solid years, and had advanced two years on his college course. He had crowded six years into three, beside supporting himself. If ever a man was worthy of success Garfield was. He decided to enter Williams College, where he graduated in 1856, thus came that institution to grasp the honor of giving to the United States of America one of our most popular presidents. The grasp of the mind of Garfield, even at this early period, can be seen by glancing at the title of his essay, "The Seen and the Unseen." He next became a professor; later, principal of the college at Hiram.
In the old parties Garfield had little interest, but when the Republican party was formed he became deeply interested, and became somewhat noted as a stump orator for Fremont and Dayton. In 1860 he was sent to the State senate, and while there began preparation for the legal profession, and in 1861 was admitted to the bar. The war broke out about this time, which prevented his opening an office, and he was commissioned a colonel, finally a major-general. His career in the army was brief, but very brilliant, and he returned home to go to Congress. In Washington his legislative career was very successful. He proved to be an orator of no mean degree of ability, his splendid education made him an acknowledged scholar, and he soon became known as one of the ablest debaters in Congress, serving on some of the leading committees.
When Ohio sent her delegation to the Republican National Convention, of 1880, pledged for Sherman, Garfield was selected as spokesman. His speech, when he presented the name of John Sherman, coming, as it did, when all was feverish excitement, must be acknowledged as a master-piece of the scholarly oratory of which he was master. Conkling had just delivered one in favor of Grant, the effect of which was wonderful. The Grant delegates 'pooled' the flags, which marked their seats, marched around the aisles and cheered and yelled as if they were dwellers in Bedlam, just home after a long absence. Fully twenty minutes this went on, and Mr. Hoar, the president of the convention after vainly trying to restore order gave up in despair, sat down, and calmly allowed disorder to tire itself out.
At last it ceases, Ohio is called, a form arises near the center of the middle aisle, and moves toward the stage amid the clapping of thousands of hands, which increases as General Garfield mounts the same platform upon which Senator Conkling has so lately stood. In speaking he is not so restless as was Conkling, but speaking deliberately he appeals to the judgment of the masses, as follows:
"Mr. President: I have witnessed the extraordinary scenes of this convention with deep solicitude. No emotion touches my heart more quickly than a sentiment in honor of a great and noble character. But, as I sat on these seats and witnessed these demonstrations, it seemed to me you were a human ocean in a tempest. I have seen the sea lashed into a fury and tossed into a spray, and its grandeur moves the soul of the dullest man. But I remember that it is not the billows, but the calm level of the sea from which all heights and depths are measured. When the storm had passed and the hour of calm settles on the ocean, when sunlight bathes its smooth surface, then the astronomer and surveyor takes the level from which he measures all terrestrial heights and depths. Gentlemen of the convention, your present temper may not mark the healthful pulse of our people. When our enthusiasm has passed, when the emotions of this hour have subsided, we shall find the calm level of public opinion below the storm from which the thoughts of a mighty people are to be measured, and by which their final action will be determined. Not here, in this brilliant circle where fifteen thousand men and women are assembled, is the destiny of the Republic to be decreed; not here, where I see the enthusiastic faces of seven hundred and fifty-six delegates waiting to cast their votes into the urn and determine the choice of their party; but by four million Republican firesides, where the thoughtful fathers, with wives and children about them, with the calm thoughts inspired by love of home and love of country, with the history of the past, the hopes of the future, and the knowledge of the great men who have adorned and blessed our nation in days gone by—there God prepares the verdict that shall determine the wisdom of our work to-night. Not in Chicago in the heat of June, but in the sober quiet that comes between now and November, in the silence of deliberate judgment will this great question be settled. Let us aid them to-night.
"But now, gentlemen of the convention, what do we want? Bear with me a moment. Hear me for this cause, and, for a moment, be silent that you may hear. Twenty-five years ago this Republic was wearing a triple chain of bondage. Long familiarity with traffic in the bodies and souls of men had paralyzed the consciences of a majority of our people. The baleful doctrine of State sovereignty had shocked and weakened the noblest and most beneficent powers of the national government, and the grasping power of slavery was seizing the virgin territories of the West and dragging them into the den of eternal bondage. At that crisis the Republican party was born. It drew its first inspiration from that fire of liberty which God has lighted in every man's heart, and which all the powers of ignorance and tyranny can never wholly extinguish. The Republican party came to deliver and save the Republic. It entered the arena when the beleaguered and assailed territories were struggling for freedom, and drew around them the sacred circle of liberty which the demon of slavery has never dared to cross. It made them free forever. Strengthened by its victory on the frontier, the young party, under the leadership of that great man who, on this spot, twenty years ago, was made its leader, entered the national capitol and assumed the high duties of the government. The light which shone from its banner dispelled the darkness in which slavery had enshrouded the capitol, and melted the shackles of every slave, and consumed, in the fire of liberty, every slave-pen within the shadow of the capitol. Our national industries, by an impoverishing policy, were themselves prostrated, and the streams of revenue flowed in such feeble currents that the treasury itself was well-nigh empty. The money of the people was the wretched notes of two thousand uncontrolled and irresponsible State banking corporations, which were filling the country with a circulation that poisoned rather than sustained the life of business. The Republican party changed all this. It abolished the babel of confusion, and gave the country a currency as national as its flag, based upon the sacred faith of the people. It threw its protecting arm around our great industries, and they stood erect as with new life. It filled with the spirit of true nationality all the great functions of the government. It confronted a rebellion of unexampled magnitude, with slavery behind it, and, under God, fought the final battle of liberty until victory was won. Then, after the storms of battle, were heard the sweet, calm words of peace uttered by the conquering nation, and saying to the conquered foe that lay prostrate at its feet: 'This is our only refuge, that you join us in lifting to the serene firmament of the Constitution, to shine like stars for ever and ever, the immortal principles of truth and justice, that all men, white or black, shall be free and stand equal before the law.'
"Then came the question of reconstruction, the public debt, and the public faith. In the settlement of the questions the Republican party has completed its twenty-five years of glorious existence, and it has sent us here to prepare it for another lustrum of duty and victory. How shall we do this great work? We cannot do it, my friends, by assailing our Republican brethren. God forbid that I should say one word to cast a shadow upon any name on the roll of our heroes. This coming fight is our Thermopylæ. We are standing upon a narrow isthmus. If our Spartan hosts are united, we can withstand all the Persians that the Xerxes of Democracy can bring against us. Let us hold our ground this one year, for the stars in their courses fight for us in the future. The census taken this year will bring re-enforcements and continued power. But in order to win this victory now, we want the vote of every Republican, of every Grant Republican, and every anti-Grant Republican in America, of every Blaine man and every anti-Blaine man. The vote of every follower of every candidate is needed to make our success certain; therefore, I say, gentlemen and brethren, we are here to take calm counsel together, and inquire what we shall do. We want a man whose life and opinions embody all the achievements of which I have spoken. We want a man who, standing on a mountain height, sees all the achievements of our past history, and carries in his heart the memory of all its glorious deeds, and who, looking forward, prepares to meet the labor and the dangers to come. We want one who will act in no spirit of unkindness toward those we lately met in battle. The Republican party offers to our brethren of the South the olive branch of peace, and wishes them to return to brotherhood, on this supreme condition, that it shall be admitted forever and forevermore, that, in the war for the Union, we were right and they were wrong. On that supreme condition we meet them as brethren, and on no other. We ask them to share with us the blessings and honors of this great republic.
"Now, gentlemen, not to weary you, I am about to present a name for your consideration—the name of a man who was the comrade and associate and friend of nearly all those noble dead whose faces look down upon us from these walls to-night, a man who began his career of public service twenty-five years ago, whose first duty was courageously done in the days of peril on the plains of Kansas, when the first red drops of that bloody shower began to fall, which finally swelled into the deluge of war. He bravely stood by young Kansas then, and, returning to his duty in the National Legislature, through all subsequent time his pathway has been marked by labors performed in every department of legislation. You ask for his monuments. I point you to twenty-five years of national statutes. Not one great beneficent statute has been placed in our statute books without his intelligent and powerful aid. He aided these men to formulate the laws that raised our great armies and carried us through the war. His hand was seen in the workmanship of those statutes that restored and brought back the unity and married calm of the States. His hand was in all that great legislation that created the war currency, and in a still greater work that redeemed the promises of the Government, and made the currency equal to gold. And when at last called from the halls of legislation into a high executive office, he displayed that experience, intelligence, firmness and poise of character which has carried us through a stormy period of three years. With one-half the public press crying 'crucify him,' and a hostile Congress seeking to prevent success, in all this he remained unmoved until victory crowned him. The great fiscal affairs of the nation, and the great business interests of the country he has guarded and preserved while executing the law of resumption and effecting its object without a jar and against the false prophecies of one-half of the press and all the Democracy of this continent. He has shown himself able to meet with calmness the great emergencies of the Government for twenty-five years. He has trodden the perilous heights of public duty, and against all the shafts of malice has borne his breast unharmed. He has stood in the blaze of 'that fierce light that beats against the throne,' but its fiercest ray has found no flaw in his armor, no stain on his shield. I do not present him as a better Republican or as better man than thousands of others we honor, but I present him for your deliberate consideration. I nominate John Sherman, of Ohio."
The speech was over, its effect was like oil upon troubled waters. When the balloting began a single delegate only voted for Garfield. The fight was between Grant, Blaine, Sherman and Edmunds; Windom and others were waiting the possibility of a compromise. Garfield managed Sherman's forces. He meant to keep his favorite in the field, in vain trying to win over Blaine's followers. On the thirty-fourth ballot the Wisconsin delegation determined to make a break, and hence put forth an effort in an entirely new direction, casting their entire seventeen votes for Garfield. The General arose and declined to receive the vote, but the chairman ruled otherwise, and on the next ballot the Indiana delegation swung over. On the thirty-sixth ballot he was nominated. Then followed his canvass and election.
Time flew, and he was about to join his old friends at Willams' College, when an assassin stealthily crept up and shot him from behind, as dastardly assassins and cowardly knaves generally do. The whole country was thrown into a feverish heat of excitement between this cowardly act and the president's death, which occurred two months later. Thus, after a struggle for recognition, which had won the admiration of the world, he was snatched from the pleasure of enjoying the fruits of his toil, and from the people who needed his service. Like Lincoln, he had come from the people, he belonged to the people, and by his own right hand had won the first place among fifty millions of people. Like Lincoln, he was stricken down when his country expected the most of him, stricken in the very prime of life. Like Lincoln, when that enjoyment for which he had labored was about to crown his efforts; and like Lincoln, it could not be said of him he lived in vain.
Chester A. Arthur.
Chester Allan Arthur's career, like that of thousands of other Americans, illustrates the truth that wealth, high social position and all the advantages with which fortune and affection can surround the young are not essential to their success and prosperity in professional, business or public life. In fact, too often they tend to enervate both mind and body, and thus prove in reality obstacles to attaining true and worthy manhood.
Mr. Arthur, like Lincoln, Grant, Garfield and others who preceded him in the presidential office, hewed his own way upward and onward from a discouraging beginning.
He was born in Fairfield, Franklin county, Vermont, October 5th, 1830. He was the eldest son of the Rev. William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, having a large family and a modest income. The Rev. Mr. Arthur was born in Ireland, and came to this country when eighteen years of age. He is remembered as a man of great force of character, sturdy piety and a faithful and earnest Christian minister. He had few worldly benefits to bestow upon his children, but he implanted deep into their minds principles governing their actions which were never effaced.
As a lad, Mr. Arthur was trained in the public schools accessible to him, and by his father's aid, fitted himself for college, entering Union when fifteen years old, and graduating with high honors in 1848. The Hon. Frederick W. Seward, who was in the class next below young Arthur, says of his school days: "Chet, as we all called him, was the most popular boy in his class. He was always genial and cheerful, a good scholar, and apt in debate." To aid in defraying his expenses, Chester taught country schools during parts of two winters, but kept pace with his class while absent, showing his independence of spirit, and his zeal to acquire an education.
Mr. Arthur's preference turned toward the law, and after a course in Fowler's law school at Ballston, he went to New York city; became a law student in the office of Erastus D. Culver, and was admitted to the bar in 1852. Mr. Culver showed his confidence in his promising student by taking him into partnership. Mr. Culver was soon elected civil judge of Brooklyn, and the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Arthur then formed a partnership with Henry D. Gardiner, with a view to practicing in some growing Western city. The young lawyers went West and spent three months in prospecting for a locality to suit their taste, but not finding it, they returned to New York, hired an office, and before long had a good business. The most noted cases in which Mr. Arthur appeared in his early career as a lawyer, were the Lemmon slave case, and the suit of Lizzie Jennings, a fugitive slave, whose liberty he secured, and a colored lady, a superintendent of a Sunday-School for colored children, who was ejected from a Fourth Avenue horse-car, after her fare had been accepted by the conductor, because a white passenger objected to her presence.
In the first case he was largely instrumental in establishing a precedent, setting forth the theory that slaves brought into free territory, were at liberty. In the second case, he obtained a verdict of $500.00 damages in favor of the colored woman as against the company. The establishment of this precedent caused the street railroad companies of the city to issue an order that colored persons should be allowed to travel in their cars. Thus did Chester A. Arthur obtain equal civil rights for negroes in public vehicles.
In 1859 he married Miss Ellen Lewis Herndon, of Fredericksburg, Virginia; daughter of Captain William Lewis Herndon, United States Navy, who went bravely to his death in 1857, sinking with his ship, the Central America, refusing to leave his post of duty, though he helped secure the safety of others. Mrs. Arthur was a devoted wife, and a woman of many accomplishments. She died in January, 1880, and lies buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery.
Mr. Arthur took a lively interest in politics, and was first a Henry Clay Whig, but later helped to form the Republican party. He held several offices in the militia prior to 1860, and when Edwin D. Morgan became governor of the State in 1860, he made Mr. Arthur a member of his staff, promoting him from one position to another until he became quarter-master general. The duties of this post were most arduous and exacting. To promptly equip, supply and forward the thousands of troops sent to the front to defend the Union was a task demanding the highest executive ability and rare organizing skill, besides the greatest precision in receiving, disbursing and accounting for the public funds. Millions of dollars passed through his hands; he had the letting of enormous contracts, and opportunities, without number, by which he might have enriched himself. But he was true to himself and to his trust. So implicit was the confidence reposed in him that his accounts were audited at Washington without question or deduction, though the claims of many States were disallowed, to the extent of millions. He left the office poorer than when he entered it, but with the proud satisfaction of knowing that all the world esteemed him as an honest man.
From 1863 to 1871 General Arthur successfully engaged in the practice of law in New York. November 20th, 1871, he was appointed collector of the port of New York, and re-appointed in 1875. The second appointment was confirmed by the Senate without reference to a committee, the usual course, the fact being highly complimentary, and testifying to the high opinion held by the Senate regarding his official record. He was suspended by President Hayes, though no reflection upon his official conduct was made. He again returned to the practice of law, though taking an energetic part in politics, serving several years as chairman of the Republican State Committee. General Arthur, in the campaign of 1880, was an ardent supporter of Grant before the National Convention, being one of the famous "306" who voted for Grant to the last.
His nomination for Vice President was as much a surprise as that of Garfield for the first place on the ticket. He had not been mentioned as a candidate, and his own delegation had not thought of presenting his name until the roll was called in the Convention. When New York was reached in the call the delegation asked to be excused from voting for a time. Then General Stewart L. Woodford cast the vote for Arthur. The tide quickly turned. The Ohio men were disposed to be conciliatory, and swung over to Arthur, who was nominated on the first ballot. The incidents that followed the inauguration of Garfield and himself as President and Vice-President; the unhappy differences that led to the resignation of Senators Conkling and Platt; the strife over the election of their successors; the assassination and death of President Garfield, and the accession to the presidency of General Arthur. These form a chapter in our political history, with the details of which we are all familiar, and are not likely to soon be forgotten.
It was under the most unfavorable circumstances that Chester A. Arthur assumed the office of President; the people's passion over the death of the second President of the United States, to fall by an assassin's hand, was intense; factional feeling in his own party was bitter and apparently irreconcilable; when the popular mind was filled with dreadful forebodings as to the future; but he exhibited a gravity, a reticence, an affability, and a firmness which commanded the respect of conservative men of all parties. Not only was he the most successful—perhaps the only successful—Vice-President elevated to the Presidency by the death of the President, but he is worthy to be counted among the most serviceable of the Presidents.
Peace and prosperity were promoted by his administration. Ex-President Chester A. Arthur died at his residence in New York city, November 18th, 1886. He leaves as surviving members of his family two children, Chester Allan, a young man of twenty-two years, and Miss Nellie, just budding into womanhood. At the age of fifty-six, without elaborate display, he was quietly laid beside his wife in Rural Cemetery.
John A. Logan.
"I entered the field to die, if need be, for this government and never expect to return to peaceful pursuits until the object of this war of preservation has become a fact established." Thus spoke John A. Logan in 1862, when asked to return home from the field and become a candidate for Congress.
General Logan was born February 9th, 1826, in Murphysboro, Illinois, and was the eldest of eleven children. He received his education in the common schools and in Shiloh Academy.
The Mexican war broke out when young Logan was but twenty years of age, and he at once enlisted and was made a lieutenant in one of the Illinois regiments. He returned home in 1848 with an excellent military record, and commenced the study of law in the office of his uncle, Alexander M. Jenkins, who had formerly been lieutenant-governor of the State.
In 1844, before he had completed his law course, he was elected clerk of Jackson county, and at the expiration of his term of office went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended law lectures, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1851. In the fall of the same year he was elected to represent Jackson and Franklin counties in the legislature, and from that time has been almost uninterruptedly in the public service, either civil or military.
He was twice elected to the legislature, and in 1854 was a Democratic presidential elector, and cast his vote for James Buchanan.
The year of 1860—the year of the great Lincoln campaign—saw Logan serving his second term in Congress as the representative of the Ninth Illinois Congressional District. Mr. Logan was then a Democrat and an ardent supporter of Stephen A. Douglas, Mr. Lincoln's opponent. On the floor of Congress he several times in 1860 and 1861 attacked the course of the Southern members.
The war came at last, and Logan was one of the first to enter the Union army. He resigned his seat in Congress in July, 1861, for that purpose, and took a brave part in the first battle of Bull Run. He personally raised the Thirty-first Illinois Regiment of Infantry, and was elected its colonel. The regiment was mustered into service on September 13th, 1861, was attached to General M'Clernand's brigade, and seven weeks later was under a hot fire at Belmont. During this fight Logan had a horse shot from under him, and was conspicuous in his gallantry in a fierce bayonet charge which he personally led. The Thirty-first, under Logan, quickly became known as a fighting regiment, and distinguished itself at the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson. In this last engagement Logan was severely wounded, and for many weeks unfitted for duty. During his confinement in the hospital his brave wife, with great tact and energy, got through the lines to his bedside, and nursed him until he was able to take the field once more.
"Logan was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General of Volunteers soon after reporting for duty. This was in March, 1862, and he was soon after hotly engaged in Grant's Mississippi campaign. In the following year he was asked to return home and go to congress again, but declined with an emphatic statement that he was in the war to stay until he was either disabled or peace was established. Eight months after his promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General he was made a Major-General for exceptional bravery and skill, and was put in command of the Third Division of the Seventeenth Army Corps, under General M'Pherson. After passing through the hot fights of Raymond and Port Gibson, he led the center of General M'Pherson's command at the siege of Vicksburg, and his column was the first to enter the city after the surrender. He was made the Military Governor of the captured city, and his popularity with the Seventeenth Corps was so great that a gold medal was given to him as a testimonial of the attachment felt for him by the men he led.
"In the following year he led the Army of the Tennessee on the right of Sherman's great march to the sea. He was in the battles of Resaca and the Little Kenesaw Mountain, and in the desperate engagement of Peach Tree Creek where General M'Pherson fell. The death of M'Pherson threw the command upon Logan, and the close of the bitter engagement which ensued saw 8,000 dead Confederates on the field, while the havoc in the Union lines had been correspondingly great.
"After the fall of Atlanta, which occurred on the 2nd of September, General Logan returned to the North, and took a vigorous part in the Western States in the campaign which resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln for the second time to the presidency. He rejoined his command at Savannah, and was with it until the surrender of Johnson, after which he went with the army to Washington.
"His military career ended with his nomination in 1866 by the Republicans of Illinois to represent the State as Congressman at-large in the Fortieth Congress. He was elected by 60,000 majority. He was one of the managers on the part of the House of Representatives in the impeachment proceedings which were instituted against Johnson. In 1868 and 1870 he was re-elected to the House, but before he had finished his term under the last election he was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Senator Yates. The last term for which he was elected expires in 1891.
"He took an active part in the last presidential campaign, when he and Mr. Blaine were the candidates on the presidential ticket, and had a strong influence in holding the soldier vote fast in the Republican ranks."
Mr. Logan's views in regard to the immortality of the soul was clearly expressed in a speech delivered at the tomb of General Grant on Memorial Day, 1886:
"Was any American soldier immolated upon a blind law of his country? Not one! Every soldier in the Union ranks, whether in the regular army or not, was in the fullest sense a member of the great, the imperishable, the immortal army of American volunteers. These gallant spirits now lie in untimely sepulcher. No more will they respond to the fierce blast of the bugle or the call to arms. But let us believe that they are not dead, but sleeping! Look at the patient caterpillar as he crawls on the ground, liable to be crushed by every careless foot that passes. He heeds no menace, and turns from no dangers. Regardless of circumstances, he treads his daily round, avoided by the little child sporting upon the sward. He has work, earnest work, to perform, from which he will not be turned, even at the forfeit of his life. Reaching his appointed place, he ceases even to eat, and begins to spin those delicate fibres which, woven into fabrics of beauty and utility, contribute to the comfort and adornment of a superior race. His work done, he lies down to the sleep from which he never wakes in the old form. But that silent, motionless body is not dead; an astonishing metamorphosis is taking place. The gross digestive apparatus dwindles away; the three pairs of legs, which served the creature to crawl upon the ground, are exchanged for six pairs suited to a different purpose; the skin is cast; the form is changed; a pair of wings, painted like the morning flowers, spring out, and presently the ugly worm that trailed its slow length through the dust is transformed into the beautiful butterfly, basking in the bright sunshine, the envy of the child and the admiration of the man. Is there no appeal in this wonderful and enchanting fact to man's highest reason? Does it contain no suggestion that man, representing the highest pinnacle of created life upon the globe, must undergo a final metamorphosis, as supremely more marvelous and more spiritual, as man is greater in physical conformation, and far removed in mental construction from the humble worm that at the call of nature straightway leaves the ground, and soars upon the gleeful air? Is the fact not a thousand-fold more convincing than the assurance of the poet: