The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States: Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.Ridpath, John Clark
History
The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States: Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.
Ridpath, John Clark
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
An old institution of Williams College was “Mountain Day”—an annual
holiday given for expeditions to some picturesque point in the vicinity.
On one of these occasions, an incident revealed the courage and piety of
“Old Gar,” as the boys lovingly called their leader. They were on the
summit of “Old Greylock,” seven miles from the college. Although it was
midsummer, the mountain top was cool; and, as the great glowing sun sank
behind the western range, the air became chilly. The group of collegians
were gathered about a camp-fire that blazed up briskly in the darkening
air. Some were sitting, some standing, but all were silent. The splendor
and solemnity of the scene; the dark winding valley; the circling range
of mountains; the over-bending sky; the distant villages, with the
picturesque old college towers; the faint tinkle of the cowbell; the
unspeakable glories of the sunset,—
“As through the West, where sank the crimson day,
Meek twilight slowly sailed, and waved her banners gray,”—
filled every thoughtful heart with religious awe. Just as the silence
became oppressive, it was broken by the voice of Garfield: “Boys, it is
my habit to read a chapter in the Bible every evening with my absent
mother. Shall I read aloud?” The little company assented; and, drawing
from his pocket a well-worn Testament, he read, in soft, rich tones, the
chapter which the mother in Ohio was reading at the same time, and then
called on a classmate to kneel on that mountain top and pray.
The two months’ vacation of Garfield’s first winter at college was spent
at North Pownal, Vermont, teaching a writing-school, in a school-house
where, the winter before, Chester A. Arthur had been the regular
teacher. But, at that time, Garfield only knew his predecessor by name,
and the men whose destinies were in the future to become so closely
intertwined did not become acquainted.
At the end of his junior year Garfield’s funds were exhausted; but,
after a consultation with his mother, he resolved to borrow the money to
complete his course, rather than lose more time. His first arrangement
for the money failed; but Dr. J. P. Robison, of Bedford, who, five years
before, had prophesied so much of the widow’s son, readily assumed the
burden, asking no security but his debtor’s word, but receiving a life
insurance policy which Garfield, who seemed to inherit an apprehension
of sudden calamity, insisted on procuring.
At the beginning of his senior year, he was elected one of the editors
of the Williams _Quarterly_, the college paper. His associates in the
work were W. R. Baxter, Henry E. Knox, E. Clarence Smith, and John
Tatlock. The pages of this magazine were enriched by a great number of
the products of his pen. His originality of thought and pleasant style
is nowhere better shown than in the following extract from a brilliant
article upon Karl Theodore Korner:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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