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TO JAMES A. GARFIELD.

'Thou who didst ride on Chickamauga's day, All solitary, down the fiery line,

And saw the ranks of battle rusty shine,

Where grand old Thomas held them from dismay,
Regret not now, while meaner factions play
Their brief campaigns against the best of men;
For those spent balls of slander have their way,
And thou shalt see the victory again.
Weary and ragged, though the broken lines
Of party reel, and thine own honor bleeds,
That mole is blind that Garfield undermines!
That shot falls short that hired slander speeds!
That man will live whose place the state assigns,
And whose high mind the mighty nation needs!”

NEW YORK FREE

CENT CIRCULATING ATION

LIBRARY

After the Ordeal.

CHAPTER XXII. .

Unanimous Vote of the General Assembly of

Ohio. Extract from Garfield's Speech of Acceptance. Purchase of the Farm at Mentor. - Description of the New House. - Life at Mentor. The Garfield Household. - Longing for Home in his Last Hours.

As gold is tried in the fire, so General Garfield passed through the distressing ordeal of slander and fierce opposition. In January, 1880, he was elected by a unanimous vote United States Senator from Ohio. In his speech of acceptance, he

says,

"I do not undervalue the office that you have tendered to me yesterday and to-day; but I say, I think, without any mental reservation, that the manner in which it was tendered to me is far more desirable than the thing itself. That it has been a voluntary gift of the General Assembly of Ohio, without solicitation, tendered to me because of their confidence, is as touching and high a tribute as one man can receive from his fellow-citizens."

Three years previous to his election as Senator, Garfield was spending his summer vacation near Cleveland, Ohio. Driving one day along the stage-road that skirts the shores of Lake Erie, he came to the pretty town of Mentor.

His old fascination for the sparkling, blue waters returned—he was a boy again, chopping wood in his uncle's forest and counting the sails with every stroke! Why not make his summer home just here?

Upon inquiry, he found in Mentor, waiting a purchaser, a fine farm of a hundred and twenty

acres.

The little cottage upon the ground would accommodate his family for awhile, and when they went back to Washington, a larger and more convenient house could be built in its place. So the farm was purchased, and "Lawnfield," the pleasant Mentor home, established.

The new house, built upon the foundation of the old one, suggests comfort rather than elegance. It is two and a half stories high, with two dormer. windows and a broad veranda in front.

The wide, airy hall contains a large writing table, in addition to the other furniture, and piles of books and papers greet you in every

corner.

The first floor has a parlor, sitting-room, diningroom, kitchen, wash-room and pantry, planned with every convenience by Mrs. Garfield, to whom the architect's papers were submitted.

Two of the pleasantest rooms on the second floor are fitted up especially for "Grandma Garfield;" one of these has a large, old-fashioned