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CHAPTER XIV.

SERVICE AS A LEGISLATOR.

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A NEW FIELD. THE HIGHEST TEST OF HUMAN GREATNESS. AMERICAN CONGRESS. FREQUENT FAILURES OF NOTED MEN. THE TRIALS OF THAT CRISIS. PLACED ON THE MILITARY COMMITTEE. -THE STYLE OF HIS SPEECHES. HIS INDUSTRY.-HIS REPLY TO MR. LONG. - AN IMPROMPTU SPEECH. THE COMPLIMENTS OF OLD MEMBERS.

HITHERTO We have noted the career of a man who, notwithstanding his surprising success, was nevertheless a man among men, finding often his equal in the work which he had chosen. His childhood, youth, and army experience were such as to entitle him to the praise and thanks of the people, but thus far in common with many others.

Thousands of boys have chopped wood, boiled salts, and drove canal horses and mules, and have succeeded in life, notwithstanding such humble beginnings. If it were not so, the history of his career would be a drawback rather than an encouragement to American youths.

But now our record enters upon a higher plain, where the number of remarkable successes is far less and where many prosperous lives find their final level. In the legislative halls of a mighty nation

the ability and integrity of men find their severest tests. They may have enjoyed unlimited success from their cradle to the oath of office, but it is no guarantee of usefulness or fame in such a body as the American Congress. Great soldiers, with the scars of many battles and the fame of mighty conquerors, have entered the doors of the Capitol amid the applause of an idolizing constituency, and have been immediately lost from sight, and soon from notice. Distinguished lawyers whose acquaintances regarded them as giants in the intellectual world, seem to become helpless and worthless as soon as they are lost in the crowd of talented men who gather at the Capitol. Scholars, poets, mathematicians, professors, preachers, railroad presidents, bankers, merchants, discoverers, inventors and millionaires, enter the legislative chambers with brilliant reputations and under the impetus of some great deed, only to be hid in a political fog, where they sit for a while in silent helplessness, and go home without a sign of welcome or approval.

The story of Gen. Garfield's success in the legislative department of the American nation, is the most interesting and the most remarkable part of the history of his life. We have already seen how his qualities as a young man commended him to the respect and attention of the Senate of Ohio, and we shall see how quickly those same qualities lifted him above the mass of congressmen, and brought him into the notice of the nation.

It must not be considered by the reader that, because General Garfield was known to the Presi

dent, and to some of the great captains of our army, and was loved and honored by the people of the Western Reserve, that he was known in the House of Representatives. There were hundreds of generals in the field whose names were far better known than that of Rosecrans' chief of staff. There were generals in the House of Representatives who had seen severer service, and whose deeds had been far wider proclaimed. There were old statesmen there whose hairs had grown white in the service of the nation. There were scholars of the highest reputation, and orators whose words had become classic. Not a score of the whole assembly knew him by sight, or could recall his place of residence or past services when his name was called.

It was a new start in life. In Congress, as in the back woods, he must overcome difficulties and fight his way alone. To win distinction there he must be something more than daring, truthful, and industrious; he must possess that peculiar combination of strong talents and intellectual acuteness to which men somewhat vaguely apply the term, "greatness." To be eminently great in a nation of great men, and in a time when especial circumstances combined to develop and disclose human nobility, required masterly talents and incessant watchfulness. To be of unusual service to humanity and of exceptional value to a nation, when twenty-five millions of people were striving, at a fever heat, to do the same thing, is something of which a man has reason to be proud. Such is General Garfield's record. He entered upon

his duties in Congress at a time when there were foes within and foes without; when a strong army threatened the nation in the Southern States, and Great Britain menaced it from the ocean; when the finances of the government were getting into an almost inextricable snarl; when the people were searching for their greatest men, for councillors in the nation's peril and distress; and when it required fortitude, wisdom and patriotism above the common order, to provide securely for the nation's future.

For this work, General Garfield was well endowed by nature and education. He was a ready speaker, - apt, elegant, pointed, vehement. He had all the scholarship of the colleges, and more to draw upon. He had the practice of cultured public speaking. He had the experience of war, and a course of extensive reading from which to draw forcible and illuminating illustrations. He had all the physical characteristics of dignity, strength, countenance and voice, which are so useful in the public forum. Thus he was well equipped for a place in a deliberate assembly. But the growth of a member's influence, under the most favorable circumstances, is slow. He could not be a leader there until he had again and again displayed his ability for the post. He does not appear to have aspired to leadership; but, from the first day of the session, set himself with stubborn purpose at the task of securing a complete knowledge of the rules and history of Congress.

Then followed a study of the resources of the nation in men and money, and of the history of

other countries, whose experience could throw any light, or give any suggestion to statesmen, in the complicated and perplexing trials of the union. His habits of incessant study served him well, and he always had a book in his hand or in his pocket, for use in any spare moment. His astonishing readiness in congressional debates upon any question of commerce, manufactures, finance, revenue, international law, or whatever came up, can be accounted for by this industrious habit. Never idle himself,

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and assisted by his wife, as only a talented, patient and affectionate woman of her unusual gifts can assist a man of letters, he steadily and heartily assisted the measures he thought were wise and good, and earnestly, and sometimes excitedly, opposed those actions which he deemed to be pernicious and wrong.

He was given a place at once, upon his entry into Congress, on the very important committee on mil.

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