PREFACE.

It is a delicate and difficult task to write the record of any man's life under any circumstances, and the work is the more arduous and perplexing when he of whom we write is still in active fields of labor and engaged in Political contests. To measure a man's success and pass an unbiased judgment upon his career, while the events of a single day may mar the picture, and while great political parties have much to gain by misrepresentation or falsehood concerning the subject of the biography, is an undertaking full of perplexity and anxiety. Such a task was this when the writer entered upon it. There was a sudden and unusual interest taken in the History of General Garfield owing to his nomination for the Presidency of the United States by a strong political party, and a great demand created for a trustworthy account of his life. That fact coupled with the biography would be to the

probable benefit which the thousands of young men in America who need the encouragement which the success of General Garfield gives, led to the preparation of this work. The writer asks the indulgence of the reader in view of the diffi

culties and the haste in which this volume was written, but assures all who read it, however, that the facts herein stated have been collated with much care, and the conclusions herein drawn have been inserted without political or social bias. It is the earnest hope of the writer that the biography of General Garfield in some form may find its way into every library and that the interest in it may long outlive any political excitement concerning it; for the lessons it teaches, the courage it imparts, the love of honor and truth it awakens, and the sweet pictures of domestic affection, filial devotion, patriotic heroism and religious faith which it reveals in our American life, cannot be valued too highly in the education of future generations. Of such a life it is a duty and a pleasure to write, and of such, he believes it will be a duty and a pleasure to read.

INTRODUCTION.

WILLIAMS' COLLEGE, July 14, 1880.

R. H. CONWELL, Esq. :

Dear Sir: You ask some account of the college life of General Garfield. I remember no incidents

worthy of note, but some characteristics may be given. Any thing that may aid the people in forming a judgment of his fitness for the office to which he is nominated, they have a right to.

My first remark then is, that General Garfield was not sent to college. He came. This often makes a distinction between college students. To some, college is chiefly a place of aimless transition through the perilous period between boyhood and manhood. Without fixed principles, and with no definite aim, with an aversion to study, rather than a love of it, they seek to get along with the least possible effort. Between the whole attitude and bearing of such, and of one who comes, the contrast is like that between mechanical and vital force. In what General Garfield did, there was nothing mechanical. He not

only came, but made sacrifices to come.

His work was from a vital force, and so was without fret or worry. He came with a high aim, and pursued it steadily.

A second remark is, that the studies of General Garfield had breadth. As every student should, he made it his first business to master the studies of the class-room. This he did; but the college furnishes facilities, and is intended- especially in the latter part of its course-to furnish opportunity, for gaining general knowledge, and for self-directed culture. To many, the most valuable result of their college course is from these. What they have affinity for, they find, and often make most valuable acquisitions in general literature, in history, in natural science and in politics. Of these facilities, and of this opportunity, General Garfield availed himself largely. Of his tendency towards politics in those days, we have an illustration in a poem, entitled "Sam," which he delivered while in college, and in which he satirized the Know-nothing party. He manifested, while in college, the same tendency towards breadth which he has since; for it is well known that he has been a general scholar and a statesman, rather than a mere politician.

Not given to

And as General Garfield was broad in his scholarship, so was he in his sympathies. No one thought of him as a recluse, or as bookish. athletic sports, he was fond of them. open to the impressions of natural his constitution was vigorous, he knew well the fine

His mind was

scenery, and as