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 hé 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 points on the mountains around us. He was also social in his disposition, both giving and inspiring, confidence. So true is this of his intercourse with the officers of the college, as well as with others, that he was never even suspected of any thing low or trickish; and hence, in part, the confidence I have always felt in his integrity. He had a quick eye for any thing that turned up with a ludicrous side to it, and celebrated a trick the Freshmen played on the Sophomores, by a clever parody, of Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade," published in the Williams' Quarterly. Respecting always the individuality of others, and commanding, without exacting, their respect, he was a general favorite with his associates. A further point in General Garfield's course of study, worthy of remark, was its evenness. There was nothing startling at any one time, and no special preference for any one study. There was a large, general capacity, applicable to any subject, and sound sense. As he was more mature than most, he naturally had a readier and firmer grasp of the higher studies. Hence, his appointment to the metaphysical oration, then one of the high honors of the class. What he did was done with facility, but by honest and avowed work. There was no pretence of genius, or alternation of spasmodic effort and of rest, but a satisfactory accomplishment, in all directions, of what was undertaken. Hence, there was a steady, healthful, onward and upward progress, such as has characterized his course since his graduation. If that course should still be upward, it would add another to the grand illustrations we have already of the spirit of our free institutions. The above views were substantially held by me, as far back as 1864. Truly yours, MARK HOPKINS. CONTENTS. Genealogy of the Garfield Family. Earliest Mention of them in Eng- land. Associated with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, favor- ite of Queen Elizabeth, The Family in Wales. - The Home of Edward Garfield in Chester, England. - The First of the Family in America. The Coat of Arms. - History of Captain Benjamin Garfield. Abraham Garfield at the Concord Fight, in 1775. Emigration of Solomon to New York State. - Death of Thomas at Worcester, N. Y. - Birth of Abraham Garfield. His removal to Ohio. His Marriage with Eliza Ballou. Brothers marry Sis- ters. Their Remarkable Characteristics. Early Married Life along the New Canal. - Birth of the first Children. - Selection of The Opening of Ohio to Settlers.-The Early Habitations. Primitive Forests. - Wild Beasts. - Appearance of Cleveland. Fertility of the Soil. - Abram Garfield and his Wife. - Excursion of the Brothers into the Woods. - Selection of a Home. - The first Clearing. The first Cabin. - The Removal of the Garfield Family. - The Forest Road. - Two Families in One. -Joy of the Sisters. - No Place like One's own Home. - The Garfield Log Cabin.-Settle- |