GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD-1871-1881 191 



far better than the administration which Mr. Garfield 

 would have been allowed to give to the country. 



Upon my return to the university I was asked by my 

 fellow-citizens of Ithaca in general, as also by the univer 

 sity faculty and students, to give the public address at the 

 celebration of President Garfield s funeral. This I did, 

 and never with a deeper feeling of loss. 



One thing in the various tributes to him had struck me 

 painfully : Throughout the whole country his career was 

 constantly referred to in funeral addresses as showing 

 how a young American under all the disadvantages of 

 poverty could rise to the highest possible position. I have 

 always thought that such statements, as they are usually 

 presented, are injurious to the character and lowering to 

 the aspirations of young men. I took pains, therefore, to 

 show that while Garfield had risen under the most dis 

 couraging circumstances from complete poverty, his rise 

 was due to something other than mere talent and exertion 

 that it was the result of talent and exertion originating 

 in noble instincts and directed to worthy ends. Garfield s 

 life proves this abundantly, and whatever may have been 

 his temporary weakness under the fearful pressure 

 brought upon him toward the end of his career, these in 

 stincts and purposes remained his main guiding influences 

 from first to last. 



