GARFIELD 



GARFIELD 



was a local inventor of chair-making machinery 

 and a manufacturer. Rattan goods, silver- 

 ware, go-carts, machinery, pails, tubs, toys 

 and oil stoves are other important manu- 

 factures. Gardner was named in honor of 

 Colonel Thomas Gardner, a ___i^_^ 



J Monument in 



Washington L 



Massachusetts patriot who died from a wound 

 received in the Battle of Bunker Hill. The 

 settlement was incorporated as a town in 1785. 

 It is governed by town meetings, following 

 the practice begun in colonial days, convened 

 ^^_^^^^^ when necessary. M.N.W. 



lARFIELD, JAMES ABRAM (1831-1881), 

 an American soldier and statesman, and the 

 twentieth President of the United States. He 

 was the fourth President to die in office and 

 the second to meet a martyr's death. Garfield 

 was a self-made man, in the very best sense 

 of the word; without great genius, he won 

 high rank in many fields through industry, 

 perseverance and courage. As a teacher he 

 kindled in his pupils a longing for truth which 

 led them to regard him as one of the great 

 teachers, to be compared with men like Arnold 

 of Rugby. As a soldier he rose in two years 

 to high rank, and would have risen higher but 

 for a call to other duties. In Congress he 

 became the leader of his party, yet he was not 

 as great a party leader as some others of his 

 time, because he frequently sacrificed party 

 expediency to the national good. He was a 

 far-seeing statesman who never lost sight of 

 everyday morality. 



As an orator, his own earnest faith made 

 people listen to him with respect and he never 

 stooped to oratorical tricks. His speeches sel- 

 dom rose to lofty heights, yet he was always 

 impressive. When he heard the news of Lin- 

 coln's death, he spoke a few simple words, 

 from the balcony of the New York custom- 

 house, which calmed a frenzied, horror-stricken 

 mob: "Fellow citizens: Clouds and darkness 

 are around Him; His pavilion is dark waters 

 and thick clouds; justice and judgment are 

 the establishment of His throne; mercy and 

 truth shall go before His face! Fellow citi- 

 zens! God reigns, and the government at 

 Washington still lives." Only sixteen years 

 later, he himself met death as Chief Executive 

 at the hands of an assassin. 



Youth and Young Manhood. James Abram 

 Garfield was born in a log cabin at Orange, 



Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on November 19, 

 1831. His parents had moved from New York 

 state to the Western Reserve only the year 

 before. Abram Garfield, the father, made a 

 good beginning on his new farm, but died 

 before his son James's second birthday. 

 Though James was the youngest of four chil- 

 dren, his youth did not prevent him from 

 doing his share of work. At the age of ten he 

 was accustomed to hard manual labor, and he 

 added his mite to the family income by work- 

 ing at every opportunity for the neighboring 

 farmers. Meanwhile he had made great prog- 

 ress in his schooling. He read all the books 

 he could buy or borrow, and he was especially 

 fond of the Bible and of American history. 



About his fourteenth year his imagination 

 was kindled by a volume of tales of the sea; 

 he wanted to be a sailor and to live a life of 

 adventure. The quiet routine on the farm 

 no longer satisfied him, and with his mother's 

 permission he went to Cleveland, where he 

 intended to ship as a common seaman on a 

 lake schooner. He got no farther, however, 

 than the deck of the first schooner he saw, 

 when the captain spied him and urged him to 

 get back to shore. Though somewhat dis- 

 heartened by his experience, young Garfield 

 determined not to return home without adven- 

 ture and without money. Wandering about the 

 city in search of work, he met a canal boatman, 

 who hired him to drive his team along the 

 towpath of the Ohio Canal. In later years 

 Garfield never said much about this experience, 

 but it is known that he was soon promoted 

 from the towpath to a position on the boat. 

 After several months an attack of ague sent 

 him home and it seems to have banished any 

 further desire to work on the canal. 



It was then the boy's ambition to be a 



