ore, General Garfield was religious, both by nature and by
habit. His mind was strong in the religious element. His near relatives
received the Gospel as it was proclaimed fifty years ago by Thomas and
Alexander Campbell. He made public profession of religion before he
reached his twentieth year and became a member of the same church, and
such he remained until his death. Like all men of his thought and
reading, he understood the hard questions that modern science and
criticism have brought into the field of religion. Whether he ever
wrought these out to his own full satisfaction I can not say. However
that may be, his native piety, his early training, and his sober
convictions held him fast to the great truths of revealed religion.
Withal, he was a man of great simplicity of character. No one could be
more approachable. He drew men to him as the magnet the iron filings.
This he did naturally and without conscious plan or effort. At times,
when the burden of work was heavy and his strength overdrawn, intimate
friends would urge him to withdraw himself somewhat from the crowds that
flocked to him; but almost always the advice was vain. His sympathy with
the people was immediate and quick. He seemed almost intuitively to read
the public thought and feeling. No matter what was his station, he
always remembered the rock from which he had himself been hewn.
Naturally he inspired confidence in all men who came into contact with
him. When a young man, and even a boy, he ranked in judgment and in
counsel with those much his seniors.

"It is not remarkable, therefore, that he should have led a great
career. He was always with the foremost or in the lead, no matter what
the work in hand. He was a good wood-chopper and a good canal hand; he
was a good school janitor; and, upon the whole, ranked all competitors,
both in Hiram and in Williamstown, as a student. He was an excellent
teacher. He was the youngest man in the Ohio Senate. When made
brigadier-general, he was the youngest man of that rank in the army.
When he entered it, he was the youngest man on the floor of the House of
Representatives. His great ability and signal usefulness as teacher,
legislator, popular orator, and President must be passed with a single
reference.

"He retained his simplicity and purity of character to the end. Neither
place nor power corrupted his honest fiber. Advancement in public favor
and position gave him pleasure, but brought him no feeling o