their hearts--_there_
God prepares the verdict which will determine the wisdom of
our work to-night. Not in Chicago, in the heat of June, but
at the ballot-boxes of the Republic, in the quiet of November,
after the silence of deliberate judgment, will this question
be settled."

Conkling, while exciting the admiration of all men for his
dexterity and ability, lost ground at every step. He made
a foolish attempt to compel the passage of a resolution depriving
of their rights to vote delegates who refused to pledge themselves
to support the choice of the convention whoever it might be.
His speech nominating Grant contained a sneer at Blaine. So,
while he held his forces together to the last, he made it
almost impossible for any man who differed from him in the
beginning to come to him at the end. On the contrary everything
that Garfield said was marked by good nature and good sense.
I said on the first day of the convention that in my opinion
if the delegates could be shut up by themselves and not permitted
to leave the room until they agreed, the man on whom they
would agree would be General Garfield. This desire became
more and more apparent as the convention went on. At last,
on the thirty-sixth ballot, and the sixth day of the convention,
the delegates who had previously voted for other candidates
than Grant, began to wheel into line for Garfield. Garfield
had one vote from the State of Pennsylvania in previous ballots.
But on the thirty-fourth ballot Wisconsin, the last State
to vote in alphabetical order, had given him her sixteen votes,
and on the thirty-sixth ballot she was joined by the delegates
who had voted for other candidates than Grant. Grant held
together his forces till the last, receiving three hundred
and thirteen votes on the thirty-fifth ballot, and three hundred
and six on the thirty-sixth. It was a sublime moment, which
it was hoped would determine the destiny of the Republic for
many years, a hope which was cruelly disappointed by Garfield's
untimely death. It was, as might be well believed, a moment
of sublime satisfaction to me. Garfield had been my friend
for many years. I had sat close to him in the House of Representatives
for three terms of Congressional service. He had been my
guest at my house in Worcester; and I had been his colleague
on the Electoral Commission in 1876. He had been educated
at a Massachusetts college. He was of old Middlesex County
stock. We were in