he group he looked up and said:

"There comes Massachusetts. There were twenty-three men from
Massachusetts who went there to keep six hundred men from
doing what they wanted to. And, by God, they did it."

A few Sundays after his inauguration, during the spring session
of the Senate, President Garfield invited Mrs. Hoar and myself
to dinner at the White House. President Hopkins, his old
friend and teacher, and Mrs. Hopkins were there. There were
no other guests, except Judge Nott and his wife, President
Hopkins's daughter, President Garfield's mother, and, I think,
Mr. Archibald Hopkins, President Hopkins's son. President
Garfield asked me to remain after President Hopkins had taken
his leave. I had a long and interesting conversation with
him about his plans and purposes, and especially the difficulties
which were then showing themselves in regard to the great
New York appointments. Before I went upstairs, he gave his
arm to my wife and walked with her about the East room. He
said to her: "I hope I may live to repay your husband for
all he has done for me." Perhaps I am indulging in an unpardonable
vanity in relating this testimony of two of the most interested
parties and most competent observers as to the value of the
work of the Massachusetts delegation in that convention.

I hope that somewhere before I die I may put on record my
estimate of James A. Garfield, when I can say some things
which ought to be said, and for which there is not room in
this book and was not room in the eulogy delivered just after
his death. It is the fashion, even among his friends, to
speak of him as a person timid if not time-serving, and as
easily swayed and moulded by a strong will. I have heard
men who knew him very well say that when he led the House
on the Republican side, and had led his party into a position
which excited sharp conflict, they never could be sure that
he would not get wrong at the last moment, or have some private
understanding with the Democrats and leave his own side in
the lurch. This was attributed to moral timidity. I feel
very sure that this is a great mistake. Garfield's hesitation,
want of certainty in his convictions, liability to change
his position suddenly, were in my opinion the result of intellectual
hesitation and of a habit of going down to the roots of his
subject before he made up his mind. He had a great deference
for other men's opinions. When, after he had expressed his