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 Bancroft Ubrarl 
 
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 FORT STREET CHURCH, 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
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 _A_ D D jEv .1^] o S 
 
 BY 
 
 HONOLULU, H. I., OCT. 6, 1881. 
 
 P. C. Advertiser, Steam Print, 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS. . 
 
 Bancroft Library 
 
 AMERICANS, REPRESENTATIVES OF OTHER 
 NATIONS, FRIENDS, BROTHERS ! (for " one 
 touch of pity makes the whole world kin :") 
 
 At last the stroke so long dreaded has 
 fallen. JAMES A. GARFIELD, 20th President 
 of the United States, is dead ! But we've 
 lost more than a mere President that were 
 small loss indeed, and easily replaced by 
 another man standing for a moment with 
 uplifted hand. Death has taken from us 
 a true soldier, a conscientious statesman, 
 a self-denying patriot, a Christian gentle- 
 man, and a model man in every relation of 
 life. And to every American there is a 
 still nearer, more heart-touching sense of 
 loss: During these awful days and 
 months, since the 2d of July, when the 
 miscreant's bullet did its dreadful work, 
 a sense of kinship for the sufferer has 
 grown into the hearts of fifty millions of 
 Americans. We've lost a dear friend, a 
 brother, as well as a ruler. And so, this 
 seems a time for tears, and not for words. 
 
 " Weep ! for the word is spoken 
 
 Mourn ! for the knell is tolled 
 The master-chord is broken, 
 
 And the master-hand is cold. 
 The warrior's deeds are over, 
 
 A Nation mourns her Chief; 
 All patriot hearts are riven, 
 
 All bosoms swell with grief. 
 
 " His fame had spread around him 
 
 It compassed all the land; 
 His name was sung by every tongue 
 
 And cheered by every hand. 
 He came, to win fresh laurels, 
 
 But fate was in their breath, 
 And turned his march of triumph. 
 
 Into a dirge of death. 
 
 " O, all that knew him loved him, 
 
 B'or with his noble mind 
 He bore himself so meekly, 
 
 His heait, it was so kind ! 
 He's gone ! but yet behind him 
 
 He leaves a glorious name; 
 Death cannot blight his laurels, 
 
 Nor time inspire his fame." 
 
 The simple story of his life is so elo- 
 quent, so truly American, that no country- 
 man of JAMES A. GARFIELD ever tires at its 
 frequent repetition. Born in 1831, the 
 year 1840 finds him an uncouth orphan 
 boy struggling along the prosaic dead 
 level of life on a farm; a few years later 
 we see him enduring the hardships and 
 drudgery of a canal-boatman's experience ; 
 at eighteen years of age an ambitions 
 student in an academy; the next year a 
 country school teacher, earning money to 
 continue his studies; at twenty-three a 
 hard working student in William's Col- 
 lege ; four years later a college graduate, 
 and a Professor in a College, struggling 
 against debts occurred in educating him- 
 self; at the age of twenty-eight a College 
 President and a State Senator; in 1860, 
 then only twenty-nine, a man of influence 
 throughout his State; in 1861 Colonel of 
 the 42nd Ohio Infantry, commander of a 
 brigade, driving forward with resistless 
 energy into Eastern Kentucky, and 
 against superior numbers winning the first 
 noted battle in the West; in 1862 a Brig- 
 adier General and Chief of Staff to Gen. 
 Rosecrans, Commander of the Army of 
 the Cumberland; then the same year a 
 Major General; in 1863 reluctantly leav- 
 ing the army to take his seat in Congress 
 as the successor of Joshua R. Giddings ; 
 re-elected eight times, almost without op- 
 position in his own party, and from the 
 first taking the position of an acknowl- 
 edged leader in Congress; in 1880, receiv 
 ing, unsought, the unanimous nomination 
 by his party for United States Senator, 
 
and a triumphant election; in the same 
 year, while earnestly working for the 
 nomination of another, made against his 
 protest, the standard bearer of the Repub- 
 lican party, and elected President of the 
 United States. How marvelous this bare 
 outline of his life seems as we recount it 
 to-day ! In what other land than Amer- 
 ica is such a success possible ? 
 
 And yet this eminently successful and 
 typical American life was no accident. It 
 rested on solid foundations. We must 
 look within a man, and not without him, 
 for the secret of success. The man him- 
 self, and not his circumstances or sur- 
 roundings shape his future. His aspira- 
 tions, his energy, his courage, his 
 strength of will these are what deter- 
 mine his success or failure. 
 
 The traits of that character which the 
 world has learned to revere, and which 
 every American loves, appeared early in 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD. Perseverance, mental 
 power, truthfulness, and generosity of 
 nature these were what made him great. 
 Possessing these qualities , in America, he 
 could not fail of becoming a marked man 
 and winning distinction. He was from 
 the people and of the people, a natural 
 product of our system of Government and 
 national life. 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD simply reaped the 
 harvest which his own hard-working hands 
 sowed. The only genius he had was a 
 genius for good, plain, honest, hard work. 
 This was the " open secret " of his marvel- 
 ous success. He became the grand man 
 he was because nature gave him a strong 
 mind in a strong body, and he developed 
 and used this endowment. With untiring 
 patience and industry he fitted himself for 
 usefulness. On the brain and brawn of 
 the West he grafted the culture and 
 
 learning of the East, and then used these for 
 country, for humanity, for God. 
 
 Pure and courageous as a boy ; ambi- 
 tious and self-reliant as a young man ; en- 
 thusiastic and painstaking as a teacher; 
 tireless and brave as a soldier; bold and 
 aggressive, but even-tempered and just as 
 a Congressional leader; broad and com- 
 prehensive, trusting to principle and right 
 and scorning the temporary success won 
 by tricks of demagagues, as a statemen ; 
 never owing a "machine," but winning 
 success by ability, by devotion to the pub- 
 lic good, and by his straight forward 
 honesty, as a politician; as President, 
 sorely tried, but bearing himself with 
 such patience, firmness and wisdom that the 
 Nation soon saw that the right man was in 
 the right place that the man whom they 
 had made First Citizen was just, patriotic, 
 broad and liberal in his judgment and 
 firm as a rock, the President of the whole 
 Nation and not of a section, or a political 
 party ; as a man and a citizen he was so 
 hearty, so sympathetic, so loving of the 
 life around him, of his family, of his 
 friends, his State, and his country, it is no 
 marvel that America loved him and hon- 
 ored him while living, and that she 
 mourns him broken-heartedly, and incon- 
 solably, when dead. 
 
 " O'er GABFIELD'S tomb, with silent grief oppressed, 
 COLUMBIA mourns her hero now at rest. 
 
 But those bright laurels never fade with years, 
 Whose leaves are watered with a Nation's tears." 
 
 We do not live or die to ourselves 
 alone. Certainly such a man as JAMES A. 
 GARFIELD does not! This noble life, this 
 heroic sick room, and the sad death, is full 
 of lessons. Let me put a few of them 
 into words : 
 
 1. We have here an admirable illustra 
 tion of the true idea of greatness. 
 
 What says the Christ? "Whosoever will 
 
be (jrcaied among you let him be your 
 sercant." To no man in American history, 
 not even to WASHINGTON or LINCOLN could 
 the term "public servant" so often abused 
 and a misnomer be so fully applied as to 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD. Wrote George Alfred 
 Townsend last year: "GARFIELD has been 
 the drudge of his State, of his constitu- 
 ents, of the public, of educational institu- 
 tions and moral societies and of his party 
 and of the country since 1860. " He never 
 Sought place; the places always sought 
 the man. He put the business of others 
 before his own. He gave his best thought, 
 and his best years in incessant toil for the 
 public good. In our money loving, self- 
 seeking age, how refreshing it is to find 
 such a devoted unselfish life. But thank 
 God he did not labor without reward. No 
 man working with such a spirit ever does. 
 Gladly walking in the pathway of service, 
 seeking not his own but other's good, 
 that pathway led him steadily upward till 
 he became the "greatest" among a Nation 
 of fifty millions of people. 
 
 2. His was a pure, noble, Christian life. 
 He was so great because he was so Christ- 
 like. In the language of his grief-stricken 
 Pastor, as he stood a few days ago in the 
 great throng in Washington looking into 
 the loved dead face: 
 
 " The glory of this man, as we think of 
 him now, was his discipline in the school 
 of Christ. His attainments as a scholar, 
 and a statesman will be the theme of ora- 
 tors and historians, and they must be 
 worthy men to speak praiseworthy. But 
 it is as Christians that we love to think of 
 him now. It was that which made his life 
 to man an invaluable boon, and his death 
 to us an unspeakable loss. He was no sect- 
 arian. His religion was as broad as the 
 religion of Christ. He was a simple Chris- 
 
 tian, bound by no sectarian ties, and 
 wholly in fellowship with all pure spirits. 
 He was a Christologist rather than a theo- 
 logist." 
 
 His was that unswerving, heroic type of 
 Christianity, so rarely seen in earth's high 
 places. Principle, not policy, ruled his 
 life. He valued his manhood more than 
 party right more than success. He never 
 sold his birth-right as a Christian for the 
 " pottage " of place or power. Just after 
 his unsought election to the United States 
 Senate, in his speech of thanks to the Ohio 
 Legislature, he said: 
 
 " I have represented for many years a 
 district in Congress, whose approbation I 
 greatly desired ; but, though it may seem 
 egotistical to say it, I yet desired still more 
 the approbation of one person, and his 
 name is GAKFIELD. And if I should be so 
 unfortunate as to lose the confidence of 
 this larger constituency, I must do what 
 every other fair minded man has to do 
 carry his political life in his hand and take 
 the consequences. But I must follow 
 what seems to me the only safe rule of my 
 life my conscience" 
 
 There we feel the main-spring of this 
 grand life a conscience enlightened by the 
 Holy Spirit, trained in the school of 
 Christ, and followed unflinchingly at all 
 times, and at all hazards. 
 
 3. There comes to every thinking -man 
 to-day a new and deeper meaning to the 
 words " son," " husband," " father," 
 "mother," "home." 
 
 How wondrously sweet, and beautiful, 
 and touching, and tender, and heroic was 
 the GARFIELD family and home life ! Glance 
 at only a few points in the picture. 
 
 It is 1833. A " little mother " stand 
 alone in her grief and poverty. With 
 energy, faith and courage she resolves 
 
that the four fatherless little' ones shall 
 not be separated that they shall^still have 
 a home. The battle was a hard one, but she 
 won it. With her needle she earned money 
 to provide for the scanty home, and to pay 
 her children's tuition. A few years later, 
 when James, the youngest, resolves to ob- 
 tain an education, this "little mother" 
 puts in his hands a small sum of money 
 every cent of it coined by hard work and 
 self-denial and with her blessing he goes 
 out from that humble home. Thirty-three 
 years later, when that boy, now a strong 
 man, stands in front of the Capitol at 
 Washington with bared head and uplifted 
 hand to take the oath of his high office as 
 Chief Magistrate, is it any wonder that he 
 turns away from all the great men, and 
 the great throng, to the " little grey-haired 
 mother," and with a kiss seeks her con- 
 gratulations first of all? That day the Son 
 was greater than the Chief Magistrate ! 
 And that other brave woman the farmer's 
 daughter, the pupil, the teacher in the 
 public school, the loving wife of a poor 
 man, growing with her husband's growth, 
 strengthening with his strength, always a 
 help, never a hindrance this faithful wife 
 and mother, LUCKETIA A. GABFIELD how 
 the strong man loved her, and how much 
 he owed of his greatness and success to 
 her only God and himself know. If we 
 had more such "little mothers," more such 
 devoted, noble wives, we should have more 
 such men as JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 As a husband and farther he was an ex- 
 ample to his Nation and the world. Amid 
 all the temptations of Washington life no 
 breath of scandal ever touched I his name. 
 He was "not only pure but above suspi- 
 cion." He had great reverence for the 
 family relation. His love for his children 
 was bountiful and generous. * Just after 
 his nomination at Chicago, hundreds of 
 
 telegrams came pouring in upon him 
 such as only Americans, in their rapid, 
 good impulses pour upon a lucky friend. 
 With two volunteer clerks the great man 
 sat in his room opening and reading them. 
 His two boys, little fellows at school, sent 
 him one. He read it, tried to talk, but his 
 voice choked, his eyes filled with tears. 
 The father triumphed over the statesman. 
 He broke down and wept, as one of those 
 boys would have done. And the clerks 
 wept too, and the people also when they 
 heard it. 
 
 " From scenes like these," sang Burns, 
 " old Scotia's grandeur springs." "Whether 
 in a palace or a cottage, true love and 
 unity are the sources of national pros- 
 perity. It is on the virtues of private life 
 that all institutions rest. The sacred ties 
 of family and home give strength to laws 
 and nations." He who exalts and ennobles 
 the family and family life makes all the 
 world his debtor. 
 
 4. As our great Nation and the world 
 has watched by that bed of pain, we have 
 learned, as never before, how close of kin 
 we are. Blood is thicker than water. 
 AMERICANS : Our grief -stricken Nation is 
 knitted together as never before. Fifty 
 millions of people have watched for 
 months by that heroic bed. They have 
 sunk partyism in prayer for the loved life. 
 In the language of Frank Pixley: "We 
 mourned the murdered Lincoln with anger 
 in our hearts,, but over the grave of our 
 dead President all these mad passions are 
 hushed, all angry resentments are buried, 
 all unkind recollections are forgotten. In 
 South and West, in North and East, in all 
 lands where civilization dwells, in all 
 parties, and in all divisions of parties, 
 there is only a deep sorrow and profound 
 regret over the untimely death of our 
 murdered President. Fifty millions o 
 
united hearts beat in mournful refrain 
 around his dead body. The flags draped 
 in black, hanging at half inast, are the 
 emblems of a common sorrow the sin- 
 cere and heartfelt grief of a united peo- 
 ple. We step in measured tread to the 
 sad music of the funeral dirge, and it 
 finds no echo in the Nation's heart than 
 that of the profoundest grief. " 
 
 What JAMES A. GARFIELD could not do, 
 perhaps, while living, he has done wminded, 
 dying, dead ! He has brought the country 
 together. North and South have seen, as 
 never before, the necessity of abating the 
 fury of faction, the great sin of sectional 
 strife. They have clasped hands over that 
 heroic bed. A blind, disabled Confederate 
 soldier voiced the common feeling of the 
 South when he sent his touching telegram 
 praying for the life of "our President to be 
 spared to our Nation." That soldier saw, 
 and the South, at last, also sees, that his 
 former foe was not his enemy ; that there 
 is no longer a North and a South, but a 
 common country, a Nation, of which we 
 are all proud to be called citizens. 
 
 5. Let me turn back the pages of our Na- 
 tion's history a little that I may make you 
 see my last thought more clearly : 
 
 It is April, 1865. The war-clouds which, 
 for four long years have overhung our 
 land, dropping their bloody rain, are be- 
 ginning to break, and to be " rolled up like a 
 scroll," when suddenly, a thunderbolt fell 
 out of that departing storm-cloud; it 
 struck down our choicest one: ABRAHAM 
 LINCOLN fell, stricken down by the hand of 
 an assassin. How the wires quivered as 
 they carried over the shuddering land the 
 fatal news. How men's faces paled, and 
 all loyal hearts were wrung with agony. 
 In New York city, as the news ran from 
 heart to heart, a great crowd surged into 
 Wall sti'eet, with gleaming eyes, com- 
 
 pressed lips, set teeth, and blanched faces ; 
 with vengeance in every heart, with 
 dread, and terror and a fearful foreboding 
 as they thought of the future the crowd 
 become a mob ! Suddenly a strong man 
 pushed his way through that surging, liv- 
 ing sea, climbed some steps, and stood be- 
 fore them. Something in the face and 
 manner of JAMES A. GARFIELD as he stood 
 there quieted that mob though no one 
 knew who he was; a death-like silence 
 fell upon them; all eyes were turned to- 
 ward that strong face, as if pleading for 
 help. And not in vain. One single -sen- 
 tence from his ringing voice filled each 
 soul with courage and hope. Drawing 
 himself up, he said : " GOD REIGNS ! and 
 the Government at Washington still lives /" So 
 I say to you to-day: "God reigns!" 
 thanks be to His name, and all is well 
 The President is DEAD but the NATION 
 LIVES, never so strong as now. " The Re- 
 public is peace. The Government is law 
 The Union is secure and rebaptized into 
 nationality and human rights. The peo- 
 ple are brothers. The one flag floats from, 
 below the Gulf to either Portland." Our 
 institutions are imperishable. Sure as 
 the processions of the seasons, strong 
 as the purposes of Deity, country, liberty, 
 progress and civilization go on. God rules. 
 " His purposes of love for those made in 
 His image will not be worked out world- 
 wide, till the Angel who shall stand with 
 one foot on sea and one foot on land, shall 
 swear by Him that sitteth on the throne 
 and who liveth forever, with the voice of 
 Omnipotence and the warrant of con- 
 cluded purpose, that Time shall be no 
 longer." 
 
 " O, ye of little faith ! " Fear not. God's 
 plans never fail. 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD is dead ! We cannot 
 yet measure our loss. He was a grander 
 
8 
 
 man than the world thought him to be. 
 
 But the succession of good men is never 
 ^wholly broken. The gaps which are made 
 by Death are filled. The ranks close up 
 and the world moves on. Yet, in a hun- 
 dred years there has been but one WASH- 
 INGTON, one LINCOLN and one GARFIELD. 
 
 We know not if in a hundred years to 
 come there will be other men like them. 
 God grant that there may be, and that led 
 and governed by such men, the Nation we 
 love " may be a Nation whose God is the 
 Lord, and which shall never perish from 
 the face of the earth." 
 
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