White House gossip

by Edna M. Colman

Since the Grand Review of 1865, Washington had not witnessed so splendid a parade, one of such length and perfect formation as this at the inauguration of James Garfield. It reflected great credit upon the skill of General Sherman, who had arranged it. The ball that night, too, was a fine affair, held in the new National Museum, fitted up for the occasion. The new President and Mrs. Garfield arrived about nine o’clock and were received by the Ball Committee, Judge Bancroft escorting the President. Mrs. Garfield was gowned tastefully in light lavender satin elaborately trimmed with point lace. A simple cluster of purple pansies was worn at her neck. Her costume was remarked for its simplicity and the absence of jewellery. Mrs. Hayes, who was with her, was most charmingly gowned in a cream-coloured satin, trimmed with ermine. The supper was elaborate. The menu for this event included 1,500 pounds of turkey, 100 gallons of oysters, 3,000 biscuits and rolls, 50 hams, 200 gallons of chicken salad, 50 gallons of jelly, 250 gallons of coffee, 15,000 cakes, 250 gallons of ice cream, and 300 pounds of butter.

Garfield’s régime was so short that naturally interest in him must centre more in what he was than in what he accomplished as President.

Born in Ohio on November 19, 1831, of pioneer parents, he experienced through childhood and youth the same kind of struggle and hardship as fell to the lot of many of our great men. Like many of them, too, he was self-made.

When he was but eighteen months old, his mother was left, through the death of his father, with four small children to bring up and a farm to manage. She had literally to fill a man’s place. Mrs. Garfield struggled and toiled heroically, and soon Jimmy, the baby, had the chance to go to school in the summer; the winter term was not possible, since he had no shoes or suitable clothing. Finally, Thomas, the eldest, a child of twelve, the man of the family, secured a job with a farmer to work fourteen hours a day for six dollars a month. Thomas had one idea—that was that young Jimmy should be given a chance at schooling, and when he came home with his first pay, his one request was that his mother purchase shoes for Jimmy, so that the little brother could attend the school in the little town.

As the lad grew into his teens, the boundaries of the farm grew too restricted. Tales of travel and adventure had roused a responsive thrill in his heart. At seventeen, therefore, although his mother wanted him to continue his education and become a teacher, he set out to make his fortune, after completing the strenuous job of chopping one hundred cords of wood for twenty-five dollars for the ready cash. He tied his belongings in a small bundle, slung them over his shoulder on a stick, and started his tramp to find the end of the rainbow of his ambition. By the time he reached Cleveland, tramping had lost some of its glamour, especially as water and boats were at hand. His appeal for a place on a lake steamer met with a curt and uncompromising refusal, in which his inexperience was brought home to him.

Employment of some sort being a necessity, he spent several days industriously seeking a job, and finally found one with a canal-boat captain. For several months, for twelve dollars a month and board he trudged the towpath along the canal his father had helped to build.

Young Garfield was ill with chills and fever for six months, and when convalescent, realizing that he really desired schooling more than anything else, to his mother’s delight, he entered the high school at Chester, which held other attractions than the academic routine. His childhood playmate, Lucretia Rudolph, daughter of Zeb Rudolph, of Garretsville, one of the founders of Hiram College, was also a pupil.

By the time these two completed the high-school course, he had acquired the distinction of height, six feet two inches, which was so much admired when he entered public life. By this time, also, Lucretia had assumed a definite place in his scheme of life. Aided and abetted by his mother, she overcame his rather natural feeling that he could not afford to give more time to the college course, to which he looked so longingly. Feminine argument also had the support and backing of the splendid loyal older brother, and Jimmy and Lucretia entered the Western Reserve Electic Institute at Hiram, Ohio, later the Hiram College. In vacations, he taught a district school for twelve dollars a month and board. Graduation left a desire for further educational experience, and Williams College, Massachusetts, was the objective.

During vacations, he taught school in Pownal, Vt., the school of which Chester Alan Arthur had been principal the term previous. It was there Garfield became a convert to the Campbellites, being baptized in a tributary of the Chagrin River. His zeal for his new religious affiliation sent him lecturing, teaching, and preaching wherever and whenever opportunity offered.

With the completion of the course at Williams College, from which he was graduated in 1856, where his son, Dr. Harry A. Garfield, is now dean, he returned to take the Chair of Ancient Languages at Hiram College.