Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1881 — ELOQUENT SAYINGS. [ARTICLE]

ELOQUENT SAYINGS.

Garfield’s Speech in Congress on the Anniversary ot Mr. Lincoln’s Death. There are times in the hit lory of men and nations wken they stand so near the veil which separates mortals and immortals, time -from eternity, and men from their God, that they can almost bear the breathings and feelJLbe pulsations of the heart aud the intellect. Through such a time has this nation passed. When 250,000 brave spirits passed from the field of honor through that thin veil to the presence of God, and when - at last its parting fold admitted the martyred President to the company of the dead heroes of the republic, the nation stood so near the veil that the whispers of God were heard by the children of men. Awe-stricken by His voice, the American people knelt in tearful reverence and made a solemn covenant with God and each-other that this nation should be saved from His enemies, that’Sil its glories should be restored, and on the ruins of slavery and treason the temples of freedom and justice should be built, and stand forever. It remains for. us, consecrated by the great event, aud uuder that covenant with God to keep the faith, to go forward in the great work until it shall be completed, Following the lead of that great mam aud obeying the high behests of God, let us remember ‘He has sounded forth bis trumpet, that shall never call retreat; . He is sifting out the hearts of men before his r judgment seal; Be swift, my soul, to answer him; be jubilant my feet: For Goa is marching on.” Every great political party that has done this country any good has given to it «ome immortal ideas that have* outlived the members of that party. SOME PROPHETIC LINES. Gen. Garfield, in one of his college poems ’ contributed to the Williams

Quarterly, and .entitled “Memory,” wrote these lines: ••When the rough battle of the cay Is done . And evening’s Peace falls gently on th Heart, * I bound away across the noisy Unto the utmost verge of Memory s land. And wandering ; thence aldng the rolling I see theshiulow of my lormen'self Gliding from childhood up to man’s estate. The path of youth winds down through many a vale, And on the brink of a deep abyss From out whose darkness conies no rsy of life Save that a phantom danoe* o’er the gulj t And beckon* onward to the verge.'' i WEIGHTY SENTENCES. We should do nothing inconsistent with the spirit and genius of our institutions. We should do nothing for revenge, but everything for security; nothing for the past; , everything fur the present and future. There is no horizontal stratification of society in this country like the rocks in the earth, that holds one class down below forever more, and lets another come to the surface, to stay there forever., Our stratification is like the ocean where every individual drop is free to move, and where from the eternal depths of the mighty deep a drop may come up to glitter on the highest wave that rolls. I would rather be beaten in Right than succeed in Wrong. Present evils always seem greater than those that never come. For the noblest man that lives there still remains a conflict After the battle of Arms comes the battle of History. ' Growth is better than Permanence, and permanent growth is better than all. It is as much the duty of all good men to protect and defeud the reputation of worthy public servants as to detect public rascals. The following is from his speech to the’Obio Legislature after his election toJtLe United States Senate,being a trib ute to the character of his competitor, Senator Thurman: "Isay, moreover, that the flowers that bloom over the garden -wall-of politics are the sweetest and most fragrant that bloom in the gardens of this world, and when we can fairly pluck them and enjoy their fragrance it is manly and delightful to do so.” 4 I look forward with joy and hope to the day when our brave people, one in heart, One iri (heir aspirations for freedom and peace, shall see that the darkness through which weTiave traveled was but a part of that stern but bene fleial discipline by w’hich the great Disposer of events has been leading us on to a higher and nobler national life.