James A. Garfield, twentieth President of the United States, had the
good fortune to be a boy long after he reached the years of manhood.
This fact is the key to his character and the explanation of his
career. His boyishness was not lack of manhood; it was a lingering
youthfulness of spirit, a keen susceptibility of impression,
an elasticity of mind, a hearty enjoyment of his strong life, a
tenderness and freshness of heart, an openness to friend and foe,
something of deference to others, and of diffidence, not without
understanding of and confidence in his own powers. He was youthful
with the noble youth of the fields and schools and churches, of
the farms and villages of the West, when he became a member of the
legislature of Ohio, from which he passed into the army, that was like
a university to him. As a soldier he was typically a big, brave boy,
powerful, ardent, amiable, rejoicing in his strength. In eastern
Kentucky he led his regiment in its first fight. He found out where
the enemy were, and pulling off his coat--the regulation country style
of preparing for battle--headed a foot-race straight for "the rebs,"
and routed them. It was literally a case of "come on, boys." Those
opposed, so to speak, thought the devil possessed the robust young man
in his shirt-sleeves.
[Illustration: GARFIELD IN 1863, THE YEAR IN WHICH, AT THE AGE OF 32,
AND WITH THE RANK OF MAJOR-GENERAL, HE RETIRED FROM THE ARMY TO BECOME
A MEMBER OF CONGRESS.