Ruth-er-ford B. Hayes was born in Del-a-ware, O-hi-o, Oc-to-ber 4th,
1822; such a strong, ro-sy lit-tle boy was he, that he had the pet name
of "Rud-dy;" his fa-ther had a big farm and a store as well, so he was
quite rich, and lit-tle Rud-dy grew up in a bright and hap-py home. He
came of a race of brave men, who had fought and died for this fair land
in the wars of the Rev-o-lu-tion and of 1812; and he grew up as brave
as they. He and his lit-tle sis-ter Fan-ny went when young to a small
school near their home; and the good, wise moth-er helped them with
their books at home; Ruth-er-ford worked hard at school, and went when
quite young to the high school, where he soon stood at the head of his
class. He was six-teen when he went to Ken-yon Col-lege, Ohio. Now,
though he was so good at his books, he loved sport and fun as well; and
he was so strong, that he could walk miles on the cold-est of days, and
yet get no hurt. Once he walked all the way from col-lege to his home
and back, when the snow lay deep on the ground, and this was for-ty
miles; he could swim and skate, and knew how to fish and hunt; the boys
at col-lege all liked him; he had hosts of friends, and the strong,
brave will that kept him at the head in games and sports put him first
in his class too. He left col-lege in 1842, and took up the stud-y of
law at Har-vard Col-lege; in 1846, he was made one of the bar, and took
up prac-tise of law in Cin-cin-nat-i. When the Civ-il War broke out, he,
as cap-tain of a band of men from his home, did brave, good work. Once
he was shot and fell to the ground; but he did not give up; he told his
men what to do as he lay there in great pain, and kept up till some one
came to take his place as lead-er. At the end of the war, he was a
gen-er-al; and was much loved by his men. He was sent to Con-gress by
his state; and then made its gov-ern-or for three terms. In 1876, he was
made pres-i-dent; though some thought by a fraud in the count; and the
Dem-o-crats said that their man, Sam-u-el J. Til-den, should have been
pres-i-dent. While Hayes was at the White House, there was a great
la-bor strike, from the East to the West, on all the rail-roads. The
heads of the roads said that they would not pay the men, in their hire,
as much as they had done; and so, all the men left their work and no
trains could run, for the men came in great mobs to stop them; at last,
they rose in arms, and then the troops were sent out to force them to
keep the peace; nine men were killed, and some of the rest were bad-ly
hurt. But the men did not give up for a long time; they held Pitts-burg
for two days, and burned cars and the grain kept in them.
Of course, in the end, the law had to be o-beyed and the mobs were made
to come to terms, and lay down their arms.
There was a war with the In-di-ans while Hayes was in the chair; but
this was put down by Gen-er-al How-ard; and after some fierce fights,
the chiefs were caught and bound to keep the peace. There was a change
made in the way of life at the White House while Hayes was there, for no
wine was ever put on the ta-ble for guests or for the pres-i-dent and
his wife; this was the first time, and so far, the on-ly time, that wine
has not had its place at least at the state meals at the White House.
Hayes was in Wash-ing-ton for one term and then went to his home in
Mas-sil-lon, O-hi-o. He died on Jan-u-a-ry 17th, 1893.
[Illustration: RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.]
[Illustration: JAMES A. GARFIELD.]