on service, he had risked
his position, and even his life, by refusing to surrender a poor fugitive
slave who had sought shelter in his camp, although ordered to do so by
his superior officer. And when, at the close of the war, a bill was
brought before Congress to limit the rights of the freed slaves, Garfield
indignantly and successfully opposed it.

On the 14th of April 1865, just after being elected to the Presidency for
the second time, Abraham Lincoln was shot by a rebel sympathiser, named
Booth. And the same night the life of the Secretary of State, Seward,
was also attempted. These crimes roused the people of the North to
madness. In every city the men assembled with ominous cries for
vengeance.

In New York, a foolish man called out that Lincoln ought to have been
shot long ago. That cruel speech cost the speaker his life. He was
struck down by a hundred hands. Then a vast crowd gathered in front of
the _World_ newspaper office, which was a supporter of the rebels. It
was a crisis when a single spark might kindle a fire that only could be
put out by bloodshed. At that moment a man stepped out upon the balcony
of the City Hall,--a tall, portly man, whose mighty voice was heard above
the tumult of the crowd of angry men. There was stillness, and then,
solemnly and slowly, the voice cried, "Fellow-citizens,--Clouds and
darkness are round Him! His pavilion is on the dark waters, and thick
clouds of the skies! Justice and judgment are the habitation of His
throne! Mercy and truth shall go before His face! Fellow-citizens, God
reigns, and the Government at Washington still lives!" As the angry
waves of Galilee were hushed at the sound of the voice of Christ, so did
the surging passion of that great multitude grow still at the words of
His servant that day. Men ceased from cries of vengeance, and turned to
Him who "had made His throne in the heavens," and bowed their hearts
before Him.

The voice which swayed and stilled the crowd that day was the voice of
Garfield; he it was who, in that dreadful moment, stood in the gap
between the living and the dead.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE HOUR AND THE MAN.

Statesman and Citizen--Leader of the House of Representatives--Elected
President--The Secret of Success--Struck down by an Assassin--Hovering
between Life and Death--Death and Burial.

Garfield's life, above that of most men, was given to the world as a
splendid example of perfect integrity and ma