Neither Beaconsfield nor Gladstone could solve the Irish question. Nor
do I believe it will ever be solved to the satisfaction of Ireland. But
a greater calamity than those came upon us; in the summer of this year
President Garfield was assassinated in Washington.




THE SEVENTH MILESTONE

1881-1884


On July 2, 1881, an attempt was made to assassinate President Garfield,
at the Pennsylvania Station, Washington, where he was about to board a
train. I heard the news first on the railroad train at Williamstown,
Mass., where the President was expected in three or four days.

"Absurd, impossible," I said. Why should anyone want to kill him? He had
nothing but that which he had earned with his own brain and hand. He had
fought his own way up from country home to college hall, and from
college hall to the House of Representatives, and from House of
Representatives to the Senate Chamber, and from the Senate Chamber to
the Presidential chair. Why should anyone want to kill him? He was not a
despot who had been treading on the rights of the people. There was
nothing of the Nero or the Robespierre in him. He had wronged no man. He
was free and happy himself, and wanted all the world free and happy. Why
should anyone want to kill him? He had a family to shepherd and educate,
a noble wife and a group of little children leaning on his arm and
holding his hand, and who needed him for many years to come.