APPENDIX B
THE LAST DAYS OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES AND
COMMEMORATIVE OFFICIAL ACTIONS FOL-
LOWING HIS DEATH
MR. HAYES was almost constantly occupied during the last
few months of his life with the various philanthropic and
public interests to which he had so long given his time and
strength. He attended the national Grand Army Encampment at
Washington in September, marched in the procession with his
old comrades of Eugene Rawson Post, made many speeches at
camp-fires and reunions, and presided at the meeting of the Army
of West Virginia, when the lights in the great tent suddenly went
out and the proceedings were continued to the close in utter dark-
ness. He also presided at the dedication at Arlington Cemetery
of the monument to General George Crook. Wherever he ap-
peared he was greeted with prolonged cheers. Then followed in
rapid succession a visit to New York to attend meetings of the
Peabody and Slater trustees, and to be an honored spectator of
the great naval and military parades, celebrating the quadricen-
tennial anniversary of the discovery of America, and to share in
the festivities that accompanied them; participation in the Indian
Conference at Lake Mohonk over which he presided; and a jour-
ney to Chicago to take part in the dedication of the Columbian
Fair buildings. On all these occasions he was the recipient of
every courtesy possible, and his appearance in public instantly
was followed with cheers and shouts of acclaim.
He had hardly returned to Spiegel Grove when the country was
saddened by news of the death of Mrs. Benjamin Harrison,
Thereupon he journeyed to Indianapolis to attend the obsequies,
and accompanied President Harrison on his way back to Wash-
ington as far as Columbus. Early in December occurred the
annual meeting of the National Prison Congress, that year at
(157)
158 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
Baltimore. Mr. Hayes presided as usual, making the opening
address, in which he pleaded for wise restriction of immigration,
and urged that in "the whole territory of duty embraced in the
great subject of criminal jurisprudence" the spirit of the Golden
Rule should guide and control men's decisions.
Late in December Mr. Hayes was in Cleveland to preside and
speak at a banquet of Kenyon alumni, and at Columbus to ad-
dress the Ohio College Association on his favorite theme, the im-
portance of manual training in our educational system. Monday
morning, January 9, 1893, he set out from Spiegel Grove on his
last journey. He went to Columbus to attend a meeting of the
trustees of the State University. He was engaged in university
duties and in visiting relatives and friends until Thursday after-
noon when he took the train for Cleveland. There he was a
guest until Saturday of Mrs. Linus Austin, a relative and inti-
mate friend, at whose home his son Webb lived. Friday he was
busy with the affairs of Western Reserve University and he
visited the University School in which he had been greatly in-
terested. Saturday afternoon at the Cleveland station, as he was
about to depart, accompanied by his son Webb, for Fremont, he
was seized with an attack of angina pectoris. His son quickly
obtained brandy. A modicum of this together with external
application somewhat relieved the intense pain which the sufferer
described as like that which attended his severe wounding at
South Mountain. His son urged him to return to Mrs. Austin's;
but he longed to be at home. "I would rather die at Spiegel
Grove," he declared, "than to live anywhere else." He was made
as comfortable as possible in the drawing-room of the Pullman
car, and reached Fremont at seven, still in great pain, but no
worse for the journey. Dr. Hilbish, the family physician, fore-
warned by telegraph, met the train and accompanied the sufferer
to Spiegel Grove, where he at once took to his bed. Dr. Hilbish,
who continued in almost constant attendance, doing everything
in the power of medical skill, was at first hopeful; but it was not
long before hopefulness gave way to gravest apprehension. Mr.
Hayes himself had little doubt that his hour had come. During
the three days that he lingered he talked freely and cheerfully
with members of the family. While his suffering was greatly
DEATH OF PRESIDENT HAYES 159
relieved by anodynes, he chafed at being confined to his bed-
the first experience of the kind since he was wounded at South
Mountain, more than thirty years before. Tuesday there seemed
to be a change for the better and hope was quickened; but after
ten that night conditions became rapidly worse, and near eleven
he painlessly breathed his last in the arms of his son Webb, who
had raised him to a sitting position, his cheek against the cheek
of the son.
Messages of condolence poured in from far and wide, and
flowers from every part of the land soon filled the house. The
funeral took place Friday afternoon. Colonel Henry C. Corbin,
a close personal friend, had charge of all arrangements for the
day. In spite of the snow and severe weather hosts of people
travelled far to be present. Mr. Cleveland, soon to be inaugurated
as President a second time, came from Lakewood, New Jersey.
President Harrison, detained at Washington by the state of his
health, was represented by four members of his Cabinet, Messrs.
Foster, Noble, Rusk, and Wanamaker. The Army was repre-
sented by Colonels Henry C. Corbin, Marshal I. Ludington, and
Joseph C. Breckinridge. The Navy was represented by Captain
John A. Howell and Commanders Francis W. Dickins and Ed-
ward S. Houston. Delegations were present from both houses
of Congress; and the Legislature of Ohio came in a body, headed
by Governor McKinley, with his staff, and the state officers.
Delegates from Loyal Legion commanderies and from other
societies, and many other men of distinction were present, com-
pletely filling the spacious house. Thousands of people stood in
the snow outside while the brief service was celebrated. This
consisted of the reading of the Twenty-third Psalm by the pastor
of the Fremont Methodist Church, the singing of the hymn, "It
is Well With my Soul" by a Cleveland choir, assisted by Mrs.
Fred H. Dorr, of Fremont, a warm personal friend; an im-
pressive prayer by President Bashford, of Ohio Wesleyan Uni-
versity; the favorite hymn, "God be With You Till we Meet
Again"; and the reciting by the entire company of the Lord's
Prayer.
The procession to Oakwood was headed by Troop A of Cleve-
land (of which Webb Hayes was a member), the Toledo Battery,
160 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
and the Sixteenth Regiment of the Ohio National Guard. Next
to these marched members of the Grand Army of the Republic
and of the Sons of Veterans. The honorary pallbearers were all
men that had beeen close friends of Mr. Hayes: Secretary
Charles Foster, representing the President; Governor William
McKinley; Dr. J. L. M. Curry, agent of the Peabody and Slater
funds; Major E. C. Dawes, representing the Loyal Legion of
Ohio; General Wager Swayne, representing the Loyal Legion
Commandery-in-Chief; General Manning F. Force; Colonel Wil-
liam E. Haynes, of Fremont, Member of Congress; and William
Henry Smith, the most intimate personal and political friend.
The actual bearers were members of his old regiment, the famous
Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. At the grave-side the
service was "very brief and simple," the press account records,
"but the grouping of figures rendered it indescribably solemn and
impressive." When the coffin had been lowered among the boughs
of evergreens that hid the frozen earth, the Sons of Veterans fired
a parting salute and the bugles sounded taps. And so as the
wintry sunlight faded in the west, all that was mortal of the man
that had nobly filled so large a space in the better history of his
time and country, lay at rest beside the grave of his soul com-
panion, whom, through four years of sorrow, bravely borne, he
had longed to join in that fuller life, to which, as he confidently
trusted, death was the portal. His last recorded words as he lay
on his death-bed were: "I know that I am going where Lucy is."
Manifestations of popular sorrow and discriminative eulogistic
appraisals of Mr. Hayes's character and career were innumerable.
The President, the executive departments, the two houses of
Congress, and the Supreme Court paused in their duties to give
appropriate expression of their sense of the national loss. The
public authorities of Ohio took similar action. All the many and
various societies of which Mr. Hayes was an active member,
military, philanthropic, and educational, and the trustees and
faculties of the universities on whose boards of control he had
long intelligently and efficiently served, held commemoratice meet-
ings, listened sympathetically to speeches of approbation and sen-
timents of grief, and placed upon their records resolutions or min-
utes setting forth in eloquent phrases their estimate of the quali-
DEATH OF PRESIDENT HAYES 161
ties and achievements of Rutherford B. Hayes, and expressing
their admiration of his character and their personal devotion to
him as associate or leader. The press of the country joined the
chorus of acclaim with hardly a discordant note. Universal senti-
ment recognized that a distinguished public servant and a good
and noble man was lost to the better activities of the world.
OFFICIAL ACTIONS AND EXPRESSIONS COMMEMOR-
ATIVE OF THE LIFE AND MANIFOLD PUBLIC
SERVICES OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
Proclamation of President Harrison Announcing the
Death of Mr. Hayes.
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, D. C., January 18, 1893.
To the People of the United States:
The death of Rutherford B. Hayes, who was President of the
United States from March 4, 1877 to March 4, 1881, at his home
in Fremont, Ohio, at 11 P. M. yesterday, is an event the announce-
ment of which will be received with very general and very sin-
cere sorrow. His public service extended over many years and
over a wide range of official duty. He was a patriotic citizen, a
lover of the flag and of our free institutions, an industrious and
conscientious civil officer, a soldier of dauntless courage, a loyal
comrade and friend, a sympathetic and helpful neighbor, and the
honored head of a happy Christian home. He has steadily grown
in the public esteem, and the impartial historian will not fail to
recognize the conscientiousness, the manliness, and the courage
that so strongly characterized his whole public career.
As an expression of the public sorrow it is ordered that the
Executive Mansion and the several Executive Departments at
Washington be draped in mourning and the flags thereon placed
at half-staff for a period of thirty days, and that on the day of
the funeral all public business in the Departments be suspended,
and that suitable military and naval honors, under the orders of
the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, be rendered on that day.
162 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
Done at the city of Washington, this 18th day of January, A. D.
1893, and of the Independence of the United States of Amer-
ica the one hundred and seventeenth.
(Seal) BENJ. HARRISON.
By the PRESIDENT:
JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State.
Owing to the condition of the health of President Harrison,
he was represented at the funeral by the Honorable Charles Fos-
ter, Secretary of the Treasury, the Honorable John W. Noble,
Secretary of the Interior, the Honorable John Wanamaker,
Postmaster-General, and the Honorable Jeremiah S. Rusk, Sec-
retary of Agriculture.
ACTION OF WAR DEPARTMENT
GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 4.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
WASHINGTON, January 19, 1893.
I. The following proclamation (order) has been received from
the President: [Printed above.]
II. In compliance with the instructions of the President, on
the day of the funeral, at each military post, the troops and cadets
will be paraded and this order read to them, after which all labors
of the day will cease.
The national flag will be displayed at half-staff.
At (lawn of day thirteen guns will be fired, and afterwards at
intervals of thirty minutes between the rising and setting of the
sun a single gun, and at the close of the day a national salute of
forty-four guns.
The officers of the Army will wear crape on the left arm and
on their swords; and the colors of the Battalion of Engineers, of
the several regiments, and of the United States Corps of Cadets
will be put in mourning for a period of six months.
The date of the funeral will be communicated to department
PRESIDENT HARRISON'S PROCLAMATION 163
commanders by telegraph, and by them to their subordinate com-
manders.
By command of Major-General Schofield:
R. WILLIAMS, Adjutant-General.
The Army was represented at the funeral by Colonel Henry
C. Corbin, later lieutenant-general, Colonel Marshal I. Luding-
ton, later major-general, and Colonel Joseph C. Breckinridge,
later major-general.
ACTION OF NAVY DEPARTMENT
GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 406.
NAVY DEPARTMENT,
WASIIINGTON, D. C., January 19, 1893.
The President of the United States announces the death of ex-
President Rutherford B. Hayes in the following proclamation
(order): [Printed above.]
It is hereby directed, in pursuance of the instructions of the
President, that on the day of the funeral, where this order may be
received in time, otherwise on the day after its receipt, the ensign
at each naval station and of each of the vessels of the United
States Navy in commission be hoisted at half-mast from sunrise
to sunset, and at each naval station and on board of flagships and
vessels acting singly a gun be fired at intervals of every half-hour
from sunrise to sunset.
The officers of the Navy and Marine Corps will wear the usual
badge of mourning attached to the sword hilt and on the left arm
for a period of thirty days.
JAMES R. SOLEY,
Acting Secretary of the Navy.
The Navy was represented at the funeral by Captain John
A. Howell, later rear-admiral, Commander Francis W. Dickins,
later rear-admiral, and Commander Edward S. Houston, later
rear-admiral.
164 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
ACTION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE
UNITED STATES
Wednesday, January 18, 1893.
Mr. Attorney-General W. H. H. Miller addressed the court
as follows:
"It is my painful duty to announce to the Court the death of
Rutherford 13. Hayes, ex-President of the United States. At his
home in Fremont, Ohio, after a brief illness, at the ripe age of
three score years and ten, this eminent public servant last night
passed from the life that now is into the life hereafter. This is
not the time for eulogy, yet I am constrained to say that in his
death the country has lost one who was a good citizen, a good
soldier, a good President, and above all a good man."
The Chief Justice, Melville W. Fuller, responded:
"The Court receives the announcement of the death of ex-
President Hayes with the sensibility due to his eminent public
services and his private virtues; and as a mark of respect to his
memory will now adjourn until tomorrow at the usual hour."
Present: The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Field, Mr. Justice
Gray, Mr. Justice Blatchford, Mr. Justice Brown, and Mr. Jus-
tice Shiras.
ACTION OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 18, 1893.
MR. SHERMAN:-- Mr. President, it becomes my painful duty
to announce to the Senate the death of Rutherford Birchard
Hayes, at his residence in Fremont, Ohio, last evening at 11
o'clock. By the usage of the Senate, when one who has been
President of the United States dies during the session of the
Senate, it has, as a mark of respect to his memory, recorded his
death upon its journal and suspended its duties for the day.
President Hayes held high and important positions during
his life, having been a gallant and distinguished Union soldier
during the war, a Member of Congress, three times Governor of
the State of Ohio, and President of the United States. He was
SUPREME COURT AND SENATE 165
a man of marked ability, untarnished honor, unblemished char-
acter, and faithful in the discharge of all his duties in every rela-
tion of life, against whom no word of reproach can be truthfully
uttered.
It was my good fortune to know President Hayes intimately
from the time we were law students until his death. To me his
death is a deep personal grief. All who had the benefit of per-
sonal association with him were strengthened in their attachment
to him and in their appreciation of his generous qualities of head
and heart. His personal kindness and sincere enduring attach-
ment for his friends was greater than he displayed in public inter-
course. He was always modest, always courteous, kind to every
one who approached him, and generous to friend or foe. He
had no sympathy with hatred or malice. He gave every man his
due according to his judgment of his merits.
I therefore, as is usual on such occasions, move that the
Senate, out of respect to the memory of President Hayes, do now
adjourn.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore:- The Senator from Ohio moves
that, out of respect to the memory of ex-President Hayes, the
Senate do now adjourn.
The motion was agreed to; and (at 12:13 P. m.) the Senate
adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, January 19, 1893, at 12
o'clock meridian.
ACTION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE UNITED STATES
January 18, 1893.
MR. HAYNES, Democrat of Ohio [late Lieutenant-Colonel Wil-
liam E. Haynes, Tenth Ohio Cavalry] :--Mr. Speaker, the tele-
graph this morning brings us intelligence of the death at Fre-
mont, Ohio, of ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes. My residence
has been in Fremont for many years. I have personally known
General Hayes for fifty years, and I shall speak of him as a
citizen with whom I have been so long acquainted. I knew the
general in the army. I knew him as governor of the State, and
166 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
while he occupied distinguished positions and conspicuous sta-
tions in public life for so many years. At his own home he was
beloved by all, taking an interest in all the institutions of his
city and State, discharging wisely and well the duties that de-
volved upon all good citizens in the community.
Of his public services, many gentlemen in this chamber are
better prepared to speak than I am. His death will excite uni-
versal sorrow, not merely in the city of his residence, not only
on the part of those who were intimately acquainted with him,
but among all the people everywhere who remember his great
public services and his noble private character and life. Of his
public conduct as President of the United States, as governor of
his State, as an officer in the Union army, history makes record
and bears witness to his distinguished services. I wish to speak
more particularly of my recollection of the ex-President as a
citizen and a neighbor in the community in which he lived. He
had been a resident of the city of Fremont from early boyhood.
He studied and practiced law there, and, after the expiration
of his term as President, he returned to Fremont and again took
up his residence there.
He interested himself at all times in all matters of general in-
terest to the community. He was liberal, charitable, unostenta-
tious, and so conducted himself in every way that all men, re-
gardless of their political affiliations, honored him as a man as
well as because he was ex-President of the United States. Since
his retirement from the Presidency he had devoted a large share
of his time to the educational interests of the country and to
philanthropic movements. He was president of the Peabody Fund
and of the Slater Fund, devoted to educational purposes in the
South. He was one of the trustees of the Ohio University, and
he gave a great part of his time and large contributions to such
matters. After his retirement he did not engage in any private
business, but gave his entire time to the public. He abstained
from taking any part in political controversies, recognizing at all
times and on all occasions, in public and in private life, that he
was an ex-President of the United States; and I think I can truly
say that he was one of the best examplars of true American
citizenship.
TRIBUTES IN THE HOUSE 167
I know of no distinguished man retired from public position
who better deserved the good will and the high opinion of every
one who came in contact with him or who enjoyed them in
higher measure. He was easily approached, ready at all times
to assist in all undertakings where the public were to be benefitted,
at the same time abstaining from any occasion where there was
a probability of difference of opinion or dissension. As a general
in the army he was beloved by the soldiers who served with him;
as governor of the great State of Ohio, no man ever retired from
that position with more of the respect and good will of the people.
As President of the United States, history and time will give him
the place to which the results of his Administration entitled him.
As Chief Magistrate of the Republic, in a trying and turbulent
time, he conducted as able and successful an administration as
any man could possibly have done under the circumstances. In
his own town and State, where he was known by nearly all his
fellow citizens, no other death would excite such universal sorrow
as that of ex-President Hayes.
MR. ENOCHS, Republican of Ohio [Brevet Brigadier-General
W. H. Enochs] :-Mr. Speaker, I was intimately acquainted
with General or President Hayes. I served with him in the army
from the spring of 1863 until the war practically closed in 1865.
I never found a more patient, more faithful, brave, and upright
man than was General Hayes.
He was a soldier because he knew he was right and that he was
on the right side. He had no doubts of his part in that great war.
He knew absolutely that he was right. He was fighting in de-
fense of his country. His blood enriched more than one of the
great battle-fields of the war that we all might enjoy the blessing
of a united country; that this Republic might live. Without
malice, without ostentation, without anything else in view except
his duty as a soldier of our country, he served in that great war
from the beginning to its close.
He entered the army in the first instance as a major, was next
promoted to a lieutenant-colonel, a promotion won on the battle-
field, next to a full colonel, next to a brigadier-general, and then
a major-general of the United States Army. As he won his
168 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
eagles and stars, honors won in line of duty on the battlefield,
they belonged to him. He had won them honorably on the fields
of battle in defense of his country.
No man has ever come in contact with ex-President Hayes in
the army or in civil life who did not love him. No soldier in that
war was more popular than he. He never sought by political in-
fluence, by coming to Washington from the Army of the Potomac,
where he served, or when with Sheridan in the Shenandoah Val-
ley, to seek promotion or advancement through political influ-
ences. He won his promotion as a soldier in the field, and when
he got that promotion it belonged to him of right.
Without any malice, as I have said, without any feeling except
the love of the Stars and Stripes, leaving a clear wife and family,
going through that war from beginning to end for the love of
his country, he has left an example worthy of emulation by every
American citizen.
At the close of the war his farewell order to his brigades and
division reminded them as they recollected their struggles and
hardships that they would be reminded of each other and of the
friendly relations that had so long existed between them. He
retired from the army without pride or splendor, and went into
the ranks of civil life as easily and as rapidly as he had won pro-
motion. He became a private citizen with as little effort, abso-
lutely, as he became a major-general during the war. He went
back to his business, but before a very great while he was elected
to represent his State in the Congress, without an effort on his
part.
He remained there, and the people of Ohio elected him gov-
ernor of that State. He was a model governor. There was
nothing rash about his conduct of public affairs. He was quiet,
unostentatious, always maintaining the dignity and character and
greatness of his State. We reelected him again, and after he
had retired for a few years elected him for a third term. While
serving as governor in this term he was made the nominee at Cin-
cinnati for President upon the Republican ticket. After a great
struggle, after unusual difficulties, he was declared duly elected
President of the United States.
He entered upon his duties under trying circumstances, but his
TRIBUTES IN THE HOUSE 169
Administration will in future times compare with any that his
country has had, in my judgment. He was honest and faithful,
always and under every circumstance devoted to his country. Not
long since, in Washington, as an example of an American citizen
who loved his country above almost everything else, he marched
almost the entire distance with the Grand Army of the Republic
at the head of the Fremont Post, Grand Army of the Republic.
At the close of the war he could have retired; nevertheless he
has been one of the busiest men in Ohio, devoting the later years
of his life to benevolence and to education. He has been for
some years president of the board of trustees of the Ohio State
University, and by his efforts has sought to make it one of the
great educational institutions of his country. The later years of
his life were spent in trying to do good, trying to do something
for his fellow man; without malice or hate toward any, but full
of good feeling and good will for everybody. In every walk of
life he always did his duty - a faithful, devoted husband, a kind
and affectionate father,- and was always a conscientious and
honest American citizen, a devoted patriot, and above all, a de-
voted Christian gentleman.
MR. OUTIWAITE, Democrat of Ohio:- Mr. Speaker, I feel it
my duty to say a few words. Ex-President Hayes was, while
governor of the State of Ohio, my fellow-townsman and neigh-
bor, and I learned to know him well. As a public official the strik-
ing characteristic of the man was his conscientious performance
of his duty. As a soldier he was brave, constant, faithful, and
patriotic. He showed these qualities upon one occasion when,
having won by a charge with his men a difficult position to win
and to hold, being assailed by a strong force opposed to him, he
received a serious wound, such as might have taken an ordinary
man away from the field; but believing that his presence was nec-
essary there to maintain the position, he remained and held it until
he was carried away from the field of battle on account of his
wound. The discussions and dissensions that arose over the most
important incident in his life are hushed now. Everyone appre-
ciates that a great citizen, a prominent statesman, a patriot, and
leader among men has passed away; and as he was at one time a
170 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
member of this body, holding therein a prominent position, it is
eminently proper that this House should pay honor to him upon
this occasion.
While he took a high position as a statesman, as a soldier, and
as a patriot, we must not forget that he took as high a position as
a private citizen. In his life were exemplified integrity, purity,
love of humanity, probity, faithfulness, and other good qualities
that make a man esteemed and loved by all who know him.
In his home, to as great a degree as in the home of any citizen
whom I ever knew, domestic felicity reigned supreme. There was
to be found as beautiful an example of an American household
as poet could ever portray. Feeling, as I said, that this House
may well pause from its duties to pay tribute to the memory of
such a man, I have joined in these ceremonies. We may profit by
the lessons of his life and character. They should be transmitted
to the youths of our land and [to] coming generations.
MR. CURTIS, Republican of New York [brigadier-general
United States volunteers] :- Mr. Speaker, it is eminently proper
on this occasion for us to pause in our legislative labors to pay
tribute to one who has been President of the Republic.
Not so much from what I shall say, am I induced to address
this House, as in recognition of the fact that the district I have the
honor to represent was closely allied, through one who was its
Representative here for a long term of years, with the Administra-
tion of President Hayes; which, whatever may be the opinion of
men now, will go into history as one of the most memorable, clean,
strong, and patriotic administrations that this country has ever
enjoyed.
William A. Wheeler, who was honored by my district for a
longer term as Representative in this House than that accorded
any other man who has ever represented it, was selected as his
associate upon the ticket on which they ran as candidates for
President and Vice-President; and the last time that I had an op-
portunity to confer with ex-President Hayes was when he came
from his home in Ohio to attend the obsequies of Mr. Wheeler,
who had been so intimately and honorably associated with him
during his Presidential term.
TRIBUTES IN THE HOUSE 171
I will not undertake to review the career to which such fitting
tribute has been paid by gentlemen from the State of Ohio, in
which Mr. Hayes was born and bred and by which he was hon-
ored by an important appointment in the army, then as a Repre-
sentative in this House, later as its governor, and finally selected
to occupy the highest position in the country. Mr. Hayes has
stood before the world a man exceptionally pure in private life,
well educated in the duties of the profession which he had chosen,
patriotically inclined to perform whatever duties the exigencies of
the Government might require of him in its most perilous times,
and well equipped to discharge the duties of the executive of his
State. He came to the Presidency under such circumstances as
sealed his title with an assurance of validity that has been given
to no other man filling that high office.
First, he was a successful candidate under the laws and practice
which for ninety years had been frankly acquiesced in by the
people; and secondly, when the embarrassments and difficulties
which grew out of the election in certain States partially under
military control had been settled and determined by an act of Con-
gress, the joint act of bodies previously organized, and their acts
accepted by the people long before the time when these difficulties
arose which they were called upon to determine, he was declared
duly elected. My friend from New York (Mr. Cockran) a few
days ago referred, in discussing a constitutional question, to this
case as illustrating one of the great advantages of the present
Constitution, that an existing body, unquestioned in its organiza-
tion, is provided to decide upon matters of difference which could
not be determined by a body chosen at the same election out of
which those differences arose.
With that final indorsement of the Congress of the United
States, Mr. Hayes assumed the Presidency at one of the most
critical periods of this nation's history. The difficulties which had
existed from 1861-65 had not been entirely settled. He came to
the discharge of his office with the disposition and the inclina-
tion to perform the duties of that high position acceptably to the
people of the entire country. Whatever criticism may be made
as to his action with respect to certain national questions - ques-
tions which had never before arisen, - all concede that Mr. Hayes
172 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
brought to these duties a strong consciousness of the importance
of so administering Federal affairs that the people of all the States
should derive the greatest benefit.
No eulogium which may be hastily passed here on this occasion
will do justice to this man and the time in which he lived and
performed such an important and honorable part. He possessed
one quality in marked degree. He had an ease and grace of ex-
pression, a force and ability as an offhand speaker, that I do not
believe has been excelled by any man in public life. Fortunate
in his family relations, which brought no scandal and no anxiety
to his Administration, fortunate in all official relations in public
life, nowhere has been given a better example of what should be
the course and action of an ex-President than is exhibited in the
life which he led after his retirement.
Devoting himself to labors of charity and philanthropy, seeking
to improve the administration and the policy of the eleemosynary
and penal institutions of the country, he lived in a quiet dignity,
which has never been surpassed since the time of him who stood
first in the hearts of the American people, their first President,
as shown in the private life which he spent at Mount Vernon after
leaving the Chief Magistracy.
As General, as Representative, as Governor, as President, he
is worthy of the honor that is paid to a citizen who has held our
highest office; and history will do justice to his Administration
and his character.
I have spoken as the Representative of the people of a district
because of its share in his Administration, and in their name I
have made these hasty and unprepared allusions to the qualities
of a Chief Magistrate whose very simplicity of life is as deserv-
ing of remembrance as the high qualities which won him honor
and distinction.
MR. O'NEIL, Republican of Pennsylvania: - Mr. Speaker, in
the death of ex-President Hayes the country has lost one of its
most distinguished citizens, a loss which the country will widely
and deeply feel. I first met General Haves when he became a
member of the Thirty-ninth Congress, and I sat with him in this
House until he resigned from the Fortieth Congress to take the
TRIBUTES IN THE HOUSE 173
oath of office as governor of Ohio. Before I met him I had been
informed by a near relative in Ohio of the great ability and high
character of General Rutherford B. Hayes, who was to take his
seat in the next Congress, and this relative expressed the hope that
I would early make his acquaintance. I did so with very great
pleasure, and I soon learned the sterling worth of the man who
subsequently attained such distinction in the country. I happened
to sit within one seat of his, and from the day that I met him
here until the last time I had the pleasure of seeing him in the
city of Philadelphia, not very many months ago, our friendship
was unbroken.
Mr. Hayes had one remarkable trait which to me is a great trait
in a man who holds a high position; he was patient, he was a
listener, and therefore a most agreeable man to visit upon official
business. You left him feeling that he was your friend, and that
if he could comply with your wishes or requests it would give
him pleasure to do so. He was a statesman with a heart. When
I look back over the Congresses in which I have served, I do not
know that I have ever met a gentleman of finer qualities than he
possessed. He was refined, was graceful in manner, and was al-
ways attentive to his business as a member of this House, both
on the floor and in his committees, and he soon rose to prominence.
When he left Congress to take the oath of office as governor of
Ohio he received the congratulations, the sincere congratulations,
of his fellow members without distinction of party.
I was also in the convention of the Senate and the House when
it was declared from the desk, Mr. Speaker, you now occupy, by
the acting Vice-President of the United States (Senator Ferry of
Michigan), that Rutherford B. Hayes had received a majority of
the electoral votes of the States and was elected President.
Soon afterwards I had occasion to visit him as President, and
that visit and all subsequent visits to him in that capacity were
very pleasant, for he always had the kindliest manner and mani-
fested the most evident desire to let you regard him as a friend
and feel that, if possible, your interviews were not in vain.
I feel, sir, today, as I said when I arose, that by the death of
Mr. Hayes this country has lost one of its most distinguished citi-
zens. Ex-President Hayes had many friends in the city of Phila-
174 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
delphia. His social visits there were many, and he was always
received with the kindness and the respect due to his high char-
acter. One special reason why he was a favorite in Philadelphia
was that its citizens felt that he had been one of the distinguished
governors who had helped in a marked degree to make the great
Centennial Exposition of 1876 a success.
I think it fit and proper that Congress should pause in its busi-
ness and adjourn (as I suppose will be presently proposed) as a
mark of respect to the blameless official and social life of this
patriot and statesman who served his country well. I regret his
death. I realize that I have lost a friend, although I have not
seen so much of him of late as in former years, and from the bot-
tom of my heart I desire to mingle my tears with those of his
family. I knew his family. I was acquainted with them socially.
I knew his young children when he came here. I saw his sons
growing to manhood. I knew his respected wife, and I may with
propriety say that I have never seen a finer illustration of true
American womanhood than in Mrs. Hayes, the wife of the Presi-
dent, who herself died not many months ago. What I have said
on this occasion has been uttered because of my admiration of
him whose departure has been so sudden and with whom I had
been on friendly terms during many years.
MR. HOLMAN, Democrat of Indiana: - Mr. Speaker, I wish to
add but a few words to the sentiments which have been expressed
touching the life and character of President Hayes. I met him for
the first time on this floor in the closing hours of the Thirty-ninth
Congress. I shook hands with him in the aisle to my right for
the first time. I was charmed by his unassuming, cordial, and
kindly manner, and notwithstanding the fierce political contro-
versy that afterwards arose between the two great political parties
of our country over the question of his election to the Presidency,
I always entertained a great admiration for his character.
The sensibilities of all our people will be deeply touched by his
death. He held the greatest office known to the world and filled
it well. The Administration of President Hayes will go into
history, gentlemen, as the expression of the whole American
people, as well those who differed with him in political opinion
TRIBUTES IN THE HOUSE 175
as those who agreed with him, that he gave to our country one
of the purest administrations our Government has ever known.
He was himself a pure man, a Christian gentleman. His noble
and patriotic efforts to reform the civil service of the Govern-
ment, greatly demoralized by the War for the Union, deserved,
especially in view of the hostility which those efforts encountered
within his own party, imperishable honor.
He in the main failed in his purpose, but that was because his
party was not up to his own high standard of public duty. To me
the earnest efforts of his Administration to secure pure and honest
government appear, in the midst of all his high honors, his highest
honor. How noble his efforts to heal the wounds of our in-
testine war! He was a man of a kindly and forgiving spirit,
and I know of no quality in the human heart more to be admired.
How admirably this humane sentiment adorned his character!
"Forgiveness! it is an attribute of God Himself,
The sound that openeth heaven,
Restores once more fair Eden's faded bloom
And flings Hope's golden halo o'er the waste of life."
The country, greatly demoralized by war, was restored to
peace and purity under his Administration, and the Union of the
States was in spirit restored.
Standing by the open grave of this illustrious citizen, how
natural the thought that greater than being President, better than
to have commanded an army, history will write down that he was
a just and good man.
"Peace to the good man's memory. Let it grow
Greener with years and blossom through the flight
Of ages."
MR. PATTISON, Democrat of Ohio [later Governor of Ohio]:-
Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the fact that I was associated with
General Hayes as a member of the board of trustees of the Ohio
Wesleyan University, of Delaware, Ohio, I had not thought of
saying anything at this time. I wish, however, to add simply a
statement, which possibly may have been forgotten by the gentle-
men who have said so much in respect to his memory. I think
176 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
one and perhaps the most preeminent characteristic of General
Hayes has been overlooked. You will pardon me, I am sure, if I
attempt in a few words and in plain and simple language to add a
tribute to his memory. I surely would not attempt to add any-
thing to the many beautiful eulogies that have been delivered.
Nothing more perhaps need be said to his purity and patriotism
as a citizen, his bravery as a soldier, his greatness and ability as
a statesman, and his success as the President of the United States.
But it seems to me that no eulogy to General Hayes would be en-
tirely complete, or do full justice to his character, without calling
attention, not only to the fact that he was an honest man, and up-
right citizen, an able and distinguished statesman, but also that he
was a Christian. This, to my mind, was the foundation of his
glory and the great secret of his remarkable career. Possibly no
other man ever occupied the White House who had a greater rev-
erence for God and the divine truths of Christianity; and it was his
abiding faith in the Almighty, his sense of human weakness and
dependence, and his strong belief in a Divine government of the
world that gave him courage and strength to meet the emergencies
of perhaps one of the most important administrations during the
last half century of our history. He, I believe, like every other
man who has occupied the Presidential chair, not only recognized
the God of the universe, but also believed that there was an over-
ruling Providence directing all the affairs of this great Republic.
General Hayes had the highest respect for law and order, for
the sanctity of the Sabbath, and never in all his public life forgot
that this was a Christian nation; and it should be remembered,
and to their credit, that all the great men of this country have rec-
ognizd the hand of an All-wise Being in the shaping of its destiny.
As one of the younger members of this body, from the great State
of Ohio, of which General Hayes was an honored and most dis-
tinguished son, I pay my simple tribute not only to him as an hon-
ored citizen, a brave and gallant soldier, but also to him as a
Christian gentleman.
MR. HAYNES, of Ohio:--Mr. Speaker, as a further mark of
respect to the memory of ex-President Hayes, I move that the
House do now adjourn.
THE GOVERNOR'S PROCLAMATION 177
The motion was agreed to; and accordingly (at 2:40 p. m.)
the House adjourned.
PROCLAMATION OF GOVERNOR McKINLEY AND
ACTION OF OHIO AUTHORITIES
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
COLUMBUS, OHIO, January 18, 1893.
To the General Assembly:
It is my painful duty to announce the death, at 11 p. m. yester-
day, at his home in Fremont, Ohio, of Rutherford B. Hayes,
who was a Representative in Congress, three times Governor
of this, his native State, and President of the United States. He
was also a soldier of exceptional distinction in the late war, and
during his retirement to private life occupied his time in good
works and generous benefaction. His death is an event of great
public sorrow. Out of respect for the memory of the great
citizen, soldier, and statesman, I recommend that appropriate
action be taken by the General Assembly. The executive will be
pleased to cooperate with you in a suitable expression of the
sorrow of the people of Ohio over this sad event.
WILLIAM MCKINLEY, JR.
Following the reading of the governor's message, Mr. George
F. Aldrich, the representative from Sandusky County, and Sen-
ator Nichols, in the Senate, each offered the following resolu-
tions, which were unanimously adopted:
"WHEREAS, It has pleased Almighty God to remove by death
Rutherford B. Hayes, ex-President of the United States of
America, and ex-governor of Ohio, soldier, statesman, and pa-
triot; therefore be it
"Resolved, By the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that
in pursuance of and in accordance with the message of the gov-
ernor, a joint committee of four on the part of the senate and
five members of the house, be appointed by the Speaker of the
House and President of the Senate, to cooperate with the state
officials in making suitable preparation for attending the funeral
12
178 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
and other observances, and to prepare appropriate resolutions to
be reported to this General Assembly for its adoption."
Speaker Laylin appointed Messrs. Aldrich, Clapp, McElroy,
Holcomb, and Beaird on behalf of the House, and Messrs. Nichols,
Lampson, Fox, and Stewart were appointed on behalf of the
Senate, and the joint committee, organized by the election of
Senator Lampson as chairman and Representative Aldrich as
secretary, proceeded to the governor's office, where they were
met by the governor and state officers. Governor McKinley
presided and Representative Aldrich was made secretary. A
resolution was unanimously adopted that the governor and state
officers, with members of the General Assembly, should attend
in a body the funeral exercises at Fremont. It was further de-
cided to have a provisional brigade of the Ohio National Guard
participate in the funeral exercises, to be composed of Troop A
of Cleveland, the Toledo Light Battery, and the Sixteenth Regi-
ment of Infantry, Ohio National Guard; and, by direction of Gov-
ernor McKinley, the following general order was issued from
the headquarters of the Ohio National Guard:
"The State is called upon to mourn the death of one of its
most illustrious citizens. Ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes
died at his home, in Fremont, Ohio, Tuesday, January 17, 1893,
at 11 o'clock p. m.
"It is with profound sorrow that the Governor and Com-
mander-in-Chief announces the death of this distinguished and
much loved citizen and soldier. It is appropriate that the Ohio
National Guard (of whom the deceased was for six years com-
mander-in-chief) should testify with the people of the Nation
their deep sense of the great loss sustained by the death of him
who had always been a friend and patriot.
"It is, therefore, ordained that the colors at general head-
quarters, the State Arsenal and on all armories in the State, be
placed at half-staff, from the receipt of this order until and in-
cluding the day of the obsequies, and that the officers of the
Ohio National Guard wear the usual badge of mourning three
months; and that on ceremonies, during this period, regimental
colors be properly draped with crape.
ACTION OF PEABODY TRUSTEES 179
"On the day of the funeral a salute of thirteen guns at sunrise
will be fired at these headquarters by a battery designated, and
during that day one gun every half hour, and at sunset a Na-
tional salute of forty-four guns will be fired.
JAMES C. HOWE,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
By Command of the Governor."
ACTION OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE PEABODY EDU-
CATION FUND OF WHICH RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
WAS A MEMBER
At the annual meeting of the board of trustees of the Peabody
Education Fund, held in New York October 6, 1893, the Honor-
able Robert C. Winthrop, chairman of the board, spoke in com-
memoration of Mr. Hayes' services as a trustee in these words:
"We were shocked by the announcement that ex-President
Hayes was no more. He died at his home in Fremont, Ohio, on
the 17th of January last. Elected in October, 1877, (to the
vacancy created by the death of the Hon. Samuel Watson, of
Tennessee), General Hayes had been associated with us for more
than fifteen years, and had notably distinguished himself by his
devotion to our work. That work, indeed, could hardly have
sustained a greater loss. In common with the Slater trustees of
whom he was the president, we had relied confidently on his
services in the great cause of national education at least to the
end of our own Trust. His general career and character have
been abundantly and admirably delineated in the tributes which
have been paid him by others. Nothing, certainly, could have
been juster or happier than those of President Gilman of Johns
Hopkins University, and of Dr. Curry of our own board, both
of whom were associated with him in the Slater Trust. 'He was
a man,' said President Gilman, 'of lofty ideals, of unfailing pa-
triotism, and of unselfish devotion to the good of his fellow
men. To his lasting honor be it remembered that after retiring
from the highest station in the land he devoted his strength and
time, without thought of reward, to philanthropy and education.'
180 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
Dr. Curry, on the same occasion, most felicitously alluded to ex-
President Hayes as having 'solved the problem,' so often pro-
pounded by the press, of what should be done with our ex-Presi-
dents so as not to lose to the country their 'gathered experience
and wisdom.' 'He consecrated his sound judgment,' said Dr.
Curry, 'his wide intelligence, his tenderness, his generosity,- all
the powers of body, mind, heart,--to the illiterate the unfor-
tunate, and literally went about, over the whole land, doing
good. Identifying himself with national organizations of char-
ities, he was an effective worker in behalf of prison reform
and the bettering of the condition of the Indians. In all mat-
ters of education he was deeply interested. The education of
the negro appealed strongly to his better nature and to his best
activities.' I eagerly adopt these tributes and make them a part
of our own report, as they are of the Slater report, adding only
an expression of the warm regard and affection with which
General Hayes in these latter years had inspired me personally,
and which I had the best reason for thinking were not unrecipro-
cated."
The Honorable William M. Evarts, one of the two surviving
members of the original Board of Trustees, appointed by Mr.
Peabody, reported the following minute, which was placed on
the records of the annual meeting of October 6, 1893.
"The sudden death of ex-President Hayes, without any premo-
nition of advanced years or failing health, in the midst of his
most active labors in the service of the board, gave much poign-
ancy to the grief of this bereavement, for which we were wholly
unprepared. For fifteen years he had been most constant in his
devotion to the interests of the Trust from the first moment he,
while President of the United States, was elected a member of
the board, down to the date of his lamented death. Not only
was he present at all our annual meetings, but with most signal
advantage to its power and influence in the portion of the country
feeling the benefits of Mr. Peabody's benevolent charity, Presi-
dent Hayes accompanied Dr. Curry in some of his visits to the
South, aiding thus our general agent's valuable service in inspir-
MR. EVARTS'S TRIBUTE 181
ing and confirming the zeal and constancy in these communities
in the diffusion of education in its most useful forms.
"President Hayes entered upon the Presidential office at the
most dangerous juncture in the working of the national suffrage
which the country has been called upon to experience. The study
of that crisis and of the high qualities of courage, prudence, and
patience with which his Administration met the perils which sur-
rounded it, and the calm temper and comprehensive patriotism
which brought the stormy contentions to a prosperous issue,-
these belong to the annals of our Government and the public
life of the Chief Magistrate who was called to his great office in
those unruly times. That in the height of these contentions Pres-
ident Hayes should have been selected with so much personal
warmth and affection for membership of this board was as grate-
ful to his feelings as it was for every member to express their
full appreciation of the great character and conduct of their
elected associate.
"Since his retirement from the Presidency, our honored as-
sociate has presented to his countrymen a signal example of con-
stant and active employment in the highest sphere of philan-
thropic labors in the work of this board, in the administration of
the Slater Fund, and in open and practical efforts for the succor
of the unfortunate and distressed upon the largest scale of be-
nevolent sympathy. In this conduct of President Hayes, his
great public career both ends and gains lustre from this record
of his private enlistment in these latter noble services to society.
"The personal qualities of our late associate and friend warmly
endeared him to every member of this body, who feel the sorrow
of a personal bereavement in parting from him."
TRUSTEES OF THE PEABODY FUND
THE BOARD AS ORIGINALLY APPOINTED BY MR. PEABODY, FEBRUARY, 1867.
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop .................... Massachusetts.
Hon. Hamilton Fish ........................ New York.
Right Rev. Charles P. McIlvaine ............. Ohio.
General U. S. Grant ........................ United States Army.
Admiral D. G. Farragut ...................... United States Navy.
Hon. William C. Rives ...................... Virginia.
182 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
Hon. John H. Clifford ....................... Massachusetts.
Hon. William Aiken ......................... South Carolina.
Hon. William M. Evarts .................... New York.
Hon. William A. Graham .................... North Carolina.
Charles Macalester, Esq. ................... Pennsylvania.
George W. Riggs, Esq ........................ Washington.
Samuel Wetmore, Esq ....................... New York.
Edward A. Bradford, Esq .................... Louisiana.
George N. Eaton, Esq ....................... Maryland.
George Peabody Russell, Esq ................. Massachusetts.
TRUSTEES APPOINTED TO FILL THE VACANCIES.
Hon. Samuel Watson ........................ Tennessee.
Hon. A. H. H. Stuart ........................ Virginia.
General Richard Taylor ...................... Louisiana.
Surgeon-General Joseph K. Barnes, U. S. A... Washington,
Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite ............. Ohio
Right Rev. Henry B. Whipple ................ Minnesota.
Hon. Henry R. Jackson ...................... Georgia.
Colonel Theodore Lyman .................... Massachusetts.
President Rutherford B. Hayes ............. Ohio.
Hon. Thomas C. Manning ................... Louisiana.
Anthony J. Drexel, Esq ...................... Pennsylvania.
Hon. Samuel A. Green ....................... Massachusetts.
Hon. James D. Porter ....................... Tennessee.
J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq ..................... New York.
President Grover Cleveland .................. New Jersey.
Hon. William A. Courtenay .................. South Carolina.
Hon. Charles Devens ........................ Massachusetts.
Hon. Randall L. Gibson .................... Louisiana.
Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller ............. Illinois
Hon. William Wirt Henry ................... Virginia.
Hon. Henderson M. Somerville ............... Alabama.
Hon. William C. Endicott .................... Massachusetts.
Hon. Joseph H. Choate ...................... New York.
George W. Childs, Esq.................... Pennsylvania.
Hon. Charles E. Fenner ..................... Louisiana.
Daniel C. Gilman, LL. D ..................... Maryland.
Hon. George Peabody Wetmore ............. Rhode Island.
Hon. John Lowell .......................... Massachusetts.
Hon. George F. Hoar ........................ Massachusetts.
Hon. Richard Olney ......................... Massachusetts.
President William McKinley ................. Ohio
Hon. J. L. M. Curry, Honorary Member and General Agent, Washington.
ACTION OF SLATER TRUSTEES 183
ACTION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE JOHN
F. SLATER FUND OF WHICH RUTHERFORD
B. HAYES WAS PRESIDENT.
At the first meeting, subsequent to the death of Mr. Hayes, of
the board of trustees of the John F. Slater Fund, Dr. J. L. M.
Curry, general agent and chairman of the education committee,
presented the following report:
Death has thrown a dark shadow over the threshold of our
session. On the 17th day of January, our colleague, ex-Presi-
dent Hayes, the first and only President of the Board, died at
his home in Fremont, Ohio, and it was a sad duty and privilege
to pay the homage of official and personal respect at his funeral.
Two times he was a Representative in Congress, three times he
was Governor of Ohio, during the war he rendered gallant serv-
ices as an officer of high rank, and for one term he was Presi-
dent of the United States. In these positions he forgot not his
obligations to his fellow men, but labored for their welfare with
unceasing assiduity and patriotic devotion.
When one retires from exalted position, the full light of pub-
lic observation and curiosity is turned upon him. How to deport
himself, how to preserve the dignity that should attach to high
station, what to do, in what pursuits to engage so as to be useful
and contented, are questions not easily answered. The press
has been fruitful of suggestions as to the best method of not
losing to the country such gathered experience and wisdom.
Legislators and publicists have even proposed amendments to
the Federal Constitution, in order to accomplish the desired end.
President Hayes solved the problem most satisfactorily, in a way
preserving a dignified self-respect and the confidence and ad-
miration of the people, and making his life increasingly useful.
Having held the highest and most honorable office in the world
was no excuse for abandonment of personal duties nor for cessa-
tion of labors for his country's weal. He consecrated his sound
judgment, his wide intelligence, his tenderness, his generosity-
all the powers of body, mind, heart--to the illiterate, the un-
fortunate, and literally went about, over the whole land, doing
good. Identifying himself with national organizations of char-
184 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
ities, he was an effective worker in behalf of prison reform and
the bettering of the condition of the Indians.
In all matters of education, he was deeply interested. As
president of the trustees of Ohio State University, he favored
the adoption of advanced methods and ideas, the rejection of low
ideals, and the securing in the faculty of the broadest scholarship.
The education of the negro appealed strongly to his better na-
ture and to his best activities. With earnestness and power
he pleaded for National aid to fit the freedmen for the responsi-
bilities and privileges of suddenly acquired citizenship. He be-
lieved in the capability of the race, in its ultimate uplifting, but
was not misled by sanguine expectations, or imperfect data, or
hasty generalizations, into Utopian schemes. He thought that,
along with and as a part of the state-provided means for general
education; should be carried on a system of industrial training,
dignifying labor, teaching self-reliance, and making compara-
tively easy an honest livelihood.
It was a happy thought in Mr. Slater to put him at the head of
this Trust. His associates recall that at any personal inconven-
ience and sacrifice he attended the meetings of the board and
the committees, and that no one more conscientiously and
wisely met the obligations he assumed. He was unsparing of
self, discreet in speech, sagacious in counsel, courageous in fol-
lowing his convictions, and set a stimlating example of prompt-
ness, patience, courtesy, hopefulness, and faith. The visit of
observation and inspection which he made with me through the
Southern States in 1891, gave him unmixed pleasure. While the
people honored him and gave him cordial welcome and enter-
tainment, he, with rare modesty, never claimed anything of at-
tention or precedence because of the high honors he had en-
joyed, but gave constant and unwearied consideration to the work
which was before him.
In the career of General Hayes is a lesson for youth and old
age, a model of unsectional patriotism, a condemnation of what
is low and base and merely material, an inspiration to noble liv-
ing, a shining illustration of what can be beneficently done by one
who has administered the highest civil functions and filled the
measure of political ambition.
ACTION OF SLATER TRUSTEES 185
Pardon a personal reference: When law students and fellow
boarders at Harvard Law School, I learned to love and respect
him. The intimacy of our later years, in connection with the
two great education trusts, brought us into most unreserved
companionship, and he so grew upon me that I have no hesita-
tion in pronouncing him one of the best men I ever knew.
In commemoration of Mr. Hayes's great services in the work
of the board, the trustees adopted and placed on record the fol-
lowing appreciation:
The founder of this Trust, Mr. John F. Slater, before making
his generous gift for the education of the freedmen, consulted,
at his home in Norwich, with the Hon. Rutherford B. Hayes, the
tenure of whose office as President of the United States had then
recently expired. President Hayes had been for several years
one of the trustees of the Peabody Fund, and the knowledge he
had thus gained with respect to education in the Southern States
and his interest in all questions pertaining to the moral and social
welfare of the country made his counsel of especial value. When
this board was selected his name stood first upon the list of mem-
bers and he was designated by Mr. Slater as the president. The
nomination was confirmed by the Legislature of the State of
New York in the original Act of Incorporation.
In the ten years which have since elapsed the trustees have
held sixteen meetings and at every one of them President Hayes
has occupied the chair and has guided the deliberations. Usually
he came from his distant home in Ohio for the single purpose
of attending these meetings. In the intervals he carried on a
voluminous correspondence with the general agents of the fund
and with his colleagues. Thrice since our organization he has
made long journeys in the South for the purpose of observing the
condition of the freedmen and the progress of education among
them. Before our last annual meeting he accompanied Dr. Curry
on an extended tour through several of the Southern States. He
was everywhere received with the respect due to the high station
which he had held in the Government of the United States, and
also with marked regard for his personal character, for his con-
ciliatory action toward the South while he was President, and for
186 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
his subsequent devotion to the advancement of public instruction,
In our manifold official relations, we who were his colleagues
have come to know him well. We remember how carefully he
considered every proposition which was suggested for the ad-
vancement of our work, how he arranged in advance the order
of business for every meeting, and how he advised the executive
officers in those particulars which were left undetermined by the
board. We cannot forget that he was particularly interested in
the promotion of manual instruction, that he repeatedly visited
those schools in New York where industrial education is effi-
ciently encouraged, and that in his public addresses he often ex-
pounded and defended the methods he had observed and the
principles in which he believed.
In paying this tribute of respect to his memory, we naturally
recall his own appreciative words as he spoke of those members
of this board who were successively removed by death--words
which seemed to his colleagues in every case so just and so ap-
propriate that they were adopted by the board as their own and
recorded upon the minutes. In his remarks upon the life of Mr.
John F. Slater, he took pains to put on record the interpretation
given by the founder to Christian education, a phrase employed
in his original letter to this board.
The qualities which gave distinction to President Hayes in his
public career were manifested in the position that he held as
president of this board. His directness, his simplicity, his kind-
liness of disposition, his fidelity to every engagement, his readi-
ness to cooperate in every good undertaking, his freedom from
self-seeking, his punctuality, patience, careful attention to details,
and his sympathy with the efforts of those who labor for the
good of their fellow men, were constantly apparent. He did not
concern himself with the financial affairs of the Trust and was
not disposed to make suggestions regarding the details of school
management, but he understood perfectly the difficulties of the
problem of educating the freedmen, and was willing to take time
to remove these difficulties. He never doubted that great results
were to come from the united efforts of patriotic people in the
South and in the North. His public and his private utterances
on this subject were vigorous and inspiring.
ACTION OF NATIONAL PRISON CONGRESS 187
The tributes already paid to the memory of President Hayes
in every part of the country have been so numerous and so cor-
dial that no attempt need now be made to recapitulate the inci-
dents of his life or to analyze his character. The trustees, how-
ever, unanimously place upon record their respect for a man of
lofty ideals, of unfailing patriotism, of wise counsels, and of
unselfish devotion to the good of his fellow men. To his lasting
honor, be it remembered that after retiring from the highest
station in the land he devoted his strength and time, without
thought of reward, to philanthropy and education. It is an honor
to this board that their president during the first ten years was
a man of personal distinction, of unquestioned uprightness, of
great wisdom, and of unfailing devotion to the work in which he
was enlisted. Others will succeed to the office which he held
among us, but none can fill his place. We mourn the death of
a prudent adviser, a faithful colleague, a devoted leader, and an
honored friend.
ACTION OF THE CONGRESS OF THE NATIONAL
PRISON ASSOCIATION OF WHICH RUTHER-
FORD B. HAYES WAS PRESIDENT.
The annual congress of the National Prison Association met at
Chicago June 7, 1893. The association was formed in 1870,
and held its first congress in October of that year at Cincinnati.
Mr. Hayes, then Governor of Ohio, presided. Congresses were
held at Baltimore (1873), St. Louis (1874), and New York
(1876), Horatio Seymour, Governor of New York, being presi-
dent of the association in that period. The next congress was
at Saratoga in 1884, when Mr. Hayes became president of the
association, and so continued by annual election to the end of
his life. He devoted much time and effort to the cause, and
presided at every congress,--Detroit (1885), Atlanta (1886),
Toronto (1887), Boston (1888), Nashville (1889), Cincinnati
(1890), Pittsburgh (1891), and Baltimore (1892). At each con-
gress he made a significant and inspiring opening address.
That expression of appreciation might be given by members
of the association of the great interest Mr. Hayes had taken
188 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
in philanthropic work, and especially in the cause of prison
reform, and in love for his memory, the opening session of the
congress in 1893 was devoted to the delivery of eulogies of his
character and tributes to his worth.
The opening address was made by General Roeliff Brinker-
hoff, of Ohio, and was as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The National Prison Association meets to-night in the shadow
of a great bereavement, caused by the death of our honored
president, Rutherford B. Hayes. For the first time in eight
years, at our annual congress, we miss his presence, his counsels,
and his encouragement. To him more than to any other man is
due the commanding position of influence obtained by this asso-
ciation in prison matters, and, therefore, it seems eminently
proper that we should set apart this opening session for the re-
ception of testimonials to his memory.
To his achievements as a soldier and statesmen, the whole coun-
try has borne testimony in a thousand ways; but to-night we
honor him as a philanthropist and as a friend. To the world at
large, General Hayes as a prison reformer is of little conse-
quence; and his work in that direction is deemed one of the
vagaries to which eminent men are sometimes disposed. To us,
however, who know the importance of the prison question, and
who believe that its solution is of more vital importance to the
American people, and more essential to the perpetuity of the
Republic, than the solution of the questions about which political
parties are now contending, General Hayes as a philanthropist
has rendered a service as worthy of remembrance as any deeds
of his contemporaries in statesmanship or in arms. The country
can survive under high tariffs or low tariffs, under free coinage
or restricted coinage, but it cannot survive a demoralized people,
with crime increasing like a tide that knows no ebb. To devise
means to avert these dangers demands the best thought of our
best men; and hence we honor the memory of our great leader
to-night.
The prison question is not restricted simply to the considera-
tion of persons already in prison, but reaches out to the larger
GENERAL BRINKERHOFF'S TRIBUTE 189
problems of prevention and reclamation, which lie outside of
prison walls.
The active interest of General Hayes in the prison question
dates back to 1867, when he was first elected Governor of Ohio.
The Board of State Charities in that State had just been created,
and he became its helper and protector; and in its prison work
he was specially interested. Soon after he went out of office, in
1871, in a spasm of hostility caused by needed criticisms of dere-
lict institutions, the board was abolished; but four years later,
in 1875, when General Hayes was again elected governor, he
succeeded in securing the restoration of the board; and from
that time to the day of his death, he was its unfailing supporter.
During the fifteen years I have been upon the board, there was
no other man from whom I received so much encouragement and
inspiration and help as from General Hayes. His readiness to
respond to demands upon his time, in furtherance of our work,
is indicated by the following letter, which I received in reply to
an urgent request that he would come and help us at the second
annual meeting of our State Conference of Charities and Cor-
rections in Ohio, last year; and this is only one of many in-
stances:
SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, May 14, 1892.
MY DEAR GENERAL.: -I am just home after a protracted ab-
sence, and find a heap of letters to attend to, but yours of yester-
day I take up first. You can hardly realize the demands on my
time. Your work in all parts of the good cause of charities and
correction gives you a right to call on the friends of the work.
Without hesitation, therefore, I will try to attend September 13,
at Cleveland, and if possible give a short testimony in behalf
of the Board of State Charities.
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.
He came according to his promise, and responded to the ad-
dress of welcome, and participated in our discussions, and was
helpful in many ways. How large a concession this was to the
Board of State Charities can be apprehended more fully when
we remember that he was the president of the board of trustees
of the Slater Fund, which took weeks of his time every year; the
190 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
president of the Indian Conference; the president of the Negro
Conference; the president of the Ohio Archaeological and His-
torical Society; the president of the National Prison Associa-
tion; the commander of the Loyal Legion; and an active member
of boards of trustees for half a dozen colleges; and an annual
participant in scores of military organizations; and he was con-
stantly in demand for all sorts of gatherings, civil and religious.
His heart, however, was mainly in philanthropic work, because,
in his view, it was for God and humanity. To this work he de-
liberately devoted his life, after he left the Presidential chair; and
upon his return to Ohio, he declared that the only public office he
would again be willing to accept would be that of a member of
the Board of State Charities.
In 1870, when the National Prison Congress was organized at
Cincinnati, Governor Hayes was present, and was selected to
preside over its deliberations, and was deeply interested in its
proceedings. In 1884, when the National Prison Association was
reorganized, he became its president, and was reelected annually
until he died. During the past eight years, he has been present
at every one of our annual meetings, and the priceless value of
his services is known to all our members. In his annual ad-
dresses, he discussed all the various phases of the prison question
in a broad-minded, practical way, and his conclusions rarely
failed to carry conviction to his audience. Whilst he was no
theorist or sentimentalist, still his purview of prison questions
was from a lofty standpoint, and dealt with causes rather than
remedies-prevention rather than cure. His favorite theme, or
hobby, as he sometimes called it, was education, and especially
industrial education. I do not remember an annual address in
which he did not refer to it in some form. In 1885, at Detroit,
he said: "If I were asked to name a measure of reform which is
practically within our reach, and best fitted to prevent, or at
least largely to diminish, crime, I would say, let our young people
of both sexes, and of all conditions, be taught, as a part of their
education, to know the value of work, to catch the spirit of work,
and to form the habit of work, not only with their brains but also
with their hands and eyes. The young man who despises labor
GENERAL BRINKERHOFF'S TRIBUTE 191
carries with him into every walk of life one of the most danger-
ous temptations to crime." In 1887, at Toronto, he said: "Prison
reform recommends the general education of the youth of both
sexes in industrial pursuits, employing and training the faculties
of both body and mind in productive labor, as an efficient means
of preventing crime." In 1888, at Boston, he said: "If the young
of all conditions of life and of both sexes, were trained to in-
dustrious habits, taught some form of useful labor; if education
gave them the love of labor, the spirit of labor, and the ability to
labor, we should soon see the tide turn in our prison statistics.
Instead of a constant demand for more prison room, we should
be gladdened by a permanent decrease in our prison calendar."
In 1889, at Nashville, he said: "Education, as I undertake to em-
phasize, is the means by which any prison can best reform the
convict. . . Let me give one of my favorite crotchets
which is, that no education is a fit education, complete and per-
fect, for any American boy or any American girl, that does not
fit him and her to earn their own living by the labor of their
hands." In 1890, at Cincinnati, he said: "I believe that, in this
country of ours, no education is complete for the rich man's son
or daughter, or the poor man's son or daughter, which does not fit
the boy or girl to make an honest living by his or her hands."
And, "I think no education is better fitted to prevent crime than
this, added to our present excellent common-school education."
Another favorite theme was the non-partisan management of
prisons; and he often referred to it as an absolute necessity in
the reformation of prisons. In 1885, he said: "Party politics and
the prison have no agreement. All experience proves that party
management is the ruin of a prison, and adds no permanent
strength to the party having it. The divorce between the prisons
and politics should be total and absolute." In 1891, at Pitts-
burgh, he said: "Merit, ability, experience, ought to be the con-
trolling consideration in all appointments of prison officers. Mere
partisan appointments corrupt the prison, and add no strength
or prestige to the political party that makes them. It was said
in the war, 'a good colonel makes a good regiment.' A good
warden, with ample power, will make a better prison, even under
192 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
a bad system, than a poor warden under the best system. The
spoils doctrine is nowhere more out of place than when it con-
trols the appointment of prison officials."
On a still higher plane, he constantly inculcated the law of
Christian brotherhood, and the duty devolved upon us as our
brother's keeper, and God's helper. In 1886, at Atlanta, he said:
"We believe that society is so compacted together, that Providence
hath so ordained and doth govern things, that, whether we would
have it so or not, we must be, and are, our brother's keepers. No
man's family is safely entrenched against vice and crime, and the
shame and wretchedness to which they lead. Let the outcast and
the criminal be forgotten or disregarded, and our whole society
will suffer from the taint of human degradation. Like a blood
poison, it will spread through and through the social system, until
it reaches the heart. This serious and mighty truth imposes a
duty which no society can afford to neglect. Civilized society
can not neglect it and live. No well-informed Christian society
ever will neglect it." In 1887, at Toronto, he said: "Society is
silent and inactive in the presence of many recognized evils, be-
cause society has no faith -they are accepted as inevitable, and
endured because they are believed to be beyond cure; but in a
world that God governs, no notion can be more false or harmful;
- in God's world, what ought to be done can be done. The
longer it may take to remedy a recognized evil, to right an ad-
mitted wrong, the sooner will wise men set about it; the
harder the task, the more zealously good men will do their duty
in trying to accomplish it." In 1888, at Boston, he said: "The
citizen can not be loyal to his country and faithful to her true
significance if he neglects the children of misfortune, of poverty,
of weakness, and of wickedness, who are, or who are in danger
of being, enrolled in the ranks of crime. From the dawn of
human society, it has been an irrepealable condition of its exist-
ence that all men are indeed their brothers' keepers.
'Verily, verily,
By each help you hold to them,
In so much your fingers touch
Of His robe the living hem.'"
GENERAL BRINKERHOFF'S TRIBUTE 193
General Hayes was preeminently a Christian man, and his
whole life, like Handel's oratorio of the Messiah, was keyed on
the Christ ideal, and yet, I have learned since his death, he was
never a member of a Christian church. He was an adherent
and member of the board of trustees of the Methodist
church at Fremont, Ohio, and for many years a member of
the board of trustees of the Methodist college at Delaware,
Ohio, but he was not a communicant. Why this was so I do
not know; but I was often with him, and repeatedly, in long
journeys, and in his own house for an entire day at a time, with-
out interruption from others, and yet, in conversations protracted
for hours, the whole trend of his philosophy in solving the rid-
dles of life was Christian. This was more apparent in private
conversations than in public utterances; and yet, as you have
doubtless noticed, like a golden thread, it runs through nearly
all his annual addresses before the prison congress. Some in this
audience to-night will remember that pathetic closing of his an-
nual address before the congress at Nashville, shortly after the
death of his wife, when, with tears, he said: "What spirit shall we
invoke to guide all who speak and all who act upon the great
questions relating to human conduct and to accountability under
human laws? During almost forty years, it has been the crown-
ing felicity of my life to dwell with a companion, now gone to
the world beyond, whose gift and whose delight it was to shed
happiness on all around her. Her joy was so radiant, because
her life was the very incarnation of these few humble and
precious words, which fell naturally from her lips: 'I know that
I am not good, but I do try to treat all others as I would wish
to be treated if I were in their places.' Surely, surely, my
friends, if our laws and their execution, and if communities and
individuals, can be penetrated and controlled by the spirit of the
Golden Rule, a solution will be found for every problem which
now disturbs, or threatens to disturb, the foundations of our
American society."
Those who heard, and any who will read, that Nashville ad-
dress, will understand the power of this utterance more fully, in
the knowledge that it followed the boldest arraignment ever made
by a Northern man in the heart of the South of that barbaric
13
194 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
custom of wager of battle, in the duello system, which still sur-
vives. Those present will remember the breathless silence of
that great audience, and its failure to respond. Nevertheless,
those utterances were as magnificent as those of Paul on Mars'
Hill, under similar circumstances, and I have no doubt with sim-
ilar result. In all my intercourse with public men, I have never
known one whose conversation and conduct was more exemplary
than that of General Hayes. In reply to a commendatory re-
mark upon this, he once said to me: "In avoiding the appearance
of evil, I am not sure but I have sometimes unnecessarily de-
prived myself and others of innocent enjoyments." His talk was
always interesting and instructive, and always clean. He liked
a good story, and sometimes told one; but off-color anecdotes and
profanity were an abomination. Upon the whole, as a model
American citizen, in character and conduct, in all the relations
of life, I do not believe we have a better example in American
history.
He is not yet appreciated in his true proportions by the world
at large; but, to me personally, he has been an inspiration in all
that is best in what I have attempted in my life-work, and as
the years recede, and as his life is seen in its true perspective in
history, I am very sure that no American President, who has yet
lived, will be remembered more gratefully by the American peo-
ple. General Hayes was a typical American in his develop-
ment and in his career, and made his way to all the positions he
occupied by honest and persistent effort. He was not a brilliant
or showy man, and manifested no transcendent genius in any
department of human endeavor, except, perhaps the genius of
common sense; but, in every position he was placed, he man-
ifested a broad-minded comprehension of its requirements, and
discharged its duties ably, and with marked integrity. By many
he has been considered a favorite child of fortune, and possibly
there may be something in that. He certainly was fortunate in
his home surroundings beyond the average of men. He was also
fortunate in the affection of an uncle, Sardis Birchard, his
mother's brother, who left him an estate which relieved him in
middle and later life from the drudgery of money-making; but
beyond that he was as fully the architect of his own fortune as
GENERAL BRINKERHOFF'S TRIBUTE 195
any of his contemporaries in public life. In fact, I am not sure
but he had larger physical difficulties to overcome than most
men. Apparently, he was fortunate in a temperament so calm,
deliberate, and self-poised as to enable him to make the most of
every situation, without haste and without mistake. As we knew
him, this was doubtless the fact; and yet, according to his own
testimony, this temperament was as surely an acquisition as the
eloquence of Demosthenes was an acquisition over a stammering
tongue. In my last journey with him, last December to Balti-
more, we were together for a night and a day, and in our long
talk we discussed many things, and among others the power of
heredity and the possibility of overcoming it. He stoutly com-
batted the Lombroso fad, now so prevalent, of criminal neces-
sity, and maintained that the heredity was rare that could not be
overcome by proper training, or a moral purpose; and, to illus-
trate his meaning, he gave me his own experience. "I was born,"
he said, "with a temperament, inherited from both sides of the
house, that was nervous to the verge of disaster. I went all to
pieces on the slightest provocation, and it brought me constant
trouble. As I grew up, I became aware of my danger and its
causes, and deliberately determined to overcome it. By ab-
stemious living, by physical and mental exercises, and by con-
stant will-power, I battled my enemy, until, in the course of
months and years, I became master of the situation, and came to
maturity a free man. Practically, I have no nerves. I can cut
off thought, and go to sleep at a moment's notice, whatever is
impending." He gave me several examples; but I have time now
for only one. "When the battle of Winchester was on, my com-
mand was seventeen miles away, when Sheridan ordered that
headlong rush to the front. We reached the verge of battle
badly blown, and were halted for twenty minutes of rest before
going in. The thunder and blaze and smoke of the great fight
filled the air, but I knew what I needed, of all things, just then,
was sleep; and so I threw my bridle to an orderly, wrapped my
gloves together for a pillow, threw myself on the ground, and
slept for twenty minutes, as peaceful as a child, when the order
came for the charge, and they woke me up. No, no," he said,
"heredity is not an insurmountable barrier, or an excuse for
196 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
wrong-doing. Every one has a bad heredity, in some direction,
and a part of our discipline in this world is to overcome it.
Heredity is no excuse for crime, and the business of reforma-
tories is to train men out of crime; and they ought to do it in
most cases, at least with the young."
Possibly General Hayes may have overestimated, somewhat,
his physical disabilities, and possibly better opportunities may
have come to him than is the lot of the average man; but yet,
after all, it was the preparation he brought to the opportunity,
more than the opportunity itself, that made him great.
And now that he has gone out into the Infinite, it seems to me
that the lesson to learn from his life is, that the only way to
attain greatness is to be great, and the only way to get good is to
do good.
"And I remember still
The words, and from whom they came.
Not he that repeateth the name,
But he that doeth the will !"
ACTION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE OHIO
STATE UNIVERSITY OF WHICH RUTHERFORD
B. HAYES WAS PRESIDENT
At a meeting of the board of trustees of the Ohio State Uni-
versity, held at Columbus January 19, 1893, the following me-
morial minute was adopted and placed on record:
Rutherford B. Hayes was born at Delaware, Ohio, October
4, 1822, and died at Fremont, Ohio, January 17, 1893.
lie entered Kenyon College in, 1838, at the age of sixteen, and
was graduated in 1842, being awarded the first honors of his class.
He began the study of law at Columbus, but entered the law de-
partment of Harvard University in 1843, graduating in 1845.
He was admitted to the bar the same year and began the practice
of his profession at Fremont, but subsequently located at Cin-
cinnati.
In 1852 he married Lucy W. Webb, of Chillicothe, Ohio.
On the fall of Fort Sumter he abandoned his practice and
began the work of raising troops. On June 7, 1861, he was
STATE UNIVERSITY ACTION 197
commissioned by Governor Dennison, major of the Twenty-third
Ohio Infantry. After five months' service in West Virginia, he
was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. His intrepid conduct at the
battle of South Mountain, where he was wounded, secured his
promotion as colonel, on October 24, 1862, of the Twenty-third
Ohio.
As commander of brigade or division he fought in the battles
of Cloyd's Mountain, Winchester, Berryville, Opequon, Fisher's
Hill, and Cedar Creek. At the last-named battle, on the recom-
mendation of General Sheridan, he was promoted to the rank of
brigadier-general. On March 13, 1865, he was promoted to the
rank of brevet major-general for gallant and distinguished
services during the campaign of 1864 in West Virginia, and par-
ticularly at the battles of Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. He
was wounded six times in battle, and had four horses shot under
him in his four years' service.
His political services began with his appointment to the office
of city solicitor of Cincinnati, to which office he was subsequently
elected, and which he filled with marked ability for three years.
He was elected to represent one of the Cincinnati districts in the
Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. While serving as a Mem-
ber of Congress in 1867 he was elected governor of Ohio, and
was reelected in 1869.
While serving his second term as governor he was influential
in securing the legislation under which the Ohio State University
was located and organized.
In 1875, against his personal wishes, he was again renominated,
and reelected governor of Ohio. While serving his third term
as governor, he was elected President of the United States.
On May 13, 1887, be was appointed a member of this board
of trustees, and at a meeting held November 22, 1892, was
elected its president. He attended and presided at the meeting
of the board held at Columbus, January 10 and 11 1893, and on
Thursday, January 12, left for Cleveland with the purpose of
making inquiry relating to the position of director of the new in-
dustrial department. On Saturday, the 14th, while in Cleveland,
and about to depart for home he had a severe attack of neu-
ralgia of the heart. He continued his journey, however, and ar-
198 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
rived at home that evening. He died surrounded by his family,
at the family homestead at Fremont, at 11 o'clock P. M., Tues-
day, January 17, 1893.
The members of this board feel deeply the irreparable loss
the university has sustained in the death of President Hayes and
share in the general sorrow of the State and Nation.
A great and good man is dead, a life full of honor is ended,
an illustrious career is closed, and nothing can be said that
will add to his reputation. That belongs to our common history.
Of pure life, of unsullied honor, of gentlest disposition, of
lofty courage, moral, temperate, industrious, free from every
vice, blessed with every virtue, almost faultless, the life of this
good man will always remain with us a shining model for the
students of our university to imitate.
His life was most happy, his success most brilliant. The love
others bore him carried him over every obstacle and bestowed
upon him the highest honors of the republic.
Unassuming in his manners, polite, scholarly, studious, accom-
plished, he made all who knew him his friends. He bore without
complaint the most severe and unjust censure. In reply he
uttered no word of resentment. He had charity for all, malice
for none. A Christian and a gentleman, he lived above the
ordinary feelings and passions of his fellow men, and leaves to
us the imperishable memory of his good name, his virtuous life
and noble character.
Mr. R. J. Alexander in presenting the above memorial and
resolution said:
"Ex-President Hayes will be a grand character in our coun-
try's history. His whole life seemed to have been a triumphal
march. With an exalted sense of truth and right, he showed the
highest courage in their maintenance. A warm friend, kind to
all, abounding in charity, social, liberal, courteous, all were at-
tached to him who knew him. With active intellect, rare good
sense, sincere, earnest, eloquent, and with ready use of language,
he was a great orator. None of our public men could so well
entertain an audience, for his words had no sting, his heart no
bitterness. 'When he was reviled he reviled not again.'
STATE UNIVERSITY ACTION 199
Wounded and sore, he spoke no words of resentment. By pro-
fession and practice he was a Christian. Free from envy, pride,
arrogance, and avarice, without repulsive dignity, of most happy
disposition, he will always be honored and loved by the people
he served so well. His name in the future will be a tower of
strength for this university and an inspiration for the students
in its halls. Mr. President, I move the adoption of the memorial
and resolution."
The motion having been seconded, the president stated that
further remarks were in order.
Mr. D. M. Massie spoke as follows:
"General Hayes played a great and honorable part in the his-
tory of our country. Others better qualified than we will pay
the well deserved tribute to his fame as a soldier, statesman, and
ruler. It was our privilege to know him after he had achieved
the highest possible place among his countrymen. Herein we
are most fortunate, for there could not be a more charming
great man than ex-President Hayes. Education and experience
had given him wide knowledge and great wisdom. A kind heart
made him considerate of the opinion of others. He never used
his position to impose his ideas or wishes upon his associates,
and was always willing to receive suggestions from others and to
lend his aid in assisting them in efforts in behalf of a worthy
cause. Herein is the best and greatest part of General Hayes's
career. He was always actively engaged in promoting the truest
and best interests of his fellow men. Called by the nation to the
highest place in the land, he discharged the duties of the great
office worthily and well. When it was finished he did not rest
on his laurels, but used his great influence in active work in be-
half of education, advancing the cause of truth. What more
can any man do, be he great or humble, than help forward the
cause of truth wherever and whenever he can. We all know how
much he did for the university, how wise he was as a counsellor,
how active as a friend, and what a tower of strength he was to
us. There will be many memorials and monuments erected to
his memory, but none shall be more worthy of him than our
university, in whose organization and development he bore so
200 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
conspicuous a part. Through it, though dead, he shall still speak
in living words to generations yet unborn."
Mr. W. I. Chamberlain spoke as follows:
"When General Hayes retired from the Presidency of the
United States, he did not settle down to a life of mere literary
enjoyment, so tempting to one of high scholarship; nor, on the
other hand, did he turn his attention to increasing the ample for-
tune he had partly earned and partly inherited. He quietly and
unselfishly gave his last twelve years of life to the service of
his fellow men--the prisoners, the negroes, the Indians, the
poor and downtrodden. But if he had a special hobby it was
the industrial education of the common people. The beautiful
School of Industrial Art, just erected at the Ohio State Uni-
versity, has the words Hayes Hall cut deep in the great stone
arch above its main entrance, to remain for centuries a memorial
to the illustrious statesman who inspired its erection, and did so
much to put the university on an ample and enduring financial
basis. Just one week ago, in perfect health, he looked through
the completed structure, and expressed his deep gratification at
its elegant adaptation to its future work. We can never forget
his constant devotion to the industrial interests of this great in-
stitution.
"He was, if possible, the most democratic of all our Presidents.
There was never the least exclusiveness, arrogance, or assump-
tion of superiority. From seeing and conversing with him, no
one who did not know the facts would have guessed, that in suc-
cession he had held the highest places in the power of the State
and Nation to bestow. No secretary or attendant travelled with
him. He arrived always unannounced, and gripsack in hand,
he went quietly on foot or by street-car to the hotel or office
where he was to meet the board, to which he freely gave his
valuable services.
"He always showed the most courteous deference to the opin-
ions of all his associates. None ever came close to him in asso-
ciation without being made better and more unselfish by the con-
tact, for they felt him to be the highest type of the unselfish
Christian gentleman. His faith in God and in the future was
STATE UNIVERSITY ACTION 201
serene, and his belief in the honor and good sense of the Amer-
ican people really brought to a crucial test, was well-nigh as
unshaken as his faith in God. No life is worthier of imitation
and remembrance. The memory of the just is blessed."
The vice-president, Mr. Schueller, calling one of his associates
to the chair, said:
"De mortuis nil nisi bonum has become a maxim in such gen-
eral use, that it has advanced almost to an indisputable axiom,
to the greatest disadvantage of all truly good and great men.
This maxim, more than anything else, has falsified history and
distorted character, elevated rascals to glory and turned scoun-
drels into saints. Thus it has become almost a farce, and is con-
sidered by many a fabrication, to speak in high terms of appre-
ciation of a beloved dead, who, by his words and deeds, deserves
the greatest honors bestowed upon him by his countrymen, nay,
by all mankind, to whose interests he had devoted the latter part
of his eventful life.
"No posthumous transformation of character is needed in be-
half of our departed colleague and president of our board, ex-
President Rutherford B. Hayes. His life has been an open book
with leaves unsullied, inscribed but with kind words and good
deeds originating in an all-loving mind. Being a political op-
ponent, and meeting him for the first time three years ago with
a certain degree of misgiving, all ill feeling that may have ani-
mated me vanished before his genial demeanor, pure character,
and self-sacrificing love for all that is noble and good, like clouds
before a bright summer sun, leaving but reverence and admira-
tion. Ever since leaving the Presidential chair of the nation, he
has devoted his life exclusively to the elevation of mankind. His
constant aim has been to raise the people to a higher level of
intelligence and corresponding morality, by educating mind and
body harmoniously, thereby ameliorating the social condition and
material resources of the laboring classes. Not, as it is gener-
ally preached and practiced, by giving alms which degrade and
degenerate, but by giving them self-reliance in their physical
powers and intellectual faculties, and thus aiding them to become
independent laborers and not mendicants or beggars.
"The words of Schiller, in the prologue prefacing his trilogy
202 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
'Wallenstein,' voice my feelings and sentiments in regard to our
departed friend better than any words I might give utterance to:
'A noble master occupied this place,
And bore us upward to the realms of art
Upon the wings of his creative power.
A brilliant model rouses emulation
And leads the judgment on to higher love;
For he who satisfies the best of his own age
Lives not for them alone, but for all future time.'"
Remarks expressive of their deep sense of personal loss in the
death of their distinguished colleague, and of appreciation of his
noble character were also made by Messrs. Lucius B. Wing and
T. J. Godfrey.
The secretary (Alexis Cope) said:
"On Thursday of last week, after the meeting of this board,
President Hayes came to the office, and said in his pleasant way:
'Now let us go up and call upon the governor. He is going to
talk to the State Board of Agriculture and we can go up with him
to the senate chamber and hear his speech.'
"We walked up to the governor's office together, saw the gov-
ernor, and went up to the senate chamber, where we heard him
make a short address, and then came back to the office.
"On the way the President said: 'You know we have always
taken a great interest in McKinley and hope to see him President
some day.'
"He soon started for the train and I took his grip to go with
him. He protested that the weather was very cold and that I
must not think of going to the station. I insisted, and he re-
luctantly consented. He took my arm and we walked to the
station together. Arriving there we found his train a half-hour
late. He proposed that we take a cup of coffee, so we climbed
onto the high stools in the luncheon room and had our coffee.
Something drew him to talk of his early life, of his father's
death, and his Uncle Birchard taking him, a half-orphan boy,
under his care; a care that left no childish or boyish want unsat-
isfied. He seemed to be nervously depressed and anxious for
companionship.
STATE UNIVERSITY ACTION 203
"When we parted he said he would go to Cleveland to see a
proposed candidate for the position of director of manual train-
ing. We learn that he went to see this person, walking several
blocks in the face of a violent snow-storm. This was the last
public service President Hayes performed.
"It touches us deeply that this service was in behalf of the
university, and that the exposure incident thereto may have
caused or contributed to the illness which resulted in his death.
"But touching as this reflection is, we know that President
Hayes, could he have chosen the field in which his life should be
given up, would have chosen no other than that of loving service
to his fellow men. Could he have chosen the manner of his death,
he would have chosen that which came to him; the sudden pang,
and the peaceful, unconscious passing of the spirit.
"A friendly intimacy which, during the years he has been a
trustee of the university, has constantly grown and strengthened,
justifies me in thus confidently speaking of our beloved friend
and associate.
"He was fortunate and happy in his life; he was happy also
in his death. The rancor and bitterness which followed the dis-
puted Presidential contest in which he was successful were rap-
idly passing away. He saw his countrymen turning toward him
with constantly increasing reverence and respect, and was happy
in the reflection that in discharging the duties of his high office
as his conscience dictated, he had made 'the safe appeal of truth
to time.'
"We may congratulate ourselves that of the many important
public trusts he held at the time of his death, the university was
foremost in his heart. He was the most active and perhaps the
controlling agent in its organization and location. He shaped the
necessary legislation, procured its passage, and appointed the
board of trustees which located the university, prescribed its gen-
eral courses of study, and elected its faculty. His interest in it
was constant and he was always ready to make any sacrifice of
time and personal effort to serve it. In the years to come his
name and fame will be dear to all who come within its influence."
204 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
ACTION OF TRUSTEES OF WESTERN RESERVE UNI-
VERSITY OF WHICH RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
WAS A TRUSTEE.
At a meeting of the board of trustees of the Western Reserve
University, held at Cleveland March 1, 1893, the following resolu-
tion in honor of Mr. Hayes was adopted:
In common with the people of the United States, we mourn
the death of Rutherford B. Hayes, which has taken away a man
whose patriotic services as a soldier, whose pure and able ad-
ministration of the Government, whose noble devotion of his last
years to works of philanthropy and the promotion of the public
good, and whose true and upright life made his example worthy
of the imitation of all "who love their fellow men." And as
Trustees of the Western Reserve University we especially mourn
the loss of one whose exalted character, clear mind, and sound
judgment have contributed so greatly to the success and pros-
perity of this institution.
ACTION OF TRUSTEES OF OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVER-
SITY OF WHICH RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
WAS A TRUSTEE.
At a meeting of the board of Ohio Wesleyan University, held
at Delaware June 22, 1893, the following minute in honor of
the memory of Mr. Hayes was adopted and placed on record:
The Board of Trustees desires to place on record its high
appreciation of Rutherford B. Hayes, ex-President of the United
States, who died January 17, 1893.
President Hayes has been for nine years past an honored
and valued member of this board. His wide experience, his
great wisdom, his deep interest in the cause of higher education,
and his sympathy with all that is noble and good, gave to his
services as a member of this board an exceptional value. He
entered heartily into all plans for enlarging the work and in-
creasing the usefulness of the university, for which he cherished
the highest regard. He was faithful in his attendance upon the
meetings of the board, and allowed no other of the numerous
WESTERN RESERVE AND WESLEYAN 205
calls that pressed him to deprive the board of his presence and
counsel.
We recognize the worth of his distinguished service; and as
a corporation and as individuals, shall always cherish his memory,
which will be to us all an inspiration to imitate his virtues, and
to live lives of equal value to society and to the world.
DAVID S. GRAY, Chairman,
JOHN M. WALDEN,
WILLIAM LAWRENCE,
ISAAC F. KING,
WILLIAM A. INGHAM,
GEORGE W. ATKINSON,
CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS,
RICHARD S. RUST,
Committee.
ACTION OF THE FACULTY AND ALUMNI ASSOCIA-
TION OF KENYON COLLEGE FROM WHICH RUTH-
ERFORD B. HAYES GRADUATED IN 1842
On January 18, 1893, the president of Kenyon College reported
to the faculty the death of ex-President Hayes, Kenyon's most
noted alumnus. It was voted that if the president be unable to
attend the funeral, Professor Devol be requested to represent the
faculty. It was further voted to appoint a committee which shall
express the sentiments of the faculty in the form of resolutions.
Prefessors Devol, Brusie, and Peirce were chosen. This com-
mittee will also transmit copies of the resolutions to the rela-
tives of the deceased, and attend to publication.
On January 20 the above committee reported the following
resolution:
"The faculty of Kenyon College desire to express their deep
sense of the loss which the college has sustained in the death of
General Rutherford B. Hayes, LL. D., of the class of 1842, and
to pay tribute to the memory of his pure and noble character.
"The public services of Mr. Hayes are familiar to every in-
telligent citizen of the nation. His bravery, his wise statesman-
206 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
ship, his philanthropy are known to all his countrymen. We,
however, especially rejoice that it was the privilege of Kenyon
to have nourished such a son, and we point to him as a type of
the lofty character which colleges should aim to produce, -that
of the patriotic, cultured, Christian gentleman. As such, Kenyon
will cherish his memory as one of her most precious possessions.
"It is ordered that this memorial be entered upon the records
of the faculty, that it be published in the Kenyon Collegian,
and the daily papers, and that a copy be sent to the family of the
deceased."
MEMORIAL EXERCISES OF KENYON COLLEGE ALUMNI
IN MEMORY OF
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, CLASS OF 1842.
Rosse Hall, Gambier, Ohio, June 28, 1893.
President of Alumni Association, Hon. George T. Chapman, '56.
Music by the Band
Prayer of Invocation ......................Rt. Rev. William A. Leonard
Hayes the Student and Friend ..................Hon. Guy M. Bryan, '42
Hayes the Alumnus ................................Col. J. E. Jacobs, '58
Music - "Lead, Kindly Light,"
Kenyon Glee Club.
Hayes the Lawyer ............................Judge M. M. Granger, '50
Hayes the Soldier ............................Gen. John G. Mitchell, '59
Music by the Band.
Hayes the Statesman ............................. Hon. Columbus Delano
Hayes the President .........................Hon. J. Kent Hamilton, '59
Music by Kenyon Glee Club.
Hayes the ex-President and Philanthropist ............Wm. C. Reynolds
Hayes's Religious Character ...........................Rev. John H. Ely
Singing--"Old Kenyon, Mother Dear."
Benediction ................................... Rt. Rev. Boyd Vincent
ACTION OF TWENTY-THIRD REGIMENT
At the annual reunion of the Twenty-third Regiment, O. V.
V. I. held at Lakeside, September 4, 1889, the following resolu-
tions were adopted:
WHEREAS, At this, our Annual Reunion, we have to bear testi-
mony to the steady depletion of our ranks and to the annual de-
tails for service in the Grand Army beyond; and,
ACTION OF KENYON COLLEGE 207
WHEREAS, At this, our annual meeting, we have to ac-
knowledge with unfeigned sorrow the departure of one who was
early identified with our organization, an active participant with
us in our joys and sorrows, and one who at all times was ever
ready with heart and hand to console the afflicted and to lessen
life's burdens; and
WHEREAS, We recognize in the life of Lucy Webb Hayes a
lamp by which our feet may be guided to a better life, and while
we regret her departure hence, we accept with humility the man-
date of the Great Architect of the Universe and yield cheerful
acquiescence to His will; therefore,
Resolved, That we renew our allegiance to each other, and
offer to our honored commander, comrade, and friend our last-
ing friendship until the final summons shall call each and all of
us to the silent camping ground of the dead.
Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the records
of our association and a copy be sent to our honored commander
and his family.
J. C. BOTSFORD,
J. S. ELLEN,
BEN KILLAM,
Committee.
At the annual reunion of the Twenty-third Regiment, O. V.
V. I. held at Lakeside, Ohio, on the 16, 17, and 18th of August,
1893, the following resolutions were adopted:
WHEREAS, Our old commander, General Rutherford B. Hayes,
closed his eyes in death on the 17th day of January, 1893, at his
home in Fremont, Ohio, his spirit winging its way to the God
who gave it; and
WHEREAS, By his death this association has lost its best friend,
while the Nation has lost one of its wisest statesmen and most
patriotic citizens, and humanity one of the purest and most ex-
emplary of men on earth; and
WHEREAS, The loss to his family, to the Nation, and to the
world is irreparable, and seems to each and all of us, as almost
too much to bear complacently; and
208 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
WHEREAS, We know that he had no dread of death or the
future, but regarded the great change as a sure and certain pro-
motion from this world of care, sorrow, and disappointment to
a life beyond the grave, where he would be joined by wife and
friends gone before, with powers and opportunity for doing
good, so far beyond our comprehension as to be indescribable;
therefore be it
Resolved, That the members of this association will cherish
his sainted memory as long as life shall last, not forgetting that
he taught and lived the Divine instruction, "Love one another"
and "Do right," and that as he believed he would be with us in
spirit at all our future meetings, so we hope and pray it may be
granted him and us; and that when these reunions are over and
the roll of the Twenty-third Regiment is called on Judgment Day
every member shall respond, "Aye, Lord, here am I."
CYRUS W. FISHER,
D. H. KIMBERLEY,
JAMES HAYR,
Committee.
MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE
UNITED STATES OF WHICH RUTHERFORD B.
HAYES WAS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
IN MEMORIAM
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
United States Volunteers
"The impartial historian will not fail to recognize the conscien-
tiousness, the manliness, and the courage that so strongly
characterized his whole public career."
RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
Major Twenty-third Ohio Infantry June 7, 1861; Lieutenant-
Colonel, October 24, 1861; Colonel, October 24, 1862; discharged
to accept promotion October 19, 1864.
TWENTY-THIRD OHIO RESOLUTIONS 209
Brigadier-General U. S. Volunteers October 19, 1864; resigned
and honorably discharged June 8, 1865.
Brevetted Major-General U. S. Volunteers March 13, 1865,
"for gallant and distinguished services during the campaign of
1864 in West Virginia, and particularly in the battles of Fisher's
Hill and Cedar Creek, Virginia."
President of the United States March 4, 1877, to March 4,
1881.
Elected July 6, 1881, in the Commandery of Illinois. Class I.
Insignia 2175.
Transferred to Commandery of Ohio May 3, 1882. Charter
member.
Commander of Commandery of Ohio February 7, 1883-May 4,
1887.
Senior Vice-Commander-in-Chief October 21, 1885-October
17, 1888.
Commander-in-Chief of the Order October 17, 1888-January
17, 1893.
Born October 4, 1822, at Delaware, Ohio.
Died January 17, 1893, at Fremont, Ohio.
NOTICE OF THE DEATH OF RUTHERFORD
BIRCHARD HAYES,
BY THE OHIO COMMANDERY OF THE
MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES,
JANUARY 18, 1893
Companion Brevet Major-General Rutherford Birchard Hayes
died at 10:45 last night at his late residence, Spiegel Grove, near
Fremont, Ohio.
Companion Hayes was a member of the Ohio Commandery of
the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States from
its organization and was its first Commander. At the time of his
death, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Order.
Due notice of the date of the funeral services will be given
through the press.
14
210 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
Instructions have been given for forwarding the Commandery's
floral tribute.
A committee of Companions will be appointed by the Com-
mandery to prepare a memorial tribute, in conformity with
the Commandery's by-law.
At the request of the Recorder-in-Chief, Lieut.-Colonel Cor-
nelius Cadle has been appointed to represent the Commandery-
in-Chief at the funeral.
The following named Companions are appointed to represent
the Ohio Commandery at the funeral services:
Major Wm. McKinley, Bvt.-Brig.-General R. P. Kennedy, Bvt.
Major-General M. F. Force, Bvt. Brig.-General B. R. Cowen,
Major-General M. D. Liggett, Bvt. Major-General James Barnett,
Captain John M. Lemmon, Bvt. Lt.-Colonel R. L. Nye, Bvt. Ma-
jor James L. Botsford, Major W. R. Thrall, Bvt. Major T. M.
Turner, Bvt. Brig.-General W. H. Enochs, Lt.-Colonel H. C.
Corbin, U. S. A., Bvt. Major-General John G. Mitchell, Bvt.
Brig.-General John S. Casement, Bvt. Major-General J. Warren
Keifer, Bvt. Major-General C. C. Walcutt, Bvt. Brig.-General W.
H. Raynor, Bvt. Major-General A. C. Voris, Bvt. Brig.-General
T. W. Sanderson, Lieut. E. S. Wilson, Major W. D. Bickham,
Lt.-Colonel W. B. Nesbitt, Bvt. Lieut.-Colonel W. R. Warnock,
H. S. Buckland, Esq.
All other Companions who can do so are requested to attend
the services.
By order of
MAJOR GENERAL JACOB D. Cox, U. S. V.,
Commander
CAPTAIN ROBERT HUNTER
Recorder.
COMMEMORATIVE MEETING OF OHIO
COMMANDERY
At a meeting of the Ohio Commandery, at its headquarters in
Cincinnati on February 1, 1893, there were present a much larger
number of Companions than usual at stated meetings. After
routine business had been transacted, the commander, Major-
General Jacob D. Cox, said:
OHIO LOYAL LEGION ACTION 211
COMPANIONS: - We have been looking forward to this evening
with an extremely pathetic interest. Among the bereavements
which the Loyal Legion has had to suffer all too frequently dur-
ing the past few years, none has come to us more suddenly and
unexpectedly than the death of the Commander-in-Chief of the
Order, who was so recently our commander in this commandery
also.
I had habituated myself to think of General Hayes as of one
who had, if any man had, the assurance of a quiet and protracted
decline of life in happiness and in rest. He had lately to bear
his own great griefs; yet he had so far overcome them that I
think he looked upon the remaining portion of his own life as a
quiet period of decreasing activity, not to be dreaded or shunned,
but to be calmly and hopefully used. With the appearance of
robust health, with absolute system of habit, prudent care, cheer-
ful employments, full of good works, not rusting but living a
life which was a model for men retired from great public re-
sponsibilities, we had the right to expect that we should greet
him here frequently in years yet to come. Thus it was that the
blow came suddenly, almost stunningly.
You will wish to hear from some of his Companions who were
closely associated with him in his military career or who have
learned to appreciate him as a statesman and a patriot; but, be-
fore calling on either of these, I shall ask you to listen to the
reading of a letter written by one whom we used to greet very
often -now becoming old and feeble, but whose voice and heart
retain the melody and activity of youth--our old friend, James
E. Murdoch. Companion Captain George A. Thayer, who has
the letter, will kindly read it.
CAPTAIN THAYER:
COMMANDER AND COMPANIONS: - My venerable neighbor,
James E. Murdoch, has kindly delegated me to deliver to you
his message for this memorial occasion. Now among the eight-
ies, he finds it best that most of his remaining strength should
be husbanded in bed. Among his many regrets that the great
outside world, in which his interest has lain so long, is slipping
212 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES
away from him, the most serious I think is that he loses touch
with this Companionship.
With that sort of perversity which often characterizes men who
have won eminent success in another field, I think he feels that
the greatest honors of his life were that he cheered the soldiers
of the Chattanooga army by his readings; and that the patriotic
ardor of audiences all over the north was stirred by his recita-
tions of Buchanan Read's poem of "Sheridan's Ride," verses
which he declaimed so often that he might feel as if he had been
an active participant in the Shenandoah campaign.
It is said of King George IV, who was subject to various hal-
lucinations, that he had persuaded himself that he was present at
the battle of Waterloo. On one occasion he appealed to the Duke
of Wellington to testify that he had indeed fought at Waterloo.
Wellington diplomatically answered: "I have often heard your
majesty say you were there."
If Mr. Murdoch was not with Sheridan in person, he was there
in spirit. This is his letter:
"ROADSIDE,"
READING ROAD AND OAK STREET,
CINCINNATI, OHIO, February 1, 1893.
To the Commander and Companions of the Military Order of the
Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of Ohio,
James E. Murdoch, from an Invalid's Headquarters, sends fra-
ternal greetings.
Among the irksome taxes assessed by Father Time upon a
protracted lease of life, the hardest to bear by an active mind
is physical disability to take part in the love-feasts of our Order,
and those sad gatherings where the last honors are paid to the