APPENDIX D



       THE HAYES MEMORIAL LIBRARY - SOLDIERS' ME-



            MORIAL TABLET - CELEBRATION OF



                   HAYES CENTENARY



        Dedication of Hayes Memorial May 30, 1916



                 BY LUCY ELLIOT KEELER



  Memorials of our great statesmen have been of various forms

and sources of creation. Mount Vernon was rescued by a private

society which controls its view by the public. "The Hermitage,"

Jackson's hame near Nashville, and Lincoln's modest home in

Springfield are in charge of local societies. The Grant, Gar-

field, and McKinley monuments were erected by appeals to a

generous public. The Hayes Memorial is unique. The beautiful

grove, with President Hayes's books and collections, was given

to the State for the free use of the public. The only conditions

were that the historic Sandusky-Scioto Trail from Lake Erie to

the Ohio River, running a half mile through the grove, should

be preserved as a park drive; that the trees and shrubs should be

marked with their common and scientific names; that the state

park and the monument should be kept suitably enclosed; and

that a fire-proof building be erected to house the treasures of the

home. The homestead is separately endowed by Colonel and Mrs.

Hayes for the Hayes family occupant, and so as to preserve the

house as a typical American home of its period.

  Spiegel Grove, a twenty-five acre grove of native forest trees,

was given to the State, for the use of the Ohio State Archaeologi-

cal and Historical Society, by Colonel Webb C. Hayes, together

with the library and collections of his father, as a memorial to

his parents. In the language of the circular of the Archaeological

and Historical Society, issued in 1898, five years after the death

                         (298)









             DEDICATION OF HAYES MEMORIAL          299



of its former president, "this offer of the family is unusual for

its liberality and most worthy of commendation for the filial

desire it expresses to perpetuate the memorial to loved and hon-

ored parents."

  The years of planning and erecting this building were cheered

by filial remembrance and a sure faith in its final accomplish-

ment. Every memorial should in some way be a reflection and

interpretation of the facts, beliefs, character, and deeds which

made up the life of the person commemorated. The Hayes Me-

morial possesses in marked degree this beauty of association as

well as an absolute beauty.  Here, to keep vivid the memory of

the President and Mrs. Hayes, are gathered all the objects that

devoted family and friends could bring to illuminate the past,

not only of their private lives and poignant personalities, but of

the epoch, rich in history, in which they lived.

  The invitation to the ceremonies attending the formal open-

ing of the Hayes Memorial Building to the public was widely

distributed. Special invitations were sent to former State Sen-

ator T. A. Dean of Fremont, and former Governor Judson Har-

mon, who were so active in securing the provision for the erec-

tion of the fire-proof building required under the terms of the

gift; and to President Wilson, Secretary of State Lansing, Sec-

retary of War Baker, and Senators Pomerene and Harding by

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. The fol-

lowing order of exercises was issued:



                     MORNING PROGRAM

8:00 A. M.  The Memorial Building will be thrown open at 8

            o'clock A. M., for the exclusive use of the school

            children and teachers of the Public Schools, headed

            by the Light Guard Band, and of St. Ann's and St.

            Joseph's Parochial Schools, headed by the Wood-

            man Band, on their way to the cemeteries to dec-

            orate the graves of the soldiers. Firing squad and

            special committee from the G. A. R. will be con-

            veyed by autos to Spiegel Grove State Park, St.

            Joseph and Calvary and Oakwood cemeteries.

            Members of the G. A. R. and Woman's Relief

            Corps to Oakwood by Trolley Car, returning to

            Spiegel Grove by autos.









300          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



9:30 A. M.  Croghan Lodge and the Uniform Rank and other

              members of the I. O. O. F. will leave their head-

              quarters, Front and State streets, headed by

               Woodman Band and march to Spiegel Grove.

10:00 A. M.  Music by Light Guard Band.

              Meeting called to order by John M. Sherman, Esq.,

              and presentation of his Excellency, the Honorable

              Frank B. Willis, Governor of Ohio.

              Exercises Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R.

              Assembly called to order by Comrade Jas. A. Gill-

              mor, Commander of Eugene Rawson  Post, G.

              A. R.

              Address by the Rev. A. C. Shuman, of Tiffin.

              Dedication of Eugene Rawson Post Memorial

              Window in the Hayes Memorial.

11:00 A. M.  Exercises Croghan Lodge, I. O. O. F.

              Assembly called to order by G. L. Roach, Noble

              Grand.

              Prayer by W. D. Pearce, Vice-Grand.

              Address by Meade G. Thraves, Esq., Historian

              Croghan Lodge.

              Address by Ivor Hughes, Esq., Past Grand Master.

              Benediction by J. E. Courtney, Chaplain.

                AFTERNOON PROGRAM, 2 P. M.

  Meeting called to order by Prof. G. Frederick Wright, Presi-

dent of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

  Invocation by the Rev. C. J. Roberts, pastor of the First Metho-

dist Church of Fremont.

  Song by the Col. George Croghan Chapter, Daughters of Amer-

ican Revolution, and the Fremont Church Choirs, led by Prof.

Alfred Arthur, Leader 23rd Regiment Band, accompanied by

the Woodman Band.

  Welcome by His Honor, George Kinney, Mayor of Fremont.

  Address by Charles Richard Williams. of Princeton, N. J.,

biographer of Rutherford B. Hayes.

  Song by the Col. George Croghan Chapter, Daughters of the

American Revolution and Fremont Church Choirs, led by Prof.

Alfred Arthur, Leader 23rd Ohio Regiment, accompanied by the

Woodman Band.

  Remarks by the Honorable Newton D. Baker, Secretary of

War, representing the President of the United States.

  Remarks by the Honorable Frank B. Willis, Governor of

Ohio.

  Remarks by United States Senator, Atlee Pomerene.









             DEDICATION OF HAYES MEMORIAL          301



  Remarks by United States Senator, Warren G. Harding.

  Remarks by the Honorable Arthur W. Overmyer, Congress-

man from the 13th Ohio District.

  Remarks by Lieutenant-General S. B. M. Young, U. S. A.,

Commander-in-Chief of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion,

of which Rutherford B. Hayes was Commander-in-Chief at the

time of his death, represented by Captain Alexis Cope.

  Remarks by Hon. James E. Campbell, former Governor of

Ohio, Trustee Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

  Remarks by Capt. Elias R. Monfort, Commander-in-Chief of

the Grand Army of the Republic, represented by Past Depart-

ment Commander, Gen. J. Kent Hamilton.

  Twenty-third Ohio Regiment Association of which Ruther-

ford B. Hayes was President from its organization after the

Antietam Campaign in 1862 until his death, represented by Cap-

tain John S. Ellen, President.

  Eugene Rawson Post, G. A. R., of which Rutherford B. Hayes

became a member May 11 , 1881, represented by James A. Gillmor,

Commander.

  Sandusky County Bar Association of which Rutherford B.

Hayes became a member in 1845, at Lower Sandusky, now Fre-

mont, represented by Basil Meek, Esq., President.

  Croghan Lodge, I. O. O. F., of which Rutherford B. Hayes

became a member 17th of September, 1849, at Lower Sandusky,

now Fremont, Ohio, represented by Meade G. Thraves, Esq.

  Birchard Library Association, of which Rutherford B. Hayes

was President from its organization in 1873 until his death, rep-

resented by Charles Thompson, President.

  Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society, of which

Rutherford B. Hayes became a member at its organization, 6th

of June, 1874, represented by I. H. Burgoon, President.

  Benediction by Rev. E. M. O'Hare, rector of St. Ann's Catholic

Church.

  At the Hayes residence, the hosts, Colonel and Mrs. Webb

C. Hayes assisted by Mr. and Mrs. Birchard A. Hayes of Toledo,

Mr. and Mrs. Scott R. Hayes of New York, Mrs. Fanny Hayes

Smith of Washington, and a nephew, William P. Hayes of Ashe-

ville, N. C., received their distinguished guests. First in the day

came the children from the public and parochial schools, some

two thousand strong, marching in order and each carrying a flag,

a moving and inspiring sight.

  Not far from the residence, on the beautiful knoll to the south,









302          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



stands the monument in the base of which repose the remains

of the President and Mrs. Hayes, and this spot was one of the

points of pilgrimage throughout the day. After the death of

Mrs. Hayes in 1889, President Hayes devoted much thought to

the design of a simple monument. This was constructed of

Dummerston (Vermont) granite, from the quarries located on

the ancestral farm to which his parents, Rutherford Hayes

of Brattleboro and Sophia Birchard of Fayetteville, moved upon

their marriage in 1812 and which they occupied until their mi-

gration to Delaware, Ohio, in 1817 where they lived ever after-

ward and where the future President was born, October 4, 1822.

The monument was erected in Oakwood Cemetery, but in April,

1915 the bodies of the President and Mrs. Hayes and the monu-

ment were transferred to Spiegel Grove. Beautiful evergreen

trees and shrubs screen the knoll which is further enclosed with

a tall iron fence. The gate was opened on Memorial Day, and

the Fremont school-children strewed a profusion of beautiful

flowers upon the base of the monument. Following an annual

custom, a beautiful wreath of white lilies was placed there by

representatives of the Twenty-third O. V. V. I., General Hayes's

old regiment. Flags intermingled their colors with the floral

tributes.

  Led by Commander Gillmor and Post Adjutant B. F. Evans,

Eugene Rawson Post marched to the Hayes Memorial Building

and there dedicated the Eugene Rawson Post window.

  Promptly at 10:15 the Toledo and Fremont Cantons, I. O. 0.

F., and subordinate lodge members and Rebekahs formed in line

in Front Street.

  Headed by the Woodman Band, escorted by the Maccabees'

rifle company, followed by the Patriarchs Militant, uniformed

rank of the Odd Fellows, and the banner bearers of Croghan and

McPherson local lodges, the subordinate lodges and Rebekah

lodges, they proceeded to Spiegel Grove where exercises were

carried out by the Odd Fellows in dedication of their memorial

window in the Hayes Memorial Library and Museum.

  The formal dedication of the Memorial Building by the Arch-

aeological and Historical Society took place in the afternoon.

The speakers' stand was placed on the lawn in front of the resi-









             PRESIDENT WRIGHT'S ADDRESS          303



dence. A large throng of people filled the seats on the lawn and

the ample porch. The Rev. Dr. George Frederick Wright, Presi-

dent of the Society, presided, and spoke as follows:-

My Fellow Citizens:

  The dedication here today of the Hayes Memorial Library and

Museum, erected in the Spiegel Grove State Park, will serve to

perpetuate the memory of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, whose

services were preeminently valuable in the Union army during

the War for the Union; in Congress, as Representative from his

State; in the office of Governor of Ohio (to which he was elected

three times) ; and as the nineteenth President of the United

States. An additional interest in this occasion is given by the

coincidence that Spiegel Grove, which by dedication becomes the

property of the State, to be preserved as a park perpetuating the

memory of President Hayes, also in some degree perpetuates the

name of William Henry Harrison, the first Ohio President.

  Through these grounds may still be traced the trail over which

General Harrison led his army in 1813 to the decisive victories

on land which preceded and followed that of Perry on Lake Erie;

while an impressive gateway to the grove does due honor to this

distinguished citizen of the State and to his brave and noble army.

  The event which we now celebrate in the completion of this

beautiful building and in setting it apart with its invaluable

library and its marvellous collection of historical relics, together

with the opening of Spiegel Grove as a public park, may well

arouse the patriotism of the whole nation. Long before the army

of 1813 passed through these grounds, the aboriginal inhabitants

of America had been in the habit of threading their way under

its majestic trees on the trail leading from the Great Lakes to

the Ohio River. Almost in sight of where we now stand, also, is

the monument to Major Croghan and his gallant band who, a

short time before Perry's victory, defended Fort Stephenson

against an overwhelming force of British and Indians, and com-

pelled General Procter to withdraw, thus saving Ohio from in-

vasion.

  It is an interesting coincidence that this centre of historic

interest was in early life chosen as his residence by Rutherford









304           RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



Birchard Hayes, who by his preeminent qualities, both military

and civil, rose to the highest position which a citizen of the

United States may hope to attain. Of the deeds of this most dis-

tinguished citizen of Fremont the orator of the day will speak.

It remains for me only to give a brief history of Spiegel Grove

and the building which we now dedicate.

  When about the middle of the last century Spiegel Grove

was chosen for the Hayes family residence, it was completely

covered with a primeval forest. A space in the centre, sufficient

to let in sunlight and to afford a beautiful and spacious lawn,

was cleared, and the future home erected upon it. In later years

additions were made until it assumed its present stately propor-

tions. The original grove consists of about twenty-five acres,

all within the two square miles of the old Indian Free City,

deeded to the United States in 1786 by treaty, and now known as

Fremont. Through the generosity, filial devotion, and public spirit

of a son, Colonel Webb C. Hayes, who had come into possession

of the property, the whole tract was offered to the State as a

public park in memory of his parents. His deed simply required

its maintenance as a state park and:

  "That the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society

should secure the erection upon that part of Spiegel Grove here-

tofore conveyed to the State of Ohio for a state park, a suitable

fire-proof building, on the site reserved opposite the Jefferson

Street entrance, for the purpose of preserving and forever keep-

ing in Spiegel Grove all papers, books, and manuscripts left by

the said Rutherford B. Hayes;  .  .  .  which building shall be

in the form of a branch reference library and museum of the

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society; and the con-

struction and decoration of the said building shall be in the na-

ture of a memorial also to the soldiers, sailors, and pioneers of

Sandusky County; and suitable memorial tablets, busts, and dec-

orations indicative of the historical events and patriotic citizen-

ship of Sandusky County shall be placed in and on said building,

and said building shall forever remain open to the public under

proper rules and regulations to be hereafter made by said

society."



  The Legislature of Ohio generously appropriated fifty thousand

dollars. Of this, forty thousand was used toward the building









             PRESIDENT WRIGHT'S ADDRESS          305



and ten thousand dollars for paving the streets surrounding

Spiegel Grove. Impressive entrances to the grounds, through

gateways bordered with massive walls of granite boulders, were

constructed by Colonel Hayes. Two of these gateways are be-

tween immense cannon erected on end and inscribed, in the one

case, to the memory of the French and British explorers, and

the soldiers of the War of 1812 who passed over the Harrison

Trail; and, in the other, to the soldiers of Sandusky County

who served in the War with Mexico and the War for the Un-

ion. The bodies of President and Mrs. Hayes were trans-

ferred to the beautiful knoll in the grove, together with the

modest monument  which  President  Hayes  before  his death

had erected, in Oakwood Cemetery, of Vermont granite, from

the quarries near his father's birthplace.  Colonel Hayes has

expended in increasing the attractions of the grove and the

buildings in it, together with its endowment, about one hundred

thousand dollars in cash. This with adjoining real estate and the

value of the Hayes Memorial Library represents by fair valua-

tion a quarter of a million dollars, which becomes the property

of the State, entrusted to the care of the Ohio State Archaeologi-

cal and Historical Society.

  As pilgrims come to this sacred spot from far and near they

cannot fail to be impressed with the importance of the historical

events which are here commemorated, and with the debt which

we owe to the heroic men who did so much here both to obtain

and to preserve the liberties of our country.  With Major

Croghan in the nearby Fort Stephenson Park they will, in imagi-

nation, await the psychological moment when the order comes

to let loose the charge from "Old Betsy" that was to destroy the

British forces that were making their final assault. With eager

steps they will march with General  Harrison and his army,

through the southern gateway, along the old Indian trail, as he

hastens from his headquarters at Fort Seneca to embark, at the

portage of Port Clinton, upon Perry's victorious ships, to be

landed in Canada for the triumphant victory of the Thames.

Through the western gateway, they will be thrilled by the thought

of the heroes that from this county fell in the Mexican War and

in the War for the Union, and by the memory of General Mc-

   20









306          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



Pherson, the highest in rank and command to fall upon the field

of battle in the War for the Union.  At the grave of President

Hayes and in this memorial building a flood of memories will

come as they recall his gallantry on the field of battle, his wise

administration of the government of his native State, and of the

transcendent service which he rendered in the face of violent

opposition and abuse as President of the United States to restore

that loyalty and good feeling which we now witness in such full

degree between the warring sections of fifty years ago.  All these

are monuments to remind us of the extreme and unselfish devo-

tion of private interests to the public good which are shown only

by soldiers and statesmen of the highest rank.  Here may we

come in increasing numbers to devote ourselves anew to the

service of our country and our common humanity.

  President Wright then introduced the Rev. C. J. Roberts, pas-

tor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, of Fremont, who

delivered the invocation.

  This was followed by the singing of "The Star-Spangled Ban-

ner" by the Colonel George Croghan Chapter, D. A. R., and the

Fremont Church Choirs led by Professor Alfred Arthur, leader of

the Twenty-third Regiment Band; accompanied by the Wood-

man Band.

  After the music President Wright introduced the Hon. George

Kinney, Mayor of Fremont, who welcomed the assembly in these

words:

  Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, through and by whose

grand achievements and devotion to duty we are able to dedicate

this magnificent memorial, this historic mansion,  this match-

less grove, this place of beauty, to the sacred memory of Ruther-

ford B. Hayes, I bid you welcome.

  To all you aged soldiers of the War for the Union who were

his allies in war and his comrades in peace, who come here to

evidence your love and devotion to your old commander, I bid

you welcome.

  To all you honorable gentlemen, representatives of this great

Nation and State, who honor us by your presence in this dedi-









             SPEECH OF WELCOME          307



catory service to the memory of one of the noblest of America's

great men, I bid you welcome.

  To all other organizations and associations, and especially the

Odd Fellows, of which he was an active and devoted member for

fifty years--some of you have known him all these years, yet

none knew him but to love, and none named him but to praise,

-and any and all of you who come to express your love, re-

spect, and admiration for your townsman and your friend, I bid

you welcome.

  The building we dedicate here today has not been erected as a

temporary expedient, but will stand as a monument for all time

to the glory of this society, this State, and the distinguished dead.

It will serve as a perpetual reminder to your children's children

of the many kind acts done, the many kind words spoken by this

noble man and still more noble woman, whose ashes lie at rest

in this consecrated ground.

  It will arouse inspirations and aspirations and create ideals for

the young they can never forget.  May its influence go with them

through life and when aged and gray, may they be truthfully

able to say:

           "Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes

             And fondly broods with miser care;

           Time the impression stronger makes

            As streams their channels deeper wear."



  We are not unmindful of the jewels placed in our keeping

this day. By erecting this memorial building of the everlasting

rock, and placing such priceless treasures therein of books and

parchments, you have made this a city of refuge for future

scholars, a Mecca for future ages, for which we are indeed

deeply grateful.

  History is always tardy to do justice to the great. It is too

soon for his eulogy, too soon for his history; but a future age

will render the honor and glory to him which has been unjustly

withheld by this.

  Possessed of the wisdom of the present  and  the  past,  he

knew how to become great without ceasing to be virtuous.  Fame

should be earnest in her joy, and proud of such a son. He fought,









308          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



but not for love of strife; he struck but to defend; he never

became estranged from any man before he sought to be his friend.

   He stood the firm, the wise, the patriot sage; he cherished

his neighbor, he loved his country, and revered his God.

   When time shall have come, and come it will, that the his-

torians will have recatalogued the galaxy of America's greatest

men, you will find written at the poll, or very near the poll, the

fair fame and sacred name of R. B. Hayes.

   Once again I bid you all a solemn and cordial welcome, and

ask each and every one of you to register here on this consecrated

spot a solemn vow to preserve this nation forever and forever to

the American--peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must, but for

America, America forever and forever.

   Dr. Charles Richard Williams, of Princeton, biographer of

Rutherford B. Hayes, then delivered the following address:

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

   We  are met today to signalize the formal dedication of the

Hayes Memorial Building. There has been no occasion like this

in all the history of our beloved country. It is made possible by

the gracious cooperation of filial affection and worthy public

appreciation, for which I recall no parallel in our annals. By

deed of gift, a few years ago, Colonel Webb C. Hayes conveyed

to the State, for the benefit of the Archaeological and Historical

Society, this beautiful historic grove, through which ran the

famous Indian trail by which William Henry Harrison marched

his forces to Lake Erie, and whose ancient oaks had sheltered

savage wigwams and been lighted by the bivouac fires of hardy

frontier soldiers of 1812. The gift was on condition that the

society should procure the erection of a suitable fire-proof build-

ing for the permanent preservation of the books and papers and

personal belongings of President and Mrs. Hayes. Of course the

society, of which Mr. Hayes was long president, and which has

done so much to gather, to investigate, and to preserve records

and documents and objects of historical and archaeological sig-

nificance, was rejoiced to accept the gift and to undertake the

trust. And the State, through legislature and governor--both,

as it happened, Democratic at the time- was not slow to mani-









             ADDRESS OF DR. WILLIAMS          309



fest its appreciation of the gift and to do its share to make the

gift secure, rightly esteeming its patriotic purpose and its large

and permanent worth. To Senator T. A. Dean, of Fremont, for

his effective presentation of the cause before the legislature, we

should not fail, on this day of rejoicing, to give special credit and

praise. He saw clearly, he spoke persuasively - for the honor of

Ohio's greatest President, for the dignity and glory of the State.

   So, as I said a moment ago, in dedicating this beautiful structure

of Ohio stone and enduring bronze, built to commemorate the life

and public services of Ohio's preeminent citizen, we are celebrat-

ing today the finished result of the gracious cooperation of filial

affection and worthy  public appreciation.      Through  the long

future, this fair grove, with its immemorial trees and trees of

sentimental appeal, rich in its associations with



                        "old, unhappy, far-off things

                     And battles long ago,"



embowering the spacious mansion, still redolent of the unclouded

domestic felicity of which it was the centre, and surcharged with

memories of gracious and abounding hospitality, of numberless

patriotic gatherings in which great and famous men had part, of

peaceful communing of its master with good books and devoted

friends, of self-sacrificing benevolent activities, will remain, un-

desecrated by vandal industry, uncontaminated by commercial

exploitation. Under the protecting aegis of the society and the

State, Spiegel Grove--haunt and habitation of good spirits -

will abide in perpetuity, a grateful source of pleasure and recre-

ation to this community; a shrine for patriotic visitors from afar,

who shall have formed true judgment of the noble part in our

history enacted, through long and strenuous years, by the man

whose home this was. Here men of remote generations shall see

the very surroundings, the very house with its familiar furnish-

ings and objects of use and ornament, in which abode, with his

gracious and beloved consort, the President, whose wisdom of

administration brought the Civil War epoch of our national life

to a just and happy conclusion. And in this memorial building

they shall see the books he used and loved, the manuscripts that









310          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



record his thoughts, and articles innumerable of utility or taste

which give some hint of his varied interests and of his manifold

activities.

  Here, too, in close association, they shall behold intimate

memorials of that rare and beautiful woman whose influence and

inspiration were felt in all that he thought and did; whose char-

acter and life are a perpetual honor and example of American

womanhood.     Hither students of American history will resort

for study and investigation, and here they shall find treasures

of private and personal information to reward their search, and

to clarify their conclusions touching the measures and the men

of a momentous period.

  There is special propriety in conducting this service on this

particular day.  It is the day set apart for recalling the deeds

and honoring the memory of the men who served and saved the

country when civil war threatened its destruction. Among those

men, conspicuous for his gallantry and for his devotion to the

country's cause, was the man whose high worth this building

recognizes and commemorates.  Well acquainted as most of us

here are with the facts of his life, we shall do well for a little

while to ponder his career and to seek from his example to draw

some inspiration to lofty thought and civic virtue. Of course,

no extended survey of his many-sided life is possible, even if it

were desirable, on an occasion like this. It is sufficient for my

purpose to touch upon his distinctive qualities and achievements,

and to note the principles that governed his thought and conduct.

  Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born at Delaware, Ohio, Octo-

ber 4, 1822. He was of pure New England parentage, of English

and Scotch descent. His American ancestors were sturdy pioneers;

honest, wholesome, industrious, God-fearing folk, doing faithfully

their duty to family and state; and when the War for Independ-

ence came, leaping whole-heartedly to the support of the American

cause. The best part of his heritage from his clean-living New

England forebears was a sound physical constitution, a clear and

active mind, a tradition of conscientious rectitude of conduct,

and a scrupulous sense of duty. What better endowment could

one desire for a lad, provided he have the environment and op-

portunity to develop his powers, and provided he have the will









             ADDRESS OF DR. WILLIAMS          311



to make the most of himself? And all this young Hayes had.

There was nothing in the least precocious or out of the usual in

his boyhood and youth. He was fond of sports; he was fond of

the open-air life and adventures with rod and gun which normal

lads of the country enjoy. But with all this he was conscientiously

industrious in his pursuit of knowledge; and in his college years,

boy as he still was, he began to be conscious of his latent abilities

and to seek by rigid self-examination and appraisal of defects to

follow  the  Socratic  injunction,  "Know  thyself."     This  self-

scrutiny, this weighing of his own powers in comparison with

others, did not result in egotism or self-conceit; it only made him

see more clearly his own limitations and spurred him to greater

effort for intellectual growth and attainment. And with this, too,

his character was strengthening into self-mastery and self-

reliance, and he was coming to distinct, clear-minded conclusions

on fundamental questions of life and conduct; on what were

the just aims of ambition; on what constituted true success in

human endeavor.

  "As far back as memory can carry me," he wrote at nine-

teen, just entering his senior year at Kenyon, "the desire of fame

was uppermost in my thoughts, but I never desired other than

honorable distinction. The reputation which I desire is not that

momentary eminence which is gained without merit and lost with-

out regret. Give me the popularity which runs after, not that

which is sought for. Let me triumph as a man or not at all.

Defeat without disgrace can be borne, but laurels which are not

deserved sit like a crown of thorns on the head of their possessor.

It is, indeed, far better to deserve honors without having them,

than to have them without deserving them."

  In these brief sentences of youthful meditation and aspira-

tion we have not only a noble confession of faith, a noble resolu-

tion of soul integrity, but also a luminous prophecy of the attitude

toward public honors and distinctions that during his long life

should characterize  their author.     For  never, throughout his

career, did Mr. Hayes seek any public office, or ask for any pro-

motion, or endeavor to gain any distinction or honor in any one

of the many social or philanthropic organizations of which he

was a member. Offices, honors, promotions, distinctions sought









312          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



him out and were pressed upon him. Often they were accepted

with extreme reluctance, but once accepted, the duties they in-

volved were performed with conscientious assiduity. Surely, if

ever a man did, he had the realization of his boyhood's wish.

He won "honorable distinction."      He enjoyed "the popularity

which runs after, not that which is sought for." He, indeed,

attained "triumph as a man."

  In all the years of his law practice, whatever the demands of

his professional engagements or the encroachments on his time

and energy of social life and of his increasing participation in

political effort and civic enterprises, he adhered steadfastly to his

projects for self-discipline and self-culture, and sought ever to

enlarge the sphere of his knowledge. He was always reading

good books; not only books that should amplify his range of

information concerning history and jurisprudence and the prin-

ciples of liberty and government, but the great books of pure

literature which should quicken his imagination, elevate his

thought, fortify and ennoble his character, and give his spirit

fuller and clearer vision.  Here is the rule of reading that he laid

down for himself in this period; and who could frame a better?

  "In general literature, read Burke, Shakespeare, and the stand-

ard authors constantly, and always have on hand some book of

worth not before perused. Avoid occasional reading of a light

character. Read always as if I were to repeat it the day after-

ward."

  So, unconsciously, he was schooling his mind and character

for the larger duties, the vast responsibilities, which, beyond his

wildest dreams of ambition, the future had in store for him.

  Being what he was, there could be no doubt how he would

feel and what he would do when Rebellion raised its angry crest

against our Federal Union. In his diary, intended for no eye but

his own, he wrote with calm deliberation: "I would prefer to go

into the war if I knew I was to die or be killed in the course of it,

than to live through and after it without taking any part in it."

There spoke the pure soul of the man. Looking before and after,

discerning the country's need and peril, laying aside all personal

regard, listening only to the voice of patriotic duty, without hesi-

tation or doubt or fear of consequences, he formed his high re-









             ADDRESS OF DR. WILLIAMS          313



solve, he chose with unfaltering purpose "on whose party he

should stand." And into the war he went, and for four years gave

heart and soul to its bloody business, doing with all his mind and

might every task assigned him, heedless of personal peril and too

busy with the work in hand to give a thought to questions of rank

or promotion. He was glad to shed his blood that the good cause

might prosper. Friends in Cincinnati might nominate him for

Congress, if they thought his name would strengthen the Union

ticket, while the tide of war was at flood in the Shenandoah

Valley. But when they asked him to seek a furlough and come

home to make speeches, that was quite another thing. Instantly,

with something like indignation at the thought, he wrote: "Your

suggestion about getting a furlough to take the stump was certain-

ly made without reflection. An officer fit for duty who at this

crisis would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in Congress

ought to be scalped. You may feel perfectly sure I shall do no

such thing." Let the election go as it might; his duty was with

the colors on "the perilous edge of battle."

  It was a crisis in the Republican situation in Ohio in 1875

that forced Mr. Hayes from retirement, much against his will,

and gave him the unprecedented honor of a third nomination for

governor. He had served with credit in Congress during the

stormy early days of reconstruction. He had been governor two

terms-abundant in achievements of permanent value to the com-

monwealth. Then, refusing to be elected senator by disloyalty to

John Sherman, he had retired to Spiegel Grove, intending never

again to take a leading part in political life. In 1873 the Demo-

crats had elected William Allen governor by an insignificant

plurality. In 1874 they had swept the State in the congressional

elections. In 1875 the Republicans, almost despairing of their

chances, were yet determined to spare no effort to regain the

State. All eyes turned with one accord toward Mr. Hayes, who

in his previous campaigns had defeated Ohio's ablest Democratic

champions, Allen G. Thurman and George H. Pendleton; and,

despite his persistent refusal to be a candidate before the nomi-

nating convention, the convention would hear of no other man.

Under the circumstances, he had perforce to yield his personal

preference and accept the nomination.









314          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  The dominating issue of the campaign was sound money versus

Greenbackism--the latter making strong and insinuating appeal

to the unthinking masses, suffering from the severe depression

which followed the financial crash of 1873. The contest in Ohio

was watched with close and anxious attention by the entire nation.

Mr. Hayes fought the good fight for sound money, up and down

the State, with a vigor and convincing power which compelled vic-

tory. This brilliant success made him at once a national figure;

and it was this great achievement more than anything else which

caused his party to recognize his fitness for the Presidency, and

which in 1876 procured for him the nomination.

  I can only allude to the troublous and tumultuous times which

followed the election.  Through all those bitter months of angry

controversy and threatening partisan recrimination, Mr. Hayes

preserved unruffled poise and dignity, desirous only that right

and justice should prevail, whatever his own fate might be. When

the long and rancorous dispute was ended and his title to the

Presidency was declared indefeasible, he entered the White House

with one sole purpose -to serve the interests of the whole coun-

try to the limit of his ability and his opportunity.  In his in-

augural address he gave voice to the principle which should con-

trol his conduct in a sentence which at once became a maxim

of political wisdom: "He serves his party best who serves his

country best."

  The  judgment of posterity, I believe, will pronounce  Mr.

Hayes's Administration one of the cleanest, sanest, most efficient

administrations in our history.  No breath of scandal ever sullied

its fair fame.  In all its relations, domestic and foreign, honesty,

efficiency, and sound decisions, coupled with dignity and courtesy,

prevailed.  And  Mr. Hayes  has to his enduring  credit three

achievements of vast and far-reaching consequence. First: He

settled for all time the dangerous and perplexing Southern ques-

tion on a sound and rational basis.  Whatever the past sins of

the Southern States, the National Government, Mr. Hayes saw,

could not go on treating those States differently from other States.

That seems too obvious to mention now. It was epoch-making in

1877. Second: Mr. Hayes, always a defender of sound money,

restored specie payments. He did this, to be sure, under a law









             ADDRESS OF DR. WILLIAMS          315



passed before he became President, but he had to accomplish his

purpose in defiance of a hostile Congress and in, the face both of

wide-spread disbelief in its feasibility and doubt of its wisdom,

which only high courage and steadfast determination could have

surmounted. The national credit was established on a firmer basis

than ever and returning prosperity smiled beneficently upon the

land. And, third, he made the first sincere and serious effort to

bring about genuine civil service reform. He did not do all he

had hoped to do in this respect. But in the face of incredible

obloquy and opposition he took the first courageous step which

made possible and soon compelled the adoption of his principles.

  In all these great accomplishments he had the active and per-

sistent hostility of powerful influences in his own party. But he

was undismayed, serene in the conviction that he was right, and

he won in spite of all opposition. The event, he felt confident,

would approve the wisdom of his policies and bring the doubters

and antagonists to confusion. And his judgment was altogether

sound.  As I have said elsewhere:  "When Mr. Hayes entered

upon his term the country was still depressed and suffering from

the effects of the severe financial panic of 1873; and his party

was discredited, riven by internal dissensions, and on the verge

of collapse. When he left the White House, bounding prosperity

made glad the hearts of the people, and his party was once more

triumphant, confident, aggressive. The wonder is that with a

hostile Congress, and with his own party disunited in its support

of all the great policies to which he was committed by his letter

of acceptance and his inaugural address, and which he determin-

edly pursued- the wonder is that he could accomplish as much

as he did. His Administration proved and illustrated his own

wise maxim that 'he serves his party best who serves his country

best.' In the face of the protests, the denunciation, and the ma-

lignant enmity of men who had long been leaders of his party, he

serenely maintained his course, firmly convinced in his own mind

that the policies he was enforcing, instead of wrecking his party,

as his detractors angrily prophesied, would bring new strength

and new courage to the Republican cause. And the result proved

that he was far wiser than his critics."









316          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



   Mr. Hayes returned gladly to Spiegel Grove when his term as

President expired, but not to a life of dignified leisure only.

During the twelve years that still remained to him, he devoted

all his thought and energy, freely and without reward, to the

furtherance of worthy benevolent causes - to the interests of the

old soldiers, to education in the South and in the universities

of Ohio, to the advocacy of manual training in the public schools,

to the amelioration of the condition of the freedmen, and to the

great cause of prison reform.  In all these fields of effort he was

a leader and not a follower; always an advocate of policies a

little in advance of current popular opinion; just as when Gov-

ernor and President he urged in his messages upon Legislature

and Congress measures of reform and proposals for new legisla-

tion which only after his time men gained wisdom to appreciate

and to adopt. Detractors and malignant critics might scoff and

sneer and seek to belittle his achievements or to deride his pro-

posals, but their silly clamor never provoked him to explanation

or defense; never disturbed his equanimity; never embittered his

thought. He was willing to let his actions justify themselves,

willing to trust the calm judgment of the future to approve the

wisdom and the righteousness of his conduct.

  The controlling principle of his life was simplicity itself. It

was, under all conditions and in all circumstances, to do what he

believed to be right.  The motto of the Scotch family of Hayes

from which he traced his descent, was the single Latin word

Recte. That is the adverb form of the word that means straight

or right.  In all his conduct, public and private, Mr. Hayes ex-

emplified that motto. He was "straight" in thought and action;

he moved in right lines; his dealings were void of indirection

or equivocation.

  Mr. Hayes believed intensely but intelligently in America, in

its polity, in its future, in its exalted mission under Divine favor,

for the world - for humanity. His was not a blind, unreasoning

patriotism. His convictions were based on wide knowledge of

history, on prolonged pondering of governmental systems, on

thorough understanding of the common people--their modes of

thought, their beliefs, their aspirations. He knew









             ADDRESS OF DR. WILLIAMS          317



               "In what a forge and what a heat

                Were shaped the anchors"

of our Ship of State; and he believed sincerely that

               "Humanity with all its fears,

                With all its hopes of future years,

                Was hanging breathless on her fate."

And yet he was fully conscious of the faults and defects and

dangers of our system, of the constant vigilance necessary to pre-

serve "the jewel of liberty in the house of freedom," of the

perils arising from the prodigious concentration of wealth in a

few hands and from the clash of contending interests and jealous-

ies of class, of the new duties that new occasions were continually

teaching. But he never lost faith in the Republic, never doubted

the essential soundness of the people, never despaired that right

causes would in the end prevail, if men that saw the right

worked on steadily, hopefully, patiently.

  In his young manhood, in a letter to his betrothed, he gave

striking expression of his fine spirit of optimism, which increas-

ing years and experience could never quench nor qualify: "When

I see the immeasurable changes which a century or two have

produced," he wrote, "it gives me heart to throw my little efforts

in favor of the good projects of the age, however slow their

apparent progress. Nothing great is accomplished in a day, but

gradually the strong hours conquer all obstacles." Take heart,

take heart, O ye of little faith--even ye who through the lurid

clouds of the mad and frightful war now devastating Europe

seem to hear infernal angels croaking the doom of civilization.

For, be assured, "Our sins cannot push the Lord's right hand

from under"; be assured that, in God's good time, "gradually

the strong hours shall conquer all obstacles."

  One quality further of Mr. Hayes I must note and empha-

size, and that was his love for Fremont, his appreciation of the

respect and confidence of her people that he enjoyed, his pride

in her growth and prosperity, his interest in all that contributed to

her welfare. Here only was his real home, and whenever he was

absent from it he longed for the day of his return.        He was

deeply touched by the public reception given him here by friends









318          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



and neighbors of all parties after his nomination for the Presi-

dency. As his term was nearing its close, he looked forward,

with eager anticipation, "to the freedom, independence, and safety

of the obscure and happy home in the pleasant grove at Fremont."

When, at Cleveland, the sudden attack which was to prove fatal

came upon him and he was urged to delay his journey home, he

declared: "I would rather die at Spiegel Grove than to live

anywhere else." His regard for Fremont was not confined to

mere sentiment. No project for its betterment but had his sym-

pathy, his counsel, his assistance. It is due to his activity and

to his generosity that the city has its public parks and its library.

And whatever fame or fortune Fremont may attain, to the coun-

try and the world at large it will always be chiefly notable be-

cause it was here that Rutherford B. Hayes had his home.

  It will be a perpetual benediction to the people of State and

Nation that Ohio has erected and will maintain this beautiful

building to commemorate  the fame  and achievements of her

great citizen. The future, in my judgment, will increase his fame,

will come to a clearer and fuller understanding, and so to a just

appreciation of the greatness and value of his achievements. His

character and worth shine more resplendent with every fresh con-

templation of his career. I can only repeat, by way of perora-

tion, what I have already said elsewhere, and what my added

reflection reaffirms and enforces:

  "He may not have possessed transcendent intellectual gifts,

nor the brilliancy and imaginative power displayed by great

orators, but he had, in equipoise and under complete control, all

the solid qualities of character and mind which fit a man to win

the confidence of his fellows and mark him for their chosen

leader. These were a clear and penetrating intelligence, impreg-

nable to the assaults of sophistry; a judgment, cautious and de-

liberate in action, but when once formed not to be shaken from

its conviction; a will that did not waver; sincerity and honesty

of mind and act; absolute veracity and candor in speech and

conduct; faithfulness in discharging every obligation imposed on

him or assumed by him; constant and unquestioning obedience

to the commands of duty; a conscience void of offense; a patriot-

ism that rose above party, that was founded on intense faith in









             ADDRESS OF DR. WILLIAMS          319



the American constitution and an abiding belief in the high mis-

sion, under Providence, of America in the world, and that was

ready to give his life for his country's welfare; an understanding

of the common people--the great masses of his fellow country-

men - and full sympathy with their needs and aspirations; un-

selfish interest in all wise endeavors for the public good.  And

with all this he was

                  "Rich in having common-sense

                   And, as the greatest only are,

                   In his simplicity, sublime."

   Surely, we shall be dull indeed of apprehension if we catch

no inspiration from his ardor for humanity; if we feel no impulse

to emulate the virtues which made his service to the world so

great. I, at least, think of him always as of

 "One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,

    Never doubted clouds would break,

  Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,

    Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, sleep to wake."



  After a song, the Hon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War,

representing the President of the United States, was presented

and spoke in part as follows:

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:

  Before leaving Washington last night, I was charged by the

President of the United States to convey to you his greetings,

and to say that it is a matter of sincere regret to him that he is

not able to be here on this significant occasion. He would have

paid a tribute, not only to the great office in which President

Hayes preceded him, but as he is a scholar himself he would have

borne a scholar's testimony to the eminent service rendered in

that office by Rutherford B. Hayes.

  We  have been richly favored here today in the address just

closed. Dr. Williams, whose biography of President Hayes is

and always will be a standard work dealing with that subject, has

detailed for us the life of this President from the days of his

childhood through the testing years of the Civil War, and into

that serene and mellow age of retirement in which the people of









320          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



Fremont best knew the ex-President. Little, therefore, remains

to be added to the tribute which Dr. Williams has paid, but I

can perhaps be permitted to recall two incidents in my own life

which associated his personality and political fortunes with my

own thinking.

  The first of these was in 1876, when I was between four

and five years old, living in Martinsburg, West  Virginia, and

though of very tender age, still an extremely ardent political

partisan. It was the day of party flag-poles, and the custom

throughout the countryside and in all the villages was that the

rival parties should erect great poles, and on the top of them

place their party emblem. In the public square of my native

village, there were erected two such poles, one for Tilden, sur-

mounted by a broom, and one for Hayes, surmounted by a glisten-

ing globe. As I was a very earnest Democrat, and was quite sure

in all the philosophy of my four years of life that that party repre-

sented the truest traditions of the Republic, I naturally was very

zealous for the pole surmounted by the broom, and I discovered

that when I walked on one side of the square the Democratic

pole seemed the taller, while when I walked on the other side

of the square, the one below the globe seemed the higher.  I,

therefore, contracted at that early age the habit of walking around

the northwest side of the square whenever my journeys took me

through that place, and to this day when I visit Martinsburg,

and want to cross the square, I follow the same practice, although

the poles have long since been taken down and the broom and

the globe disappeared from every memory but mine.

  Later, in 1890, I was a student at Johns Hopkins University

when Mr. Hayes, then ex-President, came there to make an ad-

dress before the historical seminary of which I was a member.

More recent political activities of other men had obscured all

my recollections of the period from 1876 to 1880 and I went to

hear Mr. Hayes with little else in my mind except the childish

recollection of the rivalry of the party poles, but after his ad-

dress, I asked myself: Who is this simple and scholarly gentleman,

so wise and patriotic and generous? How does it come that I

do not know more of his service to his country? And I im-

mediately read his biography, and consulted those American his-









             SECRETARY BAKER'S SPEECH          321



tories which covered the period of his service as a soldier and

as a statesman, only to discover that from his earliest youth he

had adopted and lived up to high standards of honor and patriot-

ism, that the idea of service to his country was always the

dominant idea, that he constantly put behind him advantage and

self-seeking and sought only the place of danger or responsi-

bility, trusting always that if he did his best for his country,

his own fortunes could well be permitted to take care of them-

selves.  The struggles of the period before the War between the

States and during that terrible conflict developed high capacities,

and yet this Ohio soldier emerged from the crowd, became a

marked man and conspicuous public servant, rose from the sol-

dier's camp to the governor's chair and then to the Presidency,

the greatest office in our great Republic, and then, after he had

fully performed all that could be asked of a citizen, he retired,

unspoiled, simple as he was brave, continuing out of office, as a

sage philosopher and adviser to his country, the patriotic services

he had performed while a trusted and responsible executive. He

engaged in no acrimonious disputes. He assaulted none of his

successors nor their policies, he remembered no personal ani-

mosities, and cherished no envy of those who were still in the

active stages of their lives.  But, in the midst of a family life,

sweet and pure, surrounded by a family which could not help

becoming serviceable to its country, reared in such an atmosphere,

he continued to be scholarly and patriotic, and when he died he

left a life, unspoiled and untainted, a reputation too large for this

beautiful city of Fremont, as large and wide as the nation which

he served.

  The important thing, however, for us who are here today

is the example for our own lives which lies in this life which is

under review and discussion. Our words can add little to the his-

toric place which he has achieved in our country's annals; but

whether or not his life will achieve the highest good of which it

is capable depends upon whether you and I, and others who may

be now the citizens of the United States, who bear its burdens

and its responsibilities, whose quality determines the quality of

our present day institutions, imitate his virtue and follow his

example.









322          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



   The times have greatly changed since the Presidency of Mr.

Hayes.  Great as our country then seemed, it is now incomparably

greater; its territory has been increased, its population has grown

enormously; its influence as a world power is now like the in-

fluence of Great Britain, in that it follows the rising sun around

the globe. In the meantime, the industrial processes by which the

life of the community is sustained are made more intricate. We

have emerged from a rural civilization into a machine age.  Our

commerce and our industry are much more intense.  The con-

gestion of our population in great cities and manufacturing places

presents new problems.  The challenge of this day is as great as

the challenge of his day, and the need for patriots and wise men

is as great now as when President Hayes made his contribution

of service to our country. The question we must ask, therefore,

is, are we doing as he did ? Are we offering ourselves for Amer-

ica as he offered himself ? Are we addressing ourselves to the

solution of the problems of our day as he buckled on his sword

or took up the statesman's pen for the solution of the problems

which his day presented?  I shall not make any answer to these

questions.  Each of us knows by searching his own mind how

far he is worthy to be in any such comparison.  Each of us knows

whether he spends the larger part of his life fretting about little

things, or whether he really passes them by and gives his mind to

the large issues of welfare and happiness for his country and his

fellow countrymen.  Each of us knows whether he is more inter-

ested by the hurried daily chronicle of small events which the

newspapers present or by serious study of history and politics, in

order to equip himself really to be a servant of the Republic.

  But, I can, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, at least be

grateful with you that this splendid memorial has been erected

here in Fremont, and that this grove is hereafter to be consecrated

ground, that the memory of the great service of President Hayes

and that this beautiful life will be perpetuated here, so that for

all time to come as the youth of this city see this place they will

have impressed upon their imagination and their memory the life

of the man who from youth to advanced years really served his

fellow men; and such a memory will undoubtedly be an inspira-

tion to them to take a high view of the calling of citizenship and









             SENATOR POMERENE'S SPEECH          323



to prepare themselves by study and thought to render such serv-

ice as is within their capacity and opportunity.

  United States Senator Pomerene spoke as follows:

  I am glad to have the opportunity to come to the beautiful

city of Fremont to pay a tribute of love and respect to the mem-

ory of President and Mrs. Hayes. They had such fine ideals,

they were truly Christian in every thought and action.        The

world is the better for their having lived.  President Hayes

was a good lawyer, a brave soldier, a faithful Congressman, an

efficient Governor, and a distinguished and capable President, but,

he was more, he was a good man. Mrs. Hayes was a Christian

wife and mother. Both were devoted to their friends and espe-

cially to those here in Fremont who knew them so long and well.

  I want to congratulate the people of Fremont that they have

in their midst Colonel and Mrs. Webb C. Hayes, who have done

so much to preserve the works and memories of their father and

mother.

  This home with its fond memories will be an object lesson

to the boys and girls of this county and this State. They will have

before them as an object lesson the lives of a man and woman,

than whom, this State has produced none better or purer.

  As I look over the history of President Hayes, I feel that of

all his qualities, and there were many of them, his predominating

characteristic was his intense love for things American; and as

I think of Mrs. Hayes, I could hold her before the world as the

ideal wife and mother.

  Fremont is a beautiful city of beautiful homes. No finer peo-

ple are found than reside within her limits, and they have honored

themselves by the opportunity they have taken to preserve Spiegel

Grove.

  And I would be doing violence to my feelings if I did not add

a word of appreciation for Senator Dean, who gave his able and

enthusiastic support to the legislation necessary to secure Spiegel

Grove for the public.

  The following letters came from President Wilson, who had

hoped to be present; but who was unable to leave Washington

because of the exigencies of the World War.









324          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



                SEA GIRT, NEW JERSEY, September 21, 1912.

  MY DEAR MR. HAYES:-  It is with genuine regret that I find

that the National Campaign Committee has made engagements for

me on October 4, which renders it impossible for me to accept

the extremely interesting invitation  so cordially  conveyed  by

your letter of September 17.

  The whole character of the occasion attracts me very deeply.

I should like to be present to pay my respects to the memory of

your admirable father.  In the circumstances, I can only thank

you very warmly for having thought of me and express my

sincere regret that the engagements of the campaign render it

impossible for me to come.

                 Cordially and sincerely yours,

                                      WOODROW  WILSON.

  MR. WEBB C. HAYES,

    Spiegel Grove,

       Fremont, Ohio.

                          WASHINGTON December 13, 1915.

  MY DEAR SENATOR:--I am sincerely obliged to you for your

reminder about the invitation so kindly conveyed to me by your-

self, Representative Overmyer, and Colonel Hayes.  As I ex-

plained at the time you were kind enough to call, it does not seem

possible for me to determine the matter now, but you may be

sure that I will keep it in mind, though I would be very much

obliged if I might be reminded of it a little later.

                 Cordially and sincerely yours,

                                      WOODROW  WILSON.

   HON. ATLEE POMERENE,

     UNITED STATES SENATE.



                               WASHINGTON, May  10, 1916.

   MY DEAR MR. HAYES :--It is with genuine disappointment and

 regret that I find it will be impossible for me to be away from

Washington on the thirtieth of May, the day you have appro-

priately chosen for the dedicatory exercises of the Hayes Me-

morial Library; but I find that disappointments of this sort are

coming thick and fast now, because it is so absolutely necessary









             LETTERS FROM PRESIDENT WILSON          325



for me to stick close to my duties here in these times of uncer-

tainty.

   I know that you will understand and honor the scruple which

makes this decision necessary.  May I not express my hope for

the very best sort of success for the interesting exercises to

which you are looking forward!

                 Cordially and sincerely yours,

                                        WOODROW WILSON.

  MR. WEBB C. HAYES,

     Spiegel Grove,

       Fremont, Ohio.



                          SHADOW LAWN, November 6, 1916.

  MY DEAR MR. HAYES :-- It was gracious of you to send me the

little book containing the account of the dedication of the Hayes

Memorial Library and Museum  at Spiegel Grove in May last.

I shall value it as the record of a very interesting ceremony and

of a very well-deserved tribute to your honored father. I wish

I might have been present in person to express my interest and

appreciation.

                 Cordially and sincerely yours,

                                        WOODROW WILSON.

  MR. WEBB C. HAYES,

    Spiegel Grove,

      Fremont, Ohio.



  The  following telegram  from  Senator Warren  G. Harding

was  received;  and  also the following  letters from  the Hon.

Robert Lansing, Secretary of State; the Hon. A. D. White, who

was appointed Minister to Germany  by President Hayes; the

Hon. John W. Foster, who served as Minister to Mexico during

the Hayes Administration, in those troublous times with Diaz

in Mexico, to which the strained relations with Huerta found by

President Wilson in 1913 form an almost exact parallel; and the

Hon. Nathan Goff, the only  surviving member of the Hayes

Administration, in which for a few months he served as Secretary

of the Navy.









326          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



                          WASHINGTON, D. C., May 29, 1916.

  COLONEL WEBB C. HAYES,

     Fremont, Ohio.

   Let me emphasize my genuine regret that I am not to add my

tribute to the memory of President Hayes at Tuesday's dedication

of the Memorial. The combined gentleness and dignity and cour-

age and strength made manifest in the splendid career of Presi-

dent Hayes builded a loving memorial in the hearts of his coun-

trymen, which I trust the Spiegel Grove Memorial fittingly typi-

fies. It is good to dedicate the Memorial on this day of reverent

tribute to the Union defenders, so many of whom he brilliantly

led. It is also good to consecrate ourselves anew to the preserva-

tion of the great heritage he and they bequeathed to us.

                                           W. G. HARDING.



                               WASHINGTON, May 24, 1916.

  MY DEAR MR. HAYES:--I received the formal invitation from

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society to attend

the dedication of the Hayes Memorial Library and Museum in

Spiegel Grove, on Decoration Day, May 30. Mrs. Lansing and

I both deeply regret our inability to attend the dedication; and if

we had found it possible to do so, we would have been especially

gratified to be your guests on that occasion.

  With our appreciation and thanks for your attractive invitation,

and our regret that we are unable to avail ourselves of it, I am,

                     Very sincerely yours,

                                         ROBERT LANSING.

  WEBB C. HAYES, ESQ.,

     Fremont, Ohio.



        CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, N. Y., May 20, 1916.

  MY DEAR MR. HAYES: - Referring to your letter of May 18,

it is a matter of real sorrow with me that I have felt obliged to

decline the kind invitation to the opening  of the Hayes Memor-

ial and Museum.  I can think of nothing which I would be more

glad to attend in the way of a celebration of any sort than this

tribute to your honored father, and that feeling is increased by









             ANDREW D. WHITE'S TRIBUTE          327



the fact that a few weeks ago I read his biography and was

greatly impressed by it. My opinion regarding him was already

very high, for I have regarded him ever since I came to know

him as one of the best and most able men I have ever met,

one of the best prepared for the highest public duties and who

was faithful in the highest degree in his discharge of them. This

feeling was strengthened at various times when I heard him

deliver addresses at Lake Mohonk,  Cleveland, and elsewhere,

and when I read his biography, I became convinced that no nobler

and better fitted man had ever held the Presidency.

  There is one saying of his that ought to be inscribed in letters

of gold: The last entry made in his diary before leaving for the

war, dated May 15, 1861: "Judge Matthews and I have agreed

to go into the service for the war, if possible into the same regi-

ment. I spoke my feelings to him which he said were also his, that

this was a just and necessary war, and that it demanded the whole

power of the country.  That I would prefer to go into it if I knew

I was to die or be killed in the course of it, than to live through

and after it without taking any part in it."

  But, also, I am nearing my eighty-fourth birthday and am more

and more obliged to be careful, and on the date you name I have

already an engagement with a doctor which has with difficulty

been put off once. I should indeed feel it a duty to be present

were the circumstances otherwise and were my health stronger,

for among all men whom I have met, President Hayes was one of

those who most impressed me by the evident sincerity and nobility

of his character and by all the qualities which made him a great

and true man. A recent reading of his biography has also greatly

impressed me as showing the development of the characteristics

which led so directly to the high place which he deservedly holds

in the annals of our country.  I feel that as time goes on his

fellow citizens of all parties will recognize more and more his

great qualities and that these will emerge from the cloud of

calumny which beset him in such wise that his name and fame

will be ever more and more honored by the American people. I

hope that some day not distant it will be possible for me to make

a pilgrimage of duty to this well-deserved tribute to your father,

and thank you in person for your kind invitation.









328          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  With all good wishes that the commemoration to which you in-

vite me shall be worthy of the man to whom it is given, I remain,

                      Yours faithfully,

                                     ANDREW D. WHITE.

  WEBB C. HAYES, ESQ.,

    Spiegel Grove,

      Fremont, Ohio,

                          WASHINGTON, D.C. May 22, 1916.

  MY DEAR SIR:--I am in receipt of your letter of the 18th

and the card, inviting me to attend the dedication of the Me-

morial Library and Museum in your father's old home on

May 30.

  I should be greatly pleased to unite with his many friends and

admirers in honoring your father's memory in the permanent form

indicated; but of late my health has not been good and I am not

able to travel without serious inconvenience and I could not make

the journey without considerable risk.

  I have always regarded your father as one of our most useful

public men, of clean life and unblemished personality, and have

always been proud of having served under him in an Administra-

tion which was an honor to our country. It is with sincere regret

that I will not be able to render this further mark of my respect

and friendship by attending the memorial services on the 30th

instant.

                                Very truly,

                                          JOHN W. FOSTER.

  P. S. - I am sending a photograph as requested. I greatly en-

joyed reading Williams's excellent biography of your father.

  WEBB C. HAYES, ESQ.,

     Fremont, Ohio.



                CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA, June 1, 1916.

   MY DEAR MR. HAYES: - I have been quite unwell lately which

will account for my failure to write you in reply to your kind

favor of the 18th ult. As I did not receive your invitation to be

with you at Spiegel Grove on the 30th ult., until after that day

was in the past, you will readily understand why you did not









             MR. OVERMYER'S SPEECH          329



hear from me, and also why I was not with you on the occasion

that would have afforded me great pleasure to have been a par-

ticipant in.

  I very much regret this and trust that you will understand my

seeming indifference, which I beg to assure you was not intended.

  With kindest regards,        Most truly yours,

                                              NATHAN GOFF.



  Congressman A. W. Overmyer, of the Thirteenth Ohio Dis-

trict, who came from Washington expressly to take part in the

dedicatory exercises, then delivered the following address:

Mr. Chairman, and Fellow Citizens:

  Fortunate indeed are all of us who have been permitted to

witness this ceremony today. The occasion, the place, the day,

the assemblage, all have been appropriate.

  The occasion is appropriate, for we meet  to  dedicate  this

splendid memorial, erected by the great commonwealth of Ohio,

to one of its most illustrious sons. The place is appropriate for

here are the hallowed scenes amid which Hayes spent so much

of his mature life as was not devoted to the public service of

his country.

  The day is appropriate for on this Memorial Day there is no

more fitting service that could have been performed than to meet

here and recount the deeds and review the life work of one of

America's bravest soldiers and one of her most loyal defenders,

a soldier who had the courage to fight and the ability to lead

others in fighting.

  The assemblage is appropriate and such as eminently befits

the occasion, for the President is represented here by a member

of his cabinet, an Ohio man; the Senate and House of Repre-

sentatives are represented here, and representatives of the civil

and military authority of the State, the county, and the city; and

the people, to whom he ever turned a listening ear, the people

are here, in masses such as seldom before assembled within the

shadows of Spiegel Grove. They are here to bring their own

heartfelt testimony to the occasion; they are here representing

all shades of religious and political belief, all ages and condi-









330          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



tions of life. All are here as Americans and come to this historic

and sacred spot to fraternize with each other in a fresh act of

homage to the memory of Rutherford B. Hayes.

  Many who are here in this audience knew President Hayes

and his devoted wife while they were living; knew them as

neighbors, as friends, as members of the same church. To such

this must be a wonderful day.

  I shall always cherish the memory that, as a young boy, I

heard President Hayes deliver an address at a Croghan Day cele-

bration from the old band-stand in the county park before the

court-house. I can see him now as I saw him then, a noble-

looking man with a kindly face, snow-white beard and hair, but

with the vigor of young manhood in his heart.

  I do not know what phase of the life of Rutherford B. Hayes

appeals to the people the most; but after having read the splendid

biography of President Hayes written by the orator of the day,

Doctor Williams, I will say without hesitation that the impression

I shall hereafter always carry of him will not be his military

service, valiant and glorious as that was, nor his services as Gov-

ernor and President, valuable and statesmanlike as they were,

but it will be of Rutherford B. Hayes as a man, a superb, un-

selfish, warm and Christian-hearted man whose pure heart went

out in sympathy to all mankind and was wholly incapable of a

selfish or unworthy thought.

  As a husband, as a father, as a citizen and neighbor and friend,

Rutherford B. Hayes has left to future generations his richest

heritage.  Never seeking public honors, he had them thrust upon

him; yearning, as he continually did for the peace and comfort

of a quiet home life, he was called again and again to perform

high public service, to assume the highest positions of responsi-

bility and trust. This is the stamp of true greatness. Washing-

ton had the same modesty and so did Lincoln; and in the love of

his fellow man, in patriotism, in purity of heart and unselfish-

ness, Hayes was as great as either of them.

  I feel honored in having been permitted to be present at these

ceremonies. Through the ages this beautiful memorial will stand

as the testimonial of a grateful people to the life and services of

a truly beloved man. To this building and the beautiful grove









             CAPTAIN COPE FOR LOYAL LEGION          331



surrounding it will come generations of American citizens, our

children, grandchildren, and their descendants, and draw in-

spiration to a life of unselfishness and honor as they become

more and more familiar with the life and character of Ruther-

ford Birchard Hayes-that crowned and glorious life.

  Captain Alexis Cope, representing the Military Order of the

Loyal Legion, and also an associate of General Hayes on the

Board of Trustees of the Ohio State University, spoke as follows:

President Wright, Members of the Board of Trustees of the

    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, Ladies and

    Gentlemen:

  It was only yesterday that I received a telegram from Colonel

Webb C. Hayes informing me that I would be expected to speak

for the Loyal Legion on this occasion; so what I shall say has

come to me in the few moments of reflection I have had since

then, and shall be brief. Indeed the eloquent and scholarly ad-

dress we have just heard from the lips of his distinguished bio-

grapher, Mr. Williams, has left his followers on the program

little to say. All the high and shining points of President Hayes's

great career have been touched by a master hand. I congratu-

late him on his noble address. I also congratulate him on his

biography of President Hayes, in which he has given to the

world in simple and most attractive style the true story of his

life and public services.

  I share the regret that every one present must feel that General

Young, who was to speak for the Loyal Legion, is not here. If

he were present, he could speak for it more fittingly than I can,

for he is its present  commander-in-chief, and besides being a

good soldier, is an eloquent speaker.

  President Hayes was a charter member of the Ohio Com-

mandery of the Loyal Legion, was elected its first commander,

and was reelected four times in succession, serving from 1883

to 1887 inclusive. I recall with gratification and pride that when

I presented myself as a candidate for membership in the order,

it was President Hayes who administered the obligation.          He

was commander-in-chief of the national commandery at the time

of his death.









332          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  The fundamental principles of this organization are:

  "FIRST:  A  firm  belief and trust in Almighty God, exalting

Him, under whose beneficent guidance the sovereignty and in-

tegrity of the Union have been maintained, the honor of the flag

vindicated, and the blessings of liberty secured, established, and

enlarged.

  "SECOND:  True allegiance to the United States of America,

based upon paramount respect for, and fidelity to the National

Constitution and laws, manifested by discountenancing whatever

may tend to weaken loyalty, incite to insurrection, treason, or re-

bellion, or impair in any manner the efficiency and permanency

of our free institutions."

  Its objects are:

  "To cherish the memories and associations of the war waged

in defense  of  the  unity  and  indivisibility of  the  republic;

strengthen the ties of fraternal fellowship and sympathy formed

by companions in arms; advance tile best interests of the sol-

diers and sailors of the United States, especially of those asso-

ciated as Companions of the Order, and extend all possible re-

lief to their widows and children; foster the cultivation of mili-

tary and naval science; enforce unqualified  allegiance to the

General Government; protect the rights and liberties of American

citizenship, and maintain national honor, union, and independ-

ence."

  President Hayes was loyal to these principles and labored

faithfully for these objects.  When he died, a committee of the

Ohio Commandery, of which William McKinley  was chairman,

said of him: "The country has lost one of its great statesmen

and one of its most noble defenders.  His old army comrades

have lost a brave commander, an honorable associate, and a wise

counsellor; the Loyal Legion one of its most devoted and be-

loved Companions."

  When President Hayes first became Governor of Ohio in 1868,

he found that in 1862, Congress had passed an act making large

grants of land, or land-scrip, to the several States for the endow-

ment and maintenance of a college in each State for the primary

purpose of teaching the branches of learning related to agricul-

ture and the mechanic arts and military tactics without exclud-









             MR. HAYES AND STATE UNIVERSITY          333



ing other branches of a liberal education.  The Legislature had ac-

cepted the grant to Ohio of six hundred and thirty thousand

acres of  land-scrip, and  it had been  improvidently sold at a

lamentable  sacrifice, realizing only about  three  hundred  and

forty thousand dollars.  Owing to local jealousies and the oppo-

sition of the numerous existing colleges, nothing had been done

towards creating and locating a college to be endowed by the

grant.  A strong sentiment favored the division  of the  fund

among several existing colleges, but Governor Hayes gave his

voice in favor of one college, centrally located, which should re-

ceive the entire grant, and he aided in clearing the way for such

an institution.

  The necessary legislation was provided by the act of March

20, 1870, during his second administration as  governor, and

under this act the institution now known as the Ohio State Uni-

versity was organized and located.  He appointed its first board

of trustees, which held its first meeting in his office and was

wisely guided by him in its deliberations. He favored its lo-

cation at Columbus, and largely through his influence it acquired

the large tract of valuable land which is now its spacious campus.

In 1887, after having been governor and President, on the  re-

quest of the university authorities, he accepted a place on its

board of trustees.

  At that time the institution  had  made  slow  progress.  It

had encountered violent opposition from  the other colleges of

the State, and from the agricultural classes, and such opposition

still to a large extent prevailed. The Legislature had refused to

make adequate appropriations  for its support, and for needed

buildings, and it had an enrollment of only about three hundred

students.  President Hayes at once took an active part in quiet-

ing the opposition to the institution. He was by nature a har-

monizer, and  largely  through  his  influence  the  agricultural

classes were won to its support and the opposition of the other

colleges to a large extent removed.     He attended  regularly the

meetings of the trustees, appeared before committees of the Leg-

islattire in advocacy of needed appropriations for buildings and

equipment, and for an annual state levy sufficient for its main-

tenance and to meet its growing needs.  These  were all pro-









334          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



vided during his nearly six years of service as trustee, and largely

through his influence. He saw the enrollment rise from three

hundred to over eight hundred students, and was assured that

its future was secure. Could he have lived to this day he would

have seen an enrollment of nearly five thousand students, and a

graduating class of nine hundred students which next week will

receive their degrees; and the university which he labored to

establish and so wisely and faithfully served taking rank among

the foremost educational institutions of the land.

  President Hayes was an advocate of industrial education and

it was mainly through his influence that a department of manual

training was instituted at the university. On the invitation of

the Legislature he made an address on this subject to the two

houses in joint session, which was so convincing that funds were

provided for a building for manual training at the university

which bears the name "Hayes Hall." He saw this building

completed and properly equipped and was eagerly seeking for

a proper person to take charge of the work, when he was stricken

with the illness which resulted in his death. He attended meet-

ings of the board of trustees, of which he was then president,

January 11 and 12, 1893, and in the afternoon of the 12th

left for Cleveland to see a gentleman who had been recom-

mended as a suitable person to take charge of the department

which was to begin its work in Hayes Hall. It was while return-

ing to his home from this, his last public service, that he was

fatally stricken.

  It was during his service as trustee of the University that

I first came to really know President Hayes. I had often met

him in his political campaigns, and during most of the period

from November, 1876 to March 2, 1877, as occupant of a minor

office in the capitol at Columbus, I had seen him almost daily.

I had marked with increasing admiration and respect his re-

markable self-poise during the great and bitter conflict over his

election as President.   I was one of the great crowd which

followed him to the railroad station on his way to Washington

to be inaugurated as President,-or to congratulate his com-

petitor, if the Electoral Commission should decide in his favor, -









             MR. HAYES AND STATE UNIVERSITY          335



and I heard the wonderfully eloquent and impressive speech he

made from the end of the train before it moved out.

   But as secretary of the board of trustees of the university

I was thrown into closer relations with him, and he soon honored

me with his friendship and confidence. He grew constantly in

my estimation. There were no defects in his character, no weak-

ness, no loss of that noble dignity, which "gives the world assur-

ance of a man."  At the same time he was gentle, simple in

manner, approachable and kindly to every one. One of his asso-

ciates on the university board described him as "unassuming in

manners, polite, studious, scholarly, accomplished, and made all

who knew him his friends."

     "His was no mountain peak of mind,

        Thrusting to thin air o'er our cloudy bars,-

      A sea-mark now, now lost in vapors blind;

      Broad prairie rather, genial, level-lined,

      Fruitful, and friendly for all humankind,

       But also nigh to heaven and loved of loftiest stars."



  Mr. President Wright and you, honorable trustees of the Ohio

Archaeological and Historical Society, for the Loyal Legion,

and for the Ohio State University, (for which I have assumed to

speak), I congratulate you and our friend Colonel Webb Hayes

on the consummation of your labors, whereby this beautiful

Spiegel Grove and the stately mansion where President Hayes

lived and died, have been dedicated to the public, and have be-

come the property of the State. I also congratulate you on the

completion of the noble museum in which are stored the relics

of our beloved President.  I also congratulate Colonel Hayes

on his generous endowment, which assures that the whole shall

be properly cared for forever.

  It needs no prophetic vision to foresee that year after year

the people of Ohio and of the Nation will come in increasing

numbers, as to a shrine, to pay their tribute of reverence and

affection for "the simple great one gone" and his beloved wife,

who  sleep side by side under yonder monument.  From this

shrine will constantly go forth an inspiring influence which will

help towards preserving our faith in our free institutions and our









336          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



love for our dear country, which makes such a career as that of

President Hayes possible.

  Former Governor James E. Campbell spoke as follows:

My Fellow Citizens:

  It is with great pleasure that I render my tribute to this beau-

tiful Memorial and to the great character whose memory it so

fittingly preserves.  I shall speak to-day briefly of Rutherford

B. Hayes as Governor of Ohio.         His administration was one

full of glory and beneficence to the State. His faithful service

left monuments to his statesmanship that will live as long as

Ohio.  They were deeds, not of military nor of political glory,

but for the elevation of humanity. It was through his influence

as governor that the Geological Survey was revived and placed

in the substantial position it now holds as one of the most use-

ful branches of the State's service.

  To him can be credited the establishment of the Soldiers'

Home.

  He enlarged the field of the State Board of Charities.  This

was a subject always dear to his heart, and after his term of

office was ended he served many years as a member of that body.

  Governor Hayes always had the welfare of the State's un-

fortunate in view, and it was through his suggestion and influ-

ence that increased provisions were made for the insane; that the

graded system  was introduced into the penitentiary,  and  that

many other prison reforms were instituted.

  Among the most important acts of this humanitarian states-

man was the founding of the Reform School for Girls at Dela-

ware.

  To him more than any one man  in  Ohio  can  be  credited

the promotion and success of the Agricultural and Mechanical

College now the Ohio State University.  He appointed the first

board of trustees of this institution and in its initial stages he

gave to it his wisest and best services.  All his life, after he

ceased to be governor, he watched with solicitous interest the

welfare of the university and no public duty was assumed with

more enthusiasm than his entrance into the board of trustees.

  He was always a student of history and a natural collector,









             GOVERNOR CAMPBELL'S TRIBUTE          337



as the treasures of this Memorial Building will show. It was

this instinct which prompted him to urge the purchase by the

State of the valuable St. Clair Papers; it was through his influ-

ence that they were preserved in the State Library and subse-

quently published.

  In these few words I have referred to General Hayes's record

as Governor because others have given you his full-length por-

trait as a national figure. But the people of his native State have

received from his life the heritage of service that comes close

home to them.  They can see the results of his life upon their

lives daily.  He has indelibly impressed upon the history of Ohio

some of the most important acts and institutions of her existence.

These imprints were deeds of humanity and are helping every

day to uplift the humble and to comfort the unfortunate.

  Basil Meek, representing the Sandusky County Bar associa-

tion and chairman of the local committee of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, offered the following

tribute:

  Rutherford B. Hayes was, from 1845 to 1849, an active

member of what has been known as the Pioneer Bar of Sandusky

County, so called because existing prior to the adoption of the

Ohio State Constitution of 1851, and was associated in practice

with the earlier men of that galaxy of able lawyers of this bar,

among whom may be mentioned Dickinson, Otis, Bartlett, Greene,

Watson, Pettibone, Everett, Haynes, Buckland, Glick, and Fine-

frock. This bar was composed of men prominent, not only in

the legal profession, but also in public official stations filled by

the members thereof.  From its members were nine State legis-

lators, five members of Congress, six judges of courts, two gov-

ernors, one of Ohio, and the other of Kansas, two generals in

the Union Army, and a President of the United States.

  Rutherford B. Hayes, after a thorough  course  at Kenyon

College, from which he graduated with honor, commenced the

study of law with Thomas  Sparrow of  Columbus, Ohio,  and

afterwards entered Harvard Law School and in 1845 completed

the law course there, and having been admitted to the bar at

Marietta, March 10, 1845, commenced the practice of law in

   22









338          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



Lower Sandusky (Fremont), where in April, 1846, he formed a

law partnership with Ralph P. Buckland, which continued until

1849, when Mr. Hayes located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where by his

marked ability, he soon attracted attention, as a lawyer taking

rank among the prominent members  of the profession  there,

among whom were such men as Salmon  P. Chase,  Caleb  B.

Smith, Alphonso Taft, Bellamy Storer, George H. Pendleton,

and George E. Pugh.

  He was city solicitor, an important legal position in a city

like Cincinnati, from December,  1858,  to April, 1861.  The

salary was three thousand five hundred dollars per year.

  He was ambitious to excel in the profession, as we learn from

himself for, in 1859 while in active practice in Cincinnati, in his

diary, which he habitually kept, he writes: "Let me awake to

my old ambition to excel as a lawyer-as an advocate."  And

later he writes: "Without any extraordinary success, I have never-

theless found what I have sought, a respectable place," thus

modestly assuming that he had reached his desired goal.

  It was this ambition, which prompted his location in Cin-

cinnati,-which city necessarily offered a wider arena for activity

and experience in the practice, and consequent enlargement of

his powers, than did Lower Sandusky in that day.

  In the midst of his growing and successful practice in Cin-

cinnati, the War for the Union broke out. He immediately re-

sponded to his country's call and joined the army for the Union,

which necessarily caused an abandonment of his practice; and

subsequent events in his public career made the abandonment

permanent; and, though not having resumed the practice, since

giving it up to enter the service of his country as a soldier, fol-

lowed by his public official duties, as Congressman, Governor and

President, he was, nevertheless ever a lover of the theory of

the law in which he was profoundly versed, and would meet

with our bar association after his final return to Fremont and

occasionally would be seen in the court-room, when court would

be in session, thereby manifesting a lingering fondness for the

scene of his early forensic contests in the courts of Sandusky

County; and when his early friend, college mate, and army corn-









             SANDUSKY COUNTY BAR'S TRIBUTE          339



rade, Stanley Matthews, died at Cincinnati, in 1889, at his re-

quest a meeting of this bar was called to pay tribute to the

memory of the deceased, who in 1845, was on the recommenda-

tion of Mr. Hayes as chairman of the examining committee on

Mr. Matthews's application for admission, admitted to the San-

dusky County bar, and who had always been regarded by this

bar as an honorary member.

  It is an interesting fact that after the lapse of a third of a

century from the admission to the bar of Mr. Matthews on the

recommendation of Mr. Hayes, it was the pleasure of the latter,

as President of the United States to nominate the former to the

Senate of the United States for confirmation as a Justice of the

United States Supreme Court.

  Harvard Law School had among its faculty, while Mr. Hayes

was a student there, those eminent professors, Joseph Story and

Simon Greenleaf, whose names as authors of legal text-books

are household words among lawyers. Their high ideals of the

dignity of the legal profession and the principles which should

govern lawyers in its practice, as expressed by them to their

students, evidently appealed to him and found in his own char-

acteristic high sense of justice and right moral action a ready

response, for, in his diary referred to, he makes frequent entries,

quoting from their words--among which is the following from

Greenleaf: "A lawyer is engaged in the highest of all human

pursuits--the application of the soundest reason and purest

moralitv to the ordinary affairs of life. He should have a clear

head and a true heart."  Mr. Hayes possessed both of these es-

sential qualifications, a clear head and a true heart, in high de-

gree; and adhering in practice to the ideals held by his distin-

guished professors and believed in by himself, he won the admira-

tion and high esteem of his brethren of the bar both of the

county of Sandusky and city of Cincinnati and indeed of the

legal profession throughout the State and Nation.

  The Rev. E. M. O'Hare, rector of St. Ann's church, closed

the dedicatory exercises with prayer.









340          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



UNVEILING OF THE SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL TABLET

        ON THE HAYES MEMORIAL BUILDING

                  AT SPIEGEL GROVE.

  The ninety-eighth anniversary of the birth of Rutherford B.

Hayes, nineteenth President of the United States,  1877-1881,

was celebrated with ceremonies of unusual interest on October

4, 1920, at Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio. The day was cloudless

and the people came by thousands.       The  exercises were held

under the auspices of the Ohio State Archaeological and Histor-

ical Society with its president, former Governor James E. Camp-

bell, presiding. It had been the original intention to lay the cor-

ner-stone of a Library and Museum addition to the Memorial

Building, of like architecture and with capacity for two hundred

and fifty thousand volumes for which Colonel Hayes gave fifty

thousand dollars.

  The exercises were ushered in by a parade at one o'clock in

which the veterans of the World War and the War with Spain

marched with flags fluttering in the warm  October sunlight, fol-

lowed by the Grand Army veterans in automobiles, the three

divisions headed by the United States Navy Recruiting Band

and the Light Guard and Woodmen's Bands of Fremont.  The

procession was reviewed by the distinguished guests as it marched

past the still unfinished Soldiers' Memorial Sun-parlor of the

Memorial Hospital of Sandusky County, and over the uncom-

pleted Soldiers' Memorial Parkway.  The impressive procession

then entered the Spiegel Grove State Park and formed in front

of the Hayes Memorial Library, on the northern face of which

was unveiled the artistic bronze Memorial Tablet presented by

Colonel Webb C. Hayes, M. H., in memory of his eighty com-

rades of Sandusky County who died in the service of their coun-

try in the War with Spain, in the insurrection in the Philippines,

in China, on the Mexican border, and in the World War.  While

the Navy  Recruiting Band played the Star-Spangled Banner,

Grand Marshal A. E. Slessman, chairman of the Soldiers' Me-

morial Parkway  Committee, presented Mrs. Webb  C. Hayes,

who was dressed in her costume of the Y. M. C. A. in which

she had served in France as hostess and librarian at the Amer-









             SOLDIERS' TABLET UNVEILED          341



ican Soldiers' Leave Areas at Aix-les-Bains and Nice.       Mrs.

Hayes gracefully uncovered the beautiful bronze tablet and

turned it over to Commander W. H. Johnston of Edgar Thurs-

ton Post, American Legion, and Commander  Harry  Price of

Emerson Command, Spanish War Veterans. After a careful

inspection of the tablet by Governor Campbell, Senator and

Mrs. Harding, and the members of the Hayes family who were

on the platform, the soldiers of the World War formed a lane

extending from the Memorial Building through to the speakers'

stand under the McKinley Oaks of 1897; and through this lane

walked Senator Harding with Mrs. Hayes, preceded by Presi-

dent Campbell of the Archaeological and Historical Society, at-

tended by former Congressman Overmyer,  and  followed  by

Colonel Hayes and Mrs. Harding and other guests.

  Music was provided by the U. S. Navy Recruiting Band of

the central division, and by the combined bands of the Fremont

Light Guard and Woodmen of the World. Mr. B. H. Swift,

Chairman of the Sandusky County War Work Committee, called

the meeting to order and presented Chaplain Ferguson of the

Ohio Soldiers' Home who delivered the invocation. In present-

ing the: members of the Board of County Commissioners of San-

dusky County and its efficient county engineer to welcome the

assembly, Mr. Swift said:

  Sandusky County soldiers are indebted to the patriotic mem-

bers of the present and former Boards of County Commission-

ers, and to one of her patriotic soldiers, Colonel Hayes, who

conceived and executed the plan, including the erection of the

bronze memorial tablet and Soldiers' Memorial Sun-parlor, for

the beautiful Soldiers' Memorial Parkway of Sandusky County.

Sandusky County's plan of honoring her soldiers who died in the

service is soon to be realized in the form of this Soldiers' Me-

morial Parkway, of about one hundred feet in width with two

paved drives fourteen feet in width along the border, between

which are planted, at a distance of thirty-five feet apart, two

rows of buckeye trees, the insignia of the Thirty-seventh or

Buckeye Division, to which are affixed white enamel tree-labels,

with four lines giving the name, organization, place and date of

death. It is hoped that the Memorial Parkway plan of honoring









342          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



the dead at the county-seat of each county in the State of Ohio

and in the country, may be adopted generally; and that the re-

mains of the honored dead who fell in battle on the fields of

France may be permitted to remain in the beautiful American

park cemeteries where they now lie and where they will be visited

for countless ages by their countrymen.

  The Hon. James E. Campbell, President of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, was then presented as the

president of the day. He spoke as follows:

Fellow Citizens:

  The patriotic people of Sandusky County, remembering and

revering their heroic dead, have called us to join them in unveil-

ing a tablet that shall preserve forever, in enduring bronze, the

names of those gallant sons of the county who, in the war with

Spain and in that unparalleled cataclysm known as the World

War, gave their lives to their country, to mankind, and to hu-

manity. The War with Spain was a small war while the World

War was the worst known to men; but the memory of him who

died in the one is as precious and glorious as that of him who

died in the other. They were all heroes whom the people of

Sandusky County delight alike to honor.

  These men carried our flag upon foreign soil; in the first

instance,  for the purpose of freeing two oppressed races from

semi-barbaric rule; in the second instance, to destroy a military

autocracy which threatened to extirpate democracy and to make

all nations its abject slaves or dependents. From both of these

wars  the Star-Spangled Banner emerged with added and im-

perishable lustre. Especially is this true of the last war for there,

to quote these appropriate lines,-



           "Serene and beautiful it waved,

              The flag our fathers knew,

            In the sunny air of France it laved

              And gained a brighter hue.

            Oh, may it e'er the emblem be

            Of all that makes this country free;

            And may we cherish liberty

              And to the flag be true."









             PRESIDENT CAMPBELL'S ADDRESS          343



  To the eminent orators who are your honored guests, who

are much more capable of doing justice to these patriot dead

than I, and who are here for that purpose, I leave such further

eulogy as they may deem appropriate. I consider this a suitable

opportunity, however, on behalf of the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society, under whose auspices  these ceremonies

are held, to state formally the development and consummation of

the project (born in the mind of Colonel Webb C. Hayes) of

making Spiegel Grove one of the most important monuments to

history and patriotism in the State of Ohio. It is the duty of this

society, and one to which it has faithfully adhered, to collect and

disseminate information as to the history of this State as well as

to collect, preserve, and classify evidence of its occupation by pre-

historic races.

  No part of the work of this society has been more important

or more valuable to the historical collections of the State than the

acquisition of Spiegel Grove with the precious personal property

connected  therewith.  Its history carries one back to a time

long prior to the Revolutionary War, for it is located in the old

Indian Reservation or Free Territory, maintained at the lower

rapids of the Sandusky River, which was a point of interest long

before the white man entered Ohio.  Israel Putnam was here in

I764 and during the War of the Revolution over two thousand

whites, captured by the Indians, passed through the Sandusky Val-

ley, stopping at the Lower Falls, now Fremont, from whence they

were transported by shipping to Detroit or on to Montreal. Zeis

berger and Heckewelder, the Moravians, were prisoners here,

and also Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton.  In 1772 the British

sent troops from Detroit as far as Lower Sandusky, en route to

repel the Crawford expedition, but they arrived too late, owing

to the capture and burning of Crawford on the Sandusky Plains.

During the War of 1812, through these very grounds the old

Harrison Trail-a military road which led from Fort Stephen-

son to Fort Seneca-passed and is preserved intact as its prin-

cipal driveway.

  Added to this historic interest is the fact that it typifies an

American home of the latter part of the nineteenth century - a

home fraught with historic memories of Rutherford B. Hayes,









344         RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



the nineteenth President of the United States, and his wife,

Lucy Webb Hayes.  Of all the homes of our Presidents, cov-

ering a period of one hundred and thirty years, there have been

preserved only those of Washington at Mt. Vernon, Jefferson

at Monticello, Madison at Montpelier, Jackson at The Hermit-

age, and Lincoln's modest home in the city of Springfield.  But

in all these instances, more or less time had elapsed before the

homes were acquired and put in a state of preservation; and

but few or no personal relics or memorials were secured. The

families of the Presidents had in most cases parted with the

property, and their historic associations were generally dissipated.

It is gratifying to know that Spiegel Grove met no such impair-

ment.  When received by the State it was in a perfect state of

preservation, and all of the valuable historic effects of President

Hayes were there intact.  Few Presidents of the United States

have left so large and so complete a collection of documents,

papers, and books.  To these should be added all the honorable

mementoes and historical objects that were intimately associated

with President Hayes during his career as a soldier in the Civil

War, as well as that of his Administration as President; and many

personal belongings of his wife, Lucy Webb Hayes, during her

exalted life in the White House.  President Hayes was a great

reader and a man of scholarly tastes and attainments. His library

of Americana was not excelled, in his time, by that of any other

private individual in the nation. He had the instinct of a col-

lector and preserved all papers and memoranda, both of his pub-

lic and private life, in an orderly and accessible form. His letters

and his diaries covering a continuous period of sixty years, writ-

ten in his own hand, are in this collection and are now being

prepared and compiled for publication by this society.  They will

be a valuable contribution to American history. With the excep-

tion of Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, no President

of the United States has left such a collection of individual mem-

oranda, literary remains, and personal mementoes as did President

Hayes.

  Spiegel Grove, with its contents, upon the death of President

Hayes in 1893, was bequeathed to his children.  Afterwards the

entire Spiegel Grove property, with its library and collections,









             EXTENT OF COLONEL HAYES'S GIFT          345



became the property of Colonel Hayes by deed in 1899 from the

other heirs in the settlement of the estate. Through the generous

filial devotion and the patriotic spirit of Colonel Hayes, this

whole tract was offered, without cost, to the State as a public

park in memory of both of his parents, by deeds dated March 30,

1909, and March 10, 1910. The conditions upon which Colonel

Hayes donated this property to the State of Ohio simply require

its maintenance as a state park, with the further condition that:

  "The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society should secure

the erection upon that part of Spiegel Grove heretofore con-

veyed to the State of Ohio for a state park, a suitable fire-proof

building on the site reserved opposite the Jefferson Street en-

trance, for the purpose of preserving and forever keeping in

Spiegel Grove all papers, books, and manuscripts left by the said

Rutherford  B. Hayes,         . . .  which  building  shall be  in

the form of a branch reference library and museum of the

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, and the con-

struction and decoration of the said building shall be in the nature

of a memorial also to the soldiers, sailors, and pioneers of San-

dusky County; and suitable memorial tablets, busts, and decora-

tions indicative of the historical events and patriotic citizenship

of Sandusky County shall be placed in and on said building, and

said building shall forever remain open to the public under proper

rules and regulations to be hereafter made by said society."

  Thus there was given to the nation and to the State a heritage

of which both can well be proud, and I take this occasion on

behalf of the society which I represent, and on behalf of the State

which is represented by the society, to express the fullest appre-

ciation and deepest sense of obligation. These expressions also

extend to the noble and generous wife of Colonel Hayes who has

joined him in making this spot one of historic beauty as well as

a patriotic monument.

  In all the years since Colonel Hayes executed his first deed

to this property, the public has been left in ignorance of the

magnitude of his contributions; of his self-sacrifice, and of his

generous patriotism. He has arrived at the age (and so have I)

at which the truth can be told without suspicion of flattery or

adulation, and at which it can be received without undue infla-

tion. Therefore I take it upon myself, as president of this so-









346          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



ciety, to relate publicly and in detail what Colonel Hayes has con-

tributed to this great patriotic monument, aside from the property

itself; and these facts are due historically, not only to Colonel

Hayes, but to the society and to the people of Ohio.

  Colonel  Hayes  spent  large sums  after  the legal steps had

been taken to vest this property in the Ohio Archaeological and

Historical Society, in trust for the State of Ohio. The con-

struction of the Hayes Memorial Building cost when completed

over one hundred thousand dollars, toward which the State paid

forty-five thousand dollars and also paid ten thousand dollars for

the State's share of the paving of the streets on the three sides of

the Spiegel Grove State Park. Colonel Hayes at various times,

and in numerous ways, in order to complete the building and

bring it to the point of perfection which it has attained, expended

fifty thousand dollars to that end; and to further add to its use-

fulness and beauty as a monument, he has provided for an addi-

tion to the building that will cost at least fifty thousand dollars, the

funds for which are now in the hands of a trustee appointed for

that purpose.

  Since Spiegel Grove has been dedicated by Colonel Hayes,

he has placed in the hands of trustees for the benefit of the so-

ciety and the State of Ohio other lands contiguous to the grove

which, when sold, the trustees are to place the proceeds thereof

in a trust fund for the use and benefit of this institution. So far

lands to the value of thirty-five thousand dollars have been dis-

posed of, and that amount is in the hands of a trustee for the use

and benefit of Spiegel Grove, as held by this society. The land,

exclusive of Spiegel Grove, remaining unsold is worth at least

one hundred thousand dollars, the proceeds of which, upon sale,

will be held in trust for the use and maintenance of the Spiegel

Grove park and residence with any remainder for books for the

Hayes Memorial Library.

  On July first of last year Colonel Hayes placed one hundred

thousand dollars in trust to be used in the maintenance and up-

building of this patriotic memorial.    I am within a conservative

estimate when I state that Colonel Hayes has disposed, for the

benefit of posterity, in the form of the beautiful and attractive









             EXTENT OF COLONEL HAYES'S GIFT          347



property which you see before you, at least five hundred thousand

dollars; two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash and se-

curities for endowment funds, and two hundred and fifty thou-

sand dollars in real estate and personal property including the

library Americana and collections.

  Greater and more far-reaching than the vast funds which

he has so consecrated to others and to the memory of those loved

by him, is his magnificent spirit of unselfishness, of tender de-

votion to the memory of his father and mother, and of his

desire to leave to future generations historic evidence of the past.

Here the people of Ohio forever will come to view the evidences

of a period of American history that will be to them a continuing

lesson and an inspiring heritage. A visit to this place will stimu-

late the study of Ohio history; of her Indian tribes; of the wars

between the British and French and their Indian allies; fol-

lowed by our War for Independence, when this was a British

post; and of her people's heroic defense of our country in the War

of 1812. They will see here many historical mementoes of one

who laid down civil honor to go forth to fight for the Union.

They will see a collection of souvenirs of every President from

Washington to Wilson; manuscripts of great historic importance

and literature rarely found in Ohio libraries. They will view a

monument evidencing the unselfish devotion of private interests

to public good; and viewing this monument they will be inspired

to devote themselves anew to the service of our country and to

common humanity.

  At the conclusion of his address there were many cheers for

Colonel Hayes.  Governor Campbell called upon him  for a

speech but the colonel merely rose to his feet from his chair

several rows back of the presiding officer, bowed to the audience

and sat down. This caused renewed cheers and finally Colonel

Hayes walked forward to the front of the stand. When the

crowd had quieted expecting remarks, he bowed and returned to

his seat.

   "Just as modest as he is good," said Chairman Campbell and

the crowd again applauded.

   The Reverend Father F. S. Legowski, overseas chaplain in the









348          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



Thirty-second Division A. E. F., in the absence of Colonel F. W.

Galbraith, national commander of the American Legion, gave an

extemporaneous address that was well received.

  Brigadier-General W. V. McMaken, president of the Thirty-

seventh Division Association, expressed the thanks of his com-

rades of the War with Spain and of the World War to Colonel

and Mrs. Hayes for the splendid recognition of the heroic dead

who died while serving valiantly for their country.

  Captain Grant S. Taylor, chief of staff of the commander-

in-chief of the Spanish War Veterans, spoke for his fellow

soldiers.

  Commander S. B. Rathbun, of Eugene Rawson Post, responded

for the commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic,

in a very effective way, by calling on all members of the Grand

Army of the Republic to rise and salute. The president of the

society, Governor Campbell, and the president emeritus of the

society, the Rev. Dr. Wright, elicited increased applause by rising

and saluting with their comrades of the G. A. R. The Hon.

James M. Cox, Governor of Ohio, and a trustee of the society

found himself unable to be present and Governor Campbell, as

presiding officer, then presented the Hon. Warren G. Harding,

United States Senator from Ohio and a life member of the

society.

  The speaker, before beginning his prepared address, said that

he was glad he had kept his word with Colonel Hayes and had

come to Fremont. He had promised to do this before his nom-

ination for the Presidency.  He  regarded that promise in the

nature of a contract. "I believe in always keeping my contract,"

said he, "and I kept my contract when I came to Fremont

today." Much trouble in the world and many calamities includ-

ing some of our serious wars, he declared, came through the

failure of men and states and nations to keep their contract.

  Senator Harding then spoke as follows:

My  Countrymen:

  It is a fine thing to gather at the shrines of American pa-

triotism. It is fine that we have such shrines. Without them

we would have little soul and less love of country. It is good









             SENATOR HARDING'S ADDRESS          349



to pause and note the sacrifices through which we came to

nationality and then to eminence in the world.  It is reassur-

ing to dwell afresh in the atmosphere of colonial heroism, and to

be reminded anew that the spirit which triumphed in the early

making of the Republic is with us, after all the years of develop-

ing fulfillment to guarantee its perpetuity. It stirs our hearts to

recall how hundreds fought in Colonial days; it rivets our faith

anew to know how millions fought and more millions were ready

and still more millions available when our nationality and world

civilization were threatened in the great World War.

  It is an exceptional shrine at which we are gathered today.

A century and a half ago Israel Putnam came here in command

of the Connecticut battalion, and with other colonial troops from

New York and New Jersey in the British expedition of 1764,

under Bradstreet, and revealed to the northwest territory the

mettle of the men of New England. It was here at old Fort

Stephenson that Major George Croghan defended the new re-

public against the British and the Indians and won the only land

victory within the limits of the United States in the War of 1812

  Two companies from this county served with Croghan again

in the War with Mexico. From this hallowed spot came the

brave and gallant Major-General James B. McPherson, the officer

highest in rank and command killed during the War for the

Union.

  From Sandusky County came the first American killed in the

war for humanity's sake in all the world--Seaman George B.

Meek. Aye, and from Sandusky County there went the full quota

of American defenders in the World War. Seventy of them

made the supreme sacrifice, and in their memory, in the main,

we are met in grateful, loving tribute today.

  Still another glory illuminates this exceptional American

shrine. From this spot came citizen, soldier, patriot, and Presi-

dent, Rutherford B. Hayes. He served eminently in war and

patriotically in peace. I like to recall the helpful, reassuring Ad-

ministration of this fine, firm, unpretentious American, whose

official service to America was both healing and heroic, and left

a sense of satisfying security as a heritage to America.









350          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  Today we are a the shrine of American manhood, to reavow

that love of country which fills every American breast and holds

sacrifice a ready offering to our common country. Youth holds

the safety of the Republic its especial obligation. It is no figure

of speech, signifying comradeship, to refer to 'the boys' of our

armies. The soldiers of the Revolution, the War of 1812, the

Mexican War, the War for the Union, the Spanish-American

War, and the great World War, were almost identical in type,

typical specimens of the flower of American young manhood.

Regal in their confidence, robust in their strength, and regnant in

their hopes, American youths have more than responded to the

nation's need; American youths have rushed to the country's

salvation.

  When the Baroness Riedesel wrote of the surrender of the

British under Burgoyne at Saratoga, of which she was a witness.

she remarked the "handsome lads of the age of about seventeen";

and we know ourselves now that but for these lads the War of

the American Revolution could not have been won.

  The same type of striplings wrought the American victory

under Croghan, and carried the flag in triumph to the City of

Mexico and unfurled it from the heights of Chapultepec. I saw

them go forth for the war to liberate Cuba, and I know the story

of youth's defense of union and nationality in the Civil War.

There were nearly nine hundred thousand boys in the Northern

armies alone, boys of the age of McKinley and Foraker. A half

million youths fought for the Confederate cause, from Bull Run

to Appomattox. At Gettysburg, where the high tide of the Re-

bellion ebbed from its crimsoned flood, the average age of the

veteran armies of that famed battle was but twenty years. Mc-

Kinley enlisted at seventeen, Foraker was a captain before he

was twenty-one, and Miles commanded the Second Army Corps

before he was twenty-six.

  Only a few days ago twenty thousand of the American Legion

marched in splendid lines at Cleveland, and there was the same

youth, the same undaunted spirit, the same virile young Ameri-

can manhood which has characterized American soldiery in all

our wars and written again and again our admonition to have

faith in the Republic.









             SENATOR HARDING'S ADDRESS          351



  Early after our entry into the World War, a young American

of eighteen called at my office in Washington to ask my assistance

in getting a passport to France. I was surprised and I asked,

"Why not fight under our own flag?"      He said he wanted to be

an aviator and he was too young for acceptance in the naval air

service. "Then why not the army?" I asked. "Five thousand

awaiting enrollment now, and I can't wait." Then I learned that

he had visited the French Embassy, had seen the military at-

tache, passed an informal examination, and was assured of ac-

ceptance if he could only reach France. I liked his ardor and en-

thusiasm, but I knew him to be an only son; I knew he had come

to me from the college, and I thought I ought to have his parents'

approval.  So I said, "What will your mother say?"  In a flash

he produced a telegram from her. It read: "I do hope Senator

Harding can help you to France. God bless you. I am glad to

have you go." And he went, and ultimately I hope he found his

place under the Stars and Stripes. I am sure he did his part,

wherever he fought, just as did all the sons of the Republic from

North and South, from East and West, from factory, office, and

farm.  I do not say we won the World War, but we helped to win

it, and our American forces wrought new glories for the Re-

public from the Marne to the Argonne, and gave to America new

reverence and new admiration throughout the world. Our boys

were the worthy sons of worthy sires, worthy defenders of a

worthy republic. They never turned back. Alas! they, too

rarely halted, because they could not tolerate the patient methods

of the more seasoned veterans.

  Retreat is honorable, often necessary, but the youth  from

America could not understand it, or they could not harmonize

it with their purpose. It is said our missing dead in the World

War is relatively the smallest in the records of warfare. The

explanation is that no American battle line moved rearward over

our glorious dead.

  I have heard the stories of heroism and achievement which

stir our emotions and magnify our pride, but I have yet to meet

a hero who was conscious of his heroism, or realized that he was

engaged in an act to rivet the gaze of all the world. It is not

difficult to understand, after all. The men of the army and navy









352          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



were committed to a duty, and the performance of that duty

was a simple matter of course. They were upon the supreme

stage of world heroism, but were simply performing the duties

of national defenders, unmindful of plaudits or wondering gaze.

Knowledge of duty well done, of devotion bravely proven, of

service fittingly rendered--these were their inspiration then; but

we utter today and memorialize for all time the honors they won

for themselves, their kind, their land, their people.

  I voice today a tribute to the steadfastness, the resolution,

the undaunted courage, the irresistible determination of the

American expeditionary forces. They wrought less in brilliancy,

but more in glory. They were less trained, but profited more

from Europe's costly experience. They were delayed in reaching

the battle front, but they speeded in meeting the enemy. They

made few trenches, but they took many. They had few objec-

t