repeated, the theme-honor to Garfield-being ever the same. Crossing into Ohio, at Edgerton the greetings broke out afresh. When he reached Cleveland, an immense demonstration awaited his arrival, and the whole city was alive with a glad enthusiasm. Among the first of his callers there was the Hon. Henry W. Payne.

Just before he left for Chicago he promised to deliver an address at the commencement exercises of Hiram College. The morning after his arrival in Cleveland he journeyed quietly to the little village of Hiram, the modest little town where he had been a bell-ringer, and a student, and a college president. Here he met his wife, for the first time since the acquirement of his latest and greatest honor, and at the very house where their acquaintance began. It was a touching meeting; his wife, his children, the students and old friends gathered about him. Baring his head, the great statesman said:

“FELLOW-CITIZENS, OLD NEIGHBORS AND Friends OF MANY YEARS: It has always given me pleasure to come back here and look upon these faces. It has always given me new courage and new friends, for it has brought back a large share of that richness which belongs to those things out of which come the joys of life.

"While sitting here this afternoon, watching your faces and listening to the very interesting address which has just been delivered, it has oc

512

curred to me that the least thing you have, that all men have enough of, is perhaps the thing that you care for the least, and that is your leisurethe leisure you have to think; the leisure you have to be let alone; the leisure you have to throw the plummet into your mind, and sound the depth and dive for things below; the leisure you have to walk about the towers yourself, and find how strong they are or how weak they are, to determine what needs building up; how to work, and how to know all that shall make you the final beings you are to be. Oh, these hours of building!

"If the Superior Being of the universe would look down upon the world to find the most interesting object, it would be the unfinished, unformed character of the young man or young woman. Those behind me have probably in the main settled this question. Those who have passed into middle manhood and middle womanhood are about what they shall always be, and there is but little left of interest, as their characters are all developed.

"But to your young and your yet unformed natures, no man knows the possibilities that lie before you in your hearts and intellects; and, while you are working out the possibilities with that splendid leisure that you need, you are to be most envied. I congratulate you on your leisure. I commend you to treat it as your gold, as your