$800. This house he repaired and enlarged; and he planted the yard with evergreen shrubs and shade trees. This was the only home of the family for many years. At the beginning of their life in Washington they lived in rented rooms. But the lack of a settled home at the capital, where the children could grow up amid wholesome influences, was seriously felt early in his congressional career, but "it was not until he had been three times elected, that he began to regard that career as likely to continue. for an indefinite period, and sought the means of escaping from the disagreeable features of hotel and boarding-house life." With money loaned him by an old army friend, he bought a lot and put up a plain but substantial brick house, large enough for his family and with a little room to spare. To this house he afterwards made some additions, especially to the dining room and library. The library in the house in Washington was more interesting in many respects than the congressional library within the walls of the Capitol. The drawers, labelled with the letters of the alphabet, into which his well-assorted manuscripts and clippings and other papers, bearing the proper initial letters, found a place, and the well-laden shelves, not only indicated the man of extensive reading and literary culture, but the man of method as well, who, to use his own phrase "never allowed his lumber to lie around loose in the gallery."

The cottage in Hiram was finally sold, and for several years the family life centered in Washington. General Garfield was a believer in the doctrine that boys ought to be trained to work; hence as his boys grew older and needed more range for their activities than a city house could afford, the desire to own a farm which he had always felt increased upon him. He made a selection of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in the township of

Mentor, Lake County, a mile from a railway and telegraph station, and half a mile from a post-office. The buildings consisted of a tumble-down barn and an ancient farmhouse, a story and a half high; but the land was fertile, the summer climate, tempered by breezes from the neighboring lake, was delightful, and the people in the vicinity were of the best class of farmers to be found in Ohio. The old house was somewhat modernized with paint and paper and a new piazza, a barn was built, and the family migrated to their new home. All were delighted with the change. The children ran wild in the orchard and the hayfields, the mother took pleasure in the new duties of a farmer's household, the good old grandmother rejoiced to get back to rural scenes, like those amid which her early years were spent, and the General revived all the farming skill of his boyhood days. Drainage, fencing, and other improvements absorbed all the money the place brought in, but the time spent upon it was highly enjoyed by all the members of the household, and every winter they looked forward to the adjournment of Congress, and their release from Washington, with pleasant anticipations.

After three summers in the cramped, low-ceiled little house, it was resolved that it must be enlarged. Plans were made, mainly by Mrs. Garfield, and a new house. grew around and over the old one, just in time for the throng of old friends and new that poured in after the nomination of its owner for the Presidency. The house faces the Ridge Road, which runs from Cleveland eastward to Erie, through a string of pretty towns and villages.

It is broad, high, and spacious. Its two stories are capped by a steep roof, which shelters a big garret lighted. by dormer windows. A wide piazza extends the whole length of the front, a wide hall runs through to a back porch. Below is the parlor, dining-room, kitchen, and

two large bed-rooms, the pleasantest being "grandma's room." Above are numerous sleeping rooms and the study. A few steps from the house, in the edge of the orchard, is a little building of a single room, called the `library, with its walls lined with book-cases, and with windows on every side for ventilation and light. It is as pleasant a working place for a summer day as can be desired.

The farm raises good crops of wheat, oats, corn, hay, and potatoes, and the big barn hardly holds the products of the harvest. There is a good orchard, a little vineyard, and a large garden.

The railroad runs through the meadow on the lower end of the farm; the village of Mentor, with a score or more of neat white houses, three little churches, and a fine brick school-house, is half a mile distant.

Painesville, the county-seat of Lake County, is six miles eastward by an excellent road. Willoughby is four miles west on the road to Cleveland. Three miles to the southward is Kirtland, a half-deserted village, where the first temple built by the Mormons is still standing, a monument of folly and superstition. Lake Erie is three miles north, and to the southeast may be seen "the hemlockcovered summit" of Little Mountain, and the white fleck on its brow is the hotel from whose portico can be seen thirty miles of the blue waters and fertile shores of Lake Erie. The county in politics is strongly Republican, every town in it usually giving a heavy Republican majority. The people are of New England descent, and a thriftier or more intelligent farming population cannot be found in the United States. In such a place and with such surroundings did General Garfield provide himself a home which he finally desired to enjoy when his public services might end; and even amidst the political storm

which raged around him, during the first few weeks of his brief administration, he did not forget to "throw a line across the storm" to let his friends know that he had not forgotten the dear old quiet and peace of Hiram and Mentor."

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The manner of life of the household was always simple and quiet, whether in Washington or on the farm in Mentor. The table was always supplied bountifully with plainly-cooked food. No wines or alcoholic drinks were used upon the table, and no effort at following fashions either in furniture or table service. Comfort, neatness, and order were the characteristics which prevailed.

Some one has said, "Six things are requisite to create a happy home. Integrity must be the architect, and tidiness the upholsterer. It must be warmed by affection, and lightened up with cheerfulness, and industry must be the ventilator, renewing the atmosphere and bringing in fresh salubrity day by day; while over all, as a protecting canopy and glory, nothing will suffice except the blessings of God." Such a home was that of General Garfield, and the memory of a beautiful and happy home is the richest legacy any man can leave to his children. The heart will never forget its hallowed influences. It will be an enjoyment to which the lapse of years will only add new sweetness. Such a home is a constant inspiration for good, and as constant a restraint from evil. If we wanted to gather up all tender memories, all lights and shadows of the heart, all banquetings and reunions, all filial, fraternal, paternal, and conjugal affections, and had only just four letters with which to spell out that height, and depth, and length, and breadth, and magnitude, and eternity of meaning, we would write it all out with these four capital letters: HOME.