7

LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK 381

American citizens was yet far down the steps of time. Yet I was not sorry to
have this brief authority, for I rejoiced in the fact that a colored man could
occupy this height. The precedent was valuable. Though the tide that carried
me there might not soon again rise so high, it was something that it had once
so risen and had remained up long enough to leave its mark on the point it
touched and that not even the hoary locks of Time could remove it or conceal
it from the eyes of mankind. The incident was valuable as showing that
the sentiment of the nation was more liberal towards the colored man in
proportion to its proximity, in point of time, to the war and to the period
when his services were fresh in its memory, for his condition is affected by
his nearness to, or remoteness from the time when his services were rendered.
The imperfections of memory, the multitudinous throngs of events,
the fading effects of time upon the national mind, and the growing affection
of the loyal nation for the late rebels, will, on the page of our national history,
obscure the negro's part, though they can never blot it out entirely, nor
can it be entirely forgotten.

The inauguration of President Garfield was exceptional in its surroundings.
The coronation of a king could hardly have been characterized by more
display of joy and satisfaction. The delight and enthusiasm of the President's
friends knew no bounds. The pageant was to the last degree brilliant and
memorable, and the scene became sublime when, after his grand inaugural
address, the soldier, the orator, the statesman, the President elect of this great
nation, stepped aside, bowed his splendid form and, in sight of all the people,
kissed his mother. It was a reminder to the dear mother that though her son
was President of the United States, he was still her son, and that none of the
honors he that day received could make him forget, for a moment, the debt
or love due to that mother whose hand had guided his infancy. Some thought
that this act was somewhat theatrical and wanting in dignity, but as a near
spectator of the scene. I thought it touching and beautiful. Nothing so unaffected,
and spontaneous and sacred could awaken in the heart of a true man
other than sentiments of respect and admiration. On that day of glory and
amid demonstrations so sublime, no thought of the tragic death that awaited
the illustrious object of this grand ovation could have intruded itself. It is not
to be supposed that, even in the mind of the mad assassin Guiteau, the
thought of murdering the President had yet dawned. I heard at his trial, this
demon possessed man talk, and came to the conclusion that this deed was the
result of madness for office, and that this madness carried the assassin
beyond the limit to which the same madness sometimes carries other men.
Others conspire, intrigue, lie and slander in order to get office, but this crazy