Garfield in these words of tenderest commiseration, so worthy of
her great heart:
"Words cannot express the deep sympathy I feel with you at this terrible
moment. May God support and comfort you as He alone can."
She afterwards sent an autograph letter to Mrs. Garfield, and also asked
for a photograph of the President.
No American who was in London at that time, especially on the day of or
President's funeral, so universally observed throughout Great Britain,
can ever forget the generous, whole-souled sympathy of the English
people, in part at least, inspired by the words 'and acts of the English
Queen. The intense interest with which she had watched that melancholy
struggle between "the Two Angels," over that distant death-bed, and the
grief with which she beheld the issue were known and responded to, and so
the noble contagion spread. It was not needed, perhaps, that signs of
mourning should be shown in her Palace windows, to have them appear as
they did, all over the vast city, but it was something strange and
affecting to see those blinds of a proud royal abode lowered out of
respect for the memory of a republican ruler, and sympathy for an
untitled "sister-widow."
We respected all those signs of mourning about us then--were grateful for
them all, from the flag at half-mast and the tolling bell, to the closing
of the shop of the small tradesman, and the bit of crape on the whip of
the cabman.
Pages:
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313