| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | September 19 | | At the President’s Grave | | By Richard Watson Gilder (1844–1909) |
| | | | James A. Garfield, shot at Washington on July 2d, but lingered for over two months. He died on Sept. 19, 1881. |
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ALL summer long the people knelt | |
| And listened at the sick man’s door: | |
| Each pang which that pale sufferer felt | |
| Throbbed through the land from shore to shore; | |
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| And as the all-dreaded hour drew nigh, | 5 |
| What breathless watching, night and day! | |
| What tears, what prayers! Great God on high,— | |
| Have we forgotten how to pray! | |
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| O broken-hearted, widowed one, | |
| Forgive us if we press too near! | 10 |
| Dead is our husband, father, son,— | |
| For we are all one household here. | |
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| And not alone here by the sea, | |
| And not in his own land alone, | |
| Are tears of anguish shed with thee— | 15 |
| In this one loss the world is one. | |
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EPITAPH A man not perfect, but of heart | |
| So high, of such heroic rage, | |
| That even his hopes became a part | |
| Of earth’s eternal heritage. | 20 | | |
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