CHAPTER XXII. CHESTER ALLAN ARTHUR. ANCESTRY AND BOYHOOD. RESIDENT ARTHUR, now (1884) occupying the executive chair of the republic, was born in Fairfield, Franklin county, Vermont, October 5, 1830, and is in the fifty-fourth year of his age. He is the only son of Vermont who has attained this distinction. Vermont has produced many noted men, and has, from the days of the revolution, taken an active and efficient part in national affairs; has usually been forward and vigorous in the fields of war; strong in Congress; intelligent and high-minded in the conduct of her own public affairs; had a hardy and robust people, independent and vigorous in mind and action; staid, order-loving, law-abiding and truth-seeking. Their patriotism has been intense, and their devotion to the public welfare a strong and steady impulse. Among such people President Arthur came into being and received his early influences and education. The strong climate and fine scenery did their part in giving vigor to his body and mind, and activity and taste to his imagination. His father, Reverend William Arthur, was a Baptist clergyman who came to this country from Ireland when eighteen years old. He had had charge of a church in New York city for a number of years; had published a work of considerable merit on |