"The Sobbing of the Bells" by Walt Whitman

On this day in 1881, according to the Associated Press, "the 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield, died [two and a half] months after being shot by Charles Guiteau; Chester Alan Arthur became president." Here is a poem that Walt Whitman wrote about Garfield's death.


THE SOBBING OF THE BELLS

[Midnight, Sept. 19-20, 1881]

The sobbing of the bells, the sudden death-news everywhere,
The slumbers rouse, the rapport of the People,
(Full well they know that message in the darkness,
Full well return, respond within their breasts, their brains, the sad reverberations,)
The passionate toll and clang -- city to city, joining, sounding, passing,
Those heart-beats of a Nation in the night.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)