Twenty Three to Twenty One #2 by Michael Ceraolo

Twenty-Three to Twenty-One, titled such for the 23 letters (totaling 155 pages!) that a woman named Julia Sand wrote to Chester Arthur, the 21st President.  I have excerpted her letters and imagined how Arthur might have responded; as far as is known he never wrote back to her (quotations in the Arthur part of the poems come from his writings).

from Twenty-Three to Twenty-One

            #2

                     "Englewood N.J.

                              Sept 25, 1881

Hon. Chester A. Arthur

And so Garfield is really dead

& you are President

                                For a time

it seemed as if we all were mistaken---

as if he meant to 'disappoint our fears'

Then I felt I owed you

an apology for what I had written

Perhaps I owe you one now,

for writing at all

My only excuse for this letter

is the deep sympathy

I feel for you in your sorrow"

"the feeling that you were chief mourner"

"What we all endured during

the terrible months of anxiety just past,

you too endured---

intensified ten thousand fold

by the reflection that you were the one

human being to benefit by his death"

You could not put what you suffered in words"

"In such affliction,

the soul puts forth new life"

                                          "And 

there is consolation for sorrow like yours---

though it comes slowly

It is impossible for you to have it now,

if you have taken in the full lesson

of this national crisis"

"Wishing you well in all your endeavors,

Yours Respectfully, J.I.Sand

P.S."  "What the nation needs most at present, is rest

We all are worn out with watching---

& when people are very tired

they are apt to be

irritable,

             unreasonable

                                    &

ready to quarrel on small provocation"

"one month of peace would be

a great refreshment to the whole country"

                                               Yours Sincerely,

                                                                         J.I.S.

Sept 28th 1881"

Arthur:

The worst has happened,

                                      and

"the memory of the murdered President,

his protracted sufferings,

                                     his unyielding fortitude,

the example and achievements of his life,

and the pathos of his death

will forever illumine the pages of our history"

"it will be my earnest endeavor to profit,

and to see that the nation shall profit,

by his example and experience"

                                                 Thus,

with sadness and resolve,

"I assume the trust

imposed by the Constitution"