The Stark County Democrat

A PRESIDENT'S BIRTHPLACE.

The House in Fairfield, Vt., where Chester Alan Arthur First Saw Light.

A remarkable fact about a long line of the presidents of the United States is the exceptionally humble surroundings of their birth. The pictures of the houses in which Lincoln, Grant and Garfield were born have been published, and strange to say were all of a type with the illustration herewith of the late President Arthur's birthplace—a plain, squatty one-story structure, with a single door and a few windows, seems to be the lucky one as a starting point for the presidential aspirant. Our public men possessing the "presidential bee in their bonnets" should first find what style of house they were born in and risk their chances accordingly. And unborn Americans intending to run for president should take advantage of this point and see to it that their careers are begun right.

BIRTHPLACE OF PRESIDENT ARTHUR.

The father of the late President Arthur was a Baptist clergyman, a graduate of the University of Belfast, near his native place, in Ireland. Fine scholar and able minister that he was, this building of which we give a sketch is interesting as showing the sort of parsonages a clergyman was expected to put up with in those days. The Rev. William Arthur's liberal education, particularly in the classics, was of great advantage in preparing his son Chester for college. But this event did not take place until they were living in better quarters in Union village, Washington county, N. Y. Young Chester was scarcely more than a babe when his family left the house he was born in.