The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1901-09-27

this hour made glorious with the sunlight o.
reasseTted truth
Who, then can deny the thought, waking
! as We are to realization of this condition
| for seventy millions of people are discussing
I 1t today-that President Mckinley s life was
not sacrificed in vain? Terrible as it was as
! Inconsolable as the grief of his poor wife must
! be, A. sincerely as we deplore his loss, [ think
! 1 can see the hand of Divine Providence in it
| alt. We will know each other better; we will
| know our country's illness and minister to It's
| needs. And when in future generations the
! historian shall have recorded the events OF
these timea, believe he will say that our be-
, loved president gave his life that free and
organized government might endure.
! For from this day henceforth we will recog-
nlZe our danger and cut the cancer from out
our vitals, that but for this occasion would go
unnoticed until its inSidious influence had
! poisoned our whole system of government.
II 1T be not consistent with some Divine
plan, then why, Oh why, was it done? No
| reasonable human motive can account for it
all. The president in the very last hours of
| his consciousness voiced this sentiment. He
rel ed not at his God because of his affiiction;
DuC, stricken az he was, as the soul took up its
night, he saw with a vision as yet denied 70
| us, the angel reckoning, and seeing and know
ing his refuge, chanted, Nearer, My God, to
Thee, Nearer to Thee; and like q voice from
Heaven, falling rs benedicti0n after that
sweetest of all expressions of human faith in
God, he uttered his last words. "Good bye,
all; Good by. It's Gods Way" And grief
stricken people, with bowed heads and heavy
hearts in the depths of their being, answer,
The lord giveth, and the Lo1 d taketh away;
| blessed be the name of the Lord "
Our faith sustains us in this hour.
Faith builds bridge across the gulf of death.
TO break the shock blind nature cannot shun."
Let us not for one moment cherish the
| thought that free government is failure, or
even seriously in danger at this time. We
have recognized the evil in time and will
correct it.
The last public utterance of our president
was grounded in the sentiment that tho
t;umphs Of peace are greater than the tri-
| umphs of war. The soldier, the statesman, he
who in his life time had sounded all the
| depths and shoals OF greatness, died with this
sentiment on his lips. oh, what an insplra-
| ton to the yOUIh of our land; what grandeur,
what comfort to those VIII, strive to fix the
standard of the Prince of Peace upon the
| earth?
would commend to all study Of the ad-
dress of our president delivered at Buffalo on
the day before he was stricken down It is a
model Of eloquent suggestion. and furnishes a
| basis for division of political sentiment for
the immediate future upon high and lofty
grounds
know the occasion does not demand dis
cusslon of purely state documents, nor do I
intend to do so; but as one of different DO
htlcal faith, l can claim the privilege of com
handing its sentiment, the sincerity of its
purpose, and admitting it to be a sufficient
heritage to mark the greatness of the Enan
AS have said, however, it is not 80 much
| the official as the private character of the
man, that moves us today. "Al the world
loves the lover," and had William Mckinley
cone Gaught for his country he would today
be honored, respected, and mourned by all
within the circle Of his acquaintance for his
tender, loving devotion to his invalid wife
We shall not enter the sacred precincts of
the home, but we know, all the world knows,
1t was perfect.
His life was gentle;
And the elements SO mixed in him
That Nature might stand up =
And say to alThe world,
This was a man.
AS glorious as was his life, more admirable
Was his death. He died the soldier, no touch
OF tear binding the pathway of his deliver
ance from this worlds trials. He died the
Christian, calm, reasoning and resigned He
died the martyr, content to do Gods will,
With hand clasped to hand, speechess in the
hour of parting, he found strength to utter to
the partner OF his life, his joys, and his sor-
rows, THY will be done"
The lesson of the poet was never so en-
phaslzed before. William McKinley's life be-
longed to US all. His death is a common
heritage, and lasting tribute to the possiblli-
ties of Christian civilization. Together they
cry out to you and to US all:
$50 live that when thy summons comes to
join.
The innumerable caravan which moves
TO that mysterious realm where each shall
take
His chamber il the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
ScOur ICED to his dungeon, but sustained and
sOOthed
By an unfaltering trust approach thy grave,
Ike one That wraps the drdpery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant
dreams"