The Van Buren press., 1901-09-21
it usually is, a golden mean be-
tween the two extremes.


tween the two extremes.
Says Emerson 81 count him
a great man who inhabits higher
sphere ofthought, into which other
men rise with labor and difficulty;
he has but to open his eyes to see
the things in a true light and IN
large relations, whilst they must
make painful corrections and keep
a vigllant eye on many sources OF
error"
Nor is it by any means neces-
sary or even usual that the great
man should be original.
"He finds himself in the river
of thoughts and events, forced on.
ward by the ideas and necessities
of his contemporaries. He stands
where all the eyes of men look
one way and their hands point in
the direction in which he should
90. Every master has
found his materials collected, and
his power lay in his sympathy with
his people and in the love of the
material he wrought in. What an
economy of power! and what a
compensation for the shortness of
life 4! all this is done to his hand.
The world has brought him thus
far on his way. The human race
has gone out before him, sunk the
hills, filed the holows and bridged
the rivers. Men, nations, poets,
artisans, women, all have worked
for him, and he enters into their
labors. Choose anything out of
the line of tendency, out of the
national feeling and history and
he would have all to do for him.
self; his powers would be expend-
ed in the first preparations. Great
genial power, one would almost
say, consists in not being original
at all 4; in being altogether recep-
tive; in letting the world do all,
and suffering the spirit of the
hour to pass unobstructed thro'
the mind"
If this be sound enunciation,
then the fact that William McKin.
ley may not have CREATED any
great impulse of the public
mind detracts nothing from his
merit. Heat least, had an unerring
instinct for DISCOVERING it and
directing it along the line of least
resistance to a practical goal.
His power lay emphatically "in
his sympathy with the people and
in his love of the material he
wrought in" Neither does it de-.
tract from his just fame that he
may not have discovered the trend
Of this impulse, very long before
it was known by other men.
The advent of the truth comes
first by g'impses "The highest
intellects, like the tops of mount.
aims are the first to catch and re.
feet the dawn. They are bright
while the level below is still in
darkness, but soon the light which
at first illuminated only the lOfti.
est submits descends to the
plain and penetrates to the deep.
est valley"
But no man can be q great man
who is merely an intellectual man.
To produce the great man it is
necessary that his intellectual
nature should be interfused with
q high moral nature.
How stands the score when we
consider the moral element I Does
Mckinley still measure up to the
standard of a great mani We
answer, unhesitatingly, yes
"The elements so mixed in him
that nature might stand up and
say to all the world: This was a
man," In practice as well rs in
precept he was o follower Of the
Saviour. Upon his escutcheon
there IS no stain. His character,
public and private, was beyond
reproach. lie bore the white
flower Of q blameless life. lie
was gracious, kindly, sympathetic
and of noble impulses. He com.
PEELED the affection of all who
came within his influence. lie
had troupes of devoted friends
and he deserved them all. lie
loved his fellow man aud his
country Almost his last words,
how the illustrate his exquisite
urbanity, his oil embracing love,
a a. A 4 A