The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1902-03-08


attacked his Blackstone a. he would have
done hostile entrenchment; finding the
range OF a country law. library too mar
row. he went to the Albany law school.
To- yhs bar
settled down to practice-a brevetted vet
eran OF Ain the quiet town OF Canton.
the scene of his life and his place OF sepui-
ture. Here many blessings awaited him;
nigh repute. professional success. and a do
nestle ansetion SO pure. SO devoted and
OF Christian marriage. will find In 1t
meme worthy OF their songs This Is q sub
1ect to which the lightest allusion seems
Of William Mckinley without remember
Ing that no truer. .enderer knight to his
chosen lady. ever lived among mortal men.
II to the spirits Of the just made perfect is
permitted the consciousness of earthly
things, We may be sure that his faithful
soul Is now watching over that gentle suf-
shattered home in the desolate splendor of
his fame
Enters Public Life
A man possessing the qualities with
which nature had endowed Mckinley
seeks political activity as naturally as
wholesome ambition; a rare power OF
making friends and keeping them; a
faith, which may be called religious,
In his country and it's institutions; and,
could do no nobler work than to serve
such a country-these were the elements
In his character that drew him irresist-
IDLY into public life. He had from the
beginning remarkable equipment: a
mannerof singular grace and charm; a
voice OF ringing quality and great carry.
gathered about him, he reached their ut
most fringe without apparent effort He
had an extraordinary power OF marshall
Ing and presenting significant facts. SO
a @ ~ hEtV lott IN
mind. His range of reading was not
wide; he read only what he might some
day find useful. and what he read his
him well in those early DAYS can never
forget the consummate skill and power
with which he would select a. few point
ed facts, and. blow upon blow. would
assemblages in Ohio, as Jael drove the
nail into the head of the Canaanite cap
tain: He was not often impassioned;. he
NOR: yet I never saw his equal in CON
trolling and convincing popular audi,
ence by sheer appeal to their reason and
intelligence. He did not fiatter or ca5ole
ment In the serious and sober tone in
which he addressed them. He seemed
one of them: In heart and feeling he was
crowd msh say Thnt Is the sort Of
man | would like to be, and under more
favoring circumstances might have been.
He. had the. divine gift of sympathy.
which, though given only to the elect,
makes all men their friends.
Felt mt Home I'm Congress.
So 1t came naturally about, continued
the orator, that in 1S76-the beginning OF
the second century of the republic,he
began, by an ELECTION to congress, his
this chamber was his home. l use the
word advisedly. Nowhere in the world
was he so in harmony with his environ,
aAnf shAV. nIo n lie tnd
work with such full consciousness of Its
powers. The air of debate was native
to him; here he drank delight of battle
with his peers. In after days, when he
rare occasions his duty called him here,
he greeted his old haunts with the affec-
tionate zest of child Of the house; dur
ing all the last ten years Of his life. filled
as they were with activity and glory,
he never ceased to be homesick for this
hall. When he came to the presidency,
sional service was not Of use. to him.
Probably no other president has been
in such full and cordial communion with
alone. Mckinley knew the legislative
methods. its habits of thought. He had
tn, the profoundest respect for Its auth ,S,,
mate rectitude of its purposes. Our his
tory shows how surely an executive
courts disaster and ruin by assuming an
Legislatures; and. on the other hand, Nc
Kinley's frank and sincere trust and con-
fdence In congress were repaid by prompt
Ing his entire term OF office this mutual
trust and regard-so essential to the pub
lie welfare-was never Swallowed by a
single cloud.
Pathway to the Presidency.
Someone has said 1t Is easy to love our
enemies; they help US so much more than
naOple W m
skill had turned Mckinley out of con-
gress deserved well Of him and of the
republic. Never was Nemesis more swift
were saved the trouble of choosing a gov
ernor-the other side had chosen one for
them. year after Mckinley left con-
two years later he was reelected, each
time by matorities unhoped-for and over
whelming. He came to fill a space In the
ton of the field Of vision. In two ma
tional conventions, the presidency seemed
within his reach. But he had gone there
in the interest Of others and his honor
So his nay was nay-delivered with
tone and gesture there was no denying.
His hour was not yet come.
became, from year to year. the most
prominent politician and orator in the
country. Passionately devoted to the
principles Of his party. he was always
e.
proclaim its ideas and to support it's can
didates. His face and his voice became
familiar to millions of our people; and
wherever they were seen and heard, men
became his partisans. His face was cast
in a classic mold; you see faces like II
in antique marble in the galleries of the
Vatican and In the portraits of the great
cardinal-statesmen of Italy; his voice was
the voice of the perfect orator-ringing
vibrating. persuading by Its very sound,
by its accent Of sincere conviction. So
prudent and so guarded were all his ut
terances. so lofty his courtesy, that he
never embarrassed his friends. and never
offended his opponents. For several
months before the republican national
convention met In 1896. 1t was evident to
all who had eyes to see that Mr.. McKin-
his party. Other names were mentioned,
of the highest rank In ability. character
and popularity; they were supported by
powerful combinations: but the nominal
ton Of Mckinley as against the field was
inevitable.
Faces a Dimcult Situation.
When he came to the presidency he con-
fronted a situation OF the utmost difficulty,
which might well have appalled, a man OF
less serene and tranquil self-confidence.
There had been state OF profound COM
mercial and industrial depression, from
which his friends had said his election
with the outside world left much to be de-
sired. The feeling between the northern
and southern sections of the union was
lacking In the cordially which was neces-
sary to the welfare of both. Hawaii had
asked for annexation and had been reject
ed by the preceding administration. There
was a state Of things in the Caribbean