The age-herald., 1902-02-28

I
 1 that crown of glory. They had held de- bate of ineomparable importance and l had fought 1t out with equal energy. | conclusion had been reached-and It Is l to the everlasting honor of both sides | that they each knew when the war was | over and the hour of lasting peace had | struck We may admire the desperate | daring of others who prefer annihlation | to compromise, but lne palm of common | sense and I will say of enlightened l patriotism, belongs to the men like Grant and Lee who knew when they had 1 fought enough, for honor and for coun- 1 try.
 Laid Down His Sword. | ''William Mckinley. one of that sensi- ble million of men, siadly laid down hls sword ard betook himself to his books. 1 He quickly made up the time lost Tn sol l dierinR He attacked his Blackstone as | he would have done a hostile entrench- | ment Finding the range of country 1 law library too narrow, he went to the l Albany Law School, where he worked energetically, with brilliant success, was | admitted to the bar and settled down to practice-a breveted veteran of 24-in the | quiet town of Canton. now and hence | forward forever femous as the scene of | his life and his place of sepulchre. Here
 many blessings awaited him: high repute, | professional success and a domestic af- | lection so pure so devoted and stainless | that future poets, seeking an ideal or | Christian marriage, will find in 1t | theme worthy of their songs. This is q subject to which the lightset alluslon | seems proclamation; but it is impossible to | speak of William Mckinley without re l membering that no truer, tenderer knight | to his chosen lady ever lived among mortal men. If to the spirits of the just | made perfect is permitted the conscious
 ness of earthly things, we may be sure | that his faithful soul is now watching
 over that gentle sufferer who counts the 1 long hours in their shattered home in
 the desolate splendor of his fame.
 Entered Politics.
 "A man possessing the qualities with | which nature had endowed Mckinley
 seeks political activity as naturally as | growing plant seeks light and air. A | wholesome ambition; a rare power of
 making friends and keeping them; faith, which may be called religious In
 his country and It's institutions; and. | flowing from this, a belief that man | could do no nobler work than to serve such country-these were the elements | in his character that drew him irresisti | hly into public life.
 | So it came naturally about in 1ST6-the l beginning of the second century of the | 1epuDllC-ne began, Dy dn eleCIlOH tO CoH- | gress. his political career. Thereafter for fourteen years this chamber was his home. I use the word advisedly. Nowhere l in the world was he so in harmony with | his environment as here: nowhere else dio l his mind work with such full conscious | ness of it's powers. The air of debate was native to him; here he drank delight of | battle with his peers. In after days, when
 he drove by this stately pile, or when | on rare occasions his duty called him
 here he greeted his old haunts with the affectionate zest of a child of the house; during 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 | there was not day when his Congress sonal service was not of use to him. | Probably no other President has been in such full and cordial communion with Congress, if we may except Lincoln alone.
 Why Republican.
 "He was a Republican. He could not be | anything else. A Union soldier grafted upon a Clay Whig, he necessarily believed | in the American system"-in protection | to home industries; in a strong. aggres- | sive nationality; in a liberal construction l of the constitution. What any self-reliant nation might rightly do, he felt this na- l
 common welfare and not prohibited by our | written charter.
 l Following the natural bent of his
 mind, he devoted himself to questions of | finance and revenue. to the essentials of | the national housekeeping. He took high | rank in the House from the beginning. | His readiness in debate, his mastery of every subject he handled. the bright and | amiable light he shed about him. and I l will with which he treated friend and | foe alike-one of the surest signatures of | a nature born to great destinies-made his | service in the House pathway of un- | broken success and brought him at last | to the all-important post of chairman of | ways and means and leader of the ma | jority.
 | Mckinley also passed through a brief | zone of shadow; his Congressional district
 having been rearranged for that purpose | by a hostile Legislature.
 Someone has said it Is easy to love our enemies; they help us so much more 1 than our. friends. The people whose malevolent skill had turned Mckinley out | of Congress deserved well of him and of | the republic Never was Nemesis more swift and energetic. The Republicans of | Ohio were saved the trouble of choosing | Governor-the other side had chosen one for them. A year after Mckinley left l Congress he was made Governor of Ohio l and two years later he was reelected | each time by majorities unhoped-for and | overwhelming. He came to fill a space in | the public eye which obscured a great | portion of the field of vision. In two na- | tional conventions, the Presidency seemed l within his reach. But he nad gone there | in the interest of others, and his honor | forbade any dalliance with temptation | So his nay was nay-delivered with a tone | and gesture there was no denying. His
 hour was not yet come
 Delay Was Not Long.
 " There was, however, no long delay,
 He became, from year to year. the most
 prominent politician and orator in the
 country. Passionately devoted to the prin-
 ciples of his party he was always ready to
 do anything, to go anywhere, to proclaim
 it's ideas and to support its candidates
 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
 classic mold; you see faces like 1t in an-
 tique marble in the galleries of the Vati-
 can and in the portraits of the great
 cardinal-statesmen of Italy: his voice
 was the voice of the perfect orator-ring-
 ing, vibrating, tireless, persuading by it's
 very sound, by its accent of sincere con-
 viction. So prudent and so guarded were | all his utteranceS, so lofty his courtesy
 that he never embarrassed his friends.