Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-03-06

the middle class, but which in this country
is so nearly universal as to make of other
classes an almost negligible quantity. He
was neither rich nor poor, neither proud
nor humble; he knew no hunger he was not
sure of satisfying, no luxury which could
enervate mind or body. His parents were
sober, God-fearing people; intelligent and
upright: without pretension and without
humility. He grew up in the COMPANY of
boys like himself: wholesome, honest, self
respecting. They looked down on nobody;
they never felt 1t possible they could be
looked down upon. Their houses We're the
homes OF %probity, piety, patriotism, They
learned in the admirable school readers of
20 years ago the lessons of heroic and SPLEEN
did life which have come down from the
past, They read in their weekly ewspa
pers the story of the worlds progress, In
the sins and wrongs of civilization with
which they burned to do battle. 1t was a
serious and thoughtful time.
Early Influences.
1t is not easy to give to those of a later
generation any clear idea of that extraor-
binary spiritual awakening which passed
over the country at the first red signal fires
of the war between the states. In 1860 the
nation was going dow into the Valley of
Decision. The question which had been
debated on thousands of platforms, which
had been discussed in countless publica-
tons, which, Numbered from innumerable
pulpits, had caused in their congregations
the bitter strife and dissension to which
only cases of conscience can give rise, was
everywhere pressing for solution.
In the south as well, below all the eff
fervescence and excitement Of a people
perhaps more given to eloquent speech
thar We were, there was the profound
agony of question and answer, the sum
mons TO decide whether honor and free
dom did not call them to revolution and
war. 1t is easy for partisanship to say that
the one eide was right and that the other
was wrong. 1t is still easier for an indolent
m~agnanimity to say that both were right.
Perhaps in the wide view of ethics one is al
ways right to follow his conscience, though
It lead him to disaster and death. But his
tory is memorable. She takes no account
of sentiment and intention; and in her cold
and luminous eyes that side Is right which
fights in harmony with the stars In their
courses. The men are right through whose
efforts and struggles the world Is helped
onward, and humanity moves to a higher
level and a brighter day.
The men who are living to-day and who
were young In 1860 Will never forget the
glory. and glamour that filled the earth
and the sky when the long twilight of doubt
and uncertainty was ending and the, time
Of action had come. Patriotism, which had
been a rhetorical expression, became a pas
sionate emotion, in which instinct, logic
worth saving; it could be saved only by
fire: no sacrifice was too great; the young
men of the country were ready for the
sacrifice; come veal, come woe, they were
Mckinley ms n Soldier.
AT II years Of age William Mckinley
heard this of his country. He
was the sort Of youth to whom a military
life In ordinary times would possess no at.
fractions. His nature was far different
from that of the ordinary soldier. He had
other dreams of life, its prizes and pleas
ures, thar that of marches and battles,
But to his mind there was no choice OIL
question.
lie enlisted as a private; he learned t.
obey. His serious, sensible ways, his
prompt. alert efficiency soon attracted the
attention of his supcriors. He was Sc
faithful in little things they gave him more
and more to do. He was untiring In cam
and on the march; swift, cool and fearless
in fight. He left the army with field ranl
when the war ended, brevetted by Presl
deL Lincoln. for gallantry In battle
Speaking Of the close of the war, Mr.. Hay
said. a. conclusion had been reached
and 1t is to the everlasting honor Of botf
sides that they each knew when the wal
was over, and the hour Of a lasting peac,
had struck. We may admire the desperate
daring Of others who prefer annihilatiop L
compromise, but the palm of common
sense, and, / will say, of enlightened pa
triotism, belongs to the men like Grant ant
Lee, who knew when they had Tough
enough. for honor and for country.
Turns to Civil Life.
William Mckinley, one Of that sensibl,
million OF men. gladly laid down his swor'