The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-28

prayers might be answered-the nation waited for the end. Nothing in the glo- rious life we saw gradually waning was more admirable and exemplary than its close. The gentle humanity of his words l when he saw his assailanC III danger of summary vengeance. Don't let them hurt him." his chivalrous care that the news should be broken gently to his wife; the fine courtesy With which he apologized for the damage which his death would bring to the great exposition, and the heroic resls- nation of his final words: II Goa way His will, not ours, be done" were all the instinctive expressions or 9 hd- ture so lofty and so pure that prlae in its nobility at once softened ana en- hanced the nations sense or loss The republic grieved over such son--put IS proud forever of having produced hlll. After all, in spite of it's tragic endlng' his life was extraordinarily happy lie had, all his days, troops of friends, the cheer of fame and fruitful labor; and he became at last
 "On fortunes crowning slope,
 The pillar of q peoples nope, ,, The center of a world S deslfe. He was fortunate even in his untlme- ly death, for an event so traglcal called the world imperatively to the lmme- diate study of his life and character, and thus anticipated the sure praises or posterity.
 Every young and growing people has to meet, at moments, the problems Of it's destiny. Whether the question comes, as in Egypt from a sphlhH, symbol of hostile forces of omnlmpotent nature, who punishes with instant death cur failure to understand her meaning; CT. whether it comes, as in Jerusalem, from the Lord of Hosts, who commands the building of His temple, it comes al ways with the warning that the past is past and experience vain. Your ia- thers, where are they? ana the prophets, do they live foreVer?' The fathers are dead; the prophets are si- lent; the questions are new, and nave no answer but in time.
 When the horny outside case which protects the infancy of chrysalis na- tion suddenly bursts, and, ln a single abrupt shock, it finds itself floating on wings which had not existed before, whose strength it has never tested among dangers it cannot foresee, ana IS without experience to measure, every motion is a problem and every hesita- ton may be an error. The past gives no clue to the future The fathers where are they? And the prophets-do they live forever? We are ourselves the fathers. We are ourselves the proph- ets The questions that are put to us we must answer without delay, with out help-for the sphinx allows no one to pass
 At such moments, which have already occurred at least twice in the brief his tory of our own lives, we may be hum bly grateful to have had leaders sim pie in mind, clear in vision-as far as human vision can safely extend-pene- trating in knowledge of men, supple and flexible, under the strains and pres sures of society, instinct with the ener- gy of new fife and untried strength, eau tous, calm, and above all gifted in supreme degree with the most surely victorious of all political virtues-the genius of infinite patience.
 The obvious clements which enter into the fame of a public man are few and by no means recondite The man who fills a great station in period of change, who leads his country success fully through time of crisis; who, by his power of persuading and controll- ing others, has been able to command the best thought of his age, so as to leave his country in a moral or material condition in advance of where he found it--such a mans position in history is secure If, in addition to this, his writ ten or spoken words possess the subtle quality which carry them far and lodge them in mems hearts; and, more than all, if his utterances and actions, while informed with lofty morality, are yet tinged with the glow of human sympa- thy, the fame of such man will shine like a beacon through the mists of ages -an object of reverence, of imitation and of love. It should be to us an oc- casion of solemn pride that in the three great crises of our history such a man was not denied us. The moral value to a nation of a renoWn such as Washing tons and Lincoln's and Mckinley's is beyond all computation. No bitter
 
 ideal can be held up to the emulation of ingenious youth. With such examples we cannot be wholly ignoble. Grateful as we may be for what they did let us be still more grateful for what they were. While our daily being, our pub lie policies, still feel the Influence of their work, let us pray that in our spir- it's their lives may be voluble, caine us upward and onward.
 There is not one of us but feels proud- CT of his native land, because the au- gust figure of Washington precided over it's beginnings; no one but vows it tenderer love, because Lincoln poured out his blood for it; no one but must feel his devotion for his country re- newed and windled when he remembers how Mckinley loved, revered and serv- ed it, showed in his life how citizen should live, and in his last hour taught us how gentleman could die.
 PrtnceDines at White House.
 yrv. "