The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-02-28

| TO the importunate question, shall the
| ration live? was due, and not to be de-
MED And / do not mean that in the
North alone there was this austere wrest-
| ling with conscience, In the South as
we'll, below all the effervescence and ex-
| citement of a people perhaps more given
| to eloquent speech than we were, there
was the profound agony of question and
answer, the summons to decide whether
honor and freedom did not cali them to
revolution and war 1T is easy for parti-
sanshp to say that the one side was
| right and that the other was wrong. 1t
| is still easier for an ndolent magnani-
| nifty to say that both were right. Per-
haps in the wide view Of ethics one Is al
| ways right to follow his conscience,
though it lead him to disaster and death.
But history 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 humani-
ty moves to higher level and a brighter
day.
M'KINLEY THE SOLDIER.
The men who are living today and who
were young in 1860 will never forget the
glory and glamor that filled the earth
and the sky when the long twilight of
| doubt and uncertainty was ending and
| the time of action had come. A speech
| by Abraham Lincoln was an event not
| only of a high moral significance, but of
| far-reaching Importance; the drilling of
/ a militia company by Ellsworth attracted
| national attention; the fluttering of the
| flag in the clear sky drew tears from the
eyes of young men. Patriotism, which
had been a rhetorical expression became
a passionate emotion, in which instinct,
! logic and feeling were fused. The coun-
/ try was worth saving: it could be saved
1 Cnly by fire; no sacrifice was too great ;
the young men of the country were ready
] for the sacrifice; come veal come woe,
/ they were ready.
At IL years of age William Mckinley
! heard this summons of his country. He
was the sort of youth to whom a military
/ life in ordinary times would possess no
| attractions. His nature was far differ
ent from that of the ordinary soldier.
He had other dreams of life, it's prizes and
pleasures, than that of marches and
|
choice or question. The banner floating
in the morning breeze was the reckoning
gesture of his country. The thrilling
notes of the trumpet called him--him
| and no other-into the ranks. His por-
Iait in his first uniform is familiar tc
you all-the short, stocky figure; the
quiet, thoughtful face; the deep, dark
eyes. 1t is the face of a lad who co1,d
/ he, he
needed in the field. He was of the stuff
Of which good soldiers are made. Had
he been ten years older he would have
entered at the head of a company and
come out at the head of a division. But
nc did what he could. He enlisted as g
private he learned to obey. His serious
sensible ways, his prompt, alert effcen-
cy soon attracted the attention of his
sureriors. He was so faithful in little
things that they gave him more and
more to do. He was untiring in camp
and on the march: swift, cool, and fear
less in fight. He left the army with fielC
rank when the war ended, brevetted b,
President Lincoln for galantry in battle
In coming years when men seek to draw
the moral of our great Civil War nothing
will seem to them so admirable in all tn,
the way in which the war came to
close. When the Confederate arm.
saw the time had come, they acknowl
edged the pitiless logic of facts, am
ceased fighting. When the army of tn
Union saw it was no longer needed, with
cut a murmur or question, making n
terms, asking no return, in the flush O
victory and fullness of might it laid dow
1 4, ;rtn
of peaceful citizens. There is no event
since the ration was born, which has 81
proved its solid capacity for self govern
ment. Both sections share equally i
, that crown of glory They had held de
bate of Incompatible Importance and ha
fought it out with equal energy A con
, clusion had been reached-and it is t
the everlasting honor of both sides tina
they each knew when the war was over
and the hour of lasting peace ha
struck. We may admire the desperat
daring of others who prefer annihilatiol
, to compromise, but the palm of common
sense, and | will say. of enlightened pa
triotism, belongs to the men like Gran
and Lee who knew when they ha
fought enough, for honor and for country
A STUDENT OF LAW.
William Mckinley, one of that sensbl
million of men, gladly laid down hi
sword ard betook himself to his books
He quickly made up the time lost in sol
diering. He attacked his Blackstone a
he would have done a hostile entrench
ment; finding the range of a country LAY
library too narrow, he went to the Al
bany Law School, where he worked eneT
geticaIly with brilliant success was ad
mtted 20 the bar and settled down
practice-a brevetted veteran of 4-i
the quiet town of Canton, now and hence
forward forever famous as the scene G
bis life and his place of sepulchre. Her
many blessings awaited him: high re
pute, professional success and a domesti
affection SO pure, so devoted and stain
less that future poets, seeking an idea
of Christian marriage, will find in it
theme worthy of their songs. This is
subject to which the lightest alluSio
seems PROCLAMATION; but it is impossible
, to speak of William Mckinley withou
, remembering that no truer, tendere
knight to his chosen lady ever live
among mortal men. If to the spirits @
the just made perfect is permitted tn
consciousness of earthly things, we ma
be sure that his faithful soul is nov