The age-herald., 1902-02-28

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 lessons of heroic and splendid life which have come down from the past They read in their weekly newspapers the story of the worlds progress in which they were eager to take part, and of the sins and wrongs of civilization with which they burned to do battle. It was se- rious and thoughtful time. The boys of that day felt dimly but deepdly, that days of sharp struggle and high achieve ment were before them. They looked at life with the wondering yet resolute eyes of young esquire in his vigil of arms. They felt a time was coming when to
 them should be addressed the stern ad
 montion of the Apostle. Quit you like
 men: be strong"
 Refers to Civil War.
 Ut is not easy to give to those of a later
 generation any clear idea of that extraor- dinary spiritual awakening which passed over the country at the first red signal fires of the war between the States. It was not our earliest apocalypse hun dred years before the nation had been re- vealed to itself. when after long discus sion and much searching of heart the people of the colonies had resolved that
 to live without liberty was worse than to die, and had therefore wagered in the solemn game of war their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor In a stress of heat and labor unutterable the country had been hammered and welded together; but thereafter for nearly a cen tury there had been nothing in our life to touch the innermost fountain of feel ing and devotion; we had had rumors of wars-even wars we had had, not with out sacrifices and glory-but nothing which went to the vital self-conscious- ness of the country. nothing which chal- lenged the nations right to live. But in 1860 the nation was going down into the Valley of Decision. The question which had been debated on thousands of plat forms, which had been discussed in count less publications, which. thundered from innumerable pulpits had caused in their congregations the bitter strife and dis | senson to which only cases of conscience | can give rise. was everywhere pressing | for solution. And not merely in the vari- l ous channels of publicity was 1t alive | and clamorous. About every ireside in l the land in the conversation of friends l and neighbors, and deeper still, in the secret of millions of human hearts, the 1 battle of opinion was waging: and all men | felt and saw-with more or less clearness | that an answer to the importunate ques- I ton, Shall the nation live? was due, and l not to be denied. And I do not mean that l in the North alone there was this austere l wrestling with conscience. In the South l as well, below all the effervescence and | excitem ent of a people perhaps more giv- l en 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 call them to revolution and war. It is easy for parti- sanship to say that the one side was right and that the other was wrong. It is still easier for an indolent magnanimity to say that both were right. Perhaps in the wide view of ethics one is always right to follow his conscience, though it lead him to disaster and death' But history is ineXorable. 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 brighter day.
 "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 high moral significance, but of far-reaching importance; the drilling of a military company by Ellsworth at tracted national attention; the futtering of the flag in the clear sky drew tears from the eyes of young men. Patriotism, which had been a rhetorical expression. | became passionate emotion, in which instinct, logic and feeling were fused. The country was worth saving; it could | be saved only by fire; no sacrifice was too 1 great; the young men of the country
 were ready for the sacrifice; come veal,
 come woe, they were ready.
 Entered the Army.
 At 1T years of age William Mckinley | heard this summons of his country He was the sort of youth to whom military l lie in ordinary times would possess no attractions. His nature was far different from that of the ordinary soldier. He had other dreams of life, it's prizes and pleasures, than that of marches and bat ties. But to his mind there was no choice or question. The banner floating in the morning breeze was the beclxoning ges- ture of his country. The thrilling notes of the trumpet called him-him and none other-into the ranks. His portrait in his first uniform is familiar to us all = the short, stoeky figure. the quiet, thought full face, the deep, dark eyes. It is the face of a lad who could not stay at homo when he thought he was needed in the
 
 | 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 division. But he did what he could; he enlisted as private; he | learned to obey. His serious, sensible ways, his prompt, alert efficiency soon | attracted the attention of his superiors l He was so faithful in little things they l gave him more and more to do. He was 1 untiring in camp and on the march;
 swift, cool and fearless in fight. He left
 the army with, field rank when the war | ended, breveted by President Lincoln for l gallantry in battle.
 Tn coming years when men seek Ito
 draw the moral of our great civil war
 nothing will seem to them so admirable
 in all the history of our two magnificent | armies as the way in which the war came to close. When the Confederate l army saw the time had come they ac- II knowledged the pitiiess logic of facts. and ceased firing. When the army of the