Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-02-04
cUMMINs ON M'klNLEY.

yesterday
Gentlemen of the Twenty-ninth Gen.
eral Assembly, respond to the kind
invitation of your committee with |
many misgivings. Under the most IA
vorable circumstances / could bring |
you nothing worthy of the occasion;
but with the few hours given me for
preparation-hours filled to overflow
ing with other duties, may we'll chal-
lenge your utmost forbearance.
consent to do inadequately what ought
to be done adequately or not at all,
simply because l still hold and cherish
the old-fashioned idea that the request
of the sovereign is a command, and l
am here to recognize your authority
and answer your imperial summons.
knew William Mckinley we'll, and
the better l knew him, the more l
loved him. There is, therefore, no
poverty of thought when l reflect upon
his life and death; and If it were pos
sible to express what | feel in every
fiber of my being, my task would be
an easy one. But there are subjects
which cannot be put into propositions;
there are sentiments which defy analy-
sis; there are meanings which Ian
guage will not convey; there are quail
ties which words will not describe,and
there are distinctions which phrases
cannot trace.
Greatness, of whatever kind, is in
stinctly appreciable to the senses of
both the learned and the unlearned;
but to differentiate greatness from
mediocrity is the work of the master,
and he oftener fails than succeeds. A
strong and lovely character, like frag-
rance in the air, is as perceptible to
one as to another; but he who would
define this precious attribute of hui
mainly must sound the profoundest
depths of his mother-tongue. Homer,
Virgil Dante and Milton exhausted all
the treasures of human speech and
called up all the imagery of magma
ton. and yet fall short of the hero who
sits enthroned in the commonest soul.
These are the reflections which
press hard upon me as | attempt to
: |speak of the man whose life overflow.
!, ed with honor, and whose death was
! full of tragedy and noble with Chris.
tian majesty We have gathered to.
gether to commemorate the anniversa
ry of his birth and to surrender an
, hour from busy lives and high duties
to his memory. We do this not sc
much for his sake as our own. These
mournful occasions-and they will
1 grow more frequent as time rolls on
, are significant only to the living. The
r shafts of censure or of criticism fly
n harmless when they fly toward the
t golden streets of the New Jerusalem
J. and our fervent praise cannot be
3 heard in the glorified air of the heav
1 emily land When, however, we crate
r fully and reverentially recall hi
l. blameless life and his Christian death
a his courageous struggles, his purity o
a thought, his holiness of purpose, hi.
steadiness of design, his serenity o
l. mind and his deep and absorbing de
votion to the public good, We baptiz'
l ourselves in the fountain of civic right
j. BUSINESS and will go forth better armet
n for the great struggle of the world
8 It is an hour Of dedication and conse
IS Grafton, as we'll as of commemoration
l. In our civilization there is no great
ness that will command a memoria
q day or hour unless it be accompanied
e lighted up and inspired by goodness
n in truth, measured by the highes
s. standards of this age, there can be n
e greatness without goodness. Men d
: not remember and mark as years 6
e on, the natal day of any being simpl
is because he was learned, scholarly, IL
e tellectual or profound; and it is a gre
1T cious compliment to humanity tina
t. they do not. We assemble year b
year to lay our tributes upon the men
cries of Washington, Lincoln an
r. Grant, because they lived for the
Is fellow men; and we will hereafter al
II semble to do equal honor to the brit
at day of William Mckinley, because b
H. had a heart that sought to promot
a the welfare of his people, and min
N forceful and comprehensive enough
put his unselfsh conceptions into tn
,s institution IF his country.
as You are al familiar with his hist
n ry, and | MAJ - brief in referring
to to it's well lc"'a features. He wa
a born Of IS, o., January 20, 1874
&c In his boyhood he was not distinguish
ed above his fellows, but it may be il
st ferred that the conditions which su
Mt rounded him gave him that settle
to conviction respecting an importal
m question in public affairs that yea
,d afterwards heworked out with stea
NJ fastness and persistence which mao
%. him a leader in the political econom
he of the nation.
to He enlisted as a private in tt
Twenty-third Ohio volunteers, June
1861. Three times he was promote
for gallantry and courage upon tt
ed field of battle; and it was the mem
he ry of these perilous days that stirr'
lis the hearts of his companions in arm
be as they limped along, bowed with al
N. as we'll as with grief, through Il
ay streets of Canton toward the hillsi
In. brilliant with flowers, where they la
N, him to rest. l never have seen, n
er do ever expect to see, so pathetic
in sight as I witnessed that mournt
day in September last, as passed /
lie old regiment men all Of the
ee greyhaired, aged scanned faces, her
ar. ing under the burden of years, wi
es the tears streaming down their chez
,w with their sobs breaking upon the 8
We emn air as they stood around