The President's Wound.-While the crowd was threatening the life of the assassin, messengers were hurrying to bring to the President's side the best surgeons that could be secured. Within thirty seconds, it is said, six doctors, who happened to be on the grounds, were at hand. In the hospital the President was stripped, and it was soon seen that an operation was necessary.

When he was placed upon the operating table Dr. Mann said: "Mr. President, we intend to cut into you at once. We allowed one President to die, but we don't intend to lose you."

"I am in your hands," murmured the President.

The story is told by an eye-witness. The doctors were ready to administer ether. The President opened his eyes and saw that he was about to enter a sleep from which he might never wake. He turned his great hazel eyes sorrowfully upon the little group. Then he closed his lips. His white face was suddenly lit by a tender smile. His soul came into his countenance. The wan lips moved. A singular and almost supernatural beauty possessed him, mild, childlike and serene. The surgeons paused to listen.

"Thy Will Be Done."-"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." The voice was soft and clear. The tears rolled down Dr. Mynter's face. The President raised his chest and sighed. His lips moved once more. "Thy will be done "

Dr. Mann paused with the keen knife in his hand. There was a lump in his throat.

"For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory." The eyelids fluttered faintly, beads of cold sweat stood on the bloodless brow-there was silence. Then science succeeded prayer.

The Operation.-The operation was signally successful; the President's respiration remained normal throughout, and it was stated that the only danger would be from complications that might afterwards arise. Mr. McKinley showed no indication of having suffered from the shock or the operation.

When it was learned that his wounds were not necessarily fatal the house of President Milburn was placed at the disposal of the patient, and it was at once transformed into a well-guarded sanitarium with every facility for caring for the wounded man.

A Heroic Wife.-Mrs. McKinley, after the first burst of grief, showed wonderful self-control, though probably the whole truth was not told her. On Sunday afternoon the President asked to see her and she was allowed to enter the sick room. She seated herself beside his bed and took his hand. Then President McKinley said quietly: "We must bear up. It will be better for us both." His wife bowed her head and quickly left the room.

A Terror-Stricken People.-When the news of the attempted assassination was flashed across the continent it struck a chill to the heart of the whole nation. Everywhere men grew dizzy and faint, and then recovering from their bewilderment sent up a great cry of horror and indignation. The consternation spread through every village and hamlet in the land. Nowhere were there signs of deeper grief than in the South, where the President was universally loved. The first meeting that was called to pray for his recovery was held in Richmond, Va., the morning after the shooting. The Virginia Constitutional Convention adjourned for a day, after passing resolutions declaring that "the convention views with horror and execration the blow that has been struck at the entire nation in the person of its Chief Magistrate."

Sympathy of Confederate Veterans.-Camps of Confederate veterans all over the South called special meetings, and passed resolutions of sympathy for the President who as a citizen had placed before the people a personal character which commanded respect, and who "in his relations to the veterans of the Confederate armies, has evinced a spirit of chivalric gallantry we can but admire." To quote the words of one of these resolutions, "our prayers with those of all good citizens will go up in an appeal to God for the restoration of the President, who, even in this distressing misfortune, draws together in closer bonds of union the good, the true and the brave of all sections of our country."

Throughout the land the people were so stunned by the news that business was almost suspended for the day. In Canada there were almost as many demonstrations of grief as in the United States.

How the News Was Received in England.-The effect abroad was almost as profound. "The shot that struck the American President," wrote Mr. William Stead, "was felt throughout the British Empire with a shock, while horror and indignation followed. It made the whole English nation feel as it had never felt before the unity of the English race. The race which was politically cleft in twain by the folly of George III., is now reunited in sympathy and in community of interests."

"England Prays for McKinley," was printed in great black type across the front page of the London Evening Star.

The Evening News said: "That he may be spared is the prayer of every Englishman throughout the Empire."

The Sun said: "The abhorrent crime was committed from mere wantonness."

The Echo eulogized the personal traits of the President as those upon which Englishmen could dwell with unaffected appreciation.

The Pall Mall Gazette said: "It is not too much to say that the whole Anglo-Saxon race is kneeling at the President's bedside."

Telegrams of inquiry and sympathy poured into London from every part of the empire. United States Ambassador Choate wrote that the citizens of London had received with profound regret and great indignation intelligence of the dastardly attack, and desired to convey their sincere sympathy to America in the melancholy event.

The proceedings of the Ecumenical Methodist Conference were suspended for the purpose of hearing read the telegrams concerning the condition of the President, and special prayers were offered for the preservation of his life.

King Edward, Lord Roberts and the mayors throughout Great Britain sent messages of sympathy to Mrs. McKinley. The feeling

throughout the empire was only second to that which followed the death of Queen Victoria.

Sympathy Throughout the World.-The news was received with many expressions of horror and indignation in all the great capitals of the world, and messages were sent to Washington and to Mrs. McKinley from nearly every civilized court on earth. The German Emperor and Empress and the President of France were among the first to tender sympathy.

XX.

A WORLD IN TEARS.

Monday, the third day after the tragedy, which was regarded as the crucial period, was awaited with intense anxiety, and the whole country was relieved by the physicians' bulletin, which declared it to be a day of steady progress. On Tuesday it was stated that convalescence had begun, and that every one around the President and the President himself was sanguine of his ultimate return to health. So sure were those around him of his ultimate recovery that Vice-President Roosevelt and several members of the official family took their departure. Reports during the next few days told of apparent progress; then came a note of alarm. Bulletins announced that the President's condition was without material change except that he suffered from fatigue. "Fatigue" was a new word, and fear gnawed at the hearts of the people.

Early Friday morning, when he was growing rapidly worse, his grand love for nature asserted itself. "I want to see the trees," he said; "they are so beautiful."

"Towards noon," writes Mr. Cromwell, "when Dr. Rixey was at his bedside, he cast his eyes up at his faithful friend and murmured, 'It is very gloomy, doctor! How different from yesterday. Is the sunshine all gone?'

"It was going, for him-mortal sunshine-and ere another dawn it had gone from a nation. Shortly afterward he sank into unconsciousness. When he awoke from his stupor, about seven o'clock, it was to take an earthly farewell of her whom he loved best. His first thought was of his darling, his 'Idy,' and he faintly asked to see her. She was led to his side, and together they were left alone. What passed in those, the holiest moments they ever spent together, no mortal mind