Ex-President Cleveland's TRIBUTE TO OUR ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD WILLIAM MCKINLEY has left us a priceless gift in the example of a useful and pure life, in his fidelity to public trusts and in his demonstration of the value of kindly virtues that not only ennoble but lead to success. "All the people loved their dead President. His kindly nature and lovable traits of character and his amiable consideration for all about him will long be in the minds and hearts of his countrymen. He loved them in return with such patriotism and unselfishness that in this hour of their grief he would say to them: 'It is God's will; I am content. If there is any lesson in my life or death, let it be taught to those who still have the destiny of their country in their keeping.'' Archbishop Ireland's EULOGY OF A NOBLE LIFE "WILLIAM MCKINLEY is dead, but his memory will live a'down the ages as that of one of the most worthy to have been the President of the Republic of the United States. "I knew him closely; I esteemed him; I loved him. He was the true man honest, pure of morals, generous-minded, conscientious, religious. He was the noble citizen, proud of being a son of the people, brave on the battle-field amid his country's peril, jealous of its glory, unswervingly loyal to its honor and its interests. "He was the typical President of the republic, largeminded in his vision of the questions bearing upon the country's fortune, resolute in using the authority for what seemed to him its best weal, ready, as the leader of a self-governing people, to hearken to the popular voice, and, so far as principle and conscience permitted, to obey its behests, even to the sacrifice of his personal view. Political opponents differed from him in matters of public policy; they did not, they could not, mistrust his sincerity or his spirit of justice and patriotism.” ΙΟ Life-work of William McKinley CHAPTER I A NATION'S GRIEF When the news was flashed over the land "President McKinley is dead," the pulse of the nation stood still. Every breeze from every point of the compass was laden with a sigh of sorrow. In every city, town and hamlet throughout this great republic there were manifestations of a profound and universal sense of bereavement. The national heart was touched, the people were desolate. Every true American, whether rich or poor, black or white, old or young, was weighed down with a sense of personal affliction. And from the nations beyond the seas, Christian and pagan alike, came messages of sympathizing sorrow. The people of every land seemed to feel that the world had lost a tried and trusted friend. What was there in the life or character of William McKinley that his death should cause so general an emotion of sorrow? Principally, it was his exalted goodness—a disposition to be governed by the golden Life-work of William McKinley CHAPTER I A NATION'S GRIEF When the news was flashed over the land "President McKinley is dead," the pulse of the nation stood still. Every breeze from every point of the compass was laden with a sigh of sorrow. In every city, town and hamlet throughout this great republic there were manifestations of a profound and universal sense of bereavement. The national heart was touched, the people were desolate. Every true American, whether rich or Dok or white, old or young, was weighed down f personal affliction. |