No! I have Heaven too much in awe Nation whose love for home ne'er dies, Nation of many tribes and lands— Strength of the world's best nations, Crumble your deep foundations? Never! No poison e'er can blight The flowers and fruitage of Truth and Right; Shall live in splendor a thousand years. WILL CARLETON, THE DARKENED SKIES. HE air was filled with music, every heart THE Throbbed its thanksgiving for the season's wealth. With splendors piled appeared the magic mart Whose arches gave their echoes for thy health. Thy train made entrance on the brilliant scene While Nature smiled, propitious and serene, Thine and the Nation's heart the death blow found. Dark grow the skies, the sounds of joy are hushed. When did the flower of hope, so fully flushed, So swiftly fail, with portent sad and strange? Thine was the glory of successful rule, Thine, in thy manly youth, the warrior's wreath. Aim at thy breast, unarmed, the stroke of death? Shall now be heaped thy mournful bier above, JULIA WARD HOWE MOURNED BY EVERY AMERICAN. He was the Head of the Nation, he fell in its service, the base hand that took his life struck dead the hostility in every feeling heart that harbored it, and he passes to the peace of the grave mourned not by such as were his friends, only, but by all who bear the American name. SAMUEL L. CLEMENS (MARK TWAIN). A FIXED STAR IN OUR FIRMANENT. As the name of William McKinley becomes fixed in the firmament of our nation's history it appears to us at once, and seems destined to remain to us, a name to charm by. Can we say now, so soon, in what his greatness consists, and what is to prove at last the broadest measure of his permanent fame? With certainty, certainly not; yet there is a solace in the effort to do so, that at least explains, if it does not amply justify, so early an endeavor. A living statesman of one of the dynastic governments of Europe is currently quoted as saying that the fame of our late President will be that he was the greatest commercial statesman of his time. If this be so, and it seems very near the truth, what, then, is the greatness, and what are the limitations of "commercial" statesmanship? Is it nearly or quite the highest degree, or is it nearly or quite the lowest ? Other statesmen have delivered their peoples from the perfidy of tyrants, from the oppression of nobles, from debasing iniquities of ancient customs, from bigots, fanatics and robber hordes; was their statesmanship, therefore, larger than a commercial statesmanship may be? Or is it not true that for our crowning question we ask concerning such rulers, "What-after they had dragged down the despot, hurled back the invader, obliterated the pit of degradation -what was their wisdom and power to uplift and push forward those industries of peace which prosper the main mass of men, and give them opportunity and incentive for the arts, the sciences, the virtues; how much did their statesmanship do to fill the sail, to oil the wheel, to light the mine, to speed the plow and the loom ?" GREAT COMMERCIAL QUESTIONS. It is only when we contemplate the world-wide reach of great commercial questions, the bewildering intricacies of conflicting interests and theories, the far-reaching disastrousness of their misunderstanding, and the vast beneficence of their correct solution, that we are prepared to confess the greatness of a mind and soul that confronts and answers them with supreme mastery. The hoary Eastern question is and has always been a problem of commercial statesmanship. Such is four-fifths of every foreign policy of Europe. It was a blunder of commercial statesmanship that lost to Great Britain her American colonies, and it is on commercial statesmanship that her modern greatness is largely founded. A potential factor in the long decay of Spain has been her lack of commercial statesmanship, and commercial statesmanship is to-day the consuming study of every worthy sovereign and of every cabinet in the civilized world. If it ever seems necessary to write that he whose loss leaves our nation widowed wrought no mighty changes in our general legislation, achieved no vast reform in our institutions, and righted no great wrongs between conflicting elements of the population, the word must go with it that his public life was without a stain of dishonor, that he was a model of private virtue, duty and affection, a true and ardent lover of mankind, and that in the mighty functions of commercial statesmanship he was easily first among contemporary statesmen and rulers, the greatest of his time. GEORGE W. CABLE. AT THE EXPOSITION. 'HE devil's best tools THE Are the fingers of fools. Who live in a steeple, Over spire and gilt vane Whirling round, round again Like joy behind sorrow or ease after pain. But the worst, most accursed, Is prim and sedate He stands up straight, So lowly elate, But creeps through the gate Into rooms of the great, And cowers in the chamber of State. Let him learn, if he can The first lesson of Man, The last, for he must, He shall learn, and discern The fire of live coals in our urn. RICHARD HENRY STODDARD. A PATRIOT OF THE NOBLEST TYPE. William McKinley, like some who went before him, dies a martyr to republican institutions. It was for those institutious that our fathers fought and died in two great wars. And the President of this Republic represents those institutions more than any other man. The nation had been gradually making up its mind about William McKinley. But now that he has gone from our midst, we realize suddenly that he possessed many of those qualities, the value of which is inestimable in his situation. He was first of all a patriot of the noblest type. For he had the good of his country nearest his heart. He never sought to exalt himself at the expense of his country. Rather he sought to efface himself in his submission to the desires of the people. He was willing to hear and heed the opinions of the humblest citizen. It was sometimes said of him that he was dominated. He was dominated, but by no man. He was dominated by the voice of his countrymen. William McKinley will live in history as a President of great dignity, moderation and wisdom; as a God-fearing man, whose life was an example to his fellow-citizens. And the best that can be said of him is that he was an American. It is well to remember that a government of the people has just as much right to protect itself from its enemies as has a monarchy. WINSTON CHURCHILL. A MAN Of generoUS NATURE. While I feel my inadequacy to the task, I am highly honored in being selected with others to express sorrow at the cruel deed that has brought desolation to a home and grief to a nation. In doing so it may not be uninteresting to detail a few incidents that will exhibit the social and kindly side of Mr. McKinley's generous nature. Some years ago I visited Canton, O., in my professional capacity. During my engagement I was invited to meet the then Congressman McKinley at the house of one of his relatives. He entered the room with his invalid wife leaning on his arm, and I often noticed during the evening his attentive and affectionate solicitude for his companion. His manner was most cordial and friendly. Our next meeting was in Cleveland, where we dined together in company with Mr. Robert Lincoln and Mr. Mark Hanna. That night the entire party came to the theatre to see the comedy of the "Rivals," acted by the star cast. After the performance, the Congressman came behind the curtain and was introduced to the company. He expressed his enjoyment of the play, remarking how strange it was that such talent was not oftener brought together. "Possibly," he said, "it might be dangerous to give the public too much of a good thing." Our next meeting was after he became President, my wife and I lunching with his family at the executive mansion. General and Mrs. Miles were also of the company. The President |