Right-Mindedness Exemplified

In all that occurred from the beginning of his fateful visit to Buffalo, through the days of alternate hope and fear to his dying moment, Mr. McKinley had exhibited a right-mindedness so perfect that human nature seemed capable of nothing better. And from the first news of the bullet-shot on September 6 to the final obsequies at Canton on September 19, Mr. Roosevelt had also exhibited such sincerity of feeling, and such unfailing discernment as to fitting words and right actions, that he also added something to our faith in the high possibilities of human nature. Further- [388][389] more, the conduct and the sentiment of the nation at large were so intelligent, so reasonable, and, in short, so essentially right-minded, as to afford a splendid illustration of the reality of American patriotism, and the repose and strength of our democratic institutions. Thus, the assassin’s bullet,—aimed not at William McKinley the man so much as at President McKinley in his official capacity, and thus intended to weaken and injure the fabric of our institutions,—merely served to show at once the great-heartedness and moral worth of the two representative men chosen as heads of the state, and, further, to illustrate the wholesome mind and spirit of the nation after its long experience of freedom regulated by law. Thus, it has been made manifest that the American people do not hate their institutions, but rather that they love them, and that they have also the capacity, regardless of such minor differences as are expressed by political parties, to appreciate and to love the upright and faithful men whom they have chosen to be their chief public servants.