Notes on Books and Other Things [excerpt]

     The whole world stands aghast at the murder of the late President Wm. McKinley. He was a man of unblemished private life. His death showed how he was revered and beloved by the American people. It is a great humiliation to the great American nation which has opened its doors to all peoples of the world and proclaimed that all men are brothers. It was not the death of Mr. McKinley that was sought by the abominable assassin so much as the attempt to destroy all lawful authority. All minds are thinking of the trend of the doctrines of the anarchist. “Free speech is a gem of liberty.” So speak many. But has not the wicked tongue perverted thousands and caused destruction throughout the ages.
     The murderer of Mr. McKinley was educated in our public schools; he grew up without religion and the fear of God; he imbibed false doctrines; he was not trained in his heart and in the practice of virtue, and his hands were steeped in the blood of the Chief Executive of a glorious nation.
     Parents who neglect to correct their children are as bad as idolators [sic]. Sentimentality, the fear of hurting and chastising, a maudlin fear of physical correction of children is a growth of atheism. “Spare the rod and you spoil the child.” There is lacking a wholesome respect for authority. Parents suffer for their own omissions in the correct way of bringing up their children. For the wilful [sic] child, the criminal and culpable one, there is nothing so good as correction with severity moderated with reason and charity.
     Mr. McKinley as a citizen and soldier of his country, as a kind, loving husband, as the beloved President of the United States, will always be remembered. His last farewell, “Good-bye to you, good-bye. This is God’s way. His Will be done, not ours,” gives us the keynote to our ears and hearts. Be we high or low, we must also die.