Editor’s Chair

     ON the date which this number of Every Other Sunday bears, the national emblems of mourning for President McKinley are to be taken down. It seems a long time since that fatal shot was fired, which caused the death of one of the best men in the world.
     Some reference to him would have been made before in the Editor’s Chair but for the peculiarity of our publication. We are obliged to go to press a great many days before the date which you see printed on the paper. The last number of Every Other Sunday was in the printer’s hands when the suffering President passed away.
     We do not expect to say anything new; but it is good for us, editor and reader, to remember why we mourn the martyred leader.
     He was a great example of onward and upward ascent. He climbed from the valley of small things, by noble efforts, to successful heights. His career illustrates the power of a life purpose.
     We also learn the lesson of large-heartedness. No matter how high William McKinley rose, at the last as at the first, he showed a spirit of good will and sympathy. We learn in our Sunday Schools a passage of Scripture: “Out of the heart are the issues of life.” This was very true of his life,—gentle yet strong, kind yet firm, forgiving though just.
     As President, William McKinley tried to do justice to all parts of the country. So far as possible, his aim was to have one Republic, one flag, one destiny. In the White House his welcome was gracious to all. William McKinley proved himself a valiant soldier in the days of the Civil War. It was the first severe test. Heroic, earnest, capable, he soon won advancement and recognition. Young McKinley revealed the true patriot’s character in times that tried the Union and its institutions.
     Add to all this the affection which he showed for his home, his loyalty to friends, and his thoughtfulness for little things, and we have a wreath of olive to lay upon his bier. No national question was so great as to take his mind away from his wife and his home. The hearthstone fire of devotion burned brightly to the end.
     But there is one more thought the editor wishes the young readers to carry away. While we praise such a good, great man, let us remember the Republic is greater than any man. President McKinley was a citizen, like thousands of others. He served the people, and the people served him. The government will go on, and our institutions will continue. William McKinley became what he was because of the United States of America. This country has an open door of opportunity such as youth never had before. While, then, we honor the memory of our beloved martyred President, let us honor still more, with reverence, loyalty, and love, this wonderful Republic, whose blessings and privileges we enjoy.
     Has the Sunday School any part in all this? Most certainly. The teaching and influence of the Sunday School are of first importance. The last words of President McKinley referred to the Lord’s Prayer, and to the hymn, “Nearer, my God, to Thee.”