M’Kinley Memorial Services

     Services in memory of Mr. McKinley were held in churches throughout the land last Sunday, which was the anniversary of his death. One of the most notable of these was that held in Metropolitan Methodist church, Washington, D. C., of which the lamented president was a member. The pastor, Rev. Dr. Frank M. Bristol, took for his text the words: “The memory of the just is blessed.” In his tribute to the late president he said: “William McKinley, like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, grows in our esteem, our patriotic affection and our national pride. Intellectually and morally, in genius and in character, he was worthy of the honor we paid him in his life and of the reverence with which we cherish his memory since his death.” Attention was particularly called in some of the memorial addresses to the last address delivered by Mr. McKinley before his assassination and to his closing words, which should be written upon the hearts and memories of the American people: “Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not conflict; and that our real eminence is in the victories of peace, not those of war.”
     Few presidents enjoyed the affection of the people more than did Mr. McKinley in his lifetime, but the passage of time will increase that respect; while the revelation of his Christian character made during his last hours will cause him to be reverenced as perhaps no other president has ever been. Services in his memory will be of a strictly religious character, thus continually from year to year calling the attention of the world to the fact that it was his Christian faith and character that especially distinguished him among the great statesmen of his time.