the work of his life, but all mankind honors him in the story of his death. The great war of the Crimea, in our own day, with its generals and marshals, and its bands of storming soldiery, has almost passed from our memories, but the time will never come when the charge of Balaklava will cease to stir the heart or pass from story or from song. It happened to Stephen Girard, mariner and merchant, seeking wealth and finding it, whose ships covered every sea, whose intellect penetrated, as your treasurer's books will show, a hundred years into the future, to light up his life by a deed more noble than the dying courtesy of Sidney and braver than the charge of the six hundred, for he walked under his own order day by day and week by week, shoulder to shoulder with death, and was not afraid. How fit, indeed, it is that amidst these temples which are the tribute to his intellect should stand the tablet which is the tribute to his heart!

Surely, if the immortal dead, serene with the wisdom of eternity, are not above all joy and pride, he must feel a thrill to know that no mariner or merchant ever sent forth a venture upon unknown seas which came back with richer cargoes or in statelier ships.

1 Referring to the charge of the Light Brigade at the battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War. Through a mistake this brigade, unsupported, charged the Russian batteries. But a handful returned. Tennyson has immortalized the deed in verse.

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN (1860- ) was born at Salem, Illinois. He graduated from Illinois College with highest honors. Studied law in Chicago and was admitted to the Bar. He removed to Lincoln, Nebraska; three years later he was elected to Congress, where he served on the Ways and Means Committee, one of the youngest members to be thus honored. He was reëlected the following term. He founded and edited The Commoner, a weekly journal devoted to politics. He has been the candidate of the Democratic party in three presidential elections, but was each time defeated.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee: I can never fully discharge the debt of gratitude which I owe to my countrymen for the honors which they have so generously bestowed

upon me; but, sirs, whether it be my lot to occupy the high office for which the convention has named me, or to spend the remainder of my days in private life, it shall be my constant ambition and my controlling purpose to aid in realizing the high ideals of those whose wisdom and courage and sacrifice brought this republic into existence.

I can conceive of a national destiny surpassing the glories of the present and the past - a destiny which

1 Peroration of a speech accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency. By permission of the author.

meets the responsibilities of to-day and measures up to the possibilities of the future. Behold a republic, resting securely upon the foundation stones quarried by revolutionary patriots from the mountain of eternal truth - a republic applying in practice and proclaiming to the world the self-evident proposition - that all men are created equal; that they are endowed with inalienable rights; that governments are instituted among men to secure these rights; that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.1

Behold a republic in which civil and religious liberty stimulate all to earnest endeavor and in which the law restrains every hand uplifted for a neighbor's injury

a republic in which every citizen is a sovereign, but in which no one cares to wear a crown. Behold a republic standing erect, while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments - a republic whose flag is loved while other flags are only feared.

Behold a republic increasing in population, in wealth, in strength and in influence, solving the problems of civilization and hastening the coming of a universal brotherhood—a republic which shakes thrones and dissolves aristocracies by its silent example, and gives light and inspiration to those who sit in darkness.

Behold a republic gradually, but surely, becoming the supreme moral factor in the world's progress and the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes a republic whose history, like the path of the just, "is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

1 See the Declaration of Independence.

2 Proverbs iv. 18.

LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF MCKINLEY1

GROVER CLEVELAND

(1901)

GROVER CLEVELAND (1837-1908), statesman, was born at Caldwell, New Jersey. His family moved to Fayetteville, New York, where he attended the public schools. Because of the death of his father, he was compelled to give up the idea of a college education, and entered the law office of Rogers, Brown, and Rogers, Buffalo. He was admitted to the Bar, and four years later appointed assistant district attorney for Erie County. He served successively as sheriff of Erie County, mayor of Buffalo, and governor of New York state. In 1884 he was nominated by the Democratic party for president, and was elected over James G. Blaine, the Republican nominee. In 1888, he was renominated for president,

but was defeated by Benjamin Harrison; in 1892 he was again nominated by the Democratic party, and was elected over President Harrison, the Republican nominee.

All our people loved their dead President. His kindly nature and lovable traits of character and his amiable consideration for all about him will long be in the minds and hearts of his countrymen. He loved them in return with such patriotism and unselfishness that in the hour of their grief and humiliation he would say to them: "It is God's will; I am content. If there is a lesson in my life or death, let it be taught to those who still live and have the destiny of their country in their keeping."

1 From an address to the students of Princeton University.

Let us, then, as our dead is buried out of our sight, seek for the lessons and the admonitions that may be suggested by the life and death which constitute our theme.

First in my thoughts are the lessons to be learned from the career of William McKinley by the young men who make up the student body of our university. These lessons are not obscure nor difficult. They teach the value of study and mental training, but they teach more impressively that the road to usefulness, and to the only success worth having, will be missed or lost except it is sought and kept by the light of those qualities of heart which it is sometimes supposed may safely be neglected or subordinated in university surroundings. This is a great mistake. Study, and study hard, but never let the thought enter your mind that study alone, or the greatest possible accumulation of learning alone, will lead you to the heights of usefulness and success.

The man who is universally mourned to-day achieved the highest distinction which his great country can confer on any man, and he lived a useful life. He was not deficient in education, but withal you will not hear that either the high place he reached or what he accomplished was due entirely to his education. You will instead constantly hear as accounting for his great success that he was obedient and affectionate as a son, patriotic and faithful as soldier, honest and upright as a citizen, tender and devoted as a husband, and truthful, generous, unselfish, moral, and clean in every relation of life. He never thought any of these things too weak for manliness. Make no mistake. Here was a most