THE CHARACTER OF GARFIELD.

WILLIAM MCKINLEY was born in Niles, Ohio, Jan. 29, 1843. He was educated in the public schools, at Union Seminary, Poland, Ohio, and at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania. In the Civil War he served four years, having enlisted as a common soldier, and attained to the rank of major. At Warren, Ohio, in 1867, he was admitted to the practice of the law. His office was established at Canton, and he soon rose to high rank in the profession. He was fifteen years a representative in Congress, and four years governor of Ohio. In 1896 he was chosen President of the United

States, having a large majority in the electoral college; in 1900 he was reëlected by a majority still greater. An important event of his first administration was the War with Spain, which resulted in the independence of Cuba. He died by the hand of an assassin, at Buffalo, N. Y., Sept. 14, 1901.

This extract is from "Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley," used by courtesy of D. Appleton and Company.

General Garfield's military service secured him his first national prominence. He showed himself competent to command in the field, although without previous training. He could plan battles and fight them successfully.

He was brave and sagacious. He filled every post with intelligence and fidelity, and directed the movement of troops with judgment and skill.

Distinguished as was his military career, which in itself would have given him a proud place in history,

his most enduring fame, his highest renown, was earned in the House as a representative of the people. Here his marvelous qualities were brought into full activity, here he grew with gradual but ever increasing strength, here he won his richest laurels.

In General Garfield, as in Lincoln and Grant, we find the best possibilities of American life. Boy and man, he typifies American youth and manhood, and illustrates the beneficence and glory of our free institutions. His early struggles for an education, his self-support, his "lack of means," his youthful yearnings, find a prototype in every city, village, and hamlet of the land. Those did not retard his progress, but spurred him on to higher and nobler endeavor.

His push and perseverance, his direct and undeviating life purpose, his sturdy integrity, his Christian character, were rewarded with large results and exceptional honors; honors not attainable anywhere else, and only to be acquired under the generous and helpful influences of a free government.

He was twenty-three years of age when he confronted the more practical duties and the wider problems of life. All before had been training and preparation, the best of both, and his marvelous career ended before he was fifty. Few have crowded such great results and acquired such lasting fame in so short a life. Few have done so much for country and civilization, stricken down as he was when scarce at the meridian of his powers.

He did not flash forth as a meteor; he rose with measured and stately step over rough paths and through years of rugged work. He earned his passage to every preferment. He was tried and tested at every step in his pathway of progress. He produced his passport at every gateway to opportunity and glory.

His broad and benevolent nature made him the friend of all mankind. He loved the young men of the country, and drew them to him by the thoughtful concern with which he regarded them. He was generous in helpfulness to all, and to his words of encouragement and cheer many are indebted for much of their success in life.

In personal character he was clean and without reproach. As a citizen, he loved his country and her institutions, and was proud of her progress and prosperity. As a scholar and a man of letters, he took high rank. As an orator, he was exceptionally strong and gifted. As a soldier, he stood abreast with the bravest and best of the citizen soldiery of the Republic. As a legislator, his most enduring testimonial will be found in the records of Congress and the statutes of his country. As President, he displayed moderation and wisdom, with executive ability, which gave the highest assurance of a most successful and illustrious administration.

WILLIAM MCKINLEY.

JOAN OF ARC.

THOMAS DE QUINCEY was born at Manchester, England, Aug. 15, 1785. He was educated at a classical school called a "Grammar School." He was a bright scholar, and at the age of fifteen could speak the Greek language fluently. But his health failed, and he left school to wander and study in the country. He afterward studied for a time at Oxford. Eventually he settled at Grasmere and began a purely literary life. In 1821 appeared his first book, and it at once became famous. His work consists largely of essays, in the writing of which he was a master. His works were first printed in collected form through the enterprise of American publishers. He passed the last thirty years of his life at Edinburgh, Scotland, and died in that city, Dec. 8, 1859.

What is to be thought of her? What is to be thought of the poor shepherd girl from the hills and forests of Lorraine, that-like the Hebrew shepherd boy from the hills and forests of Judæa-rose suddenly out of the quiet, out of the safety, out of the religious inspiration, rooted in deep pastoral solitudes, to a station in the van of armies, and to the more perilous station at the right hand of kings?

The Hebrew boy inaugurated his patriotic mission by an act, by a victorious act, such as no man could deny. But so did the girl of Lorraine, if we read her story as it was read by those who saw her

nearest.

Adverse armies bore witness to the boy as no pretender; but so they did to the gentle girl. Judged by the voices of all who saw them from a station of good will, both were found true and loyal to any promises involved in their first acts. Enemies it was that made the difference between their subsequent fortunes.

The boy rose to a splendor and a noonday prosperity, both personal and public, that rang through the records of his people, and became a byword among his posterity for a thousand years, till the scepter was departing from Judah.

The poor forsaken girl, on the contrary, drank not herself from the cup of rest which she had secured to France. She never sang together with the songs that rose in her native Domrémy, as echoes to the departing steps of the invaders. She mingled not in the festal dances at Vaucouleurs which celebrated in rapture the redemption of France. No! for her voice was then silent. No! for her feet were dust. Pure, innocent, noble-hearted girl!-whom, from earliest youth, ever I believed in, as full of truth and self-sacrifice, this was amongst the strongest pledges for thy truth, that never once -no, not for a moment of weakness- didst thou revel in the vision of coronets and honors from man.

Coronets for thee! O no! Honors, if they come when all is over, are for those that share thy blood. Daughter of Domrémy, when the gratitude of kings