'church except the three youngest, Sarah, William, and Abner. At one of these camp-meetings, following the usual invitation from the minister for those who wished to "profess conversion" to come forward to the "mourner's bench," William McKinley, Jr., ten years old, marched up the aisle with manly dignity and united with the church" on probation." On “on the same day his sister Sarah, two years older, took the same step. Each acted independently of the other and without urging from their mother. No doubt the good lady shed tears of joy abundantly at this answer to her prayers. She came to think of William as a candidate for the ministry and indulged the hope that one day he might become a bishop. His own ecclesiastical ambition was confined to the desire that he might sometime be a trustee of the church—a wish that was granted in due season. A higher ambition was to live the life of a true, earnest, and consistent Christian, and this William McKinley did to the day of his death.

It had been noticed by his mates in the little onestory schoolhouse that when the time came for "speaking pieces," William McKinley stood up "straight as a stick" and spoke without apparent effort - much to the chagrin of the other boys and girls to whom this part of their schooling was a dreaded ordeal.

After entering the seminary McKinley found himself associated with boys and girls who enjoyed public speaking and it was proposed to organize a debating society. The result was the organization of "The Everett Literary and Debating Society," named in honor of Edward Everett, whose oratorical powers were greatly admired. A room in the academy was secured and a collection was "taken up" to furnish it. A beautiful new Brussels carpet was bought and laid. A picture of Edward Everett hung behind the presiding officer's chair. A bookcase, whose chief contents consisted of the Bohn Library of classics, was the only article of furniture other than the chairs and the president's desk. The members thought it the most luxurious apartment in the world. At the first meeting a serious question arose. The boys started to come in with mud on their boots and the girls at once raised the cry that the beautiful new carpet would be ruined. A happy thought occurred to some one and the boys took off their boots. There was no time at this first meeting to procure slippers, as was done subsequently, so the debate solemnly proceeded, with the orators in their stocking-feet. The lad who so early in life had found speech-making easy, had been elected president and managed to maintain the dignity of his office in spite of shoeless feet.

McKinley remained at the academy until he was seventeen, when he entered the Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania. Of his experiences here there is little to record. He remained only a short time and returned to Poland on account of illness. His intention was to go back to college after a brief rest. But it was a period of "hard times" and his father's finances were in bad condition. Anna was teaching school and others of the family were at work, so William decided that in justice to the others he must at least earn the money for his future education. Teaching made the first appeal to him, and hearing of a vacancy in the Kerr District School he applied for the position. The salary was twentyfive dollars a month and the teacher was expected to "board around." The school was two miles and a half from Poland. McKinley preferred to live at home, and therefore walked the distance, morning and evening, frequently leaping fences and crossing fields to save time. When school closed he took a position as clerk in the post-office at Poland, and here we find him in the early summer of 1861, about to take the next momentous step in his career.

CHAPTER III

THE VOLUNTEER

HEN the news came that Fort Sumter had

WHE

been fired upon, there was great excitement in the village of Poland. On a day in June, 1861, the sidewalks were filled with people, the horses, wagons, and buggies of hundreds of farmers lined the streets, and a little squad of soldiers, led by a veteran of the Mexican War, was marching up and down, to the shrill but inspiring notes of the fife and the noisy beating of drums. The balconies of the old Sparrow House (it had a double veranda then) were crowded with women, some singing, others crying. A tense nervous strain was felt by every one. The leading lawyer of the vicinity, Charles E. Glidden, was making a speech from the front of the tavern. As the result of his eloquence, man after man stepped up to volunteer, and as they did so, the crowd cheered and women pinned red, white, and blue badges upon the new soldiers. Young men talked glibly of the glory of war and the fun of camp-life. Older men were more serious, but there was a contagion of enthusiasm so strong that Poland furnished its full comple

ment of men as volunteers, and not a man was ever drafted from the village.

In the midst of all this excitement, William McKinley kept his head. He was only eighteen, but was already noted for a seriousness beyond his years. He had read more than other boys, and war to him meant a terrible responsibility. He could see no fun in prospect, but only hard toil and possible disaster. He knew how much suffering it would mean to his mother if he were to volunteer. And yet he had a clear vision of his duty.

In this state of mind he drove to Youngstown with his cousin, William Osborne,1 and there saw the Poland company leave for Columbus. On the way home the two boys discussed the matter and decided that it was their duty to enlist. They felt, as did many others, that to stay at home in such an emergency might bring discredit upon them. They would despise themselves and be despised by the community. McKinley told his mother what he had determined to do. She' hesitated at first because of his youth and poor physical condition. She remembered that only the year before he had had to come home from college because of illness. But she saw that the boy's determination was so strong and his sense of responsibility so clearly developed that there was no 1 William McKinley Osborne, afterwards Consul-General at London.