Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/143

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is not easy for any one to turn from four years of strife on the battlefield to the humdrum pursuits of ordinary life. Many a veteran has found it almost impossible to do so. The desire to be "up and doing," to listen once again to the rattle of musketry and make another charge amid shot and shell, is a strong one.

But William McKinley was equal to the occasion, and having decided to study law, he buckled down to it without delay, for he was a firm believer in the maxim: "Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day."

Canton, the county seat of Stark County, was at that time a town of about five thousand inhabitants. It is located about forty miles west of Poland. Having a rich farming and mining community to draw from,