The Irish standard., 1896-06-06

house in which they first lived after their
| marriage. This occurred when McKin-
! ley was young lawyer, and his wife.
Miss Ida Saxton was one OF the bellies OF
Stark county. She was the daughter of
! one Of the richest and most influential
citizens, John Saxton, editor of the Can
ton Repository a paper which began its
publication away back in 1915, and which
| today is one of the leading newspapers
of Ohio. 1t was in this house that they
spent their honeymoon. Here, on
Christmas day, in 1871, their first
daughter, a sweet little girl, was born,
and there three years later she died. Here
Mrs. McKinley's second daughter and
only other child died when yet a little
baby, and here today the ex-governor
and his wife live as loving domestic
| life as they did a score and more years
ago. The house is a yellow frame cot
| tage11ike structure OF two stories. 1t Is
about three blocks, judge, from the pub
lie square, and is situated on North Mar
+! ket street, in the heart OF the fashionable
quarter Of the city. The street in front
| of it is paved with Canton brick, for
| which the city is noted, and of which it
! makes about 1o0,0oO,000 every year.
| Gov. McKinley's home is on the corner.
| The lot is about so feet front, and a beau
! tiful lawn surrounds the house. The
| cottage has a porch in it's front, upon
| which there are half a dozen comfort
| able rocking chairs. Here the governor
| receives his callers during these hot
summer days, and here he chats in the
evening with his Canton friends. En-
tering the front door you come into a
wide hall with parlors to the right and
left. 1t was in the one at the right that
/ chatted during part OF my stay with
Maj. Mckinley 1t was plainly furnished,
and the only large pictures upon it's walls
We're a portrait OF Mrs. Mckinley and an
engraving Of Abraham Lincoln. AT the
back of the hall there is a stairway leading
to the second floor
Here I found Maj. McKinley's office,
and here are the only evidences that you
can see in Canton Of the Mckinley literary
bureau. 1t is merely a bed room, carpeted
with mating and furnished with wall of
shelves, a typewriter table and g fat-top
desk. The bed, which is used when the
house is crowded with visitors, still stands
in the room, but all day long the govern
or's stenographer ticks away on the
typewriter answering the mail of presi-
Dental candidate. The correspondence is
necessarily enormous, and as the conyen-
ton approaches 1t increases every day.
Nearly everything requires an answer, and
there are from fifty to sixty letters every
day. On the day of the Illinois conven-
ton, which instructed the delegates to
vote for Mckinley, more than 200 tele-
grams were received, and every mail
brings letters of this nature. The majors
gubernatorial secretary has the correspon-
dence in charge, and dictates the answers
to most of it after directions given by Mr..
Mckinley. The mail when it first comes
to the house IS opened by Mrs. Mckinley,
she and the governor looking over tito
gether, and the governor tnen giving his
directions as to how it is to be answered.
From long experience in public life, Mr..
Mckinley has learned how to use the work
Of other men, and he answers himself only
such letters as are necessary Much OF the
mail is made up OF begging letters. People
from ali parts Of the country write for
money, though it is known that Mckinley
IS comparatively poor man. Many let
ters come from politicians who claim that
they have done or can do great deal for
Mckinley, and every day or so letter ap-
pears from a man who insists that he is
the Original Mckinley Man." and that he
was the first to present his name to the
During drive this afternoon saw the
church in which Maj. Mckinley was mar
ried It is the Presbyterian church Of
Canton. Tt is situated on the main bust
ness street of the town. Miss Ida Saxton
was then one Of the Sunday school teach
ers of that church, and Maj. Mckinley was
superintendent OF the Sunday school Of the
Methodist church further down the way.
Since the marriage Mr.. and Mrs. Mckinley
have attended the Methodist church, and
during their stay IN Washington they went,
I believe, to the Foundry Methodist
church. which is On the corner OF G. and
Fourteenth streets, not far from the Eb-
bitt House. where the McKinleys lived.
Mrs, Mckinley, on account Of her poor
health, is not always able to attend
church. The major usually goes, and
here in Canton he may be seen every Sun
day ct the Methodist church. He believes,
you know, in Christianity He has never
made capital Of his religion, however, and
there is nothing OF the z'har:see about him.
On the other hand, he has deep religious
side to his nature. He naS nothing TO do
with the :nhdelity and free thought which
are so common among many OF our public
men, and he never says anything against
religion, even in jest He only says that
there are many things in this life which
he cannot explain, and that, though re-
ligion is In some respects a mystery to
him, he has, nevertheless, implicit faith
in it. l have been told that he is very
fond of Methodist hymns. and that he Of
ten huns them over to himself While at
work
His mother hoped that he would be a
Methodist minister, and she had Az arnb.-
tion of some day seeing him a bishop OF
the Methodist church. Mckinley, how
ever. took to the law rather than to taeol
oey., He studied Law while he was teach
ing school III a little country district not
far from here, then took course at the
Albany law school, and began his practice
here in Canton.
I have chatted with many Of the Old
lawyers here about Mckinley IS lawyer.
He had fair practice when he went into
politics, and was making money. One OF
his law students, who IS now a leading
practitioner here, said:
mckinley was, think, the equal Of
any lawyer in Ohio at the time he went to
congress. He was at one time prosecuting
attorney OF this county, which then had
about $4,000 people. and his business was
very large. He had also a large private
practice. and was an a!l-around good law
yer" -
...Was he much Of a money naaker? |
asked. # s
5zf 4tsr don,t know about th3t :" was Iile re-