The San Francisco call., 1896-06-21

1
where the little mounds are shaded meath
the NAPLES, this mans and woman's feet
on many q holy pilgrimage have worn a
pathway to their loved and lost.
Death can take away all else but love.
The memory of her own lost darlings has
bent her steps to deeds of golden light.
Many a home in Canton has been blessed
by the sunshine of her smile, the beneh-
cent giving of her hands. The children
of the poor have been her special care. A
score of years have not fatigued her nim-
bic fingers, and in that time there's many
a baby's foot been warmed with web and
warp and woof of cotton and of wool by
this sweet lady who will grace the White
House.
The record OF William Mckinley is one
of which the foremost citizens in any
State or any country might we'll be proud.
His loyalty has not been confined to
tongue utterance; it has been expressed
in deeds upon the field of battle; it has
been breathed forth in the sitting smoke
of gunpowder, nor has it been deafened by
the roar of cannon.
Mr.. Mckinley was born in Niles, Ohio
January 90. 1S43, about fifty miles east of
Canton, just north of the Western Reserve
line. His father was an iron-master there,
and had moved from New Lisbon, Ohio, to
the town of Poland, near Niles, SO that his
children might be educated at the Poland
academy. In his college days at Poland
Mckinley was the prize debater.
When the War of the Rebellion broke
out young McKlnley's pulse was stirred
with patriotism, and in June, 1861, ne
joined the ranks of the Union army at
the age of Is. He enlisted in the Twenty
third Regiment OF Ohio Volunteers, which
was organized at Columbus. Its first
colonel was William S. Rosecrans, after
ward ma jor- general. Its slieutenant.colone
was Stanley Mathews, who became United
States Senator and Justice of the Supreme
Court. It's major was Rutherford B.
Hayes, afterward President of the United
States; and last, but not least OF ali, in
the words of an old comrade, there
marched in the ranks of Company E, with
a fat knspsack on his back and a heavy
musket on his shoulder, in a new suit OF
blue. footed in brogans, the leather of
which resembled cast iron, the boy of Is,
William Mckinley, who was serving his
apprenticeship as one of the Presidents OF
the United States"
The first battle in which Private McKin-
ley, a stout lad at that time, was engaged
was when Rosecrans defeated Floyd at Car
nifex Ferry. Atterward McKinley's regi-
ment fought under Mcclellan of the Army
of the Potomac. He smelled powder at An
tietam and South Mountain, and after the
battle of Antietam he was promoted from
ha l. of fa = hof %
tenant, on account of soldierly bearing and
brave conduct in those engagements.
The only step between his rank as high
private and that of second lieutenant
was that of commissary sergeant. He
never was a corporal although he is little,
and he does not take kindly TO his re-
ported resemblance to the first Napoleon,
1.-The Little Corporal" He was afterward
promoted first lieutenant and captain,
and served on the brigade and division
staff of General R. B. Hayes part of the
time, later as aid-de-camp. He also was
acting assistant adjutant-general on the
staff of General George Crook, and with
Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley cam
paign. He faced the battle clouds from
which rained kissing lead at Cedar Creek,
guam, and on other fields at that period
On that historic day, when the GAL
liant Phil Sheridan rode his foaming horse
from Winchester, young Major Mckinley
was rallying the troops at Cedar Creek,
and Sheridan speaks of it with pride in his
memoirs.
At Berryville, Major McKinIey's horse
was shot from under him. He holds
commission of brevet-major of the United
States Volunteers, issued in 1854, for gal
liant and meritorious services at Opequam,
Cedar Greek and Fishers Hill. This COM
mission was issued by Abraham Lincoln.
Major Mckinley accompanied General
Crook to Cumberland, in Maryland, where,
after the capture of Crook and General
Kelley, General Hancock retained Major
Mckinley on his staff until the brave young
soldier was assigned to the staff OF General
Samuel S. Carroll, commanding the vet
eran reserve corps at Washington. The
future President of the United States
looked on with tear-filled eyes and bosom
swelling with loyalty and pride when
Grant received the sword of Lee at APP
pomattox. Not until the end of the war,
Sep ember, 1865, did young Mckinley lay
aside his sword.
Art connoisieurs will not approve of the
taste of Governor Mckinley in the selec-
ton OF pictures with which to adorn the
walls of his Canton home. Instead OF
Psyches, nymphs and satyrs, Venuses de
Milo who 10 not bear arms and realistic
monstrosities by Munkacsy, or "a Maiden
Going TO the Bath, " there is fine etching
from the life of General Ulysses S. Grant,
large steel engraving representing the
surrender of Lee to Grant at Appomattox,
a fine engraving of Abraham Lincoln, and
other subjects of like kind, which prove
that Governor McKinley's loyalty and pa
triotism are foremost in his thoughts; not
only in his thoughts. but next to the dear
little woman whom he loves they are fore
most in his home.
In the case OF men of the mold of Gov
ernor Mckinley distance does not lend
enchantment to the view. On the con-
trary the nearer you get to them the better
you like them. This is an infallible test
as to whether a.popular man merits his
popularity. The man who is not popular
at home and who is popular abroad does
not improve upon nearer view. Unlike