Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-06-04

Major William Mckinley shakes
hands at least one hundred times a
day. He says his right arm is more
muscular than it used to be. Mark
Hanna, the happy the confident, the
irrepressible, the interchangeable, the
greatest all-round hustler on the green
earth today, says that before the major
is two months older he will be shaking
hands at the rate of 5000 shakes per
day. Between now and November next
the gladstone Mark estimates that the
major will have shaken the hands of
at least 100000 people, and every one
of them a voter; babies and children
and ladies not counting.
This is one way of looking at the
great free-for-all G. o. P. nomination
handicap, with the candidates round
ing the curve into the home stretch,
and the Ohio major leading, with
slathers of daylight between him and
the next man. But this story has moth
ing to do directly with politics. 1t
will simply tell what the foremost
candidate of the republican party does
in a day.
And there are several things to make
such a story interesting. In the first
place the man who stands a good
chance Oh molding the destiny of TO-
100000 of people for four years lives in
a frame house at Canton, Ohio, for
which he pays $40 month rent. He
! lznnnc servants Ono nf them
cooks and washes and does other work,
and the other sweeps the house, an
swers the door bell and waits on Mrs.
Mckinley, who is an invalid. The
major blacks his own shoes and shaves
himself every morning at Z o'clock.
His wife loves flowers, and in the
rustle-bustle of getting a grip on the
nomination the major finds time every
morning 10 put on a linen buster and
an old straw hat and go out in the yard
and attend to the flowers. Even the
most pretentious people could not dig
i Nifty the Mckinley garden by the high
sounding title of grounds. The yard
| has a frontage of IS feet and depth
/ of $50 feet. The house, with its
porches, is about 40 feet wide, and that
doesn't leave much room on either
! side
A quarter of century ago, when M.
and Mrs. Mckinley were married, they
/ came to live in this house. Several
times they left it to go to Washington
or Ohio's capital, but they always
came back to this two-story frame
house. Every one of it's twelve rooms
, is endeared to Mrs. Mckinley. Here
her two children were born and when
they died the mother was left shattered
in health. Some people have wondered
at the somber aspect of Mckinley. The
tender-hearted man rendered childless
the loving husband who has seen his
rosy girl wife fade away into an invalid
woman tell their own story.
Mckinley does not seem nowadays tt
be the man rolling high on the wave o.
political excitement. He is Away:
calm and deliberate. He seems never
to be in haste He does nothing in {
hurry He walks slowly, speaks softly
and has the eternal look of a man whc
has nothing to do. 1t is simply tina
he has developed to an abnormal de
gree the capacity of getting through al
immense amount of work without max
ing any fuss about 1t. He is method
zeal almost to the point of aggravatio1
and is so deliberate that it must make
the turbulent soul Of Mark Ham:
heave with indignation.