Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-07-01
IDA SAXON M'klNLEY.
o.

Louisville Courier Journal.
If ever star fell from heaven into
the arms of man--if ever a flower grew
into woman-that star and that flower
was Ida Saxton Mckinley. There was
an aroma of sweetness and grace In
the very name. Her husband never ad-
dresser, never referred to her, ex-
cept as Ida" BY an interpositon ne.
tie short of divine the full knowledge
OF the supreme tragedy which de
scended into a life yet in its noon,
was spared her; the angels drew
veil as of tears between her and its
full realization.
God had given ii to Ida Saxton to be
fifty mated. There We're many beau
ties and virtues in the character OF
William Mckinley; his career was
abundantly fulfilled, and the crown Of
glory he wore with such consuming
modesty was studded with jewels both
rich and radiant the soldiers. the civil
liam, the man of affairs and the party
leader; but the rarest of all that shone
in that priceless diadem was his de
votlon-simple, constant, unerring-to
Ida"
It seems a strange, most mysteri-
Gus inexplicable decree of Providence
that ordained the death by the assas.
sins hand of three such men as Lin
coin, Garfield and Mckinley, each so
unoffending, so filled with the love oil
human kind, SO gracious and gener-
out.
OF the three, Mckinley was least ag-
gressiye Lincoln lived in deadly times.
rough side to him, and Lincoln, big
of heart and of brain, was outwardly.
even as gnarled oak. Mckinley lived
primitive Christian man. He emu
luted st. Paul in the desire to be all
things to all men. 1t gave him pleas
ure to give pleasure; 1t caused him
pain to inhict pain. No man ever grew
as fast as he in the executive Office.
both in mental stature and In breadth.
lie came 10 power during moving
times. Immense responsibilities de-
soended upon him. War, which he had
rellgiously opposed, and for which the
country was ill-prepared, was suddenly
thrust upon him. The White house be
came an armed camp. There was not
an hour OF the day OF night which the
president could call his own. But,
day or night, there came never mo
nent wnen that sweet voice might not
summon him to the side OF the wife
whose peculiar afiliction had imposed
upon him the care ot nurse Tor a
child-none other nurse than he. II
was the knowledge Of this in those
who personally knew and loved them
which gave to the awful flnality at
Buffalo an added and inexpressible
poignancy of grief
The people OF the south especially
will ever hold the memory OF William
Mckinley deep in the heart of their
hearts. He II was to whom 1t was
given to complete the sublime lnten-
ton of Lincoln with respect to tho
disunited sections of the union. He
was quick to see the meaning and the
opportunity OF the Spanish war. The
last, eternal treaty OF peace between
the north and the south was written
! by the pen that signed the COMMISSIONS
as generals in the army OF the United
States of Joseph Wheeler and E1tz-
hugh Lee and John Breckenridge
Castleman. and never did statesman
and patriot perform an act greater in
reach and more benign in effect than
did William Mckinley when he re.
stored those confederate soldiers to
the service of a once more united
country. literally turning gray into
blue. and giving to generations OF