The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-29
From the New York World.


 T HE peculiar pathos that was at (CD tached to Mrs. Mckinley in the
 eyes of the country at large had it's root in a love story that will take it's place among the classics. On the part of President McKinle. it was single minded devotedness that gathered an ever-increasing tenderness from the deli cacy of the wife, whose hopes of mother hood were buried and whose mind, as IT arrested on the threshold of that deepest experience of her womanhood, was stili held in the thrall of youth.
 On her part it was love of absolute dependence and childlike trust. Through all her life her eyes have retained the clear, unshadowed softness of the girl; the charming pink of her cheek was that usually known to the dawn of maturity. Her gentle smile, her soft voice, the in- genuousness of manner, the moduiated voice, all gave President Mckinley the sweetheart of his boyhood, who, if she could not share the cares of state and must be protected from every alien look or word, could yet win him from all oth-
 
 In the hour of her affiiction the be- reaved wife voiced the whole craving Of her nature In that one pathetic sentence, q want to see the Major" But when she had seen the Major for the last time, when they had placed him in the vault at Canton, where now the national me- nnorial to her husband is nearing comple- tion. she turned her thought to what she mi Int do for him. Daily she visited the tomb to stay a while in thought, and to Ieaye her beloved flowers for her beloved dead.
 Next to children Mrs. Mckinley always has loved her flowers. She used to min gle the two fondnesses by giving her blossoms from the White House conserv- atories in splendid largesse to the little ones. and she had proteges of all kinds in the hospitals and other institutions and among her personal friends When Easter time came the first lady would sit all day a. the window to watch the egg rolling on the lawn and laugh as giee- fully as the youngsters themselves.
 Denied much effort she busted herself about little things. She made purses or netted silk and fashioned slippers of wool by the hundreds. They went for Christ mas gifts as souvenirs. They brought large prices at charitable fairs, and they gave their manufacturer the keenest de- light She said once during the White House days that she had made 4OOO pairs of slippers flor somebody to wear. Ihe Christmas after her loss she did not Tor ee, her friends in the cabinet circle, but their remembrances fashioned by her del icate fingers were all of black and gray The woman who had chung so persistent ly to beautiful colors could find relief only in the sombre shades.
 One of the last expressions of Presi- dent McKinleys care of her occurred when they entered Terrace Station at Buffalo on that fatal trip. The salute of the artillerymen drawn up to await their arrival broke seven panes in the forward ear The crash and shock were too much for Mrs Mckinley to bear. She fell fainting into her husbands arms. He laid her back on her pillows, soothing her gently before he stepped out to &C., knowledge the plaudits of the crowd.
 When she shrank back later, in sight of all at the shreking of the engines and the confusion, the president gently put
 
 ani drew the lace wrap up about her ears, shutting out the uproar.
 He lifted her down in his strong arms am, at the carriage door turned to call for another wrap, and carefully folded it about her.
 When MT. Mckinley married Ida Saxton sh, had been given not only all the ad- vantages that education and travel could offer tshe fresh from six-r1onth stay in Europe wEen they mep. but had learned self-reliance as well. for her fla ther, James SaXton, had installed her as assistant cashier in the bank to teach he- to cope with the world. She came to he husband brilliant with health and ambition. When she had laid her two babes to rest in the Canton cemetery