The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-27

Louisville Courier journal
If ever a star fell from Heaven into
the arms of man-if ever a flower
grew into a 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
addressed her. never referred to her.
except as Ida" BY an interposition
little short OF divine the full knowl-
edge of the supreme tragedy which de-
scended into a life yet in it's noon. was
spared her; the angels drew a veil as
of tears between her and its full reall-
cation.
God had given 1t to Ida Saxton to be
fifty mated. There were many beauties
and virtues in the character of William
Mck ..ley; 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 soldier. the civilian.
the man of affairs and the party lead
er: but the rarest of all that shone in
that priceless diadem was his devotion
simple. constant. unerring-to Ida
1t seems strange. most myster-
ious. inexplicable decree of Providence
that ordained the death by the assas-
SIMS hand of three such men as Lin
coln.. Garfield and Mckinley. each SO
unoffending. so filled with the love of
human kind, so gracious and gener-
Gus.
or the three. Mckinley was least ag-
gressive. Lincoln lived in deadly
times, and Garfields very Intellectual
ty raised UP both enemies and enmit-
les Garfield. loyable as he was. had
a rough side to him. and Lincoln, big
of heart and of brain. was outwardly.
even as a gnarled oak. Mckinley lily
emulated St. Paul in the desire to be
all things to all men. 1t gave him
pleasure to give pleasure; 1t caused
him pain to inflict pain. No man ever
grew as fast as ne in the Executive
Office. both in mental stature and in
breadth.
He came to power during moving
scended upon him. War, which he had
religiously opposed, and for which the
country was ll-prepared, was suddenly
thrust upon him. The White House
became an armed camp. There was not
an hour of the day, or night. which
the President could call his own. But,
night or day, there came never a mo-
ment when that sweet voice might
wife whose peculiar affection had i'm.
posed upon him the care of nurse
for a child-none other nurse than be.
1t was the knowledge of this In those
which gave to the awful finality at,
Buffalo an added and inexpressibIeI
poignancy of grief.
The people of the South especially
Mckinley deep in the heart of their
hearts. He it was to whom 1t was
given to complete the sublime inten-
ton of Lincoln with respect to the
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 Fitz-
hugh Lee and John Breckinridge cas-
tleman. and never did statesman and
patriot perform an act greater in reach
and more benign in effect than did
william Mckinley when he restored
those Confederate soldiers to the SER
vice of a once more united country, HIT
orally turning gray into blue. and CIV
ing to generations of Southern men
vet unborn the sign manual, along
with the deathless assurance. of COM
plete moral emancipation
Let the winged spirit take its way
to the immortal spirit waiting for its
mate Much shortened is the distance
to Heaven from Earth between these
robes of light The gates are flung
open wide. But, be sure single voice
will alone be heard, just only the one
word Ida d"