Mr. McKinley spoke in the open air, but not to the winds. There was a silence which would admit of the audible dropping of a pin. The night was clear. His voice was easily heard by those who sat a hundred feet away on the steps of the store near the corner. He confined himself strictly to the issues of the campaign of 1867, which, however, was not a Presidential one. He did not once refer to notes. His vocabulary and active brain were his only promoters. I just wondered," said Mr. Bitzer, “where he got all those words and ideas." A short time before his death Mr. and Mrs. McKinley took a drive from their home in Canton. Almost before they realized it, they came upon the town of New Berlin. As they passed the place where Mr. McKinley had started his political career upon a dry-goods box, the occupants of the carriage Loth turned their heads, and a smile spread over the countenance of the President of the United States. They drove past and turned east at the four corners by the post office. After a short drive up that road they returned and again passed the spot where stood the dry-goods box of thirty-five years ago. It was not long after President McKinley had crossed the boundary line of the town from Canton that the people realized that they were very unexpectedly entertaining a notable one, too, who had more than a passing interest in the little town. They turned out in large numbers. The President bowed to all he met. WINS HIS FIRST ELECTION guest, and Mr. Bitzer was justly proud of “introducing the President into politics," as he called it. He is an old soldier and a life-long Republican. Once, during McKinley's term as Governor, he called at his office in Columbus. There were not less than a dozen people in the room: "This," said McKinley, "is the man who first introduced me into politics," and Mr. Bitzer's hand was grasped not less than a dozen times. "Yes," said Bitzer, "McKinley and I are fast friends." The able and ardent young orator was at once welcomed into the Republican party by the leaders, and during the remainder of that campaign, and the campaign for President in 1868, he was frequently called upon to speak in public for the party's principles and candidates. By 1869 he was well known throughout the county as a rising young lawyer, and a speaker of thoughtful force. He was gaining in wisdom and experience. As a somewhat questionable form of reward for his services, the party put him forward in that year as its candidate for District Attorney. The nomination was looked upon as an empty honor, in view of the fact that Stark was reckoned one of the banner Democratic counties of the State. An old party leader would have had a very hard battle to win, and for a young and inexperienced man the case seemed hopeless. The nomination appeared a very cheap way of rewarding the rising young orator. But however the Convention and the people regarded the nomination, McKinley took it in all seriousness, and went into the race determined to win, if youthful energy and hard work could bring success. He made a vigorous canvass of the county, throwing his whole soul into the work, and displaying an enthusiasm which was something new in that district. He assailed the voters as if he was again charging upon the works of the enemy. Day after day he made ardent speeches, inspiring confidence, gaining friends among the people, and making raids upon the ranks of the foe. When the election was over the Democrats were amazed to find that this young man, scarcely known in the county, had defeated their candidate and won the fight by a safe majority. Thus, at the age of twenty-six, Major McKinley won his first political success. The office did not pay a large salary, but it was a stepping-stone alike to legal business and to further political honors. McKinley gained popular favor in his first office by his honest and able performance of his duties. On the expiration of his two years' term he was again nominated, the party looking upon him as their safest candidate. The Democrats were now thoroughly awakened. This new aspirant for public honors was winning the good-will of his fellow-citizens far too rapidly to please them. They put into the field against him the best man they could find in their ranks, and employed all the devices of political tactics in the campaign. They succeeded, but their majority was so small-only fortyfive instead of the usual hundreds-that McKinley rather gained than lost standing by his defeat. His vigorous canvass and growing ability as a speaker brought him into the front rank of his party, and thenceforth he was to be reckoned with as the most powerful political factor in the county. His next step in political life was to be towards a much higher goal, but five years passed before it was taken-years of hard study and diligent practice at the bar. WINNING A BRIDE We must now leave politics for the more attractive story of love and matrimony. Six years passed after McKinley left the army, and four years after he engaged in the practice of his profession, before his rising fortunes gave him warrant to seek a wife. It must not be imagined, however, that he had lived in Canton all these years and was not familiar with its attractions in the way of womanly beauty and grace. He was doubtless a favorite in many houses, his genial manners and courtly address being well calculated to win him a host of social friends, and among his fair associates not the least to be considered was she who then reigned as the belle of Canton, the lovely Ida Saxton. The Saxtons had long been leading people in Canton. John Saxton, the founder of the family in Ohio, was one of the pioneers in that State at the beginning of the last century. There, in 1815, he established the Ohio Repository, long the chief journal of the town, and of wide-spread influence in the county; conducting it with success until his death, at an advanced age. For sixty years he was its editor, and had the distinction of printing in it the news of the battle of Waterloo-some five months after it occurredand the defeat of the Third Napoleon at Sedan, fifty-five years |