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McKinley took up the case and went into it. He sat up all night and worked at it. At 10 o'clock next day he was on hand, when the court opened. He took the place of Judge Belden, made an argument and won the case. As he was speaking he happened to look at the back of the court room and there he saw Judge Belden sitting. This seemed rather queer to him, but he afterward found that Belden had put up the job to test what he could do as a lawyer. The next day the judge came into the office and said to McKinley: "Well, William you've won the case and here is your fee." As he said this he took out his pocketbook and handed McKinley $25.

"But," said young McKinley, "I can't take that, judge. It was only a night's work. It ain't worth it and I can't take it," and with that he offered the bill to the judge.

"Oh, yes, you can," was the reply. "You have earned the money and you must take it. Besides it is all right. I shall charge my client $100 for the work and it is only right that you should have this $25. This argument overcame McKinley's scruples and he took the money.

MADE A MINISTER OUT OF A BAD PAGE.

When Mr. McKinley was a congressman there was among the pages in the house of representatives one boy who was considered to be a most incorrigible lad. And he was, at the same time, very bright. His mind occupied itself in plotting mischief, which he carried out with spirit. He was impertinent to a degree; he swore with a fluency never heard before and his battles with his companions were of daily occurrence. He was attractive-so attractive that his influence with the other boys was very great. There was danger that the whole company of boys would become demoralized, and the only remedy seemed to lie in dismissal. He had often been reprimanded, so when he was called before the authorities and informed of his dismissal he was stunned.

Mr. McKinley had liked the boy in spite of the fact that he seemed to be a little degenerate, and when he learned that the lad had been discharged he sent for him. After a long talk the future President begged that the boy be given another chance, and, much subdued, the page again took his place in the house. This was the beginning of the little drama of reformation. The boy was not all bad. He was grateful and Mr. McKinley made his good behavior a personal favor to himself. At first the boy tried to do well because it pleased Mr. McKinley, and then, because he was possessed of a strength that would not lead him to do anything by halves, he became as enthusiastic for good as he had been for evil. Time went on, and through Mr. McKinley's influence, he joined the church and, later still, with the

encouragement of his friend, he studied for the ministry. He is now a clergyman, doing splendid work in the far west. He was made a minister by the President of the United States.

HIS POPULARITY WITH THE NEWSBOYS.

While governor of Ohio, Mr. McKinley walked to and from the statehouse daily. These trips were watched for by the newsboys of Columbus, to whom they meant a golden harvest. No matter what the paper or its politics, the governor made an invariable practice of purchasing a supply from each and every newsboy who cropped up in his path or besieged him as he walked up and down the statehouse steps.

One very stormy day the governor emerged from the statehouse on his homeward trip, accompanied by a friend, who urged, in view of the storm and sleet, that the governor get home quickly and avoid the newsboys.

"No!" said the governor, "this stormy day they need me to buy their papers more than any other time. Another thing is, they will look for me, and I do not mean to disappoint them."

This was his method of distributing help to the boys willing to work for their living and who would not have liked the idea of receiving charity.

DUTY TO COUNTRY ABOVE SELF.

After the destruction of the United States battleship Maine, in Havana harbor, almost every prominent leader in the Republican party, almost every Republican member of Congress, almost every newspaper was crowding President McKinley to take radical action upon the Cuban question. His message proposing armed intevention was written, submitted to the cabinet and approved. It was all ready to send to an impatient congress, which had given notice through its committees that unless the President did something before a certain date the independence of Cuba would be recognized and war declared. While the cabinet was in session, Assistant Secretary Day entered with a cablegram from Consul-General Lee advising the department of state that it would be impossible for all the United States consuls to leave Cuba within less than ten days, and asking that if radical measures were taken, the consuls in Cuba might be assassinated or the consulates mobbed. When the President read that dispatch, he turned to his cabinet and said calmly:

"Well, we must hold up this message until all our people are out of Cuba."

"Impossible!" exclaimed two or three of his advisers in unison.

Congress will not permit twenty-four hours' delay. It will be impossible to restrain them. If you withhold that message any longer, Mr. President, you will be politically ruined," said one of them.

The President looked down at the table for a moment, thoughtfully, then, raising his eyes with a determined expression, remarked:

"The important question is not how a postponement will affect me, but how it will affect those consuls in Cuba. We have already lost enough lives. I shall hold the message."

THE PRESIDENT COULD AFFORD TO KEEP A COW.

It was a

Just after President McKinley's inauguration he had his relatives who were in the city, at a family dinner at the White House. large company and a good dinner. Dear old Mother McKinley was there, but she was not very talkative. She was too happy for words. But she kept a sharp eye on the dinner, and no detail of it escaped her. She was impressed by the quantity of cream served with the fruit and coffee, for she looked up at her son in her sweetly simple way and said: "William, you must keep a cow now.'

Some of the younger members of the family party found it difficult to suppress a smile, but the President, with his usual tact and graciousness, replied:

"Yes, mother, we can afford to have a cow now, and have all the cream we can possibly use."

THE PRESIDENT'S TITLE.

Just after election, which made Mr. McKinley President-elect, an old man, one of the oldest friends of the McKinley's, called at the Canton home.

"Why, how do you do, Uncle John?" cordially exclaimed the President-elect to the farmer.

The farmer's face flushed as he replied, "Neighbor, 'taint all right to call you neighbor any more, and I want to know just how to speak to You used to be just Major McKinley, and then you was Lawyer McKinley, and then after a bit you was Congressman McKinley, and then you got to be Governor McKinley, but you ain't President yet."

you.

The President-elect laughed heartily at the perplexity of his constituent, and answered:

"John, I won't have a friend of mine, such as you are, address me by any prouder title than that of major. That rank belongs to me. I am not governor any more, and I am not President yet. So you just call me plain major, which I like to be to all my friends."

THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE COUNTRY.

Many people wonder how the President got through the amount of work required of him daily, and how he stood the strain. Perhaps as close view of him in his official life as could be presented, is found in this estimate given in 1898 by one of his closest friends, Senator Edward Wolcott, of Colorado:

"The President is, without exception, the kindest-hearted man that I have ever met. He is so good and kind in his nature that he is growing younger every day. His only worry is that when night comes he thinks of the activities of the busy day, and wonders if he has not failed to see someone who wanted to see him, or failed to do something which someone wanted him to do. Instead of growing old in the White House, the wrinkles are coming out of his face. He is the happiest man in the country. He is full of joy because the fates have placed in his hands the power to do so much good, and to show so much kindness and generosity. You can see it in his face and feel it in the touch of his hands. There is no man in this country for whom the sun shines brighter than for William McKinley. The work and worry that killed other Presidents, only warm his heart and gladden his life. Whenever I see the President I think there is a lesson in his life for us all that we should soften our natures and strive to find pleasure in doing good, rather than in self-seeking."

HIS QUIET METHOD OF DISAPPROVAL.

Those who knew President McKinley longest say they never knew him to lose his temper or to scold even the worst offending servant. He had a quiet method of disapproval far more effective. He would select different people around him to do certain things for him. As, for instance, when some engagement called him from Washington, he would look around, and the man on whom his eyes happened to fall would be the man selected to arrange for the journey. To him, the President would say: "I want to go to Philadelphia next Tuesday on the nine o'clock train; Mrs. McKinley will go with me. Will you see to things, please?" This meant that the President looked for every detail necessary to the journey to that particular man. Personally, he gave the matter no more thought. If, however, there was a hitch in the arrangements, due to the carelessness on the part of the man detailed to attend to the matter, the President never gave expression to a word. of censure nor made any comment whatever. He was always careful, however, never again to intrust similar duties to that person. This was Mr. McKinley's invariable method of expressing his disapproval.

THE PRESIDENT PROVES HIS METHODISM.

President McKinley always showed the highest degree of generosity towards his political opponents. While governor of Ohio, he was about to appoint to an exalted and lucrative office a man who for many years had been his ardent supporter, but who had deserted him and gone over to the enemy at a critical period. Later, when that critical period had passed, the deserter slipped back into his party and remained unnoticed until he became a candidate for office. Many of Governor McKinley's loyal friends earnestly protested against his appointment. They argued that the man had been a traitor when he was most needed, and that he was not entitled to consideration.

The governor's face lighted up with a smile, and he remarked: "Gentlemen, you seem to forget that I am a Methodist, and believe in the doctrine of falling from grace."

PLACES FLOWERS IN THE HANDS OF TOIL.

One morning a delegation composed of the officers of the several great labor organizations, called at the White House to ask a favor which the President could not grant. He listened attentively to the presentation of their case and then, expressing his regret that he could not oblige them, explained at length the reason why. They thanked him for his candor, and were bidding him good morning, when he took a carnation from his button-hole and pinned in on the lapel of the coat of the leader of the party. Then, taking the cluster of carnations on his desk, he distributed them among the others, saying:

"Please give these to your wives, or to your sweethearts if you are not married, with my compliments."

His visitors were horny-handed sons of toil, unaccustomed to giving and receiving nosegays, but they were touched by the delicate little compliment, and before they left the White House the flowers so graciously given were carefully stowed away in their handkerchiefs.

A PAGE'S SYMPATHY WINS HIM FAVOR.

Many years ago when Mr. McKinley was in the house of representatives, there was one page who always waited on him. When Mr. McKinley was unseated in 1890, by Mr. Warwick, it became necessary to move his papers and books and the flowers that had been sent to him. from his desk in the house of representatives to the hotel where he was stopping. He asked the page to attend to the matter.

The boy secured a carriage, paid a dollar to the driver, and carried the things to the room of the ex-congressman. Mr. McKinley thanked him heartily, and put five dollars in his hand when he said good-by.

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