Westlawn Cemetery, Canton, O.

     The universally lamented death of our late beloved President, William McKinley, and the imposing ceremonies attending his funeral have imparted to the cemetery in which his remains were finally deposited a national importance. More than this, his beautiful and consistent life, emphasized almost beyond the bounds of human appreciation on a death-bed, shall we say, divinely appointed, will undoubtedly make Westlawn Cemetery, Canton, O[.], a sacred spot in our broad country, toward which a national pilgrimage will be constantly setting.
     Our readers will remember that our late President’s home for very many years was in Canton, O., and his family burial lot was situated in the above named cemetery, and in this lot his fondest and saddest memories were centered. In accordance with the usual custom of our country, and for the lack, in a certain sense, of a national valhalla, the public receiving vault of the cemetery, for the time being, has become the temporary resting place of the mortal body of William McKinley. Our illustration shows the tomb after the funeral, but gives only a partial idea of the wealth of floral tributes, expressive of the international grief, deposited about the tomb and on the lawn.
     The vault was a gift to the association some years ago by Mrs. Frank Mason Werts in memory of her deceased husband. It is of Romanesque design, constructed of rock-faced and dressed Massillon sandstone, and built into the hillside, at a cost of some $5,000[.]
     Westlawn Cemetery is a beautiful tract of rolling country, comprising some sixty-five acres of well diversified ground. Its hills and valleys are accentuated by a fine stream, spanned by rustic stone bridges, and a picturesque waterfall adds to its general attractions. The character of its topography lends itself to diversity of landscape views on every hand. Generally the land is covered with native oak forest, which has been improved by other planting, but artificiality has been avoided as far as possible. The cemetery is fifty years old, so that the lawn plan is a matter of progression, and is enforced as far as practicable.
     It was the wish of the President that he should be buried in the cemetery wherein lay his children and parents, and it is significant that no implied or expressed desire of his life in respect to the disposition of his body when life had departed has been questioned by the people. The grandly poised character, illumined by an abiding love for his fellow man, culminating in a death which set forth and emphasized the possibility of divinity in man, developed such universal regard that all the ceremonies attending his funeral were performed with a loving service unexcelled in the annals associated with great public men. And Westlawn Cemetery has been given an heritage to be held in perpetual reverence and care.