In Memory of Our Deceased President—McKinley

     A gloom was cast over our country when the tidings came that our nation’s chief had been struck down by an anarchist assassin, but deeper was the gloom when it was flashed throughout the land that he was dead; that his great and generous heart had ceased to beat; that the head of the most God favored nation on earth had succumbed to the wounds that were deep unto death. He was the President of the entire country, not of any section or of any race, but of all that are under the folds of the priceless flag that waves o’er a free and united country; of a happy, prosperous people. His great heart was large enough for all—north, east, south and west. When the hand of anarchy struck down William McKinley it struck down one of America’s greatest statesmen. It struck a blow at free government and at American liberty. A sympathetic chord extends from the frozen boundaries of Alaska to the seakissed shores of California and the sunlit everglades of Florida, where the prayers of his people went up for his recovery. But, alas, today southern tears are mingling with taose [sic] of the north on his bier. It is gratifying to know that there is such heartfelt sympathy throughout the southland where not many months ago he passed through receiving our best wishes and our flowers. Prosperity has smiled upon us during his administration. The people were happy and contented. The poor has had his burden made lighter. The spectre of sectionalism has passed away and remembrance of our civil strife is fast dying out. The stars and stripes today waves o’er a brave people that were contented with him as their president. May his spirit guide the incoming president is the wish of

A SOUTHERNER.