Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1902 — FAREWELL TO HIS WIFE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FAREWELL TO HIS WIFE.

President Telle Her, “God's Will, Not Ours, Be Done.” When, on Friday afternoon, the President asked for his wife, they went

to the room across the hall, where she sat with Mrs. McWilliams. She was helped into her husband’s room by Mrs. McWilliams, but Mr. McKinley had again fallen into unconsciousness. After waiting a few moments, she obeyed the suggestion of those about, and went back to her room, leaving the doctors free to resume their efforts. And then, one by one, those in the house, the President’s brother, Abner, Secretary Root, Secretary Wilson, Secretary Hitchcock, Mrs. McKinley’s sisters, and the others went into the room of death for the last look. Each looked at the form on the bed; some went no further than the doorway and turned away. The sight of that brave face looking so like death caused them to weep. Not one person, man or woman, who came back downstairs but was weeping, and some of the men were sobbing almost hysterically. About 8 o’clock Mr. McKinley recovered consciousness, and again whispered Mrs. McKinley’s name. Once more they led her in and placed her in a chair beside the bed. They saw that he was conscious, and turned away. ‘‘lt’s the last flickering of the lamp before light goes out,” whispered Dr. McBurney. Mrs. McKinley took her husband’s hand. His eyes opened. He spoke sev-

eral sentences. Those near caught only one: "Good-by, good-by. It is God’s will; let his will, not ours, be done.” It was a long leave taking, and, finally, they carried her half-fainting to her room. News of what was happening went down stairs and out into the street. It was received everywhere with tears. “They are saying good-by to each other,” people whispered in the streets, all along the crowded blocks near the house. Every one was thinking of what the life of these two had been, of the intense, beautiful devotion each to the other, of what a tender, chivalrous lover-husband he was. It was impossible to think of this and then of the scene in that room upon which the thoughts of the whole world were centered, without feeling the eyes grow hot under the lids and a lump come into the throat. In that room it was, for the moment, not the head of the mightiest nation on earth who was dying, it was a husband and lover standing by the dark river and giving the last look of love to that sad, lonely, invalid woman, to whom his smile and cheerful words were literally the breath of life. Mrs. McKinley was with the President much of the time Friday. Gently as he could, Dr. Rixey told her of her

husband’s relapse early in the morning. The physicians decided during the night that she should not be awakened. But with the morning, when hope was all but gone. Dr. Rixey went

President of the Pan-American exposition, at whose residence President McKinley died. He was standing at the right hand of the president when the shots were fired. Into Mrs. McKinley’s room and told her the truth.

PROPOSED SITE OF THE $500,000 M’KINLEY MEMORIAL AT CANTON. The Monument Is to Be Erected on the Top of the Hill Above the Roadway Skirting the Kiver.

J.G.MILBURN