Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/215

Rh almost forgot what to say! There, close around him were gathered hundreds of men he knew, some of whom he had not seen for years. Here were those who had gone to school with him, and who as boys had waded in the brook with him. There was a man who as a big boy had teased him when he was a little fellow. The big boy had always been mean, and now the man's manner showed that he was poor and shiftless in his later years. Close by was another man who had cheated him at marbles, and another man who had once tried to fight with him. Then he discovered an old negro who used to tell the boys marvellous ghost stories, so that some of the lads would be afraid to be out after dark. The negro was now bent with age and almost blind, but he leaned there on his knotty stick, more than anxious to listen to what McKinley might have to say. And there was still another man, who, in their youthful days, had "cut him out" with the girlish belle of the district school. The man had a boy with him, and McKinley began to wonder if he had married the school belle, and if that was