After accompanying them to the courthouse, where a marriage license was procured. we look an automobile and repaired to the parsonage of an Episcopalian minister, that being the church in which Miss Ware was baptized, and she expressed a desire to be married under its rites. We found, however, upon arrival there, that the pastor could not perform the services on account of McKinley being a divorced person.
Returning to the courthouse, we consulted with the Clerk of the Court, who conducted us to an official in the same building, who performed the ceremony, after which a few hours were spent in automobiling about the city and taking in the sights. We then returned to the hotel and prepared for the wedding feast, which had previously been arranged for at Kinzie's cafe.
To those of McKinley's friends who are acquainted with the man and with his manner of doing things, it is useless to observe that no detail in the arrangements had been overlooked, and that the spread was a most elaborate one. Even to the orchestra itself, which consisted of the very best talent in the city, he had given his personal attention, going so far as to make selections of the music which they should render for the edification and pleasure of his guests.
The decorations, consisting chiefly of choice flowers of the most expensive varieties, were exceedingly profuse and very artistically arranged. The whole surroundings, in fact, denoted the gala feast of a Western prince, and those who partook of the good things on that occasion will ever remember their host as the liberal entertainer for which he is famed the lengh and breadth of the land.
I had the honor of acting in the capacity of "best man," 'and as such, was given a favored place at the festive board. It might be stated, however, that every gentleman present, being more or less imbued with a sense of chivalrous responsibility, assumed the honor of attending upon the groom and his charming bride. But we had failed to reckon with our host and his accustomed style of entertaining. As the time wore merrily on, and the popping of corks contributed its emphasis to the general hilarity of the occasion, McKinley discovered that quite a number of the regular patrons of the cafe, who had lingered to give audience to the delightful music, were not receiving sufficient attention, according to his ideas of true Western hospitality. He thereupon lost no time in extending an invitation to all hands in the dining room to join in the festivities, the orchestra itself being included in the spontaneous request. As the ranks of those already in the establishment were constantly being augmented by newcomers, who were likewise given the glad hand by the irrepressible McKinley, the affair soon developed into one of the grandest receptions of its kind ever witnessed in Chicago, and that the local newspapers did not get hold of the story is one of the mysteries of modern journalism.
In consequence of the quantity of good things of life consumed, the orchestra took a marked departure from its programme as originally planned with such artistic measure of the proprieties by the genial host. Instead of the sweet strains from Lohengrin awakening all the sentiments of those present they were regaled with "A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight;" and in place of other classic selections, made by McKinley with equal consideration as to the fitness of things, the orchestra had its own ideas on the subject, and furnished the merrymakers with all the latest ragtime music.
Needless to say, Mac was the lion of the hour, and congratulations were showered upon the happy couple from every quarter of the cafe. Some weeks later, cards were out announcing that Mr. and Mrs. Horace G. McKinley would be "At Home" to their friends after November 1, 1905, on their homestead in 11-7. It was a fitting climax to the vaudeville features of the occasion, and illustrates fully with what feathery weight the serious affairs of life rested upon those most concerned. They remained for awhile in Chicago, but later took a honeymoon trip to the Pacific Coast. Leaving Marie in Seattle, Horace returned East, and I met him in Chicago again. Together we went to Minneapolis, from whence Horace sent for Marie, and she joined him there.
Page 232
