The people of Cedarburg, irrespective of party, gave Mr. Daniel E. McGinley, the newly-appointed consul to Athens, Greece, a farewell banquet, on Tuesday evening. It was so whole-hearted and generous that it may well make a lasting impression on the mind of the honored guest. There were present leading citizens of the city and a number from about the county, besides several from Milwaukee, West Bend and elsewhere. There were eight courses with the usual goblet attractions. The feast ended at 12, when the toastmaster, Hon. W. H. Fitzgerald, proposed the health of the "President of the United States, William McKinley," which was drank standing. Toasts were responded to by C. H. Doerflinger, D. Lloyd Jones, J. F. Trottman, Dr. J. H. McGover, Rev. J. O. Keefe, T. D. Ryan, T. M. Gammon, J. E. Corrigan and J. A. Watrous. At 2 o'clock the exercises concluded. A prettier banquet it would be difficult for anyone anywhere to prepare. Much credit is due the proprietor of the Washington house at which it was held. Nor should the music, home production, be forgotten. For five or six hours it discoursed fine music without repeating, something that can be said of few bands in Wisconsin outside of Milwaukee.

The banquet to an honored fellow citizen, reflected as much credit upon the people of the city of Cedarburg as it did upon Mr. McGinley, and it seems to us that no higher compliment could have been paid him.

The Milwaukee Telegraph has, on several occasions, spoke of the new consul to Athens - of his experience as a farmer boy, a soldier of fine record in the Sixteenth Wisconsin, a teacher of long experience in the public schools, president of the County Teachers' Association, secretary of the Agricultural society, an active Republican, as a delegate to county, district, state and national conventions, and as a man of sterling worth.

One of the speakers was quoted by the Cedarburg News, in his reference to Mr. McGinley, as follows:
He referred to what had been said of the formation and development of our nation, and then drew two vivid word pictures. The first was of a mother in Ohio, standing at the gate in the early days of the war, and bidding farewell to her 16-year-old son, to whom she had given a willing consent that he might go to fight for the old flag. The other was a Wisconsin Mother, not a native of this land, but whose great heart beat with love for her adopted country and its beautiful flag, bidding her two oldest boys goodbye as they marched away with her consent to battle for universal liberty, while a younger son, a boy in years and stature, stood by with tear-filled eyes and sobbed because he was not old or large enough to march away with his brothers as a defender of our flag. But two years passed, making a great change in the stature of the healthy farmer boy, and when President Lincoln again called for volunteers he succeeded in getting the consent of his agonized mother and strapping on his heavy accoutrements and shouldering a musket, he took his place in the line of blue with his brothers, and did a man’s duty until the war ended.

"This is a wonderful country," said the speaker," for today that Ohio boy is President of the United States, William McKinley, and he has appointed the Wisconsin boy who cried because he could not enter the Union army when the war began, D. E. McGinley, to represent this government at the ancient seat of classical learning, Athens, Greece. The speaker referred to Mr. McGinley’s services in the army, of his struggles in life since the war, and of the deep interest he has taken in educational matters, particularly in the teaching of patriotism. He concluded his remarks on the toast, by saying that he felt certain that he voiced the feelings of every ex-soldier in the state of Wisconsin in thanking the President for the appointment given Mr. McGinley, and in wishing him every success in the future.