The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-10
GATH ON GROVER.
A Pen Pactare of the President-E4ect from a
Friendly Point of View.

| Gath, in Minneapolis Tribane.
In comes the Governor. He is a solid man,
| standing erect, with large stomach, large chest,
large throat and chops, rather phlegmatic, not
| brisk in his movements, moving rather slowly
| and few feet at time, and speaking in a dis
| tinct throat voice. He says bnt little, and that
rather of an off hand sort in reply to something.
His face is not flexible, and scarcely any feature
| of it moves at any time except tine eyes, which
| are of a somewhat cold blue, a little watery,
| and by no means afeetonate. He Is
| dressed In black, has brown hair, straight
| and smooth. and this hair is lighter than the
| picture would indicate, while his complexion
| though naturally good, is somewhat mussed. as
| if by good living and perhaps by beer. AS he
| is only forty-siX years old, and of hardly more
| than the medium height his size and weight
| indicate the pleasures of the table and want of
| manly exercise. There is quite a bald place on
! the top or back Of his head. AS he moves about
| he puts his wrists against his hips, or occasion
| ally puts hand behind his back His
| office manner is not constrained nor yet hardly
easy but rather stifish and reminds one
of a sehoolmaSter a school trustee making
visit to the school, or, perhaps better yet, of
bank president who has come IN in the morning
! and found many callers and suspects most of
them of wanting loan. In reality most of these
callers are delegations to get pardons for various
persons in prison. In meeting people to whom
he is introduced Cleveland does not relax his erect
| carriage, maintains dignity with something of
| smile and can, if he chooses, merely speak and
not say word He will perhaps sit down while
| the others are WaltlhS or TALKING ana Degin 10
write at the table. l think he will fail
! in Washington to carry on executive bus
| mess as he does in Albany. There he
kept up the policy Of a mayor of Buffalo, having
| his chamber open for callers and being at home
to anybody at any hour. Consequently, since
his election to the presidency these callers have
so multiplied that he is obliged to take his work
home to the executive residence to do it, I'M
| ouestionably he conveys ii respectable idea of
chief magistrate and Governor If you listen to
what he is saying to most of the people who
| come you will find it to be a refusal to grant
something; not harsh refusal, but slight
| and the words: 10, no; / can't attend to any
pardons this morning. I shall have to put
| all the pardon cases off to-day. No pardOns to-
day" Saying this there will be faint smile
upon his face and the velvet paw with the tiger
close behind it. An intimate acquaintance of
| Cleveland said to nae afterward; He is a very
| hard headed man, but Il good fellow. He is kind
hearted, but has been so long in these executive
positions that he considers it his business to say
no for the first thing, and it is often the last
thing While hlr. Cleveland is only
forty-sx years old he would probab-
| lv pass for fifty. He is, perhaps, the first man
we shall ever have in the Presidency with sort
of derived right there. While looking at the
power and form around him both present and
| pending l somehow got to thinking of Henry
| VIII, one of the greatest and harshest kings OF
| England, and his way Of saying "Ha," and
| "Ho," and a sort of harsh smile when
he meant to annihilate somebody. The vote
getter is almost entirely absent from CieVelandS
| STYLE and address. lie seems to make no differ
encc in people who approach him, unless they
may have offended him at some time, when
| think he can be coarse and resentful. noticed
about Alhany that his political opponents vino
had straightforwardly opposed him with all the
resources in their power, had not been to see
him since the election Those persons who are
I looking for President to punish somebody, to
| make the government terrible to refuse com
! promises or pardons probably will find in Cleve-
land their ideal, though of them may
! fall under the AK they have helped to create.
! The fexibility which has pervaded most Of our
| Republican administrations will probably be
| gone there, and there will also fail to be,
should say, any intellectual or fine play
| of character about the But he
| will be found at the spot i'll person
all the timo You can find him there as
truly as the criminal finds the sheriff or the
debtor finds the constable. He was brought up
| in thai harsh school of levying on property and
| getting his fees for the same, of appointing con
stables who would see that nothing escaped, and
of taking prisoners to the Jail and condemned
| people to the gallows. and of going through all
| those forms without the loss of either temper or
| compliment His first public Office was the
| shrievalty. He has said so hear it reported,
that it was tho only Office he ever asked any
body to vote for him to get The mayoralty