Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-12-18
|, TRIBUTE To MR.. CLEVELAND.
Pastor Hamilton w. Pierson, of Tole-
do, Tells OF His Generous Deeds.

sll his struggles for seif-support he
never forgot the mother and little ones
he had left behind, but, denying him
self, shared his scanty earnings with
them. AS business came rapidly to
him from year to year, and the earn
ings of his early professional life in
creased, his bounties to his mother and
those at home we're constantly en-
larged. During recent years his sue
cess at the bar enabled hlm to enjoy
the comfort and Injuries of life living
in style befittlng his high position:
but by voluntarily denying himself
these, the closing years of the life of
the mother he so loved and adored-
to whom he alluded with such touch.
ing pathos in his letter to Mrs. Henry
Ward Beecher-were crowned with
unstinted abundance and the most ten
der loving care; the children younger
than himself enjoyed the advantages
of the best institutions OF learning. and
as they have married hnd settled in
life he has stood to them financially in
the place of generous father His
Oldest sister, the wife of the Rev
Euratas P. Hastings, D. D., sailed
for India with her husband the June
preceding her fathers death, where
they have since labored as honored
missionaries of the American board of
commissioners for foreign missions.
Though so far away, she has never
been forgotten by this brother, and the
missionary stipend has often been sup
plemented from his generous and ever
open purse. When four of their chill. |
dren, two sons and two daughters,
came to this country from India, he
most naturally and cheerfully assumed
for them the same axious solicitude
and generous care he had so long be-
slowed upon his own brothers and SIS
ters. The mother of Grover Cleve
land was native of Maryland She
posed IN an eminent degree the gen
teness and repose of manner 50
marked in the highest type of south
ern-born matrons. In the home so
provided for her, her
serene old age was happy and bright.
Here she welcomed her children and
grandchildren, and tolthose from distant
India who came to cheer her she ex-
,ended generous and long-continued
hospitality. From that home she was
oorne to her grave but short time be-
ore her son was elected Governor of
New York. Since the death of his I
ather in 1853 the benefactions of g
frover Cleveland to his mother and q
vi these her descendants have swelled I
o thousands of dollars. The Presbv. /
erian church makes generous provls- t
on for her "dlsabled ministers and l
he widows and orphans of deceased a
minister's" For this purpose more .
han $2l, 900 were collected during the +
ear. Though often urged, the sen.
tive spirit of Mrs. Cleveland shrank
rom receiving this aid. Her son.
irover, warmly sympathizing with her,
rged her to decline it. and neither
1other nor son have ever received a
ollar from this fund. Only recently
knelt in prayer at the dying bed of i;
arm personal friend, clergyman of t
ne Protestant Episcopal church but a $
Nv hours before he rassed away. He |
Did me then, as he has often told me i
efore, of his great sorrow in leaving $
is wife and children without adequate i,
lpport. Could he and thousands of !
ther clergymen, who have died op- v
ressed with similar burden, have L
nown that they would leave a son T
18th the noble impulses and genero us \
cart of Grover Cleveland, their clos Il
lg hours would have been less sad h
trough my travels in the service of n
le American Bible Society, the Amer i,
an Tract Society, and my extended o
as an invalid in search of V
ealth; my acquaintance with the fam K
les of clergymen In the north and y,
'uth, east and west, from ocean to n n
,ean during the last forty years has G.
zen exceptionally large But if in ST
le United States any minister of the Il
ospel has ever lost son who through n
long series of years, with such Il Il
,rsonal Sacrifices and self-denial and q a
much anxious care, freely gave so D
rge part of the results of his labor el
us toll for the maintenance and COM IL
rt of cherished mother, and for the t. t;
stenance, education and happiness of l.
Or children and grandchildren, l have e e
Ut to learn the fact. Naturally diff s,
dent, silent, secretive and instructive IL
shrinking from revelation of him Sc
If and others, l can we'll understand a
Nv greatly he will be startled by this o. o
atement of facts so little known out =,
de the family circle. But it is due W
10 American people, after campaign ri
unparalleled slander and falsehood. ii
y first vote was cast in my native F
wn, in Genesee county, New York, n
r William H. Seward. AS long as =
70 whig party existed l voted with Il
em, and then transferred my warm n
t sympathies and votes to the Re. Il
.blican party. From 1888 to 1884 l 1
'ver scratched but two names, and
ose not for political reasons but for d d
e interest of personal friends, candi- n
ties for county officea Rut Nov A =