Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-03-30
WHITE HOUSE WIT.
SOME STORIES RELATED BY
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND
Generally known He Will Go
Down in History a. the EPigram.
maliCal President.

New Orleans Times Democrat: Grov
er Cleveland will live in our history Al
the epigrammatic President. His in
nOcuous desuetude," ait is condition
not theory, that confronts u.s." and {
few more sayings have already taker
their places as permanent cOntribu
tions 70 our store OF sententiOus wis
dom. Yet Mr.. Cleveland's brightest
words have still to become current
Those who have occasion to converse
with him in social way repeat many
OF his sallies to friends, it is true, ant
in this way the Presidential wit ha,
acquired some circulation, but so fal
as the general public is concerned, the
name of Grover Cleveland is not con
nected with conversational brilliancy
as was that of Lincoln or that OF Var
Buren,.
Thomas F. Bayard is, probably, the
best qualified among his countrymer
to give Cleveland's good stories to the
world. Even Daniel S. Lamont has
not enjoyed more opportunities of be-
coming acquainted with the President
in the capacity of a man of repartee
than has the present ambassador to
England. To Bsyard, Cleveland has
told his best stories and been guilty o
his most brilliant flashes. When Mr.
Cleveland paid q visit to Wilmington
lately, that is, before the coming dig
nifty of Mr.. Bayard had been made
known, there transpired what may
we'll be termed Presidential sympos
ium. 1t was in the Bayard dining
room, after. dinner, and the company
numbered half a dozen.
Mr.. Bayard told story about the
quickness at repartee which charac
terized the father of President Arthur
According to the story it happened
that the elder Arthur attended con
ference of ministers, at which was
present a clergyman who had beer
pastor of q church out West for a time
but subsequently returned East. Thi.
clergyman, in the conference, arose
and declared that if any one supposed
that it would do to send incompetent
ministers to the West he was mis-.
taken. He asserted emphatically that
no second or third-class minister would
do.
"Now, Mr.. Moderator" exclaimed
the parent of President Arthur, "1
understand why our brother who has
just spoken came back"
Somebody asked Mr.. Bayard if he
was sure that that story was true. He
replied that he had got it on good au
thority and believed it accurate
Thereupon his questioner took paper
from his pocket and showed the very
same anecdote told of Mr.. Cleveland's
father.
Mr.. Cleveland was amused and SAID
that he had never heard his fathers
name connected with such story.
"But let me tell you," proceeded
Mr.. Cleveland earnestly, that an an
ecdote told of two different person,
may be true. 1 mean that the same
witty incident or repartee may have
occurred to different persons" (These
words, be it understood, are quoted
from the lips of party who was pres
ent and who repeated them to the
writer) "You have heard me tell,
think, about the boy who would moi
let me look at the notes in his Virgil
when we were at school together
Well, there was boy, remember
who on one occasion or other wal
asked to give the meaning of Latin
proverb about not making your doctor
your heir. He gave the meaning Of il
correctly, and was about to be duly
credited when he said it was from q
Greek author. Thus it became palpa
BILE that the boy back Of him had whis
pered the meaning in his ear. But
the boy who had repeated what he
had been told said he should be
marked perfect, since he had given
the meaning correctly, and when il
was replied to him that he had said
the proverb was Greek instead oil
Latin, he retorted that it was Greek tc
him. thought that it was witty,
remember, and what was my surprise
in after years to learn that that same
bit of repartee figures in a we'll known
novel and is represented as being said
by lawyer to a judge in connection
with a Latin proverb. Now that
shows, il seems TO me, that when We
hear practically the same anecdote re-
lated about different persons we should
not hastily conclude that the stories
are cut of whole cloth. Perhaps they
came about by the accident of repeti
ton. However, l think the creditine
of the retort cited by Mr.. Baysrd is in
accurate as relating to my father.
never heard that he ever made such 9
remark"
Another good story of Mr.. Cleve
lands, and which was told in the
presence of Daniel S. Lamont, hat
reference to the Presidents early DO
litical life.
"a curious thing about political or
atory and wit is the side light l go,
upon one aspect of it years ago in
Buffalo" Thus Mr.. Cleveland il
quoted by a listener: zone morning
a quaint looking old chap came into
my Office and said he had read in the
newspapers that I was to speak at q
mass meeting the following night, and
wanted to know if it was true. When
I told him that it WAS 90 he revealed