New-York tribune., 1903-01-18
LITTLE ABE" GRUBER.
4 REPUBLICAN, LEADER.
Has Early Struggles for Legal Ed
ucation-Fond 2f Poetry.
THE LAY OF THE LEAF
Ever. then. b up and doing,
With complaint Il cruel fate
Keeps you serving anG pursuing
Waite the Boss bids you 10 walt
A r. -

w1ile the Boss bios you TO wait -s.-
,.-...,, c-,h.-. who has controlled the politi-
al 7es-t-5es OF the XxIst Assembly District since
lS,. Is philosopher. philanthropist psychologist
and poet. as well 4 politician and pfaeuuVfet
~ the law He has many avocauors and ae-
coraplshraents. according to his more intimate
friends as William II OF Germany some OF ms
eulogdsts have even Iikened him TO Julius Caesar-
although admitting that he is not wei hlV"h
70 history. whether such comparisons 40 or 40 MOI
give NJ Craber full credit. nevertheess he mas
beea known 10 read 4 letter with one eye ana
ss-,r +%-o5,eb : Ia x book for certain case with
ne other while al the same time givmg an inter
view on the subject Of reform.
short -otund with smooth. round smiling face.
black eyes which wink one after the other as NJ
tells q funny story Abe Gruber * q familiar
figure al Republican conventions O. committee
meetings. lie is said be a fat FIVE feet before
elections and five feet and half inch after the re-
turns have come in This is explained by the fact
that IL the eight years he has been leader he has
been Die TO overcome all attempts 10 usurp his
rule.
The Civil War and Mr.. Gruber both began in the
same year. II is said that when the future poll
rician was o1ly a few hours Ole ne SAID goP
This was interpreted 70 mean that he was calling
upon TIE Grand Old Party. and accordingly his
father who z barber by the name OF Charles
C5ruber named him Abraham, il honor OF Presl-
dent lincoln The rest Of the family and the other
children Of the neighbeThood. however, were al
Democrats. and Mr. Gr1DeC sal0 sSSteGuds-
7 afraid that, in spite Of my name, would
have 6rifted in.o the whirlpool OF the Democratic
party had il not been for Horace Greeley's book,
The American Conflict I read ii when boy
of sixteen. and il settled ny mind for ali time
That's why ! an Republican to-day"
Il was in the lower East Side. however. that
Mr.. Gru5er spent the first twenty-seven years Of
his LIE. The old residents Of FIfth-st. and the
XVIII Assembly District still remember Abe
Cruber. in his early days. OF Little Abe, as ne
was generally known. Born il Spring-sJ. lew
doors from the Bowery. he was left fatherless at
the age Of TWO. and went 10 live with his grand
mother Mrs Elizabeth Eckstein. ernigrant
from Bohemia. who kept a grocery store at No
e. East FIfth-st-. between Avenues and Z.
There were three other children-Isaac and Julius,
brothers older than Abraham, and Diny, the baby
sister.
As soon as Little Abe could be put TO work
his services we're enlisted IL the grocery store At
the age of FIVE he went 10 Public School No. 15.
which vas a block nearer the East River than
Mrs Eckstein's grocery store. and after school
hours Little Abe sold green stuff" on the side
walk. OF 5etUe cen the hours Of and he peddIed
the evening papers Up and down Avenue &. Because
he was always the youngest, as well as the small
est. member q h:s class in school the boys gave