The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-17
GROVER CLEVELAND--MAN

for governor of New York, the man who wrote 1t to his brother was called to the highest of1ce in the gift of the people in any land. He who sol emnly realized the deep responsibHities resting on the heart and mind of the prospective governor has since twice filled the presidential chair He now lies dangerously i'll. No matter how the Illness may terminate, itis we'll that the phase of Grover Cleveland's character set forth in this letter to his brother my be not entirely over. looked or forgotten. An essentially. honest man, arriving at convictions by slow and laborious processes dog gedly persistent and courageous in maintaing those convictions even when his firmness savored of stub bornnes and spelled party defeated. the one quality which Grover Cleve- land has manifested throughout his career, more perhaps than any other save integrity. has been a self-con- tained. imperturbable selfreliance. Apparently indifferent to the denunci- ations of friends and foes. he more than once sacrificed party expediency to what he considered the right course. In the face of bitter condemnation. he presented an unruffled demeanor which impressed many as the fndif- ference of a thick skinned egotist so wrapped in self that he could not feel the stings which would drive q more sensitive man to deeds of reck- less impulse.
 But in this letter is expressed a. yearning for comprehension and for sympathetic belief. It shows that the man who at one time bore the charge of wrecking the party which had elevated him was as human as he was courageous and masculine.
 The man who. on the eye of political preferment disclaimed all desire for any higher honor than to be won in following the right as he conceived it, and who. in the loneliness which is as much a part of success as ft is of failure. turned yearningly toward his brother in the hope that he would understand, and still more yearningly toward the dead mother whose prayers he longed for, was not the pachydern- ous, self-sufficient dictator which for a time in his career he seemed to be.
 Life has been good to Grover Cleve- land. The years have vindicated him. In the decade which has passed since he stepped from the ofice of chief executive into the privacy of his home. no man has been given a higher need of honor and respect by his country men than he. And this high. deep need of reverential esteem which has glorifed his later years. has grown from the belief held by the people that while in office he did exactly what he told his brother he would do. He kept his business engagement with the people regardless of all lesser claims.
 Believers in heredity find little in the character of, Stephen Grover Cleveland as manifested throughout his life of n years. to baffie or puzzle. He serves as an admirable example by which to demonstrate their theory. His father Richard Falley Cleveland who died just as the son was growing into manhood. was a Princeton gradu- ate and a Presbyterian minister. He named his son, the fifth of nine children, for the minister, stephen Grover, who preceded him in the pastorate in Caldwell. Essex County New Jersey, where the future Presi- dent was born. William Cleveland, the minister's father, was Connect icut watch ermakeF, a thrifty. hard working, self-respecting Yankee The mother, whose prayers strengthened the successful politician long after she had passed out from his every day life. was Ann Neal. daughter of an Irish book seller and a German Quakeress. At an early day the boy exhibited many of the traits which have distinguished the man. He was always masculine and virile. always fond of outdoor sports, always self reliant. The family had little money ministers families are proverbially lacking in worldly wealth wealth.