The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-07-22
GROVER CLEVELAND
BURIED 1T PRINCETON
The ex-PresideHt Laid at Rest
With the Simplest of Rites,
as He Had Wished.
PRESIDENT and GOVERNORS
ATTEND AS PRIVATE CITIZENS

Widow, Her Hand Claspcd Tightly in
Her Little Boys, Stands Silently
in Princeton Cemetery, Where
There Are No Address Of Praise,
No Hymns. No Display, But a
Brief Prayer.
Princeton, n. j. - Attended by
scenes of solemnity, simple yet pro-
found, Grover Cleveland was laid at
rest at shutdown in the unpretentious
cemetery in this quiet. university
town.
While church bells throughout
New Jersey and Greater New York
were tolling a single bell in Prince
ton sounded at intervals as the fun
eral cortege passed through the gates
of Westland, the Cleveland home, at
$50 o. m. and moved toward the
cemetery where sleep other men of
universal fame. Statutes were fired
81. over the land except in Princeton.
There was no sermon and no song
at the house or at the grave. The
~obsequies took up little more than an
hour. Old friends said that Grover
Cleveland was buried as he would
have wished-without eulogy and
without song.
It was the request Of Mrs. Cleve-
land that the public's tribute be eX-
pressed by leaving her alone in her
sorrow. This was done. Probably
less than 200 persons were admitted
to Westland. President Roosevelt,
members Of his Cabinet, Governors OF
States and other of the most distin-
guished men in the land. accompan-
led the body to the grave. Members
Of Grover C%leveland's two Cabinets
made the occasion their first reunion.
The desire for privacy was con-
served with scrupulous fidelity. None
except Mrs. Cleveland, her two chill
dren, Esther and Richard, and three
or four blood kin were permitted to
look upon the face of the dead. Inc
casket was sealed before 1t was car
ried into the reception room where
the services we're held. Marion and
Francis, the two children who re-
NAMED at the Cleveland farm in New
Hampshire, will cherish as their last
picture of their father, a memory OF
his kindly countenance when he babe
them goodbye a month ago.
Perhaps the most remarkable e a
ture of the last services over Mr..
Cleveland was the remarkable fortl-
tude and composure shown by Mrs.
Cleveland, Miss Esther, his fourteen
year-old daughter, and little Richard
Cleveland, aged ten. Not a tear came
to any of them through the trying
double service.
It is said the children learned their
lesson at their mothers knee when
she told them that they must remem
Der that their father would not have
them cry. During the ceremony at
the grave she held Dick" by the
hand, but he was a soldier to the last
moment.
Shortly after noon the military
force approved by Mrs. Cleveland ar
rived and were assigned to stations.
There were four companies Of the
Second New Jersey Regiment, Ma
tional Guard, consisting Of 300 men;
sixty men of the Monmouth Mounted
Guard, Company I, of the Princeton
Guards, and twenty policemen
Mounted guards were stationed at
intervals of 100 yards from the rail-
road terminal to Westland, and along
the route travelled by the funeral cor
tege. A squad of militiamen was
drawn up at the gates Of Westland.
President Roosevelt and his party
were last of the notables to arrive.
They were ushered into the reception
room and were the only ones except
the family and clergymen to take
places near the casket.
Mrs. Cleveland and her two chill
dren appeared on the landing of the
broad stairway at 5 o'clock. AS the
widow advanced on the arm of DR..
Joseph D. Bryant, Mr.. Cleveland's
physician and friend, the company
arose and remained standing through
out the services. Mrs. Cleveland wore
a soft black gown and a short veil
reaching little below the shoulders.
Esther, a beautiful girl, was in black.
Richard wore a suit all of white ex-
cept for his black scarf and gloves.
In the library were gathered the
National and State officials and clos
est friends of the Clevelands. Two
other rooms opening from the centre
hall accommodated the others.
The Rev. Sylvester W. Beach, of
the First Presbyterian Church, of
Princeton, began the services with a
brief prayer, which Vas followed by
Scriptural reading by Rev. Maitland
V. Bartlett, of the West Farms Pres
byterian Church, New York.
Dr.. Henry Van Dyke, of the
few men whom Mr.. Cleveland sum-
moned to the house during the closing
. days, delivered an eloquent prayer.
At it's conclusion he said that, accord
ing to the request Of one whose
slightest wishes at this moment must
be respected, there would be nc ad-
dress or sermon. but thai there was
a poem written more than a hundred
years ago by William Wordsworth,
which was expressive of the character
of Mr.. Cleveland:
"Who is the happy Warrior? Who
is he
That every man in arms should wish
to be-"