Omaha daily bee., 1908-06-25
SOLEMN SENSE or ms DUTY
Letter by Mr.. Cleveland Reproduced
by ~. %. Chnmherlaln S~IRnincant.

by Henry Barrett Chamberlain. IL Is as
follows:
"I have Just voted and / sit here in
the office tlone. II mother were alive
should be writing to her, and 1 feel as
II It were a time for me TO write to some
one who will believe what / write. l
have for some time been In the atmos-
phere of certain success, so that l have
been sure that 1 should assume the du-
Ties Of the high office for which l have
been named. ] have tried hard in the
face of this fact to properly appreciate
the responsibilities that will rest upon
me, and they are much-too much-un-
derestimated. But the thought that has
troubled me is: Can I perform my du-
ties, and in such a manner as to do
some good to the people Of the state? !
know there is room for it and l know
that l am sincere and honest IN my de-
sire 70 do well, but the question is
whether I know enough to accomplish
what I desire. In point of fact, / will
tell YOU, first Of all others, the policy I
intend to adopt. and that is to make
the matter q business engagement be-
tween the people and myself, in which
the obligation on my side Is to perform
the duties assigned me with an eye single
to the interests Of my employers. 1
Jul nave no lutd VI It-eltINiph VI vi
any high political p%referment in my
head, but be very thankful and happy If
I serve one term as the peoples gov
ernor. DO you know that II mother
were alive I should feel so much safer.
1 have always thought her prayers had
much to do with my successes. l shall
expect you to help me In that way
Two years after this letter was writ
ten by the democratic candidate for gov
ernor of New York. the man who wrote
It to his brother was called to the high
est office in the gift of the people in any
land. He who sclemnly realized the
deep responsibilities 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.
II is well that the phase of Grover Cleve-
lands character set forth in this letter
to his brother may he not entirely over
looked or forgotten. An essentially hon
est man, arriving at convictions by slow
and laborious processes, doggedly per-
sistent and courageous in maintaining
those convictions even when his firm
ness savored of stubborness and spelled
party defeat, the one quality which
Grover Cleveland has manifested through
VI Ills CalNNlg AAANb -
other save integrity, has been a self-con-
tanned, imperturbable self-reliance. APP
parently indifferent to the denunciations of
friends and foes, he more than once sacri-
feed party expediency to what he consid-
cred the right course. In the face of bitter
condemnation, he presented an unruffled
demeanor which impressed many as the
Indifference of a thick-skinned egotist so
wrapped in self that he could not feel the
stings which would drive a more sensitive
man to deeds of reckless impulse.
'But man who, on the eve of political
preferment disclaimed all desire for any
higher honor than that to be won In
following the right as no conceived 1t,
and who, in the loneliness which Is as
much a part of success as It 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 pachydermous, self-sufficient die
tator that for a time in his career he
seemed to be.
Life has been good to Grover Cleveland
The years have indicated him In the
decade which has passed since he stepped
from the office Of chief executive into the
privacy Of his home, no man has beer
given q higher need of honor ard respect
by his countrymen than he, And thi:
high, deep need OF reverential esteem
which has glorified 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 peo'
pie regardless of all lesser claims.
believers in heredity find little in the
character Of stephen Grover Cleveland sc
manifested throughout his life OF II years
to Jaffle or puzzle. He serves as an ad
mlrable example by which to demonstrate
their theory. His father, Richard FalleS
Cleveland, who died just as the son wa
growing into manhood, was q Yale grad
uate ard a Presbyterian minister, HI
named his son, the fifth of nine children
for the minister, stephen Grover. whit
preceded him in the pastorate in Caldwell
Essex county, New Jersey, where the fu
ture president was born. William Cleve
land, the minister father, was a Connect
cut matchmaker, a thrifty, Woodworking
self-respecting Yankee. The mother, who's,
prayers strengthened the successful poll
tician long after she had passed out from
his everyday life, was Ann Neal, daughte
OF an Irish bookseller and a Germal
Quakeress. At an early day the boy ex
hibited many of the traits which have dis
tinguished the man. He was always mas
culine and virile, always fond OF outdoo
sports, always self-reliant. Tn famil,
had little moEey-ministers' families ar
/, proverbially lacking In worldly wealth. TIL
son attended the village school, clerked 4
the village store and taught in an institu
ton for the blind. At Is he borrowed s.
and, attracted. perhaps by the name
|, started for Cleveland. He stopped on hi
. way TO visit an urcle in Buffalo. Thi
uncle put him into a law office. At 2
= Grover Cleveland was admitted to the Ne'
q York bar, At ~ he was made ~assistar
r district attorney Of Erie county, Late
a he received the nomination for distriC
attorney. but was defeated, and thong
4 always interested in politics, held no oths
/. important office until elected sheriff 1
4 1870.
I'm Buffalo he was the same hardworl
q ing, ploddIng, conscientious worker ths
y he was later in Washington. He amuse
= himself hunting and fishing. His friend
d and interests were OF the masculine spher
n his social life. that OF mems clubs. II
liked good living and eompanionship. Bl
d for neither was his work neglected.
|. 1T was in these successful years Of h
a law practice that he formed the habit