The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-07-15
CHARACTERISTICS OF
GROVER cleveland
A Man of Rugged Honesty.
Who Valued His Friends
Very Highly.
Jesse Lynch Williams, in the April Ameri-
can Magazine,

Jesse Lynch Williams, in the April Ameri-
can Magazine.
Great men are so often great bores;
admirable, but interesting chiefly as
curiosities. Friendship seldom thrives
on greatness. 1t takes two to make q
quarrel or a friendship. It requires
giving as we'll as receiving. Greatness
is apt to consume the capacity for real
friendship. Mr.. Cleveland, however.
was one of those who made and kept
real friends. He set great store by
them. He liked to be with them. Nat
urally they liked to be with him-not.
however, because 1t was an honor and
"a privilege n q liberal education,
merely, but because he was such good
company. His humor, sympathy and
simple friendliness. which the world at
large n little INC to see, were the
most characteristic things about him
TO those who saw him most.
he was not a great talker. Once in
a while something would start him 60
ing, and he would u on for half an
evening with "reminiscences and COM
ments on men IL evcnts-wonderful
talk which ought to have been record
ed ever II never printed-but, for the
most part. he let others do the talking:
he listened. Lik many men of attain
inspiring listener. with a iattering
manner of regarding you while talk
ing, as II your views I.oon the topic of
conversation were quite as worthy OF
attention as his own. He really be-
lieved so. He new that he was not
extraordinary 'gifts'-and he was
right. There was nothing extraordi-
nary about his qualities-except the
degree which he had developed them. :
His grave quietness, however, a
not Of the heavy, crushing kind, which
raN1arC Nnpyar0o fi0n y,nipfy1 Nv ;,, !
possible; it was thoughtful, suggestive,
often stimulating. He had a real gift
of silence. 1t expressed comment. ap-
probation. reproof. applause.
After the first surprise at finding him
genial and approachable, the abiding
Impression of this mans personality
was his plain honesty. OF this trait, to
be sure, every n was aware, but the
degree to which his sense of truth was
developed seems abnormal.
III was the honestest man I ever
knew" as a certain distinguished law
yer said who had known Mr.. Cleveland,
long and Intimately. 1t seemed to bd
an innate quality n manifested itself
early in life, not an acquired charac-i
teristic as with many children who
was the only precocious thing about
him as a child. He could hardly have
been more than 4 or s years old when,
one day he was foundc crying bitterly,
because a peddler who had visited the
house had accidentally dropped a pair
OF suspe1rders and was now too far
down h road for h little fellow toy
catch up with him and return them.
The story OF the neighborly e who
persisted in laying eggs In the Rev.l
Mr.. Cleveland's yard. has already been
told. The boy Grover soberly carried
them back to the neighbours house each
day, and finally made such a fuss abou
1t that the hen had to be suppressed.
Truth was a passion with him, almost
@ mania. One of his friends tells a
story to h point. Mr.. Cleveland had
been relating his first experience in
him the usual admonition that when a
fish struck he must keep his thumb off
the reel until the fish swallowed the
hook. Presently a beautiful fish struck,
and struck hard. but topped off.
Il told you to keep your thumb off
the reel" said the guide.
II didn't have my thumb on the
reel" was the reply.
But" he added. in relating the story,
Il oughtn't to have said that; I'm
nfraid my thumb grazed h reel. I've
thought of 1t again and again; 1t wasn't
right for me to contradict him. The
guide couldn't answer back" and he
nctually tooked as troubled about it as
II it had happened that morning in
stead of years ago. No further refer
ence was made to the story by either
of: them until suddenly a couple OF
days later Mr.. Cleveland said. I'D like
to how you just low my thumb was
with reference to that reel" and he
illustrated with his rod.
We'll, II that was the position" said
his friend, sit didn't tighten the line in
the least, and you were all right"
The other thought It over a mGment.
We'll, 1 hope &c." he said, Il hope So"