SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE VOL. LXXXI APRIL, 1927 Grover Cleveland AS SEEN BY THREE FRIENDS NO. 4 HE ninetieth anniversary of Grover Cleveland's birth was commemorated on March 18 by dinners and other gatherings. It was thirty years ago on March 4th that he completed his second term as President of the United States. The perspective of years is ever throwing into stronger relief the important part Grover Cleveland played in our history. He is seen in his true light as a great American citizen and statesman. He was reticent, modest, unassuming. He had no desire for publicity, and afforded little material for the "human interest" writer. It is our privilege to present here three articles giving for the first time much valuable material on the personal side of the man. They are in no sense estimates of his career, but are intended only to show his delightful human qualities. Mr. Cleveland moved to Princeton upon his retirement from public life, and lived there until his death in 1908. Doctor John Finley, of the New York Times, knew him on the campus and in the social life of the university town. Doctor Paul van Dyke was his companion on hunting and fishing excursions. John G. Milburn knew him as a young man in Buffalo, and was his friend until Cleveland's death. Many of the illustrations are made from autographed and presentation material owned by the three authors. I The Leaves Primectin's Clasine Shade, 2 2 Who with Lithe and stalwart limbs, The only poem written by Grover Cleveland. From an autographed copy presented to Doctor John Finley (whose name he purposely misspelled). Copyrighted in 1927 in United States, Canada, and Great Britain by Charles Scribner's Sons. Printed in New York. All rights reserved. Cleveland-Gentle but Inexorable M Y personal acquaintance with Mr. Cleveland did not go back of his Princeton days. I went to Princeton from New York one late afternoon in 1900 to hear his first lecture on the Independence of the Executive. It proved a fateful night for me, for not only did I hear this historic lecture, which will always be included in the literature on that subject; something happened which led to a friendship with Mr. Cleveland of far more influence upon my life than his views as to the functions of the executive. I received a message from the Professor of Jurisprudence who, learning that I was in town, asked me to meet him after the lecture. This professor was none other than Woodrow Wilson, under whom I had sat when he was a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. I was told by him that what then seemed to me a very large fund had been given to Princeton University for the establishment of a Chair of Politics, that he had been asked to recommend some one as the first incumbent, that he had a list of a half-dozen names, and, to my utter amazement, that my name was at the head of the list. So began a chapter in my own life, in which Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson became the two outstanding figures. It was in the following autumn after I had found the only available house for the year in Princeton, about a block from "Westland," that I was invited with Mrs. Finley to dine with Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland, he wishing to share with his neighbors (Doctor Henry van Dyke, Laurence Hutton, and Professor Sloane among them) some venison which a brother hunter had sent him. I arrived first among the guests, and found Mr. Cleveland alone. He remembered that we had met before, which greatly surprised and complimented me. Some years earlier I had come from Knox College, of which I was then president, to invite him to make an address at the celebration of the anniversary of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate, which had been held in the shadow of the walls of this college. I had brought a letter from some one, he seemed to remember. I said that I could hardly have ventured to call without an introduction. But from whom? I mentioned the names of one or two men of his administration whom I knew. "No," at last he said. "You brought a card of introduction from Woodrow Wilson." I speak of this to illustrate his unusually retentive memory (of which I had many proofs later) and to show how again these two men became associated with my own fortunes. But that night of the venison dinner was a memorable one for me and my family, for before the evening was over Mr. Cleveland had proposed to build a house for me in one corner of the spacious grounds of "Westland"-in what was once the orchard; for professors' houses were hard to find in that end of town at that time, and I had no prospect of one for another year. I thought at first that he was speaking in jest. But in due time the house was built. When it was nearing completion it was discovered that there was just one defect; the cellar was not quite dry; in fact, there was some water |