Grover

“ In campaign literature, so much has been made of the humble circumstances in which Grover made his start in life, that the unwary reader might easily imagine that the future President was almost a waif. Nothing could be farther from the truth. ”

“ To have married the President of the United States would have been nothing comparable to it. It was a proud day for John Grover when he discovered that his first wife, the mother of Madeline, was remotely connected with the Tregonys of Trewinion Hall, Cornwall. He wrote claiming relationship with Sir Charles on the strength of it, much to the Baronet's annoyance and disgust. But several years later, when John Grover had become a millionaire, Sir Charles decided to hunt him up. ”

“ When he heard Doctor Ryder’s startling plea, Roger’s clear, gray eyes lighted with a fire of hope and excitement.
To be involved in a mystery in the laboratory was thrilling; but to have a share in restoring the Eye of Om, evidently a priceless gem, would be more so.
His quick mind flashed over the fascinating prospect; but with equal quickness he saw the reason why Grover sat so silent and unimpressed.
A man accused, anxious to return a jewel, would merit help. A man who knew the real taker of the gem and wanted it restored meant possible trouble. ”

“ But Grover Cleveland, like Lincoln, was early thrown upon his own resources. When he was a lad of sixteen his father died, and he was left to conquer for himself the education he was determined to have, and to make his own way in the world with such small help as a brother and an uncle could afford him, both of them battling with life, and both of them counting, not in vain, upon the young student’s aid in the maintenance of his widowed mother and her young family. ”

“ Clane had been blackmailing Grover—I didn’t have a single doubt of that—and I didn’t think he had been very far away when Grover was killed. That woman alibi of his sounded all wrong!
But the bloody finger-prints were not Clane’s—unless the police identification bureau had pulled an awful boner—and the man who had left the prints was the bird I was setting my cap for. Clane had let three days pass between the murder and his appearance at headquarters. The natural explanation for that would be that his partner, the actual murderer, had needed nearly that much time to put himself in the clear. ”

“ Roger told himself musingly. “Not the sort of a place to look for kidnapers or jewel thieves. Unless—as Grover is always so fond of saying: ‘I dig past appearances that can be falsified, to the heart of truth that can’t be changed.’”
He turned it over in his mind. Of course, it would not be past reason that a prosperous man, with a millionaire’s residence, might smuggle gems, even make a man his prisoner to secure a gem with the world-wide reputation Doctor Ryder had ascribed to the Eye of Om. ”

“ Scene I.—A room at Miss Dane’s boarding-house. Mr. Farwell, R., half reclining on the sofa. Mr. Grover, C., sitting in a chair, with his feet on the table. Both smoking.
Mr. Farwell. Why don’t you get married, Grover? I suppose you intend, at some time, to take to yourself a wife.
Mr. Grover. I might if I could find a woman to suit me. But I don’t want any of the vain and frivolous creatures we constantly meet in society.
Mr. F. They are not all of this description. Now, there’s Gertrude Hobbs. She is a pretty girl. ”

“ He had met Henry Grover—he called him “Henny”—in 1894, in Ontario, where Grover was working a claim: the gold mine that had started the murdered man along the road to wealth. Clane had been employed by Grover as foreman, and the two men had become close friends. A man named Denis Waldeman had a claim adjoining Grover’s and a dispute had arisen over their boundaries. The dispute ran on for some time—the men coming to blows once or twice—but finally Grover seems to have triumphed, for Waldeman suddenly left the country. ”

“ In the court-files are many curious papers, in the shape of depositions given by witnesses in suits of various kinds, arising from time to time, showing that large numbers of hired men were kept constantly at work. Nov. 10, 1678, Edmund Grover, seventy-eight years old, testified, "that, above forty-five years since, I, this deponent, wrought much upon Governor Endicott's farm, called Orchard, and did, about that time, help to cut and cleave about seven thousand palisadoes, as I remember, and was the first that made improvement thereof, by breaking up of ground and planting of Indian-corn." ”

“ Troubles now arose out of the exclusive privilege of carrying letters as set forth and described in the king's proclamation of the 31st July 1635. It appears, by an Order of Council of the 15th December 1637, that one "Jason Grover, carrier of Ipswich and Yarmouth, was taken in custody by a messenger, upon complaint that he had transgressed the proclamation and patent granted to Mr. Witherings." ”

“ It was just like any other man of the people, and the people recognized, as they did in the life and acts of Abraham Lincoln, that Grover Cleveland is one of us.
When some member of the “smart set,” who allies herself with the effete nobility of Europe, [Pg 141] gives to the world a sample of what a man should be, as did the humble American wife, Nancy Lincoln, then the “Common People” will forget their wrath at the absurd assumption of the worshipers of the British peerage. ”

“ The district attorney calculates that he will be a half-hour late at the links. The court nods his assent, and takes up the fascinating menu which has been sent over to him from the Union League, to whet his appetite upon. He will dine there to-night with the witty Grover Club.
The young lawyer has addressed a few words to the prisoner and has taken his hand. Instantly the inert head rises. The fires of life and hope once more light the eyes for an instant. ”

“ But a man is innocent till he is proved guilty in England, isn’t he?”
“Quite so,” said Grover. “I don’t want to set you against him, for, as I say, I know nothing of him. All I mean, is, that you must be prepared to share a little of his unpopularity if you take up with him. That’s all.”
“I’ll take my chance of that,” said Railsford.
The first time Monsieur Lablache appeared in Railsford’s house, in response to an invitation from the new master to come and take coffee, there was considerable excitement in the house. ”

“ When he set foot upon the highroad, he began to follow by sight, for, excepting where the shadows were heaviest, he could discern the little [Pg 95] trudging figure of Grover Cleveland, its outline marred by something slung in man-like fashion across his shoulder and by the dog following closely.
He didn’t try to overtake the child, but, though the road was crooked, he never let him get out of his sight for a second. Sometimes in dark, rough places the man stumbled. “Seem like some spirit’s a-guidin’ the boy,” he said. “He don’t ’pear to make a false step”; and, like Suly, he was awed. ”

“ After taking his seat in the senate, Ben Holladay, inspired by his in- ability to control Grover while governor, worked up a charge before the senate that Senator Grover had been elected by improper influences. The spectacle of Ben Holladay objecting to anything that was improper in politics or religion, was simply appalling. But Grover's friends promptly demanded an investiga- tion. A senatorial commission was sent to Portland to investigate the matter, of which Oliver P. Morton, who was known as the war governor of Indiana, was chairman. ”

“ The cruel farmer tied a hare round his neck, and beat him unmercifully. Small wonder is it then that the poor lad left Stoke Ferry farm for good and for all.”
“He did not leave it for good—​not for any good, as far as he was concerned.”
“He was the son of a gentleman, and could ill brook the cruel usage to which he was subjected.”
“We will not quarrel about that, Mrs. Grover,” said the ferryman; “it is hardly worth while. Mr. Jamblin was a worthy man—​a litte headstrong, perhaps, but he was a good man for all that. Do not speak ill of the dead.” ”

“ To write, with Roger’s discarded note book as a guide, in a semblance of his writing, was easy. The letter had come by fast mail steamers and had further confused him.
“Then the thief, with the gem in his fellow-worker’s possession, encountered difficulties,” went on Grover; “the man who had been intending to buy the jewel probably became frightened, afraid of the danger that the stone might bring around him. So many priceless jewels carry curses, or bring disaster, that he must have gotten ‘cold feet’ and a new buyer had to be sought. ”

“ Not all patriotism finds expression [7] in the heat and joy of the battlefield; nor does good citizenship begin and end on election day. Mr. Cleveland has, in himself, proved that an upright and fearless chief magistrate in the White House may be as true a patriot as the leader of a forlorn hope, as lofty a type of citizen as a Garrison or a Phillips. No public man of this generation has been more bitterly assailed than Grover Cleveland; none has met with more unswerving serenity the attacks, fair and foul, of those whose selfish interests have made them his sworn foes. ”

“ Thus, as has ever been the case when the “Common People” have been goaded by insult into a furious state of temper, some leader has aptly sprung, like Cromwell, from their ranks, and carried them triumphantly to victory. In the same way George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Grover Cleveland have each in turn led the hosts of the “Common People” to victory in their battles against “divine rights,” injustice, “caste,” and “sham aristocracy.” ”

“ Grover Cleveland shed his blanket, sprang over the wheel while it was yet in motion, and fled into the house and out of sight.
The old man chuckled. “The little feller’s right much ashamed of hisself when he’s found out in one of his spells. I reckon he cried some when you-all woke him up—he gen’ally does.
“Them that’s had nothin’ to cry for’s the ones that’s done the cryin’,” teased Thad.
“I don’t care if I did,” said Suly preparing to accept the invitation to “stop in by a spell.” “It must [Pg 86] be a mighty nasty feelin’ to wake up in the woods at night and not know how you got there.” ”

“ Miss Cleveland is a lawyer and political speaker, and has published a volume of lectures and essays under the title “George Eliot's Poetry, and other Studies” (New York, 1885) ; “The Long Run,” a novel (1886) ; “See Saw” (1887) ; and “His Honor” (1889) .
↑ Except Grover Cleveland, no president has been re-elected unless he was a military man, or held a chief executive office during a war period. Washington was a soldier of the Revolution; Jefferson, governor of Virginia during that war; Madison, president during the second war with Great Britain; Monroe, a revolutionary officer ”

“ Puzzled that his grandfather didn’t take a more active interest in the calamity that had befallen him, the boy ran half-dressed to the door.
“Gran’daddy! gran’daddy! what [Pg 99] you got Bonaparte and Butterfly geared up to the cart for?”
“I been down to Junaluska. And now you eat your breakfast quick, and we’ll go hunt up your half of the Valley of the Mississippi; and you put on them blue-top boots Grover Cleveland; them old shoes lets the water in.” ”

“ He replenished the fire and lit a candle.
“He sleeps right there betwixt me and the wall,” he pointed to a bed in the corner, “and I can’t contrive how he manages to give me the slip so often; he’s got some sort of sleepin’ slyness that he ain’t no more notion of when he’s awake, than a angel. Barricadin’ the door ain’t no good. One night I tied him fast to my wrist so’s he couldn’t move without wakin’ me up, but that seemed to hurt the little fellow’s feelin’s powerful an’ I didn’t try it again.”
[Pg 87]
Nothing was to be seen of Grover Cleveland. Suly went to the bed. ”

“ Seem like he gets scairt and keeps still a spell. I’m mighty nigh beat out myself, bein’ up so late yesterday evenin’; I reckon I can sleep without any rockin’,” and he went to bed.
He awoke after a three-hours’ nap. The room was cold and his first thought was to see if the Valley of the Mississippi was doing its duty by his grandson. It was not; and when he attempted to pull it into place he found there was no grandson there; neither did there appear [Pg 94] to be a complement of the Valley of the Mississippi.
“Grover Cleveland! Grover Cleveland!” ”

“ Giorgio knows the way."
"They are going the long and easy way, while we are going the short and steep way," Giorgio said, with much motioning. "If these donkeys are not too lazy, we shall be there first," and he gave them each another quick rap on their backs with his hand.
"You should not strike your donkeys, Giorgio," Molly said. "We can make them go without your help."
"All right," said Giorgio, laughing. "You may try it, but you will never reach Anacapri."
"Oh, yes, we shall!" answered Molly. "Just watch us. Come on, May!" ”

“ In a letter written to his brother on the day of his election he announced a policy he intended to adopt, and afterwards carried out, "that is, to make the matter a business engagement between the people of the State and myself, in which the obligation on my side is to perform the duties assigned me with an eye single to the interest of my employers." ”

“ Though the speculator, who stands with extortionate purpose between the land office and those who, with their families, are invited by the Government to settle on the public lands, is a despicable character who ought not to be tolerated, yet it is difficult to thwart his schemes. ”