American Protraits 1875-1900 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922. Excerpt: ... on the money craze of his contemporaries and their mad rush for wealth are so frequent as almost to suggest a hobby. He practised frugality as well as preached it, cared nothing for costly clothes or fare or ornament. One day, during Cleveland's second presidential term, a train stopped at the Gray Gables station. "Look," called the conductor to the passengers, impersonally, "there's Mrs. Cleveland and Grover on the platform." The passengers looked. "Well," said one woman, "if I had fifty thousand dollars a year, I wouldn't diess like that."" It must not be for a moment supposed, however, that Cleveland's economy arose from any taint of meanness. He was as indifferent to the accumulation of money as to the spending of it. He tells us so himself, speaking of the sacrifice of several thousand dollars for an unnecessary scruple, "But I don't deserve any credit for that, because money has never been a temptation to me." u And others, many others, bear him out. Even in his early law practice "he was always indifferent and careless as to his fees. His clients had to offer him money." u And the failure to accumulate arose not only from indifference, but from wide generosity. Without the least ostentation, he helped many a poor and struggling applicant--and non-applicant--over difficulties and tight places. When he left the law, his partner wrote: "I am now closing up a case of Cleveland's which has been running on for years, during all which time he had paid all disbursements... because the man was too poor to meet these necessary expenses. And this is only one case out of many that are here on our books." The assertion that Cleveland avoided general society does not mean that he did not appreciate human relations. To be sure, he found politics rather detriment...