Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1887 — THE PRESIDENT. [ARTICLE]

THE PRESIDENT.

Mr. Cleveland Recalls the Old Days When He Was a Student at School. Celebration of the Hundradth Anni- • versaiy of the City of Clinton, N. Y. [Clinton (N. Y.) telegram.] President Cleveland and party reached Clinton, from Holland Patent, at 10 a. m. Wednesday, to attend the centennial exercises of the town. A great crowd greeted the Presidential party upon its arrival. The party was escorted by the J&oksonians to Mrs. O. S. Williams’ residence, where it was greeted by prominent members of the Centennial Committee and many venerable citixens, while the parade of six divisions was going over its route. After the parade the President spent an hour in receiving callers at Mrs. home, and over three thousand people were presented. The exercises in the park began at 2 o’clock, the Rev. Henry Darling, President of Hamilton College, offering the opening prayer. The Rev. E. P. Powell then made an address of welcome, to which the President responded as follows: “I am by no means certain of my standing here among those who celebrate the centennial of Clinton s existence as a village. My recollections of the place reach backward but about thirty-six years, and my residence here covered a very brief period. But those recollect.ons are fresh and distinct to-day, and pleasant, too, though not entirely tree lrom some somber coloring. It was here in the school at the foot of College Hill that I began my preparation for college life and enjoyed the anticipation of collegiate education We had two teachers in our school. One became afttrward a judge in Chicago and the other passed through the legal profession to the ministry, and within the last two years was living fartner west. I real a little Latin with t»\o otuer boys in the class. I think i floundered through four books of the ASneid. The other boys had large, nice modern editions of Virgil, witu big print and plenty of notes to help one over hard places. Mine was a little, old-fash-ioued copy, which my father used before me, with no notes, and which was only translated by hard knocks. I believe I have forgiven those other boys for their persistent refusal to allow me the use of their notes in their books. At any rate they do not seem to have been overtaken by any dire retribution, as one of them is now a rich and prosperous lawyer in Buffalo ana the other is a professor in your college and orator of to-day’s celebration. "Struggles with ten lines of Virgil, which at first made up my dally task, are amusing as remembered now; but with them 1 am also forced to remember that, instead of being the beginning of higher education for which I honestly longed, they occurred near the end of my school advantages. This suggests disappointment which no lapse of time can alleviate, and a deprivation I have sadly felt with every passing year. I remember Benoni Butler and his story. I don’t know whether he was an habitual poet or not, but I heard him recite one poem of his own manufacture, which embodied an account of a travel to or from Clinton in the early days. I can recall but two lines of the poem, as follows: “ 'Paris Hill next came in sight And there we tarried over night.’ “I remember the next-door neighbors, Dr». Bissell and Scollard, and good, kind neighbors they were, too; not your cross, crabbed kind, who could not bear to see a boy about. It always seemed to me that they drove very fine horses, and for that reason 1 thought they must be extremely rich. I don’t know that I should indulge in further recollections that must seem very little like a centennial history, but I want to establish as well as I can my right to be here. I might have spoken of the college faculty, who cast such a pleasing though sober shade of dignity over the place, and who, with other educated and substantial citizens, made up the best of social life. I was a boy then; but, notwithstanding, I believe I absorbed a lasting appreciation of the intelligence, of the refinement, which made this a delightful home. "I know that you will bear with me, my friends, if I yield to the impulse which the mention of home creates and speak cf my own home here, and how through the memories which cluster about it I may claim a tender relationship to your village. Here it was that our family circle entire, parents and children, lived day after day in loving, affectionate converse; and here, for the last time, we met around the family altar and thanked God that our household was unbroken by death or separation. We never met together in any other, home after leaving this, and death followed closely oar departure. And thus it is that as, with advancing years, I survey the havoc death has made and the thoughts of my early home become more and more sacred, the remembrance of this pleasant spot so related is revived and chastened. I can only add my thanks for the privilege of being with you to-day, and wish for the village of Clinton in the future a continuation and increase of the blessings of the past.” Prof. A. C. Hopkins delivered the historical address, Prof. Root the oration, and Clinton Scollard the poem. The literary exercises were followed by a banquet. To the toast “The President of the United States,” Mr. Cleveland responded as follows: “lam inclined to oontent myself on this occasion with an acknowledgment on behalf of the people of the United States of the compliment which you have paid to the office which represents their sovereignty. But such an acknowledgment suggests an idea which I can not refrain from dwelling upon for a moment. That the office of President of the United States does represent the sovereignty of 60,009,000 of people is to my mind a statement full of solemnity ; for this sovereignty I conceive to be the working out or enforcement of the divine gift of man to govern himself, and a manifestation of God’s plans concerning the human race. "I by no means underestimate the importance of the utmost care and circumspection in the selection of the incumbent. On the contrary, I believe there is no obligation of citizenship that demands more thought and conscientious deliberation than this. But lam speaking of the citizen’s duty to the office and its selected incumbent. This duty is only performed when, in the interest of the entire people, the full exercise of the powers of the Chief Magistrate Is insisted on, and when, for the people’s safety, a due regard for the limitations placed upon the office is exacted. These things should be enforced by the manifestation of a calm and enlightened public opinion. But this should not be simulated by the mad clamor of disappointed interest which, without regard for the general good or allowance for the exercise of official judgment, would degrade the office by forcing compliance with aeltish demands. “If your President should not be of the peo* pie and one of your fellow-citizens he would be utterly unfit for the position, incapable of understanding the people’s wanta and careless of their desires. That he is (me of the people implies that he is subject to human frailty and error, but he should be permitted to claim but little toleration for mistakes. The generosity of his follow-citizens should alone decree how far good intentions should excuse his shortcomings. Watch well, then, this high office, the most precious possession of American citizenship. Demand for it the most complete devotion on the part of him to whose custody it may be Intrusted, and protect it not less violently from unworthy assaults from without. Thus will yon perform a sacred duty to yonrselves and to those who may follow you In the enjoyment of the freest institutions which Heaven has ever vouchsafed to man. v