ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND ELAINE -1881-1884 199 



hood. At that time I was sent to a military school at 

 Troyes in France, and they gave us so much sour wine 

 that I vowed that if I ever reached America again no 

 drink but water should ever pass my lips, and I have kept 

 to that resolution.&quot; 



Of course this was an enormous surprise to me, but 

 shortly afterward I asked various army officers regarding 

 the matter, and their general answer was: &quot;Why, of 

 course; all of us know that McDowell is the only officer 

 in the army who never takes anything but water.&quot; 



And this was the man who was widely believed by 

 the American people to have lost the battle of Bull Eun 

 because he was drunk! 



Another remembrance of this period is a dinner with 

 Mr. George Jones, of the New York Times, who gave 

 me a full account of the way in which his paper came into 

 possession of the documents revealing the Tammany 

 frauds, and how, despite enormous bribes and bitter 

 threats, the &quot;Times&quot; persisted in publishing the papers, 

 and so brought the Tweed regime to destruction. 



Of political men, the most noted whom I met in those 

 days was Governor Cleveland. He was little known, but 

 those of us who had been observant of public affairs knew 

 that he had shown sturdy honesty and courage, first as 

 sheriff of the county of Erie, and next as mayor of Buffalo, 

 and that, most wonderful of all, he had risen above party 

 ties and had appointed to office the best men he could find, 

 even when some of them were earnest Republicans. 



In June of 1883 he visited the university as an ex-officio 

 trustee, laid the corner-stone of the chapel above the re 

 mains of Ezra Cornell, and gave a brief address. It was 

 short, but surprised me by its lucidity and force. This 

 being done, I conducted him to the opening of the new 

 chemical laboratory. He was greatly interested in it, and 

 it was almost pathetic to note his evident regret that he 

 had never had the advantage of such instruction. I 

 learned afterward that he was classically prepared to en 

 ter college, but that his father, a poor country clergyman, 



