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centres of the land have been quick to respond to every occasion with expressions of their confidence in the President and his party. The Democracy enters upon the Presidential campaign of 1888 without any of the distrust attaching to it as an organization by which so many of the independent voters in former years seem to have been affected; and every promise is given in the situation, as it stands, of accessions to the support of Cleveland and Thurman from elements which have hitherto withheld themselves from the Democracy.

CHAPTER XII.

COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE, AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

W

HILE there has never been any ten. dency in the United States to imitate the court customs of European countries, interest has always been strong in the domestic life of our public men, and especially of those called to the Presidency. While the majority of these have been drawn from the average plain life of the plain people of the country, our history does not present a single case in which the men elected President, or who succeeded as VicePresidents, were not of gentlemanly social aspect, and their families, if they had them, did not do the honors of the White House with credit to themselves and to their country.

Only twice in the history of the country have our Presidents been bachelors, and, curiously enough, these were James Buchanan, the last Democratic President chosen before the fatal division which sundered the party in 1860, and Grover Cleveland, the first with whom it was to regain power in 1884, after twenty-four years of exclusion. Jackson's wife died a few months before his accession to office. Tyler, Johnson, and Arthur were widowers when they entered the White House from the Vice-Presidency in succession to their superiors, who had died or had been assassinated in office. Tyler was the only one who had remarried while in office, though not in the White House itself. So that while there had been marrying and giving in marriage in the Executive residence, they had been of the sons and grandsons, or the daughters and granddaughters, of Presidents or their friends, and not of the actual occupants of that historic mansion as the Chief Magistrates of the Union.

When Grover Cleveland was elected President he had reached the somewhat mature age of forty-seven, and having thus far lived the life of a bachelor, he was, not unnaturally, looked upon as a confirmed specimen of this class of men, about whom their friends are always so deeply and so interestingly concerned. Nevertheless, the same universal interest attached itself to him and his social movements as if he had been a Benedict of many years experience. The new President's youngest sister, Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, was, like himself, unmarried. She was, therefore, naturally called to take the position of mistress of the White House, in which a vacancy had ex. isted for some time, because of the fact that Pres ident Arthur had also been compelled to rely upon his sister, Mrs. McElroy, to fill this place. Miss Cleveland filled the duties of this somewhat diffi

ance.

cult place with great tact and with general accept She was a cultured woman of the most decided opinions, whose experience as a teacher and writer had led her to rely upon herself in the race of life. But almost from the beginning it was considered, although the President had never given any indication that he was a marrying man, he had certainly not passed "the marrying age," that somewhat movable quality which nobody has ever yet been able to define with accuracy and acceptation.

It soon began to be noised about that the President had entered upon a career of love-making, and it was not long before he blushingly and bashfully admitted the impeachment. From that time public interest, on the old principle enunciated by Emerson, that "all the world loves a lover," was concentrated upon the domestic affairs and advantages of the man who occupied such an exalted position. He did not appear to cease from filing vetoes of bad measures, nor from putting an occasional political opponent out and a political supporter into a desirable office, which had something to do with fixing political responsibility upon his administration. Nor did he seem to lose any sleep, as it is sometimes alleged that lovers of the masculine persuasion are wont to do. He did nothing foolish or gushing, as no doubt many other accepted lovers of both sexes expected him to do; but in the meantime preparations proceeded for the wedding.

The gossips were not given much of a chance to suggest doubts as to the name and personality of the woman who was to become a bride in the White House. Miss Frances Folsom, the only child and daughter of Oscar Folsom, was announced as the young woman who had accepted the suit of the President of the United States. She had been a friend and intimate of her future husband from the earliest years of her childhood. Her father was a partner in the practice of his profession and a close personal friend and adviser. He had been killed in an accident with a runaway horse in the year 1875, just as his powers were at their ripest and his prospects of the best. He was a man of genial good nature, generous and open-hearted in his impulses and his life, and a devoted husband and father.

Miss Frances Folsom, called "Frank” before her marriage, was born in Buffalo, New York, July 21st, 1864. As a child she attended the French Kindergarten of Mme. Brecker, and the quickness of apprehension which she then displayed received a fuller exemplification when, upon the return of the family to Buffalo, she entered the Central School, and almost immediately became the pronounced favorite of both teachers and her fellowpupils. She threw her energies into her studies in a way which augured well for her future success in whatever field she should elect to occupy, and earnest application joined with natural ability to