As so many youngsters in the family made it necessary for young Grover to go to work early, at fourteen he secured a place in the general store, where for the sum of fifty dollars a year he swept floors, cleaned windows, opened and closed shutters, sold calico and sugar, beans and ribbon, hardware and candy. He shared the bare attic room over the store and its discomforts with another boy--no carpet, no stove, no wall paper to modify the icy wind blowing through the cracks between boards. In winter, they froze, and in summer, they were almost prostrated with the heat under the rafters. Their bed had a lumpy straw-stuffed tick in lieu of a mattress, to the knots and lumps of which only youth could adjust itself and still sleep. Soon, he had saved and earned enough in other ways to be able to attend the academy at Clinton, and at seventeen, after his father’s death, he was teaching in the New York Institution for the Blind, where his elder brother, William, also a Presbyterian clergyman, was the principal. Finally, he took Horace Greeley’s advice, “Go West, young man, go West!” and started for Ohio. He halted at Buffalo, took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar. Mr. Cleveland was a bachelor for many years. He took care of his mother, who preferred living in her own home in the little village at Holland Patent, where she died in 1882. He gave a liberal education to his youngest sister, Rose, a talented girl. In 1881, he was the city’s choice for Mayor. In six months, his methods and careful administration saved the city more than a million dollars. By this careful supervision and elimination he became known as the “Veto Mayor.” He was elected Governor of New York, September 20, 1882, and in that capacity continued his methods and practices as Mayor. The “Veto Mayor” advanced to the “Veto Governor” and won the respect of men of both parties. Thus, as the Democratic party had been gradually regaining its pre-war status, the popular Governor of New York, the state that would swing the election, was regarded as the logical man to be the presidential candidate and the one nominated and elected.