“It made a picture long to be remembered--the square room with its airy buff-tinted walls, and sideboard set with historic china and silver, the dainty table, the groups of attractive women in dresses as many-tinted as a garden of flowers; the gay pinks, greens, cherry, blues, and whites subdued to just the right proportion by those of gray and black and rich dull colours; and moving about among them, Mrs. Cleveland in her lavender gown, by far the most beautiful woman there, and as wholesome and sweet and natural as the violets at her belt.” The ladies of the Cabinet, learning of Mrs. Cleveland’s love for the “true blue” of the turquoise, presented her with an exquisite ring set with this gem as a parting gift of affection. She set the mansion in order for Mrs. McKinley and departed with her little folks to get the new home at Princeton ready for her husband, who, with the burden of state lifted from his shoulders, joined a party of friends for a restful cruise and fishing trip before joining her. Achievement was writ large upon Grover Cleveland’s presidential history page. He laboured long and arduously for the welfare of the nation, most of the time under the strain of great criticism, but he discharged his duties in a way that, as time goes on, adds greater lustre to his name. Upon his retirement, Cleveland sought a quiet life in the university town where he was actively associated with the college. He maintained an interest in various financial enterprises and, for the first time in his busy life, indulged in his favourite pastimes of hunting and fishing with a group of old friends and acquaintances among whom was Joseph Jefferson, the actor. Those who doubt the charm and humour of Mr. Cleveland’s conversations should read his fishing and duck-hunting stories. Most of all he enjoyed his young family, two sons being born within a few years of his retirement. He was an interested and sympathetic adviser in Mrs. Cleveland’s many activities, especially her promotion of kindergartens. Many civic honours came to him. He died at his home in Princeton June 24, 1908, and was buried in the Princeton Cemetery. CHAPTER X FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM MCKINLEY _March 4, 1897, to March 4, 1901_ Few inaugurations have witnessed such a happy combination of good weather, universal enthusiasm, and unusually large throngs of visitors as attended the first inauguration of William McKinley. President Cleveland drove to the Ebbitt House, where Mr. McKinley was staying, and then together the incoming and the outgoing Presidents rode to the Capitol accompanied by two members of the Senatorial Committee.