Let’s talk about the worlds in which Matilda Joslyn Gage (https://matildajoslyngage.org/) and Grover Cleveland (https://nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/historic/grovercleveland.html) lived.
As portrayed in my book, High Bridge, Matilda was born and raised in Cicero NY. She was the only child of free-thinking parents. They doted on her, home-schooled her, pricked her curiosity, and fed her sense of fairness and equity. Matilda grew to be an amazing visionary. As Gloria Steinhem said, Matilda was “the woman who was ahead of the women who were ahead of their time.”
Matilda was a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and cook. She broke from the confines of domestic life. She was a historian, writer, editor, speaker, organizer, zealot against anti-church patriarchy, and champion for universal rights in the United States. Universal rights refers to the equal and full civil rights for women, Blacks, and Haudenosaunee indigenous people. For her time, those aspirations were heretical and certainly transformative. Despite her broad activities, views, and achievements, Matilda is little known in our time. I will elaborate on that in another blog.
The other main character in High Bridge is Grover Cleveland. He was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States from 1884-1888 and 1892-1896, respectively. In many ways, Grover was the opposite of Matilda. He was one of nine children and his family was religiously observant. Grover sought fun, as a child and as an adult. In his youth, he enjoyed playing games, fishing, and pranking people. As an adult, he fished, hunted, frequented pubs, and was a devoted father. That said, he had a serious, studious side, too. This included his schooling and his profession. Grover worked hard, and then played hard.
Grover valued personal honesty and responsibility. Two of his well-known quotes are: “Above all, tell the truth” and “Honor lies in honest toil.” Joseph Pulitzer applauded Grover’s integrity by repeatedly stating “He is an honest man.”
Matilda and Grover were compelling people. They led exemplary lives. Come, learn about them in High Bridge.
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