The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1868-12-10

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Informed him that we were going to
Philadelphia, But, s4id the messenger,
syou.are announced in the papers to be
present Tonight In more emphatic man-
ner I responded, You VIII please deliver
my message with my regrets He rstufn-
ed to Mrs. IiueOlu, and we took the eve
ming train for RhiladelPhia."
Thus, by sacrifice Of pleasure to
duty, she doHbtless saved the life of
her husband, and averted additional
horror from a defied people, ~ 4
In my conversation with Mrs.
Grant, | enjoyed quietly aremarlz Of
hers, though it was at my expense.
She did not know If, however, nor
intend it, and this madeit it all the
more keenly enjoyable. Speaking Of
the exciting times of last winter in
Washington fshe said. s4@ 81 :.
"When the newspapers were abusing
the General so wiekedly, and denouneing
him as untruthful in the Stanton oontro-
versY, concluded newspaper men were
terrible persons, sand thought the Press
should be suppressed" a.s
The telegraph linehad been extend
ed into the library of Mr.. Washburne's
house, and a score Of gentlemen, most
Of them personal friends of General
Grant, were invited 70 Join the little
party at Mr.. WasbbuFne's.
Fortunately, / was among the
number to whom Mr.. Washburne's
hospitality. was 50 generously extend-
ed. General Grant, and the Colonels
Comstoek and Badeau, of his staff.
were there. A eozy hickory fire burn
ed eheeFily in neat fireplace, be-
queathing to the apartment a glow Of
comfort which only laughing blazes
can give. Tickle ts tick, tiek-e-te--
tick sang the mysterious Instrument
which, within few hours, was to
tell us important stories from aaihun-
dred cities, from all the great States
spaHuinga a continent, from the shores
Of two mighty oceans, and from "the
lands tosthe north Of US to the Gulf
of Mexico. Most of the select little
party had assembled by 8 o'clock ID
the evening" General Grant, with
the inevitable cigar, chatted away to
one or another, apparently the least
concerned of all. "A few trivial and
unimportaht gdispatehes seame in at
long intervals, and the evening grad
ually wore away. 9 O'clock came;
then ten; aud the first decisive infOr-
nation came flashing down from fur
therest Yankeedom as follows:
.''AIaine pledged thirty thousand, and
she has kept her faith. sr~r n
Iii JAS. q. BLAINE.n
General Grant had been in excel
lent spirits all tile evening. Upon
reeeipto of Mr. Blaine's dispatch he
walked o yer to the light, and draw
ing from his pocket a small piece of
paper, consulted a long column of
fgures'
"WeII, said he, tmy first guess is
pretty good 2
'Have you been guessing on major
tiles, General?'' asked some one.
"Let's see your guesses-let's see
them!" chime several voices. But
Grant laughingly declined, replying:
81 made my guesses some daysagO,
| don't wish to show them in advance,
but will as we 60 along;;" and hardly
bal be made the promise before the
Instrument licked off the following:
"New Hampshire doubles her majority
of last spring, and gives more than 5000
for Grant and peace.
We. CHANDLER"
Out came his computation paper.
Had he OWNED the true result?2 Ex-
actly. Maine, 10000; New Hamp-
shire, 500.
An old gentleman jOeularly accus-
ed him of having accepted the offer
of fthe Chicago astrologist, who pro-
posed for a stipulated sum to tell him
in advance what would be the exact
result. But Grant laughingly denied
the. soft impeachment.
News from the old Bay State came
next, and it came in genuine Ply
mouth Rock dialect, as follows, viz:
"Aassachusetts, first in the cause of lib
erty and Union of States, sends greeting,
by majority of 80, 900 Of her sons. to The
pacificator by the sword, believing that he
will secure, by the nObler paciication of
civil administration, that peace and pros
peritv which their fathers guaranteed
through a Government based on equal
rights. JN0. NJ. WILLIAMS" r.
Eighty thousand! Out came Gen
eral Grants paper. All ears were
listening for the result of the guess.
The shadow of happy defeat stole
over his face, and he acknowledged to
have, in that case, missed it. He had
put Massachusetts down for $4,000
Ia replysto a questionsif he was pained
! to see his conjectures in that way
proved unsuccessful, he said: ayes,
do feel little bad to see Massachu-
sets giving so much over, Iwould
rather have it scattered through New
York and Indiana"
In the course ofcOnversation, Grant
said 81 really wanted to carry Ga
lena, and my native village of George
town, Ohio, also. ] wonder if thai
has been heard from? It turned Out
five. West Point graduates; and, dur
ing the war, four Generals and eight
] ColOnels." thought no Information
had come from Georgetown, and fear
ed, from its record during the war, he
was too loyal man to carry it. He
agreed with me, and named the Gen
erals from Georgetown as Generals
Robert Allen, Jacob Ammon, Angus
Kautz and himself and the Colonies
as Fyfe, Woods, Blair, Marshall, Nc
Graw, White, Lowe and LoudOn.
Quite late in the evening a larg
number of enthusiastic Republican
came ups to- Mr.. .Washburne's an,
cheered Justify for Grant and victory
4 General Grant jocularly requisite,
Washburne to ego out and spologiz
to the boys for my non-aPpeaFanct
and tell them ] am like Seymour a
Milwaukee, in 1861 don't kuol
! which way the thing is going"
: good deal of amusement was create
/ by this hit at HoFatiO.
Grant did not exhibit the least an1
: Iiety about the chances of defeat, an
&Lo ok,I-- - 1,,,yv, ,,,F,soL ~. ,1oy,L n