The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-05-12

driven with the basket ph@ton. HERE TOO,
are Mary and a black saddle pony called Jef
Davis, a natural PAGER and very fast, which
the President sometimes mounts and skurrles
away wifi into the suburbs. The third COM
partment contains two Hambletonlan hllies,
Rebecca and Loretta, foaled last spring. A
handsome two year old Hambletonian colt, q
bright sorrel, occupies large stall by himself
The President expects great things from him,
Jennie, a blooded brood mare now with fosi,
is kept in q building near the house.
WHEN GRANT TALKS.
The President Is glum enough in society, but
his eye lights up and his tongue becomes
loosed when, after dinner, he takes his inva-
rable walk through the stables. Curtin and
Nesoit, the colored grooms, grin cavernously
when the President comes, and descant upon
the condition and prospects of the equine fold.
To them Grant, unbending, responds with pol
lysyllabic efhuence, talking horse with happy
unreserve. Another occasion was male party
at Forney's, when black spirits and white:
blue spirits and gray, Of politics, we're incor-
porated in skins Of as many hues. Members
of the Cabinet; foreign ministers and sccre-
tariee; senators and members of both parties;
newspaper correspondents of the Radical, the
conservative Republican," the Democratic,
and s'Ku-Klux" press; clerks OF the two Houscs
of Congress; local politicians; lobbyists; mll-
lattoes and negroes-all were assembled in
grand stag party, free to scramble on the table
for supper, and under it for sherry and cham
payne. Grant arrived unnoticed, and was
soon hobnobbing with his host and number
of other gentlemen. With cigar in one
hand and glass OF wine in the other he found
his tongue going glibly under Forney's lubri-
cation.
WHITE HOUSE BREAKFAST.
The family at the White House rise early-at
or 7.a0. Grant telerates no valet, but draws
on his pantaloons and buttons his suspenders
with unassisted hands. HAPPY lie repairs to
the convenient bathroom to meet his barber,
where the morning newspapers arc brought
to him.. Breakfast is served from to $50 In
the private dining-room on the main floor.
The meal is substantial and good-for exam
pie, steak, potatoes, homemade biscuit,
mullins and waf1es, or ''grits." The President
likes best the plainest food, and all are light
eaters. The entire family drink coffee, in
Guiding Nr. Dent, who is now in his eighty
fifth year. The President stickles for prompti-
tude at the breakfast table, and when any of
the family are late, wears q grave and re-
proachful countenance. At the breakfast table
old Mr.. Dent occupies the first seat. The
President sits at the left, Mrs.. Grant at his
right, Nellie Grant at the side of the President,
and Jesse beside his mother. The ascendancy
of the Dent above the Grant family, not only
in the White House, but elsewhere under the
agis Of the administration, has been remarked
as singular, inasmuch as the favored Dents are
kindred of the Presidents wife, while the neg
lected Grants arc the Presidents own blood
One explanation is rot very COM
plImentary to the abilities or manners Of the
Grant family at large. But perhaps the best
explanation lies in the influence exercised by
HRS. Grant over her husband. The family sit
at breakfast about three-quarters Of an hour.
Politics are never discussed at the table;
though the President, who carries his news
papers there and fingers over them, occa-
sionally utters a remark betraying his sensi-
tiveness to criticism.