Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1872-08-02
gelluws falls Zines,
BELLOWS FALLS, AUG. 2, 1872.
Speech of Senator COnlSling.
A COMPLETE vINDICATIoN.

A great Grant and Wilson meeting
was held at Cooper Institute, New York,
on Tuesday evening of last week, at
which Senator Conkling of that State
made most able and complete defence
Of President Grant from the attacks OF
the combined elements of opposition.
We make few extracts:
GRANTS BoYHooD.
| Grant cannot be illiterate, or, as a
Greeley orator told an audience the 9TH
er day, Ignorant of what school boys
know"
He was educated at West Point, and
whoever graduates in that exacting school
must have an education such as few
Americans receive. Mental culture is
not ali we find in Grant at West Point.
His letters written then stamp him with
a charcter enough by itself to refute the
worn and soiled tavern scandal which
now offends the nostrils of the nation.
Here is letter to his mother, June 4,
1889. He was then II. AS the twig
is bent the tree is inclined"
Let US see what kind of boy the man
grew out of.
UNITED STATES, WEST POINT, MIL
| ITARY ACADEMY, June 4, 1889.
My DEAR MOTHER Il have occa-
sionally been called to be separated from
you but never did feel the full force
and effect of this separation as do now.
| seem alone in the world without my
mother. There have been so many ways
in which you have advised me, when, in
the quiet of home, l have been pursuing
my studies, that | cannot tell how much
| miss you. When | was busy with fa-
ther in the tannery and on the farm, we
were both more or less surrounded by
others, who took up our attention, and
occupied our time. But was so often
alone with you, and you spoke to me SO
frequently in private, that the solitude
of my situation here at the Academy,
among my silent books and in my lonely
room, is all the more striking; it reminds
me all the more forcibly of home, and
most of all, my dear mother, of you.
But, in the midst of all this, your kind
instructions and admonition are ever
present with me. trust they may new
er be absent from me as long as / live.
How often | think of them and how
well do they strengthen me in every good
word and work !
My dear mother, should l progress
well with my studies at West Point, and
become soldier for my country, 1 am
looking forward with hope to have you
spared to share with me in any advance
ment | may make. see now, in looking
over the records here. how much Ameri-
can soldiers of the right stamp are in
debted to good American mothers. When
they go to the field what prayers go with
them, what tender testimony of matern-
al affection and counsel are in their
knapsacks. lam struck, in looking over
the history of the noble struggle of our
fathers for national independence, at the
evidence of the good influence exerted
upon them by the women of the Revolu-
ton. All my beloved friend, how can
the present generation ever repay the
debt it owes the patriots of the past for
the sacrifices they have SO freely and
richly made for us? We may well ask.
Would our country be what it is now if
it had not been for the greatness of our
patriotic ancestors Let me hear from
you by letter as often as convenient, and
send me such books as you think will
help me. They can be forwarded through
the courtesy of our member of Congress.
Faithfully and most lovingly your SOC,
ULYSSES.
! A CADETS LETTER TO HIS FATHER.
To his father he writes from West
Point:
/ find much here that makes me love
my dear native land more than ever.
am happy in the fact that this strong
hold of nature is safely in the hands of
the United States. Do you know, ia
ther,. that it is called the Gibraltar of
America
AS l returned from my walk, refresh
ed by the exercise, inspired by the grand
and varied scenery, and better prepared
for my studies, passed by the cemetery
of the Academy, where some of our
cherished dead repose. Here is the mon-
ument erected by our grateful country
to the brave hero, Kosciusko, who fell
on the field of battle, on American soil.
fighting for the liberties of mankind.
You remember, father, the line that is
recorded of him:
And Freedom shrieked when Kosciusko feIl."
am rendered serious by impressions
that crowd upon me here at West Point.
Ny thoughts are frequently occupied
with the hatred / am made to feel to-