The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-09-26

this couple is a benefaction to
humanity, teaching lessons of the
purest domesticity, commencing
mutual love and confidence as the
only sure foundation of happy
home and the best equipment for
worthy career.
There were dark days in the early
years of this couple; they trod a
narrow, rugged path, but they made
it wide enough to go side by side,
hand in hand, heart to heart, for
they chung close to each other.
There were times when, had the
wife been respondent, fretful, COM
planning; when, had she been any
thing but the tender, true, loving,
bright, hopeful woman that she was,
her husband might have fallen by
the wayside, his high destiny unsus-
pected, his name almost unknown.
Amid the storms and the sorrows
of life the affections of man may
veer, but unchanged and unchang-
ing is the true heart of woman-she
loves and loves forever The
storms were not so dark nor the
sorrows so thick as to cause any
change or shadow of veering in the
affection of U. S. Grant for his
young wife, and her deathless love
was the light of q fiexd star.
There were years of poverty in
the ante-bellum life of the Grants,
and the wife was called, by stern
necessity, to forego many of the
luXurics which lend charm to home
and mitigate the cares and troubles
of existence. But poverty did not
chill the heart, dim the eye, sadden
the voice, or weaken the confidence
of the wife. And the husband,
cheered and solaced by hopeful
sympathy, kept his troubles from
the world and quietly pursued the
path of duty, although it is scarcely
possible that he could have been
entirely ignorant of his own great
capacities.
From the time when Grant enter
ed the volunteer army, called out to
serve the Republic, until the collapse
of the rebellion at Appomatox, there
was scarcely an hour when his re-
putation was secure. The world
can never know how much he was
made to suffer by cruel misrepre-
sensations. But when envy, malice
and detraction were doing their
worst he had one safe refuge-the
love, the trust, the unwavering faith
of his wife. And when the war
was ended, and the world was pay
ing tribute to the genius of Grant,
there was one person who felt no
surprise at his achievements, for he
had accomplished just what she had
expected. Her faith had anticipated
all, and may we not say that her
faith, her love, her consolatory and
cheering influence had made it all a
possibility?
OF Mrs. Grant as mistress of the
White House it must be said by him
who writes justly that no lady ever
filled the place more admirably.
She had no ambition to take part in
the affairs of state. She did not
care to be influential in the disposal
of patronage. Her only desire was
to be good wife to the President,
as she had been to the captain, to
the leather dealer, to the colonel,
and the general. All that public
duties required of her she did, not
ostentatiously, nor yet wi h bashful
timidity, but with the grace that
comes of good sense and right pur-
poses. Her happiest hours were
those devoted to her children, and
no children in this or any other land
had better mother. Wherever the
Grants have been or however stu
ated, whether in poverty in Missouri
or in splendor in Washington ;
whether in the highest stations at
home or the most honored guests of
kings and emperors of Europe or
Asia; whether in the lap of luxury
or buffeting the wave of financial
disaster, Mrs. Grant has been true
to the promise of her youth-has
been the best gift Of God to man
a model wife and mother.
Her place in the nations heart is
secure, and the prayer of the peo-
pie is that she may long live to wit
ness their devotion to her husband s
memory, and to be blest by the
loving care of her children and
their children.