Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-08-21
Maa eRANTls LII IAR.
An Incident Of 1s7o-A WlSe's Watohfuf
ness and a Servants PrOmptness.
Ocean "cuTbstone CFayonI


Inter Ocean @Curbstone CrayonAl
at was my fortune I" said an old
newspaper man, ito DO n of the few
people who were with the Grant party in
their tour through the United States in
1879. The general had then just returned
from abroad, and. with keener apprecia-
ton Of his character, the people were
more eager than ever before TO manifest
their admiration and their affection. In
the steaming across from San Francisco
to the east there were hundreds
of little incidents that illustrated
the softer side Of the generals char
acter. Nothing could be finer
than his attitude toward Mrs. Grant, and
nothing so touched the newspaper men,
cynics as a good many of them were. as
Mrs. Grant attitude toward the general
Her womanly anxiety to have him appear
at the best, her woman's watchfulness in
looking after little details that he seemed
inclined to ignore. and her strategy In
having him do what she wanted him TO
do were subjects of frequent comment.
"At that time the little Jap was Grants
close body servant, and a gesture or q
look from Mrs. Grant was acted on with
a promptness that caused one of the re-
porters to, say that the little Jap was built
upon telegraph principles In passing
through the country frequent stops were
made, and at every little town or station
there would be a crowd Of people. Aa
the train rolled into a place Mrs. Grant
measured the crowd, or the little Jap did
it for her, and they managed to have the
general appear in a hat that to their mind
suited the occasion and the crowd.
"When the Japanese boy heard the
whistle for down breaks he would put his
head out Of the window, take a quick
glance at the crowd and the place, and,
at q hint from Mrs. Grant, would take off
the generals travelling hat, give his hair
and whiskers a brush, and if the train was
going into a city would put on his silk
hat. If, when the train stopped, it ap-
peared that there was a good many sol
diers present, without a word from the
general the Jap would take off the silk hat
and put on his military hat 1t the train
stopped at a country town an easy soft
hat would be on the generals head. II
often happened that the general had three
or four hats on In the space Of IN hour.
He paid no more attention to this than if
he had not been concerned in the change
at all. Whenever it suited Mrs. Grant TO
have the hat changed,it was changed, and
he apparently did not know when the
changes took place.
"This hat business was a source Of great
amusement to the newspaper men, and
they laughed a good deal with Mrs.
Grant about it, and occasionally the gen.
eral himself joked her about this nice dis
tinction in the matter of hats, but she and
the little Jap kept up the enthusiasm about
it until the last. Many a reception com
mittee in the midst Of their high.iown
words Of welcome were startled a little by
the sudden appearance Of the sprightly
foreigner, with q hat and a whisk broom,
who. without hesitation or explanation,
gave the general a quick brushing, removed
one hat and put on another, giving i
the proper tilt and position, and slipping
away without a word but with a look tt
Mrs. Grant as to whether it was just RICH
or not. If it did not appear to strike tina
lady just right there was another sudde1
appearance Of the foreigner with another
hat, and then the general would be deliv
cred to the committee. He would go on
not knowing whether he had a soldier ha
on or a silk hat on, because he paid no al
tention to the changes made. He trustee
the whole matter to Mrs. Grant, and b
evidently took a good deal Of pride in he
pride of his appearance"