Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-10-16
THE BATTLE FIELD.
GENERAL GRANTS coURTsHIP.
ow He Won the Heart and Hand Of
Miss Julia Dent.

SENERAL GRAN . OOOH S7iFs
ow He Won the Heart and Hand Of
Miss Julia Dent.
It was an eventful day in the life Of
ulia Dent, young Missouri girl, when,
4 1914, her brother, cadet at West
Point, brought his friend, Lieutenant
J. S. Grant, to her fathers house on a
yisit And there is a charming bit Of
naivete in Mrs. Grants description of
that visit, how the dashing young Lieu
,enant lost his heart, how she found
t, and how he asked the question which
linked her name with his eventful
life and career.
may say that Mrs. Grant recently
sold the subjoined facts to me specially
for the readers of the Ladies' Home
Journal, and it is the first time she has
ever narrated them for publication.
''One summer day we were going to a
morning wedding, and Lieutenant Grant
was also invited" says Mrs. Grant. "He
came for US on horseback, and asked my
brothers permission to drive me, in ex-
change for his saddle, to which he glad
-ly consented. The day was beautiful,
the roads were little heavy from
previous rains. but the sun shone in
splendor. We had to cross a little
bridge that spanned a ravine, and,
when we reached it, / was surprised and
a little concerned to find the gulch
swollen, a most unusual thing, the
water reaching to the bridge. / noticed,
too, that Lieutenant Grant was
very quiet, and that the high
water bothered me. asked several
times il he thought the water danger
Gus to breast, and told him | would go
back rather than take any risk. He as
sured me, in his brief way. that it was
perfectly safe, and in my heart relied
upon him. just as we reached the old
bridge said, Now. If any thing happens,
remember shall cling to you, no matter
what you say to the contrary He sim
ply said, All right. and we were over
the planks in less than minute. Then
his mood changed. he became more So
cial, and in asking me to be his wife,
used my threat as theme. After din
ner that afternoon. Lieutenant Grant
asked me to set the day. wanted TO
be engaged, and told him it would be
much nicer than getting married
sentiment he did not approve. We were
very quiet at the house that evening
and neither said a word of the secret
After supper he went back to the regi-
ment and few days later General Tay-
Tor sent him to Camp Salubrity, in Louis
lana. He was too shy to ask father so
he waited till he was stationed and
wrote to him. Father never answered
the letter. was his favorite daughter,
and he thought army life would not suit
me.
" Besides, said father, you are too
young and the boy is too poor. He
hasn't any thing to give you.
II rose in my wrath and l said was
poor, too, and hadn't any thing to give
him.
1.-THE next year he came back on a
leave of absence, and I can remember
just how he looked as he rode up in his
new uniform. Father was going to
Washington on business, and we were
all on the front porch kissing him good
bye and stufiing his pockets with notes
of things he was to buy Lieutenant
Grant asked for my hand, and he, in
hurry to get off, consented.
my soldier lover was in and about
Mexico for four years, including the
war. Every mail brought me a letter.
Every pne of them full OF sweet moth
ings, love and war, and now and then
some pressed leaves and flowers. Some
were written on drum-heads captured
from the Mexicans and others on sheets
Of fSolscap folded and sealed with red
waters | read each one every day un-
til the next one came. have them
ala
At the close Of the Mexican war they
were married, and loved and loving
couple they were all through life Dur
ing the rebellion Mrs. Grant was as near
the General as it was safe for her to be-
She was his partner in trial as well as
JOY. II isn't given to every woman to
have great hero for husband, to
spend eight years in the White House
and to make a tour of the world, the
guest of Kings, Queens and Princes, and
have every body trying to make life
pleasant for them, nor is it given to
every one . know how poignant grief
is.
81 do not complain, Mrs. Grant says.
mime has been happy, happy life.
have drank deep from the cup of
JOY and from the cup of woe.
The Lord knows best" And then,
as she sits alone in her big house
in the twilight thinking of the old
days, it would be strangeAand she
would not be human-if the tears did
not start unbidden to her eyes. as she
turns back the pages of her life Foster
Coates, in Ladies' Home Journal
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
Some of General Bussey's Experiences Re-
IN tod "a, cnIinr...