St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-23

and choicest of language. I have seen stories
in which he has been reported as profane |
never heard him use word of slang or pro-
1an1ty during all the years that l knew him
For instance, l never heard him use the word
DAMN He, did not use the mild explosives
such as 'confound it,, or the devil which you
KNOW are always used by people who do not
swear. 1t was the same with his thoughts
Gen. Grant had the highest ideas of purity and
virtue. He never referred to women except in
terms OF the highest respect, and he did not
gossip nor tell stories about them On the
other hand, he liked to hear good story, and
he sometimes repeated innocent ones he had
heard to us at home
He was very domestic in his tastes, was he
nct?''
:, Yes" replied Mrs. Grant che spent all of
his leisure at home. He always cared more
Tor MS home than for society,"
GEN. GRANTS COURTsHIP.
l here referred to story which T had
heard concerning the generals courtshiD.
1t described how Mr.. Grant who was then
a young lieutenant, had met Miss Julia Dent
at a wedding, and according to a custom
which the writer said was prevalent in Mis-
souri,, had taken her home on his horse be-
hind him, holding on as best she could Dur
ing the journey the two had to cross a
stream, and while in the water and fighting
their way through the waves, as the writer
stated. Lieut.. Grant proposed and was ac-
cepted. The couple then went on to the
Dent farm, where Lieut.. Grant found Miss
sitting on woodple and whiting stick
He was asked to sanction the match and in
rustic language consented. I knew this
story could not be true, for l was always
aware that Col. Dent was one of the wealth
lest planters of Missouri, and Mrs. Grant
had been well educated, perhaps as any
girl in the United States at the time Grant
proposed to her. When | asked her to the
truth of it, however, Mrs Grant replied:
"Of course the story is not true. | was
very indignant when fist heard it, and
light of an uneducated man. This he was
not. He was one of the prominent citizens
of the state. He had plantation of eleven
hundred acres very near st: Louis, upon
which we lived, and he owned lands in diff
ferent parts Of Missouri. This story puts
in the light of an uneducated farmers
daughter. The truth is that l had spent
seven years in Prof. Moreau's school In ST.
finishing schools of the South and West. I
was eighteen years old at the time and had
just come home from school.
1.-THE story is only correct in that Mr..
Grant proposed to me the day attended
a wedding together One of my friends was
about to be married, and the wedding took
place in the morning. Lieut.. Grant was
among the guests invited, and he came to the
plantation to accompany us to the wedding.
He came 10 our house on horseback, but before
we left for the scene of the festivities he
asked my brother to take his horse and to
allow him to use the buggy and. drive with me.
To this my brother consented l remember
shone- out in all it's splendor, but the roads
rather heavy from a previous rain. It
was some distance from our house to that of
my friend, and in going there we had to cross
a bridge that spanned little river. When we
came to 1t | was surprised and somewhat
alarmed to find that the stream had risen, and
that the gulch filled with a ushing cur
rent, the water reaching almost to the bridge
Lieut.. Grant very quiet, and it seemed to
me that he was afraid of the bridge. 1t was an
old one, and I was by no means certain that
a " no
bridge 1 asked Mr.. Grant several times II he
thought it would be dangerous for US to cross
and l told him that 1 would rather go back
than take any risk. He assured me, however,
that it was perfectly SAFE and he said it so
quietly that l believed him. AS we came to
the bridge however. 1 said, Now, Mr.. Grant,
II anything happens, remember, l shall cling
to you, no matter what you may say to the
contrary. Mr.. Grant simply said all right.
He gave the horse the whip, and we were over
the planks in less than a minute. Shortly
after we left the bridge he asked me to be his
wife, referring to my threat to cling to him to
break the way. That same afternoon he want
ed me to set the day but to this I would not
consent l told him that it would be much
nicer to be engaged for time than to be mar
ried, but he did not seem to approve of this
sentiment. We decided however, that 1t was
best not to say anything about our engagement
that evening. Mr.. Grant was rather afraid to
speak to my father, for he feared that father
would refuse. He left the house late in the
evening to go back to his regiment and few
days later Gen. Taylor sent him to Camp Sa-
lubrfty. in Louisiana. Before he went, how
ever, he wrote to my father, asking his con-
sent 10 the marriage. Ny father was not will
ing to give this, and he did not answer the
letter. He told me that he did not think I
ought to marry an army officer. He said NV
husband would be away most of the time and
that he did not consider the marriage a de-
s1rable one. He told me that 1 was too young
and that Lieut.. Grant was too poor and that
l Lieut.; Grant hadn't anything to give me.
then told father that was poor too, and that
L hadn't anything TO give him.
GEN. GRANT AS A LOVER.
How long was 1t before you saw the gen.
eral again?' I asked.
ut was nearly year." replied Mrs. Grant.
he was back then on leave of absence, and
1t was at this time that he asked father
In person as to the marriage and got his
consent can remember now just how Lieut.
Grant looked as he rode up to our house in
i LIS new UNIFORM. 1t was one Sunday even
ing, and we were all sitting out on the porch.
rather was going to Washington the next
Jay: 1t was great trip to go from st. Louis
10 the East in those days and number Of
our friends, perhaps tweyty of them from
the surrounding plantations had gathered
there to bid him goodbye. l remember
was sitting on the porch when Lieut.. Grant
Iams up. gave him my hand, and he shook
1ahos with the rest of the party. The next
gay, When father went into St. Louis Mr.
Grant went with him, and it was durinp tbis
TRIP tnat ne asked fathers permission to mar
~ me. My father consented but he said
thar he did not think the wedding ougbt ~
take place very soon. Lieut. Grant ofYered
u resign from the army if father insisted
upon 1t. This was just about the time If
tne opening of the Mexican war, and Lieut.
Iiant asked my father IL he had any oh
Jeetions to his writing to me- He said no
ana during the next four years, while Lieut.
grant was absent in Mexico, received letters
from him every mail. I have those letters
now. There are hundreds of them. Every
one OF them is full of affection, of love and
war. Some of them have pressed flowers be-
tween the pages, some were written on the
neads OF drums which our troops captured
from the Mexicans and many of them were
sealed with red waters. 1 can remember
stlll how I used to watch for the mail, and
now read my last letter over day after day
until the next one came
GRANTS POVERTY.
Mrs. Grant," said /, 81 have often wondered
whether the stories are true as to the hard
times which you and Gen. Grant are said to
have undergone just before the civil war;
I'VE did not have hard times" replied Mrs
Grant "a great many people seem to Want
to reduce the general during his early life to
the dregs Of poverty in order that they NAV
exalt him more by his rise. This fact used
to annoy me considerably, as 1t rather he
Titled his relatives. Gen. Grant was never
very poor. His family were what was called
rich generation ago. His father. was
man of considerable means. He had prop
erty In Ohio and the leather store at Galena