Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-23

her When asked her as to the truth of It..
however, Mrs. Grant replied:
''of course the story Is not true / was
very indignant when i first heard it, and
especially SO as it put my father in the
light of an uneducated man. This he was
not. He was one of the prominent citizens
of the state. He mad a plantation! of eleven
hundred acres very near st. Louis, upon
which we lived. and he owned lands in
different parts of Missouri. This story
puts me in the light of an uneducated
farmers daughter. The truth is that / had
spent seven years at Prof. Moreaus school
In st. Louis, which was one of the most
famous finishing schools of the south and
west / was Is years old at the time
and had just come home from school
The story is only correct in that Mr..
Grant proposed to me the day attended
wedding together. One of my friends was
about to be married and the wedding took
place In the morning. Lieutenant Grant was
among the guests invited, and he came to
the plantation to accompany us to the we'd
ding. He came to our house on horseback,
but before we left for the scene of the fes-
tivit!es 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.
remember that the day was beautiful one.
The sun shone out in all its splendor, but
the roads were rather heavy from previous
rain. 1t was some distance from our house to
that of my friend, and in going there we
] had to cross bridge that spanned a
little river When we came to II | was sur
prised and somewhat alarmed TO find that
the stream had risen and that the guch was
filled with rushing torrent, the water reach
ing almost to the br dge. Lieutenant Grant
was very quiet and 1t seemed 20 me that
he was afraid Of the bridge. 1t was an old
one, and / was by no means certain that
it would stand the strain. AS we neared
the bridge l asked Mr. Grant several times
II he thought 1t would be dangerous for
us to cross. and ! told him that / would
rather go back than take any risk. He
assured me, however, that 1t was perfectly
safe, and he said it so quietly that / be-
lieved him. AS we came to the bridge, how
ever, l said, Now, Mr.. Grant, II anything
happens, remember, shall cling to you, no
matter what you may say to the con-
trary.' 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 after
noon he wanted me to set the day, but to
this | would not consent. told him that 1t
would be much nicer to be engaged for
time than to be married, but he did not
seem to approve of this sentiment. We
decided however, that it was best not 10
say anything about our engagement that
evening. Mr. Grant was rather afraid 10
speak to my father, for he feared that ia ther
would refuse. He left the house la.e in the
evening TO go back to his regiment and
few days later General Taylor sent him TO
Camp Salubrty in Louisiana. Before he
went. however, he wr-te to my father. ask
ing his consent TO the marriage. My father
was not willing to give this, and he did not
answer the letter. He told me that he did
not think ] ought TO marry an army officer.
He said my husband would be away most Ct
the time, and that he did not consider the
marriage a desirable one, He told me that
was too young and that Lieutenant Grant
was too poor, and that Lieutenant Grant
hadn't anything TO give me. ! then told
father that ! was poor, too. and that !
hadn't anything u give him."
GENERAL GRANT AS A LOVER.
"How long was 1t before YOU saw the gen
era again?" | asked
1T was nearly year" replied Mrs. Grant.
He was back then on leave OF absence
and 1t was at this time that he askei father
In person as 10 the marriage and got his
consent | can remember now just how
Lieutenant Grant looked as he rode up to
our house in his new uniform. 1t was one
Sunday evening. and we were all sitting
out on the porch. Father WAS going 10
Washington the next day. II was a great
trip TO go from st. Louis to the east in
those days, ard number OF our friends,
perhaps twenty of them, frcm the sur