St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-23
DEAD HERO,s WIFE RUTHLESSIy
SWEEPS AWAY PRETTY
FICTIONS.
THE GENERAL AND THE BABIES
NEVER DID GET ALONG WEE To-
GETHER, SHE SAYS, AND SHE
OUGHT TO KNOW.
ALWAYS COURTEOUS TO LADIES.
She Tells the Story of Their Court
ship and Marriage-Grant as
Lover.

copyrighted, 1896, by Frank G. Carpenter)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 1861 re-
ceived note from Mrs. Gen. Grant this
week asking me to correct some of the
many ridiculous stories which are now
being printed concerning Gen. Grant.
Some OF these stories are published by
the very best magazines and newspa-
pers. They are given out by parties
who pretend to have had close associ-
alton with the general and Mrs Grant,
but who, on the contrary, hardly knew
them, or, if so, only in the most distant
way. 1 had a long chat with her, in
which she spoke of such matters, and
told number of new and striking
things about Gen. Grants character.
GRANT AND THE BABY.
Here" said Mrs. Grant. as she
handed me a paper, sis a story about
Gen. Grant and a sick baby, which,
am sure, has no foundation whatever
The story describes how the general,
during one of his earlier campaigns,
called upon a Union doctor, a Mr..
Goodier, in one of the Southern towns
According to this story, while the doc
tors wife was engaged in frying the
chicken, and the general was talking
" Tic HuSUdIu, Tie DdDy Oh the family,
a three-monthS-old infant began to
squall with a collie, whereupon Gen.
Grant went to the crib, and, taking
the baby in his arms, walked up and
down the room with him, singing and
whistling till the little fellow quite for
got his pain and, in the words of the
narrator, fell fast asleep in the arms
of the man who was to become Amer
ica's greatest military leader
very nice, but any one who knew Gen.
Grant would not have made such
statement In the first place, he was
not fond Of babies. He was, in fact,
little afraid of children until they got
to be at least as high as his waist, and
the idea that he would voluntarily take
up colicky baby and nurse it is pre-
posterous One of his greatest trials
while he was in the White house was
the children brought in by young
mothers and offered to him to kiss He
would likely see them before they got
near him and would turn around in
helpless way, so that you could see he
was uneasy. When the doting moth
ers at last reached him and held up
their children for him to salute, he
sometimes blushed to the roots of his
hair before he kissed them. and did it
in such an awkward way that you
could see he was not Serenely enjoying
the operation.
GRANTS MUSICAL ABILITY.
"And then, this man says that Grant took
the baby and walked up and down the room
singing and whistling until he soothed 1t to
Sleep Now, it is a well-known fact that
Gen. Grant could neither sing nor whistle
The truth is, he could not turn a tune, and
he had no great appreciation of music.
During our trip abroad" continued Mrs
Grant, 1--WE sailed through the Mediterranean
on the United States man-of-war Vandalia,
visiting Italy, Egypt and the Holy Land
which Is so celebrated in Homer being the
place upon which the beautiful sirens lived
and where Ulysses landed and was brought
to grief by their singing. AS we neared this
island number of the naval officers came to
me and warned me to put cotton wool into
the generals ears lest he be affected by the
sirens of today, just as was the great general
of the past. 1 told them that there was no
danger of Gen. Grant being influenced by mu-
sic. he did not know one note from an
other, and the singing of a thousand sirens
could not charm him. The officers then said
that the danger was not altogether in the
voices. They were SO beautiful that if the
general heard them he would be drawn to
the shores and lost, and they again urged
me to use the cotton wool. I told them that the
Ulysses of Homer had been deluded because
he was alone and had left Penelope, his wife,
at home. l said had learned lesson from
old Penelope and had accompanied my Ulys-
ses and with me I did not think he was in
danger.
GRANTS TREATMENT OF LADIES.
"And there Is another thing about which I
would like to say word" continued Mrs.
Grant. THAT is as to the part of this article
which purports to give the generals con-
versation with some young ladies who were
visiting his camp. The doctor who owned
the baby introduced the young ladies to
Gen. Grant and asked him If he did not
think he ought to arrest them. To this,
according to the story, the general replied:
4 am very fond of ladies' society, and l miss
their refining influences in the camp. Don't
you think. girls, 1 ought to make you my
prisoners?'
Now, the truth is, that the general was
never familiar with ladies. l don't think he
would have addressed those young women as
girls and l sure he would not have
talked as he is here reported as doing. He
was most courteous and respectful to my
sex, but he was never familiar. The general
was, you know, rather dignified and reserved
than ELUSIVE. He was not what you call a
hail-fellow well-met kind of a man. He was
fond of his friends, but he did not make much
fuss over any one.
GRANT DID NOT SWEAR.
Besides" continued Mrs. Grant, ''from the
way the article is worded, you might think the
general was rather slangy in his talk. He was
not. He never used anything but the purest