The times., 1897-04-28
The Grant We Knew.

The Grant We Knew.
1t is coming more and more to be seen,
| in the impartial light Of history, that our
| great men~have been truly representative
| OF our national life. They have not been
modelled on the ideas Of any other nation:
| they could have been evolvedonl yo on Ameri-
can soil. This was true of Washington;
much more true of Lincoln at later day,
made possible by American institutions,
| and his character was the outgrowth OF
American ideas. Quiet in manner, taci-
turn to the public, doing rather than talk
| ing, faithful and tender In his family re-
lations and his personal friendships, un-
assuming to the last degree, a ureless
| never seeking it, he was the embodiment
Of many OF the finest and strongest quail
ties in American character.
One of his most prominent traits to those
who knew him in Washington, and one
which was also thoroughly American,
was his democratic simplicity of manner.
divinity which may hedge king around
President Grant Such divinity has
disagreeable odor of the footlights about
it anywhere, andIs especially out Of place
in government like ours. The only hedge
there was about Grant was a certain
quiet dignity Of manner which was per-
fectly unconscious. but repelled familiarity
more effectively than a crowd Of detectives
He used to walk aboat the streets Of Wash
ington in the turbulent reconstruction
days, without policeman anywhere in
sight and nobody could possibly have been
treated with more respect and Difference
and affectionate regard than he was. 1t
is probable thatif anybody had attempted
to put network of formality sboat him
and his office he would have walked
through it or over it in that same quiet,
matter-of-fact way without seeming To
know that there was anything there That
is the sort Of man for the President of this
country. He is of the people, and with TIE
people, and is only ruling over the people
because ne knows more than they do. and
they know ii, and want him to rule them;
not because there is anything essentially
different in the clay OF which he is COM
posed or because one of his ancestors did
something notable some hundreds of years
ago.
Another strong trait in Grants char
acter was his loyalty TO his friends He
once said something to this effect: "A
yellow dog that wags his tail at me hen
am in hard luck has more claim on
me than anybody who is after an Office
There are dozens of stories TO Illustrate
this quality of his. 1t is an aboriginal
faculty, this faculty of never forgetting
kindness, and it is one which the
higher civilization cannot very well az
ford to drop His was the sort OF loyalty
which does not waste many words, but
sticks to its object as unwaveringly as
to a pet ambition; and, as all the world
knows, when Grant made up his mind to
do anything, whether it was to ride
trick pony in his boyhood, to take yicks-
burg as a soldier, or to wage a grim and
bitter struggle with death in his old age,
that thing was done. 1t was just the
same In his personal relations. In the old,
direct, homely phrase, you knew right
where to find him.
Perhaps this simplicity and this loyalty
are not peculiar to America. They are at
tributes of high-character all over the
world. But they are apt to be strongly
developed in a new country, where men
must stand by each other and endure hard
ness; and let us hope they will be part
of the American character to the end of
time.