The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-11-10
SOLDIERS BUDGET.
Grant In New York.

1OrK III 1901 WIN ln6 lubltT VI HIS uu-
paralleled successes and his unoqualed
honors surrounding him. With such
dignities and ceremonies as the metrop-
oils accords only TO a few men in each
generation, it welcomed within its gates
the first citizen of the republic. The
sight of that sturdy figure, which had
borne without hiuching the burdens
of war and state, and of that pleasant,
taciturn countenance, serene with the
wonted mastery of all circumstances
and the quiet confidence in fortune,
became a familiar one at the larger GER
emonials of the city. That misfortune,
impotent to harm him on a hundred
battlfelds, should strike down the old
hero in the hour of his peaceful fame
no one dreamed, least of all Grant him
self.
The more intimate side of his char
acter became known during his later
life in the east. That his sterness of
aspect concealed a nature that was full
of gentleness and as simple as a child,
that indeed the loving are the dar-
ing" the world scarcely learned before
the heavy hand of disease had been
laid upon a spirit bowed down with I'M
merited misfortune. George W. Childs
told of a conversation he had with
Grant when the latter was spending his
summer at Long Branch. He asked
the general what had been the greatest
distress he had sustained, aud the re-
ply was, "To be deceived by those |
trusted"
1t is altogether q pleasant chapter
that the life of General Grant presents
at this period, brief though it is and al
though the mutterings of the storm are
heard out of that clear sky of content
ment. In the family circle or when
surrounded by old comrades he was by
no means the irresponsible MAI be has
been painted. He was free and inter-
eeting in conversation, and, as Childs
recalled, talked more than any single
member of the company, but he added:
"Let a stranger enter, and he would
say nothing more during the evening.
That was one peculiarly of his"
In these conversations General Grant
sometimes went over the eventful
scenes of the past. He was generous
in his estimate Of the men who had
fought by his side. His admiration of
Sheridan was unmeasured. He used to
say that Little Philip was the greatest
fighter he ever knew, and that another
war would develop in him the supreme
commander. His reserved nature
found in the dashing soldiers over
flowing spirits, boundless confidence
and sometimes emphatic conversation
a complement to itself. For reasons of
much the same sort he had a positive
affection for General John A. Logan.
He was proud of both of them and hap
Ply in their society.
His loyalty to his friends was entire.
| One of his principles was "Never de-
! sert a friend under fire." While it is
more than likely that the famous ''306'
did not bear with them into the Chica-
90 convention any real wish of General
Grants that they be successful, he took
a soldiers delight afterward in their
magnifcently faithful fight in his be-
half and never forgot it.
His Partially for his army comrades
had been shown while he was presi.
dent.
Il like" he said, "to appoint the
children of army and navy officers be-
cause they have no political influence"
The care he exercised over the orphans
of veterans who had died on the field
was continued in private life. Some
times it took the form of gifts and sub
scliptions really beyond his means.
An application from a soldiers widow
was one thing be found it hard 10 re-
fuse.
The blow that struck Grant down
came suddenly. 1t is a saddening cpl
sode to recall, with its cruel shock of
surprise and the still more cruel impu-
tations that for the moment were cast
upon the cid hero's integrity, but when
the dust that had been raised by the
crash of the banking house of Grant &
Ward had cleared the figure that it re-
vealed was not that of a man who had
bartered his honor and had risked all
and lost in a dangerous throw, but OF
an old soldier dazed by the vision of a
partners unfaithfulness and stripped in
a moment of his worldly possessions,
and yet with his personal honesty shin
ing out from the ruin of his houses
credit and his resolute courage to re-
deem his i'll fortune standing forth like
a solitary tower in an earthquake lev
eled plain.
Grant had entered Wall street be-
cause he found his income insufficient
IOr nlS family. Inc genius VI Eerui
nand Ward dazzled him as it had daz.
zled other men in the street. Gram
thought himself a wealthy man. 1t was
a matter of pride to him that he should
reverse the i'll omens of his life as &
private citizen prior to the war anC
demonstrate before the world that be
could succeed in business as in war
That morning in May of 1884 came
when he found that his house had failed
for millions. Resolutely he had set t
work to meet his obligations. He ever
pledged his medals and his decorations
Then he began the preparation of thu
memoirs covering a period of which hi
could say with as much truth as C@saI
in his "De Bello Calico" "All O
which l saw and part of which l was
The later enc of that grim cam
paign are swathed the mists tina
hang ever in the valley of the shadow
1t was another battle of the Wilderness
And it ended in the sunlight yonde
on the hilltop that is called McGregor
New York Evening Mai and Elk
prese.