Evening star., 1897-02-13

of the nights were spent in writing out his
orders, which were very long and full Of
the minutest details"
did he talk much of his battles?'
mo, not unless something came up which
called for 1t. He was a very modest man.
He was always careful Of the feelings of
others, and the request of a private soldier
received as much attention from him as
by his soldiers, and know it used to make
me happy as a boy when / heard the cheers
and hurrahs of enthusiasm go up from the
soldiers as father passed along the lines
Gen. Grant ms an Ideal Man.
here asked Col Grant to give Inc some
idea of Gen. Grant as a man. He replied:
my fathers character is almost a paIt
of my religion. I revere it so much that
can hardly discuss it. He has ever been
my ideal of all that is true and good.
have boy who is everything to me, and
whom l want to bring up properly. I tell
him that the most l can hope for him is
that he may be as good a man as his
grandfather was. My fathers character
was what believe a good Christian leader
would consider the ideal one. He was pure
in thought and deed. He was careful of
the feelings of others-so much SO, in fact,
that when he had to do something to hurt
them 1 believe he felt more panied than
the people whom he hurt.
Il have heard stories in which Gen.
Grant has been reported as using profane
language. Are such stories true?"
NO" replied Col. Grant. My father
has told me himself that he had never ut
tered an oath in his life. He did not use
even the ordinary expletives, such as are
common among men. When he was
young man l heard him two or three times
say thunder, and once l remember hear
ing him say thunder and lightning But
during the latter part of his life he did not
use even such expressions. He never said
anything that approached coarseness. He
never told vulgar story, nor would he
listen to one if he could possibly help it.
| remember that one time some gentlemen
were chatting together, among whom was
my father. One of the men said: L know
an excellent story, which, however, it
would hardly be proper to tell before la
dies Here my father stopped him and
said: We'll, if that is SO, let us then say
that it should not be told before gentle
men, My father would always leave a
crowd rather than listen to such stories.'
General Grants Papers.
you are your fathers literary executor,
colonel? H,,r- about his III published let
ters? Did he leave any?"
Yes" replied Colonel Grant. There are
quite a number. l have several boxes of
his papers and letters, and when 1 have
leisure I may perhaps edit some of them.
Many of them have been loaned to John
Russell Young of Philadelphia, who is now
writing life of General Grant"
you helped your father in the prepara
tion of his book. L understand some parts
of the first volume were written over and
over again?'
"Yes, that is true as to the matter relat-
ing to Shiloh. This was prepared first for
the Century Ma agazine and father did not
at the time know exactly what was want
ed. He wrote the articles first, and then
Mr.. r. U. Johnson of the Century talked it
over with him. He asked many questions
about things. and upon fathers replying
would say, Why, that is interesting Why
don't you put that in your article? He
made such suggestions again and again,
and father added to and rewrote those ar
ticles over and over. This work showed
him what the people wanted to know from
him. and gave him the idea of a popular
book. This was, in fact his literary train
ing for the work, and Mr.. Johnson may be
called his literary tutor. 1t was the Cen
tury articles which caused the book to be
written" FRANK G. CARPENTER.