Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-06-12
GkEilT AT THE MESS TABLE.
lie Ate Very Little Meat. but Was Fond
of Fruit Gpd Vegetables.

of Fruit and Vegetables.
General Horace Porter gives
many intimate and familiar pictures
of General Grant III his series of az
ticles, campaigning With Grant"
in the Century. He says of General
Grant 1T the mess table:
About the only meat he enjoyed
was beef, and this lie could not eat
unless it was so thoroughly we'll
done that no appearance of blood
could be seen. If blood appeared in
any meat which came on the table,
the sight of it seemed entirely to
destroy his appetite. This was the
man whose enemies delighted in
calling him Il butcher.) He enjoyed
oysters and fruit, but these could
not l." procured on an active cam
paign. He never ate mutton when
he could obtain anything else, and
fowl and game he abhorred. AS he
used tn express it, II never could
eat anything that goes on two legs"
Evidently he could never have been
converted to cannibalism. He did
not miss much by declining to cat
the chickens which We're picked up
on Il campaign, for they We're usual
ly tough enough to create the sus-
picion that they had been Matched
from hard boiled eggs and were so
impenetrable that an officer said of
ono of them that he coul@ not even
stick his ferk through tile gravy.
The general was fonder of cucum-
bers than of anything else and often
made his entire meal upon a sliced
cucumber and IL cup of coffee. He
always enjoyed corn, pork and
beans and buckwheat cakes. In fact,
hs seemed to be particularly fond of
only the most indigestible dishes.
When any fruit could be procured,
1T was placed on the table by way
Of helping to ornament it and after
ward used as dessert. Between the
courses of the dinner the general
would often reach over to the dish
OF fruit and pick out berry or a
cherry and eat it slowly. He used
to DO this in sly way, like child
helping itself to some forbidden
dish at the table and afraid of being
caught i'll rhe act. He said one day:
Il suppose l ought not to cat a
course out Cf its turn, but l take the
q eu;, t delight in picking out bits
OF lit and eating them during
meal. One of the reasonsI do not
enjoy dining out as muck as l do at
homo il t~uuse | am compelled to
sit iAroUHh Il long list of courses,
l.Nef V hich I eat, and to resist the
;on:t. y, ,,nlrtaiion to taste Il little
..lG il the meanwhile to help pass
1859 lie ii'&e.' Napoleon was ia
It's fer eating out of tho various
~. les cioro linn with his fingers.
...I,r,l Grants use Of the fingers
;.oNcr won't lcyond picking out
-:..;ll il,.ii*. To vas always refined
ii h,jl'urrCls ut table, and no mat
t.r itN goat w;s the hurry OF
VI It VOC lie Cil cunstances of the
Gee; s;Cn Re never violated the re-
qUile2tl:t.' Of true politeness
10 ute ISIS than any man in the
army. Eol-.,times the amount of
feed tal>ol did not seem enough to
keep Ind alive, and his meals
were frugal enough to satisfy the
tastes of the most avowcd anchor
lite. 1t so happened that no one in
tho mess had any inclination to
drink wine or spirits at meals, and
none was carried among the mess
supplies. Tie only beverage ever
used at table besides tea and coffee
was water, although ON the march
twas often tul.cn from places which
rendered it not the most palatable
OF hcalthful of drinks. If staff Off
Ger wanted anything stronger, he
would carry some commissary whis-
ky in Il cantecn. Upon Il few Occa-
sions, after IL hard days ride III
stormy weather, the general joined
the otticels =. the staff in taking
whisky teddy in the evening, Tie
never Offered liquor of any kind to
VISITORS 1T headquarters. His hos
pitality consisted in inviting them
to meals and to smoke cigars.