The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-14
GRANTS WAYS
SOME INTERESTING ILLUSTRA-
 TIONS OF THEM.
A Great Man to Notice Little Things
 What His Papers Show.

What His Papers Show.
 ''There goes a man whose jaw, brow, eye, walk and manner of speech tell me, as physiognomist, that if we ever have long war, he ought to be heard /. from" remarked veteran army officer to your correspondent, as both looked after the retreating figure of young major who literally won his spurs in the war with Spain. But you can't always tell how fellow will turn out under such a test. Nature intended him for maste-ful career: he may spoil it all, though by remaining what and where he is now, instead of broad ening with increased experience and observation.
 You know how little many of the older men, brought up in the red-tape school of their day, thought of Grant when he was first set to do big task I have had, at various times. many of his military papers to read, and it has been subject of curious study for me how these reveal the change that grad ually took place in him, not as the re- suit of any particular incidents or epi- sodes, but through absorption, as it. were. He was a great man to notice little things that would escape an ordi- nary apprehension. I don't doubt that, if we were to analyze his career with care, we should find many evidences of the part this faculty played in winning his. victories. Where did I see the signs of it? In the way he wrote his letters and drew up his formad reports. For example, when he began his career in the civil war, he was simply fear full speller and ungrammatical and un- couth in his eXpressions-the kind of man, in short, who would exasperate purist or person of methodical busi- ness training, and make one ache to order him for a term or two to the common schools. Before he had got through his work was symmetrical and . finished, his handwriting was neat, his papers were drawn up with accuracy, and he acquired style which, though extremely simple, was strong and full of Individuality.
 "A chronological order in reading his papers would show you how he had overcome one fault after another mere ly through noticing what other officers did with whom he was in conference. The, correction of a spelling, for in- stance, though conveyed through no other medium than the proper spelling of the same word in the letter that came back to him, was never ignored you cannot find the place where he makes the same mistake again. It was likewise with the strengthening out of , .-% T hnG occasion to study the correspondence and, notebooks of many officers, but I never saw series in which the devel- opment of mans mind on lines which many persons would consider unworthy of much thought was plainly marked. To me 1t seems part of Grants nature revealed through very little window. Thoroughness lies at the basis of all mental and moral broadening; and Grants readiness to observe, and, what is better, to act, on his observations, in even comparatively small details, is in my Judgment one key to his suprena- cy.
 'sYnu remember, perhaps, the terms of surrender which Grant prepared for a Lee to sign? They were notable first, .lOI Gutll IGISEllcSS, do tIlCy tIo"uCN into a dozen lines what almost any one else would have spread over as many pages, but still more for the fact that they were written in Grants own hand --as,, indeed, was substantially every 2 one of his papers of that whole war and while the party sat at the rendeZ- yous. Horace Porter, our present am sbassador to France, was there, as aid to the general. He tells me that at McLean's house Grant, after greeting Lee and his secretary and exchanging a few sentences of conversation with them, motioned them to chairs oppo- site the center table, and then seated himself and began to write. If he had s been sending a casual note inviting a brother officer to dinner, he could not have been less agitated, outwardly at < least, and yet he was bringing to end war of four years duration, one of the stubbornest and bloodiest in mod ern history, and one which, but for his success, might have changed the whole current os human civilization.
 '1e had just closed sentence, as shown by the momentary cessation of the scratching on the paper, when a little ray of light broke through an opening between him and the Confed- [ crate officers, and fell on Lees sword hilt. Ordinarily nothing would have resulted from this, for at that stage of the war the field uniforms and arms were in a pretty battered condition on both sides; so, in preparing for the cul- rninating act in the drama that morn ing Lee and his secretary had discard ed their old toggery, and dressed them- selves in the best they had, including a jewelled presentation sword which Lee probably had never had out of its case before. The light falling on it's ornamented hilt was reflected with a piercing flash which struck Grant full in the eyes. He had just raised them for an instant. Responsive to the flash, they sought the details of Lees attire, and down they went upon the written sheet again, while there flowed from the nib of his pen the provision that the Confederates should be al lowed to wear home their side arms It was a fine illustration of the power of momentary suggestion.
 tsWhen it was all over, and Lee was riding off in the direction of his head quarters, Grant issued a few routine orders and then summoned Ingalls by x nd si1ppt1v