The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-01-20

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is the explanation Oered to the inquiry as
TO claim to distinction of this very modest
dwelling. But she doesn't like to talk
about it" is the well-meant warning
that is appended to the information. And
curious cnes who have wendell their way
UP rae hili 10 interview the chatelaine of
the place anent her early love affair have
Eeen taught many a lesson about med
ding with affairs not their own
AIRS. Jerry Sullivan passed up a Presi-
dent to marry carpenter. and has new
er regretted her choice says the New
Orleans Picayune. She proclaims it cheer
fully, even while she is mOdestly deny
10g that Gen. Grant was ever IN love
with her. There have been so many 10
zee her, and they have sent forth so many
stories, she began explaining. and this led
TO the argument before which she sue
eumbed-that she tell the whole story, the
true story once for all-and then bar her
gate 70 interviewers.
Alr. jerry Sullivan had arrived on the
scene by this time for his dinner-it was
oclOck-and the story for the moment
seemed TO be fading in the distance, as a
hungry man has no consideration for
story. But Grant never was in love with
me"' Mrs. Sullivan veered back to her
original defenses
Not any more than all the other SOL
dieTs and officers were,' her husband sup
plemented, CALAMITY And the story was
on:
From 1910 to 1916, when United States
troops We're stationed at Camp Salubrity
and Fort Jessup, under Capt. Bergman,
among the soldiers was Ulysses s. Grant,
fresh from West Point. a Young iieuten-
ant, susceptible, and, in present-day par
lance, sporty.
DashinE Young Girl.
The gold-lace youths with their West
Point manners naturally had the entree
into the most exclusive homes in the sur
rounding parish. Among these homes was
the palatial estate of Edward O. Blanch-
ard, who lived at the Isle AUX Viches
Plantation, some distance out from Nat
chitOches. In his family Mary Campbell.
an orphan girl. lived as one Of the daugE-
1ers of the household. She was at that
time in her teens and very dashing and
beautiful This Mrs Sullivan. who WAS
the Mary Campbell in question, demurs
al. i may have had q sood color" she
admits.
But they ali say You were beautiful
that you had eyes Ike violets and checks
like pink roses. the interviewer persisted
You can Z believe what soldier says
aggerate-''
'Oh, it was a soldier, then, who said
it, Was It Gen. Crant2"
Here, everybody comes talking about
Gen. Grant! Now, in those days, when he
was stationed at Camp Salubrity-he was
not anything but Lieut. Grant then-no-
body would have had him. There were too
many other nicer and handsoner than he
was. And-well. nobody ever dreamed that
Aren't you sovry?" the interviewer
ventured, that you weren't kinder 10 him
when YOU think about how you might
have queened it over the White -HoGse?'
Not at All Sorry.
Sorry in rising accents. NO; why
II tell you I wouldn't be bothered with
the White House. I'm great deal hap
pier in this little cottage and I haven't
near so much 70 90 as If I'd had that
great house on my hands" Mrs SuIli-
van was busily engaged when we ar
rived a few moments earlier in setting
out 'shallOts' in her garden I wouldn't
swap my Jerry her eyes beamed with
tenderness as they rested on her husband
"fOr any old President True. he's just
a carpenter but he's good one. And
think its better TO marry man
who does humble work well than one
Wao-WeAlf 1 ia not saying anything
against Gen. Grant
4 remember the first time I ever
met him. I can't for the life of me see
why people are interested in such trifing
things. Il was at a great dinner at Mr.
Blanchards. 1 was introduced by the host
as my eldest daughter. It was a favor
tie joke Of his to pass me of for one Of
his own children. I think Lieut. Grant
really believed II, and that I was the
heiress TO the estate and hundreds OF
slaves. Naturally, he paid me some at
tentiOn.'
had no Tastes In Common.
Everybody says he was in love with
you-crazy about you"
Well YEARLY, maybe he did court
me q little. A soldiers heart you know,
is pToverbiaIIy soft. Those soldiers made
love TO ali the girls They had great
times at the receptions and dinners that
used 20 be given then. for those were the
golden days OF NatchitocheS. when hos
pitality was the unwritten law and every
body had plenty. They used TO hold great
levees out at Fort Jessup. which is TWEEN
" miles from here, and the different
springs that are scattered through the
woods about here have always been rally
ing places for the old families TO spend
the summer or TO so TO for a week or two
during the heated term.
Then there was another thing Mrs
Sullivan continued. we didn't have any
tastes in common, Lieut.. Grant and I
We didn't belong 20 the same church, and
/ always said I wouldn't marry out of
my own church, and as I say, he was
wild and dissipated; and, besides all that.
Gen. LOngstreet used to tell me all the
time that Grant was an engaged man
when he came to Natchitoches. And, of
course. no girl is going TO put any de-
pendence in anything an engaged man
tells her. 1 always admired a highly ed
ucated man. Now, Jerry" with another
prideful beam at Mr.. Sullivan. was Door
when ne came here from Baltimore, but
he was smart and highly educated. II
seems TO me he knows all the history
from the beginning of the world; and
Grant didn't know anything. and he didn't
care
Wasn't Thought a Catch
But how did he make love? Where
did you meet him?" the interviewer per-
sisted. Didn't he make you all sorts
Of promises about reforming IL you would
have him?"
7 didn't ever tell any of them that"
Mrs. Sullivan laughed How do YOU tx
pect me to remember all that these many
years2 Why. I've got grown children
and grandchildren. You expect me TO re-
member the foolishness of young lieu
tenant. l tell you Grant wasn't cOnsid-
cred any sort of a catch in those DAYS.
Nobody would have had him. That's the
whole story. There's nothing else to tell.
What's that? Don't ! ever dream about
what might have happened if I had mar
ried Grant? That I don'tl Maybe,
might If 1 hadn't married Jerry. We're
members of the same church. and Jerry
smarter than Grant ever was, if there