The Washington herald., 1909-04-25

E4rna Dent CassT. n ths February Circle.
At the ;ime Of her marriage my father
had given Julia eighty acres Of land. a
/ part Of the White Haven estate, and stu
ated only about half mile from our
dwelling On this land the captain and
Mrs. Grant decided 10 build their home.
It was good land. and with the aid OF the
three slaves which father had given julia
/ -S1ey had no fear Of not earning living.
+ Perhaps I ought 10 explain something
about those slaves For two generations
the story has been current in certain parts
Of the country that Capt Grant himself
was 2 slave owner. He never was. but
his wife was. The Dents had owned
slaves from the date OF their settlement IN
this country. At the time was growing
up my father owned about thirty slaves
! OF all sizes and sexes Either al birth, or
as we grew older. he gave 20 each Of his
three girls three negroes These. with the
I parcels OF the homestead which he gave
Us as his bridal present, we're supposed 10
be our dot When julia was born father
/ gave her the girl Eliza, little ginger col
Ored Julia Ann. and Dan. who was about
the most polished specimen OF human
sbOny you ever saw. They were TO serve
/ her as maid, cook, and house boy Ny
sister Nelly, who afterward became Mrs
Sharp. had Phyllis. Susy. and John As
for ne. 7 was given Mary my old nurse.
Lucy. Louise. and JEFF
Thus. We were each provided with our
slaves. and at her marriage Julia. OF
course brought her three to Capt Grant.
10 human slavery as an institution ] DO
not think that he was at any time q very
rank abolitiouist or that he opposed Il so
violently that the acceptance Of julia 5
slaves had 10 be forced upon him
The house that the Grants built was Of
logs. The logs for it were cut and shaped
by the captain himself. It was planned
By Mrs Grant and was both fashioned
and furnished with an eve 10 the artistic.
as well as for comfort and eoziness
Though not pretentious 10 modern eyes.
# was not the mean. ramshaekle hut that
the popular mind supposes II 10 have
been. II had i've good rooms and a hsu.
which furnished all TIE space the Grants
needed al that time / know that il was
on exhibition al the worlds fair in St
Louis. and it looked anything but elegant
saere, amid its more garish surround
ings. But it had been built fifty years
before, and il had not been lived in fo-
a great many Of those years.
Ihe captains father. Jesse Grant, gave
him Sl.0Q0 20 furnish il with besides
team ard wagon. With this team OF
two white horses. g COW. the three slaves.
the eighty acres of land. and the log
house the Grants began life as civilians.
\ very prominent man has recently
said or a pgblic occasion that Gen.
Grants life Al this time was failure.
II is dlhieulJ for those who knew him
intimately III those later 30 5 TO regard Il
as such. II is true. fane had not yet
come 70 him. nor had riches. but ne had
never shown greater strength OF char
aeter. greater fortitude under adverse cir
cuustances, no more determination than
he did AT this time-nOr 90 7 think that
anything he did in the civil war is more
10 his credit as man than these simple
days OF hard work on his Missouri farm.
II earning and winning the reputation of