The Washington herald., 1909-04-25
GRANT AS A FARMER AND WOOD PEDDLER

[ being one OF the best farmers in a cOun-
/ try Of farmers IS 70 be a failure. then.
: perhaps. the ex-army officer az that
I period was 2 failure He worked early
and late. his crops were put IN always
I AT the right time. and cultivated al the
right time. they turned out better than
/ crops OF his neighborS He had Dan %
I help him. and in busy seasons he hired
I other help. but the bulk Of the work he
/ did himself He was NOT ashamed of
rough work on the farm. and. in fact. he
[ liked il. Grant turned farmer after he
/ left the army. not because he could not
T DO anything else. bus because ne wanted
10 he a farmer That he later left the
( farm and became a stOrekeeper was not
due 20 auy vacillation Of character. bat
70 III health. and z Clesr-sizhted endeavOr
20 better his finances
There was a good deal OF woodland
on the Grants farm when they settled
on il and this he cleared away. corded.
and sold in 81. Louis 70 the wood Yards
At this point I must say a word con
cerning the general belief in the Grants
abject poverty at this time The Grants
were not poor They were not rich. but
they we're in comfortable circumstances.
with plenty TO eat and plenty 10 wear
and no dependence upon their relatives
OF any others. There IS the famous
story OF Capt Grant living in such pow
erty that he had 10 haul his poor little
faggots Of wood through the city With an
OK team and blow on his ungloved fingers
20 keep them from freezing Mr.. Win
sion Chuchill the novelist has done
Capt Grant the honor OF depicting him
as a s9rt OF Observation-Disclosures coun-
tTyman OF the ne'er-dO-well and iIi-luCk
class. as one whose wood peddlmg was
barely able 10 keep his meager clothes
upon his meager body II is 2 very inter
esting picture. but il is not true. He
never peidied wood about the streets.
The truth is that he and his negroes
cut the wood and he often sent one OF
them 70 the city with a load 10 sell 20
the families Of a Mr Blow and Mr.
Bernard Air. Bernard was the brother
OF my brother Johns wife During the
Christmas holidays one winter the negro
who generally drove the team for Capt.
Grant was i'll and there was no one 10
send IN his place The captains ST
AfattaS AAANattS TCht islfH NNIA Lftdf AfiEN
were out OF wood and. accordingly. he
hitched up his team Of white horses to
his big wagon. loaded on the wood. and
hauled it 10 the city himself He prob
ably hauled several loads in this way. I
do not know how many ANY other man
with the same temper Of spirit and the
same lack OF false pride would have done
the same.
on one Of these trips. as TIE captain
was driving along seated on his load Of
wood. he suddenly came face 10 face with
Gen. Harvey and his STAFF. The general.
FeSpleDdeRt in a new uniform and gold
trimmings. eyed the figure OF the farm
er on the wagon with ssfonishment
Then he drew in his horse. Grant stop
ped his team. and the pair smiled into
each others eyes.
Why Grant what in the biazes are
YOU doing2~ exclaimed Hsrney.
The captain. sitting comfortably atop
his load Of wood. with his az and his
whipstock al his side shifted one muddy
boot across the other and drswled:
Well. general. I am hauling wood
The thing Sas so obvious and Grant
SO naive that Gen. Hafaey and bis stan