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NEW YORK TIMES
July 26, 1885

THE PEOPLE'S MOURNING. MRS. GRANT'S GREAT GRIEF. TRIBUTES TO THE GENERAL.

The only visitor to the cottage today that was allowed was that of General Horace Porter. The pilgrimage was one of affection and the family had invited it. Mrs. Grant alone did not meet him. She keeps to her room, not having left it since the morning of the death scene. Her grief is seldom violent; it is simply beyond expression. She feels separation from her life's companion every moment. He was her mainstay, and she was his. The letter found on the General after he had passed away, sealed and addressed to her, is always with her. It is her only comfort, though the sight of it provokes frequent outbursts of grief. The blow of death yet stuns her. This note, tender and pathetic, pricks the benumbed emotions and gives them relief. The family are dreading what the effect of her seclusion might be. She will not leave her room, scarcely her bed. They will not try to persuade her to look upon the General until Wednesday, when he will be placed in his coffin. As pitiable as anything can be are her efforts at times to appear reconciled. She tries it more rarely, now that her sorrow has had some outlet, than before.

Tonight Colonel Grant and General Horace Porter left here at 11 o'clock for New York, for conference with General Hancock in regard to the public funeral. The Colonel will stay in New York for a day, and possibly longer. Plans have been submitted to the Colonel for the removal of the body from here. The wishes of the family will govern how and when the body is removed.

General Porter spoke today about his visit: "I was gratified, " he said, "to see how peaceful the General's face looks. It bears no trace of suffering, but is much as it was when he was last in good health. The lips are placed as though he was about to speak, which helps the expression. the hair, as it is brushed, shows little gray; the beard is whitened, but a good deal of brown remains in it. It is too bad to lose a man at his age. He should have had 20 more years of life. It may be that he could not have died at a better time than when he held the affections of the world, but his life was shorter than it should have been. I never knew a man so attractive as he was to his friends. All during the ear those about him were devotedly attached to him. It was so afterward and to the end. his family, his friends, even his servants, all loved him. He had a particularly happy disposition - a disposition that would have made him happy in any condition of life."

General Porter paused and continued: "I never knew him to use a profane word, great as the temptations of army life were. I saw him angry only once. A driver was beating a horse about the head. The General leaped toward him and said, 'You scoundrel.' The man didn't know who he was and shook his fist at him. The General ordered that that he be punished. Once I remember the people of Boston sent him 2,000 books, very handsome volumes. In their shipments, one of the boxes became wet and the elegant Morocco books were spoiled. The splendid covers had peeled away and were simply ruined. When I saw them I said, 'Oh Lord, here are these beautiful books gone!' He looked at them and said quietly, 'Oh, no,the covers are a little chafed, that's all.'

General Grant was a great rider, simply splendid. He could ride 40 or 50 miles and come in perfectly fresh and tire out younger men. He was much attached to a little horse named Jeff Davis because he was secured on Jeff Davis's plantation. General Grant was the only man I ever saw, except one, who could go through a battle without flinching. He never lacked in courage, never dodged. He wouldn't as much wink when bullets went whizzing by. He had iron nerves. He was never hurt by a bullet, despite his exposure. At night, often, he would walk about camp when everyone else was asleep. His habit with the men was to nod and speak, not always a formal salute. His fashion of going out among the men in camp showed a peculiarity of his composition. He wanted to out among people. Many times when President, he would leave his seat and talk with his fellow passengers freely. He was quick, however, to resent familiarity.

No one could be obtrusive with him. I remember one day a fellow thought he would do a smart thing. He reached over to the General and said in a loud voice, winking at his companions: 'Say friend, give me a light, will you?' The General looked calmly at him for a few minutes, put his hand slowly in his pocket, drew out a box and handed the man two matches. That spoiled the game to try and raise a laugh. People who saw General Grant casually wouldn't think there was much in him.

A man said to me once, 'He looks sleepy. I shouldn't think he had any energy.' 'Perhaps he is sleepy,' I said, 'but let an accident happen to this train, you will see him in command at once, and everyone will be obeying him. It will take that to draw him out.' So it was when we had an accident once on a train. The car went under water. He broke a window, his hat floated off, but he came above the water with the cigar still between his teeth. Then he turned, took charge, and helped haul people out of the wreck."

General Porter spoke feelingly of the great devotion of the General and Mrs. Grant, telling how she went to him at City Point and wherever else she could during the war, and of their constant and loving companionship all through life. He praised also Colonel Grant through the sickness and how he carries on despite his grief and his burden.

 

 

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