A GOOD STORY OF GRANT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1906, 4 February 1885, Page 2

A GOOD STORY OF GRANT.

The Grant family were mentioned, and' General Eobeaon was asked what he thought of the proposition to pension, the head of the family, which it was understood the President would recommend, " There can be no reasonable Objection to it," he said. " I have no doubt Democrats will vie with Republicans in voting for it; they certainly will if they hope to retain the converts they have recently, made in the North,,. This nation must see to it that its greatest citizen and hero is takeii good care of, ■ '• By the way," he went on, "I remember an incident that clearly illustrates his character, When I was Secretary of the Navy some hundreds of the sailors of the better claBS came to mo and asked me to have some rank given to them, They didn't oare about an increase of pay, they said, but'they wanted relative rank, 1 oould do nothing for them, butthoy came several times and were rather importunate and I finally lod a delegation over to the White House to present their petition to President Grant in person. They told him what they wanted plainly but forcibly, " At last an old boatswain camo to the front, and hitching iip his trousers and turning over his incumbent quid, ho said: ' Mr President, I can put this 'oro matter go's you can see it plain, Now here, Ibe —a parent jln fact, a father, My Bon is a midshipman. He outranks me, don't you observe 'I That ain't right, don't you see?" • ■ ■ ' ■

" 'lndeed/ said Grant, 'who appointed him a middy ?' " 'The Secretary here,' the bo'sun said; and encouraged by the question he went on; 'lt ain't right don't you see, that I should be beneath 'im ? Wy, ef I was to go onto his ship, the boy I brought up to obejence would boss his own father! jest think of that?'

"An' ho has better quarters 'n me, and better grub, nice furn'ture, an' all that; sleeps in a nice soft bed 'n all that, gee?' "Yes." the President said: 'yes.; the world is full of inequalities'. I know of a case quite similar to yours.' .'' The old bo'sun' chuckled quietly, arid gaye'ahotbgf Ijitjh, to Ms lower gear. ''' "I know of aft old fellow," paid General Grant, 'who is postmaster of "a little, 'town in Kentucky. Ho lives in a plain way in a small house. He is a nice old man, but he isn't much in rank, His son outranks him more than your son dqes ypu, His son lives in Washington, in the fygge'sfc house there, and he is surrounded by the" nicest of "furniture, and eats and drinks anything he takes .a notion to. He could remove his father from office in a minute if he wanted to. But he doesn't want to. ' And' the old man—that's Jessie Grant, you' know—doesn't seem to care about the inequality of rank. I suppose he is glad to see his boy get along in the world.'

"The old bo'sun looked down a fc the carpet, and tried te bpre a, hole jji jt wjflj hjs toe, and his comrades all laughed at him joyously, and slapped him on the back, and filed out in great glee. It was tlie last I ever beard pf the petition or the petitioners, The old bo'sun flung his cud into a cupsidor as he.left, Probably he had concluded to give up thinking,"