Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1896 — GRANT AFRAID OF CHILDREN. [ARTICLE]

GRANT AFRAID OF CHILDREN.

The Hero of Man; Battlea Was Tep rifled by Babie*. Frank G. Carpenter was '-recently asked by Mrs. Gen. Grant to correct some of many ridiculous stories which are now being printed concerning Gen. Grant “There is a story,” said Mrs. Grant, “about the General and a sick baby, which, I am sure, has no foundation whatever. The story describes how the General during one of his earlier campaigns called upon a Union doctor in one of the Southern towns. According to this story, while the doctor’s wife was engaged in frying the chicken, and the General was talking to the husband, the- baby of the family, a 3-months-old infant, began to squall with the colie, whereupon Gen. Grant went to the crib, and, taking the baby in his arms, walked up and down the room with him. singing and whistling till the little fellow quite forgot his pain hud. in the words of the narrator, ‘fell asleep in the arms of the man who was to Itecome America’s greatest military leader.’ ‘'.Vow." said Mrs. Grant, “this is all very nice, but anyone who knew Gen. Grant would not have made such a statement. In the first place, he was not fond of habit's. He was, in fact, a little afraid of children until they got to he at least as high as his waist, and the idea that he would voluntarily take up a colicky baby and nurse it is preposterous. One of his greatest trials while he was in the White House was the children brought in by young mothers and offered to him to kiss. He would perhaps see them before they got near him and would turn around in a helpless way, so that you could see he was uneasy. When the doting mothers at last reached him and held up their children for him to salute, he sometimes blushed to the roots of his hair before he kissed them, and did It In such an awkward way that you could see he was not serenely enjoying the operation. “And then, this man says that Grant took the baby and walked up and down the room, singing and whistling until he soothed it to sleep. Now, it is a well-known fact that Gen. Grant could neither sing nor whistle. The truth is, he could not turn a tune, and he had no great appreciation of music.”