Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1885 — GRANT’S TABLET WRITING. [ARTICLE]

GRANT’S TABLET WRITING.

Copies of Some of the Tablets the G-eneral Wrote His Attending Physicians. ... -■;-■■■ - - • Row the Distinguished Patient Watched the Progress of His Wasting, Fatal Malady. How Hope Alternated with Fear, and How at Last He Give Up the Un- • equal Struggle. 5 > Dr. Dong-las -was a worshiper of Grant from the time he met the General during the war of the rebellion, whonthe Doctor was connected with the sanitary service, until he stood by the bedside of the dead. He believed In Gen. Gtant as a man of destiny. When he went upon the steamer lying before Fort DoneUon, on which Gen. Grant sat, and looked at the commander for the first time. Dr. Douglas was Impressed by two things: the reticence and the alertness of the Federal _ officer. At that time he made up his mind that Gen. Grant was to be a great man in the history of American people. Subsequent events, as all know, prove how close and intelligent an analysis of character Dr. Douglas had made. From the time that the General’s voice began to fail, late in June, up to within a dav or two of his death, he communicated with Dr. Douglas very freely by written tablets. The Doctor has nearly 208 of these which he has preserved, and which he proposes to have j lithographed so that he can present the originals to the family. Shortly after Gen. Grant began to find it difficult to talk, not from the use of cocaine as had been supposed, but from the manner In which the cancer affected the vocal cords, he wrote as follows the 2sth of June to Dr. Douglas; 1 shall have to be,careful about my writing. I see every person 1 give a piece of paper to puts it in his pocket. Some day they will be coming up against my Engiis'h. It was Geu. Grant’s style to read up hooks concerning the history of the war and the records of the rebellion very closely and carefully, and then to sit down and write for hours at a stretch on his memoirs. The 23d " of June, at 5:30 p. m., he wrote the following pago: I said I had been adding to my book and to my coffin. I presume every strain on the mind or Do'dy is one more nail in the coffin. The 27th of June, at 10 a. m., the General wrote : I don’t talk because my mouth is easy, and I want to keep it so as long as possible. If I should get up now, I would i robably go to work preparing something for reading up. The same day ho. wrote a tablet saying that he had still been at work, despite what he had said in the morning. He wrote at 4 o’clock in the afternoon; I wrote four pages; I tore it off, and have it; I must read up before I can write properly. Gen, grant, during his early days upon the mountain, as well us during his illness in New York, was always interested in conversation. June 29, in the morning, Dr. Douglas happened to allude to the coming Fourth of July celebration at Woodstock, by Mr. Bowen, of the Independent.- Gen. Grant wrote as follows upon the pad: I have attended one of those reunions of Bowen’s at Woodstock. They are immense af- _ fairs. WATCHING HIS SYMPTOMS. Most of the tablets —all of them, with a few exceptions, in fact—refer to the symptoms of tho disease that was eating into his vitals. By following the tablets from the time the General arrived at Mount MacGregor until the closing of his life, one obtains a very fair idea of the insidious, deceptive course of-the deadly cancer. The 29th of June, at 3 p. m., it was raining, but the General wrote the following tablet: I have had a very restful dav. I hope, however, we will have a pleasant day outside tomorrow. Within an hour he began to experience a change, for at 4 o’clock he wrote: This is always the trouble. No matter how well I get along the'balance of the twenty-four hours, when the middle of the afternoon comes I begin to feel stuffy, stopped up, and generally uncomfortable. The 30th of June the General wrote the following: The atmosphere here enables me to live in comparative comfort while I am be&ig treated, or while nature is taking its course with my disease. I have no idea that I should have been able to come here now it I had remained in the city. It is doubtful whether I would have been alive. Now, I would be much better able to move back than I was to come up at the time I did. U. S. Grant. The General objected to stimulants. The Ist of July he expressed the wish to have the wine discontinued, and wrote as follows: I have njt taken any wine in six days. So far as I have * ried, I dou’t think alcoholic drinks agree with me. They seem to heat me up, and have no other effect. The 2d of July at 2 p. m. the General wrote this interestin g tablet; 1 have had no rest since you left here. Think I feel more like work than any time 1 since I have been here. I will try to rest a little, however. I have worked and feel a little weak from It, but I cannot sleop. From 7 this morning I have dozed off a few times, but not half an hour' in the aggregate, I have been writing upon my views of some of our Generals and of ■ the .character of Lincoln and Stanton. I don’t Elace Stanton as high as some people do. Mr. lincoln cannot be exalted too highly. One of the peculiarities of cancer patients, is that they- have periods of groat despondency. Gon. Grant had these periods, and July 3he wrote as follows: ’ - There are times when I could not recover if left to myself. What is to be Jny fate to-night. Doctor? \\ ill I have to lie awake, making it a study how to get a breath? It is about as much as I could stand to go through another night. It will be seen! from this tablet how much Gen. Grant suffered and how agonizing was the pain ho endured at times. His anxiety not to be left-alone was the very reason-why Dr. Douglas remained by him so faithfully and so constantly. To Indicate how hope and fear alternated with Gen. Grant I append two tablets. July 4 at 7 p. m. he wrote: - I have been, getting along very well to-day. There is a growing weakness, however. July 5 at 10:30 a. in. he wrote: I think I am not so weak as I was at this time yesterday. July ti, at 11 o'clock at night, he wrote this question to the Doctor: * Is the hotel pretty full now? The following were written July 7. At 11 o'clock in tho morning the General wrote: I had a pleasant morning. At 1:30 in the aiternoon the Doctor remarked that bis patient’s voice was better, and the latter wrote: Yes, my voice has broken above a whisper two or three times this morning. At 7:30 p. in. he wrote: I have had an easy day. DAt 11 p. m. he write to the Doctor about the use of cocaine, and said: I may have to use cocaine. If Ido I will take the liberty of waking von up to administer it. The thoughtfulness of the General in ex-’ pressing himself in making his wants known is disclosed by this last tablet. .He was very anxious at all times not to disturb the physician more than was necessary. At 4 o’clock in the morning of the Bth of July the General wrote what for him was a long tablet, in which he spoke of the use of medicines in bis disease and his familiarity with his own treatment, alluding to the habit he had sometimes of getting up himself and applying cocaine, taking a gargle and cleaning out his mouth whep he needed relief. In this tablet he said that if he kept on taking medicine and treating himself he would become quite a specialist in the treatment o diseases. He added that when he was edu- ‘ cated for the life of a soldier he had no idea that he would live to see the rank of a soldier raised two trades higher and have him•<elf occupy both of these exalted positions; , that he was never much of a politician qnd yet had been two times President: that he had never been much of a book reader, and yet be found himself the author of a book that was almost already in print. He closed with a facetious remark that if he ever got well perhaps he would be an authority on Medicine. July 8, at 11 o’clock in the morning, the •General wrote: I feel pretty well, but get sleepy sitting in the air. I took a half Sn hour's nap. Do yon want in the house? lam as bright and well now. tor the time at least, as I ever will be.

Soon after this be wrote: 1 believe 1 will go in after all. The visit of the Mexican editors, July 8, tired him very mut-h, and at 7 p. m. he wrote: I must avoid such, afternoons as this. All that fatigued me very much. I will take dinner and'get to bed while you are at dinner. , Cocaine afforded him much relief. July 9 he wrote: I gota very considerable amount-of rest. That last coca ne did me a power of - good. The water I wauled very much, and it gave me an easy relief, with free breath and brief rest. The same day, at 1 o'clock 4n the afternoon: I have been sitting up ever since about 9 o’clock. Until just now 1 have not been drowsy all that time I feel very much better than for some time. I walked about this morning with ease and pleasure. At 3p.n.: , I have rested finely and slept a little since you were here. Now is the time, however, when my month begins to till np, and I don't teel quite as pleasant, it had commenced just as you came in a few minuses. Half an hour later: For about three times after 1 had used the cocaine, to-day, I would lie: back in the delightful absence from pain, and even slept some. At 11 o’clock, the last tablet of the day: Tjio 10th of July, one day less than a fortnight. before Gen. Grant died, he wrote: I have had a very fine rest to-day, without so much sleep as to interfere with a good night’s rest trom now on. I may not get it, but 1 hope I will. My swallowing is growing more difficult. ’ ’’Buck" has brought up- the last of the first volume in print. In two weeks if they work hard they can have the second volume copied ready to go totheprinter. I will then feel that my work is done. Alas: before the two weeks had expired the old soldier’s work was done. About this time Gen. Grant began to experience greater difficulty in swallowing. The 10th of July, at 11:50 a. m., he wrote: I shall have to reduce my food very materially in order to be able to do anything much longer. It is quite hard to swallow anything after the first half tumbler. “ The same day, at 4 o'clock In the afternoon, ho wrote as follows: Doctor, lam glad to see yon. I didn’t know that you had come in. I don't see how lam to avoid the use of cocaine. It would relieve me very much. As early as 7;i5 o’clock, the morning of July 11, Gen. Grant was writiug to tbe Doctor:' I woke up feeling perfectly fresh, as if I had had a good night’s natural sleep: My breath is less obstructed than usual at the same time of the day, and the head less filled up. In fact, my breath is not obstructed in the least. I have used no co:aine during the night, nor do I require any yet. It was a peculiarity of Gen. Grant always to be considerate of those about him. This is mado clear by the following tablet, which he wrote at 1 o’clock in the morning tho 12th of July: Not sleeping does not disturb me. because I have had so much sleep; and then I have been comparatively free from pain. I know a sick person cannot feel just as he would like to all the time, but I think it my duty to let the physician know from time to time just my feelings, as it may benefit some other fellow-sufferer hereafter. On this same night the General’s nurse, Henry, gave Dr. Douglas a tablet which directed him to wake the Doctor, and advise with him whether anything should be done. The tablet adds: I feel very well, but Have nearly a constant hiccough. Whether this indicates anything or not 1 do not know, but it is inconvenient. The patient may not have known that this symptom signified the commencement of his last decline. Gen. Grant wrote at all horns of the day and night. For instance, at 4 o’clock the morning of July 12: I notice that your little girls and Julia (his granddaughter) get along very happily together with their swing, lawn-tennis, and nice shade. They seem very happy. About the same hour lie wrote: I have not slept probably two hours since 4 o’clock yesterday. Lying down as Ido all the time I get all the sleep in the aggregate that is necessary. * For the last twenty-fotir hours I have suffered less pain on the whole than usual. 1 have lelt more pain than is real because Fhave not been able to go out. Just now I feel quite strong, waiting until I get drowsy. I would probably feel weak if I had to make any gre'at exertion. It Is a question of avoiding nervousness and restlesness. These I have been free from. The trouble has been more from pain and the accumulation of mucus in the mouth and throat. At 8 o-’cvock on the morning of the same day he wrote: My not eating so much has helped me very much. As you say, the difficulty about articulation comes from the sore upon Inside of the cheek. THE LAST PERIOD OP DEPRESSION, July IB Gen. Grant wrote a tablet which has been In part published heretofore, in which ho said: . .1 I feel sore at the prospect, of living through the summer and fall In the condition I am in. 1 don’t think I can, but I may. Except that I gather strength, I feel quite as well as I have been heretofore, but I am satisfied that I am losing strength. I feel it more in the inability to move about than in any other way, or rather in the lack of degire to try to move. About July 16 a weakness of the stomach was indicated, and the 18th he wrote: If I could recover the tone of my stomach t think 1 would pick up. At this timera looseness of the bowels becauie apparent. At 10 o’clock in tbe morning he wrote: I have been very wide awake, but comparatively free from pain. I was just about getting up to walk about the room. Did any one go for you? I didn't send. At ID o’clock at night he wrote the following: Not feeling sleepy. Have been thinking of the propriety of taking food. If I could recover the tone of my stomach I would like it. The latn the General felt very tired, and at 2 o’clock in the morning began to be restless. The Doctor suggested a change of position, and the General wrote: Do you not think it advisable for me to rest as * tailor does when he is standing Up? With the loss of vitality tho malignant pains about the seat of the disease uppoared to diminish, and tho General was deceived as lo his condition, for he wrote the 19th of July: I think I am better this evening than for some time hack. The sore places mmy mouth do not seem to be spreading. On the other hand, I don’t see that any of them are particularly on the road to recovery. At 9:45 p. m. the same day he wrote: What time have you. Doctor? I have been resting so easily, I would not have been surprised to hear it was 11 o'clock. Henry tells mo It is only a little after 9. July 20, at 7 a. m„ ho thought he was better, and wrote: My rest for the night was better than the average. 1 am satisfied I shall have to give Up coffee. It is distasteful, too, and harder to take tnau anything that goes Into my mouth. I feel weak and feverish after my coffee for a long time, and have an insatiable desire to drink water. It has been a half-hour since drinking coffee, and I have an immoderate desire to drink cold water yet. At 2 o’clock a. m. he had written: In making a summary of the progress of the disease the 13th of July I said that the sores in the mouth were still there. This was hardly correct. The palate is about well and along the tongue considerably improved. The .General s nilud did not weaken until almost the last hour. The day before he died ho wrote: I don’t think I slept the last time because of the medicine which put me to sleep the first and second times. He bad taken the medicine but once. After this tablet was written several more were handed by him to the Doctor, but he very considerately and thoughtfully turned them over to the members of the family, for he felt that they belonged to them rather than to him.— Albany Journal.

Popular Opinion.

, His fame is undoubtedly one for all time. —SL Louie Spectator. Thebe is no stranger' life recorded by Plutarch or Gibbou.— Wilmingbm (N. C.) Morning Star. The faults of others which he shouldered through fall from at the grave.— New York Tribune. The moßt conspicuous example of the kind of men American e pmmonwealths are able to evolve when there is" need. —27ie Critic. , He has become the very embodiment of the idea of successful assertion of the National unity against disunion. —The Nation. At the feet or America’s freedom ’lies the clay of America's idol. He was a Ctesar, without a vile ambition; hew&s a Bonaparte, without a dream of universal empire.—Lot ten {Utah) Herald {Mormon). \ '