A Call With W.D.Howells On General Grant(Dictated in 1885)

Howells wrote me that his old father, who was well along in the seventies, was in great distress¹ about his poor little consulate² up in Quebec. Somebody, not being satisfied with the degree of poverty already conferred upon him by a thoughtful and beneficent Providence³, was anxious to add to it by acquiring the Quebec consulate. So Howells thought if we could get General Grant to say a word to President Arthur it might have the effect of stopping this effort to oust⁴ old Mr. Howells from his position. Therefore, at my suggestion Howells came down, and we went to New York to lay the matter before the general. We found him at No. 2 Wall Street, in the principal office of Grant & Ward⁵, brokers⁶.
I stated the case and asked him if he wouldn't write a word on a card which Howells could carry to Washington and hand to the President.
But, as usual, General Grant was his natural self--that is to say, ready and also determined⁷ to do a great deal more for you than you could possibly have the effrontery⁸ to ask him to do. Apparently⁹ he never meets anybody halfway¹⁰; he comes nine-tenths of the way himself voluntarily. "No," he said, he would do better than that, and cheerfully; he was going to Washington in a couple of days to dine with the President and he would speak to him and make it a personal matter. Now, as General Grant not only never forgets a promise, but never even the shadow of a promise, he did as he said he would do, and within a week came a letter from the Secretary of State, Mr. Frelinghuysen, to say that in no case would old Mr. Howells be disturbed. And he wasn't. He resigned a couple of years later.

分享到：