A Sportsman 389 



pany, which had been organized upon it. The pecun- 

 iary condition of the retired President and General 

 was not an independent one, and it is reasonable 

 to suppose that he had a desire to improve it, and 

 many opportunities had been presented to him by 

 parties engaged in various enterprises to advance 

 his fortune, and likewise benefit the proposers in the 

 advantages to be gained from his prestige. 



In this instance, it was expected that he would 

 take the presidency of the company which had been 

 formed, with a salary equal to that he had received 

 when President of the United States, of $25,000 

 per annum. I am informed that he actually did 

 take the presidency of the company, which he re- 

 linquished after one day's holding, and the com- 

 pany had an adverse result. During the two days 

 after our arrival we made excursions on horseback 

 over the property and its surroundings, and the 

 General expressed himself as highly pleased with 

 the result, and expressed the belief that the prop- 

 erty presented a field of profitable exploitation for 

 thousands of men for many years. This did not 

 correspond with my own impression, which in my 

 situation I had no occasion to express. 



I had an opportunity of observing General Grant 

 during these three or four days, and was struck with 

 his simplicity and reserved strength. He was pleasant 

 and unreserved. His knowledge of the country in 

 its geographical features was remarkable, as he was 

 entirely correct, somewhat to the surprise of his 

 hearers, in his estimates of distances from point to 

 point, accounted for by his good memory of information 

 acquired in his early days when stationed in New 



