CHAPTER II 



GENERAL GRANT AS A LOVER OF HORSES 



GENERAL U. S. GRANT was fond of horses as a 

 boy, and, in his period of obscurity in Missouri pre- 

 vious to the Civil War, the horse assisted him to 

 bread and butter. When in command of the army, 

 he rode good horses and insisted that they should 

 be as well cared for as circumstances would allow. 

 After he had passed through the campaign which 

 made him President of the United States, his ad- 

 miration for the trotter on the road increased. He 

 accepted an invitation from that stern churchman, 

 Robert Bonner, to ride on Harlem Lane behind 

 Dexter, and was as enthusiastic as a taciturn soldier 

 could be over the elastic movement of the king of 

 trotters. On the way back to town Mr. Bonner 

 asked, " General, would you like to take the reins? " 

 ' Yes," said the President-elect, and a new light 

 came into the eyes. The white-faced and white- 

 legged gelding seemed to feel the touch of a master 

 hand, and he stepped with a conscious feeling of 

 pride and obeyed readily. After a brush on the 

 smooth road, which was suggestive of the force of 

 the whirlwind, General Grant exclaimed : " Bonner, 

 I like to ride this way. You had better give me the 



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