The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant | Page 6

the very brink of the precipice. My new
horse was terribly frightened and trembled like an aspen; but he was
not half so badly frightened as my companion, Mr. Payne, who
deserted me after this last experience, and took passage on a freight

wagon for Maysville. Every time I attempted to start, my new horse
would commence to kick. I was in quite a dilemma for a time. Once in
Maysville I could borrow a horse from an uncle who lived there; but I
was more than a day's travel from that point. Finally I took out my
bandanna--the style of handkerchief in universal use then--and with this
blindfolded my horse. In this way I reached Maysville safely the next
day, no doubt much to the surprise of my friend. Here I borrowed a
horse from my uncle, and the following day we proceeded on our
journey.
About half my school-days in Georgetown were spent at the school of
John D. White, a North Carolinian, and the father of Chilton White
who represented the district in Congress for one term during the
rebellion. Mr. White was always a Democrat in politics, and Chilton
followed his father. He had two older brothers--all three being
school-mates of mine at their father's school--who did not go the same
way. The second brother died before the rebellion began; he was a
Whig, and afterwards a Republican. His oldest brother was a
Republican and brave soldier during the rebellion. Chilton is reported
as having told of an earlier horse-trade of mine. As he told the story,
there was a Mr. Ralston living within a few miles of the village, who
owned a colt which I very much wanted. My father had offered twenty
dollars for it, but Ralston wanted twenty-five. I was so anxious to have
the colt, that after the owner left, I begged to be allowed to take him at
the price demanded. My father yielded, but said twenty dollars was all
the horse was worth, and told me to offer that price; if it was not
accepted I was to offer twenty-two and a half, and if that would not get
him, to give the twenty-five. I at once mounted a horse and went for the
colt. When I got to Mr. Ralston's house, I said to him: "Papa says I may
offer you twenty dollars for the colt, but if you won't take that, I am to
offer twenty-two and a half, and if you won't take that, to give you
twenty-five." It would not require a Connecticut man to guess the price
finally agreed upon. This story is nearly true. I certainly showed very
plainly that I had come for the colt and meant to have him. I could not
have been over eight years old at the time. This transaction caused me
great heart-burning. The story got out among the boys of the village,
and it was a long time before I heard the last of it. Boys enjoy the

misery of their companions, at least village boys in that day did, and in
later life I have found that all adults are not free from the peculiarity. I
kept the horse until he was four years old, when he went blind, and I
sold him for twenty dollars. When I went to Maysville to school, in
1836, at the age of fourteen, I recognized my colt as one of the blind
horses working on the tread-wheel of the ferry-boat.
I have describes enough of my early life to give an impression of the
whole. I did not like to work; but I did as much of it, while young, as
grown men can be hired to do in these days, and attended school at the
same time. I had as many privileges as any boy in the village, and
probably more than most of them. I have no recollection of ever having
been punished at home, either by scolding or by the rod. But at school
the case was different. The rod was freely used there, and I was not
exempt from its influence. I can see John D. White--the school teacher
--now, with his long beech switch always in his hand. It was not always
the same one, either. Switches were brought in bundles, from a beech
wood near the school house, by the boys for whose benefit they were
intended. Often a whole bundle would be used up in a single day. I
never had any hard feelings against my teacher, either while attending
the school, or in later years when reflecting upon my experience. Mr.
White was a kindhearted man, and was much respected by the
community in which he lived. He only followed the universal custom
of the period, and that under which he had received