idence, he accepted simply as
a fact in his nature which was of little or no consequence, and
which he did not even care to conceal. He would not for many years
even take the trouble to jot down a few words in advance, so as to
be able to say something when called upon. Indeed, I believed he
would have regarded it as an unworthy attempt to appear in a false
light if he had made preparations in advance for an "extemporaneous"
speech. Even when he did in later years write some notes on the
back of a dinner-card, he would take care to let everybody see that
he had done so by holding the card in plain view while he read his
little speech. After telling a story in which the facts had been
modified somewhat to give the greater effect, which no one could
enjoy more than he did, Grant would take care to explain exactly
in what respects he had altered the facts for the purpose of
increasing the interest in his story, so that he might not leave
any wrong impression.

When Grant's attention was called to any mistake he had committed,
he would see and admit it as quickly and unreservedly as if it had
been made by anybody else, and with a smile which expressed the
exact opposite of that feeling which most men are apt to show under
like circumstances. His love of truth and justice was so far above
all personal considerations that he showed unmistakable evidence
of gratification when any error into which he might have fallen
was corrected. The fact that he had made a mistake and that is
was plainly pointed out to him did not produce the slightest
unpleasant impression, while the further fact that no harm had
resulted from his mistake gave him real pleasure. In Grant's
judgment, no case in which any wrong had been done could possibly
be regarded as finally settled until that wrong was righted; and
if he himself had been, in any sense, a party to that wrong, he
was the more earnest in his desire to see justice done. While he
thus showed a total absence of any false pride of opinion or of
knowledge, no man could be firmer than he in adherence to his mature
judgment, or more earnest in his determination, on proper occasions,
to make it understood that his opinion was his own, and not borrowed
from anybody else. His pride in his own mature opinion was very
great; in that he was as far as possible from being a modest man.
This absolute confidence in his own judgment upon any subject which
he had mastered, and the moral courage to