"It is my wish that they may not have long to wait for me, and that the end will soon come."

His chair was drawn up to the window so that he could look into the street. In that position he fell asleep; and people on the opposite side could distinctly see his pale, death-stricken face; and many of them were seen to wipe unbidden tears from their eyes, as if experiencing a personal sorrow.

The following day, although the General was more comfortable in some respects, Dr. Shrady said,

"The General's condition indicates that he is sinking rapidly; and, so far as I am able to judge from appearances, he is liable to go at any moment."

Dr. Douglas said,—

"There is little doubt that the end is near. I don't think that stimulants will be used to a great extent; for, though we may tide over the night possibly, the end is close at hand, and is looked for at any moment."

These opinions show that General Grant lay at death's door for several days; and yet his wonderful recuperative power asserted itself, and he rallied; but only temporarily, as it was supposed. On the 12th or 13th of April, Dr. Newman called, and, after an interview, said to a reporter,

"His mind is perfectly calm. He knows that the end is coming, and calmly sits, awaiting death. He has no fear, and looks upon death as a mere change that happens as ordained by the Creator, as a part of the grand scheme of creation. I have attended many cases of sickness, and generally the patients have some hope and expect to recover as long as they are possessed of their reason, but in General Grant's case, there is no hope."

Telegrams and letters of sympathy had been pouring

into the Grant home, by the hundred, for many days. They came from every part of the country, and even from foreign lands. Among them was a kind, loving message to Mrs. Grant from Queen Victoria.

One day eight hundred unopened letters of this kind were in the General's home. And one who has been much in the family says, that "these many tokens of confidence and true sympathy touched the General's heart, and often moved him to tears. They aided much to remove the depression with which he brooded over the Grant and Ward failure, as they showed him that he still commands the hearts of the people."

One day a poor old man in seedy garments, who said he travelled on foot from Galena, Ill., and had known and fought under the General, paused in front of the house at 6.30 a.m., and doffing his weather-beaten hat, prayed loud and fervently for his recovery. When he turned to go the tears were coursing each other down the old man's cheeks. He refused assistance offered him by those present, and would not give his name.

General Grant was very much affected when this incident was related to him.

Strange as it may appear, General Grant rallied, so that when his sixty-third birthday occurred, on the 27th of April, he was in a very comfortable condition; and the occasion was celebrated in many parts of our land. In some places it was made a holiday. In some schools special exercises were arranged in honour of Grant. Messages from individuals and societies were forwarded to him, and resolutions adopted by public bodies on that day. Many tokens of friendship, prompted by sincere affection, were also sent. And he was very much affected by these expressions of tender regard for him.

The General was soon able to attend to his literary work; and, though his medical attendants could not express the slightest hope of his recovery, yet he devoted himself to the preparation of his autobiography with as much singleness of purpose and enthusiasm as he could display if sure of living twenty years longer. This is one of the remarkable things about the General -an element of character which made him equal to any emergency during the war, so that he never provided for defeat.

XXX.

HIS LAST JOURNEY.

THE memory of that last journey of the lamented Garfield from Washington to the sea, is still fresh,—the last hope of relief to the great sufferer, in conveying him to Francklyn Cottage, Long Branch, where the bracing seaair afforded another possible chance of life. But the ocean only joined the nation in bemoaning his expiring life, and soon sung a doleful requiem over his death.

In like manner, General Grant took his last journey, not to the sea, but from New York city to the mountains. His departure was hastened on account of a sudden and unexpected change for the worse. The symptoms were so alarming that his medical attendants feared speedy death, unless immediate removal to Mount McGregor should extend his furlough.

Mount McGregor is situated thirty miles from Saratoga Springs, and is reached from the latter place by a narrowgauge railway, which winds around it until the ascent is accomplished. The owner of the now famous Drexel Cottage, Mr. Drexel, tendered the use of it to the General as soon as it became apparent that he might survive to breathe the country air of summer. The location is beautiful, and the air pure, crisp, and invigorating.

At half-past nine o'clock, on the morning of June 16,

1885, the General left New York city, in a private car, accompanied by his family and Doctor Douglas. When passing Stony Point, Colonel Grant, the General's son, spoke so as to be heard above the clatter of the train,—

"When Anthony Wayne stormed Stony Point, my great-grandfather, Captain Dent, was commander of the forlorn hope, and when they reached the walls he had his men stand on each other's shoulders, and then the Captain scaled the rampart over their backs, and stood on the wall and pulled his men up one by one over the human ladder. They then descended and opened the gates of the fortress and let in Wayne's men."

General Grant smiled assent to the statement, and the son added,

"And up here at Ticonderoga, father's great-grandfather and his brother were killed in the French and English war, about the year 1754."

The General nodded assent.

Passing West Point, the scene of his cadetship, the General smiled and nodded to his wife to look across the river to that military home of his youth; and he continued to take in the view until it was swept out of his sight.

Reaching his destination before night, the General was found to have borne the journey quite as well as his friends expected.

The next morning Colonel Grant said: "Father had considerable rest last night. When I went to his room a little while ago he whispered, very faintly, that he found his voice a little stronger to-day, but that he should not try to use it; hoping that with caution it would grow strong enough so he could talk again. But the failure of his voice is owing to debility, and he is growing weaker all the while."