Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/596

 James Grant, a Model American the golden West and grow up with it. He laid down certain hard and fast rules by which they were to be governed, and he would tolerate no departure from those rules. One of those rules was that the children were all to be in bed at ten o'clock at night; another more im portant one was that they were to render an account to him of the expenditures of all the money he advanced to them. He had no patience with deception or duplicity of any kind. It is highly profitable to note that his demand upon himself was for the truth on all occasions, enabling him to become an expert in detecting an error or falsehood in other people. That is one of the secrets of a great lawyer. It was one of his ideas in hygiene that fruit should not be eaten after nightfall, and therefore he commanded the occupants of his household to observe this rule. The idea provoked a great deal of merriment among the youngsters, who thereupon took delight in concealing apples in their beds and eating them immediately before going to sleep. On one occasion, the Judge had his sus picions aroused that his orders were not being obeyed in this particular, and he unexpectedly burst into the room where several of the children were about to go to sleep. They gasped at his appearance and tried to conceal among the bedclothes the apples they were eating. They were fairly caught, but the Judge suppressed a broad grin, and left the room immediately, saying, "I advise you to keep the rest of them until breakfast." In all essential things he was adamant; in things desirable but not vital he had the softness and sweetness of a rose. He was always fond of horses and chickens. He had high-bred horses and game chickens about him. He was for a number of years president of the

563

American Trotting Association. It would be unfair to conceal the fact that he took great delight in seeing game cocks fight, and he personally pitted his game birds against those of any of his neighbors who might wish to challenge him. He undoubtedly drew his fondness for this sport from the South, where it was formerly a favorite pastime among men generally. It is both useful and highly interesting to consider more minutely the relation ship between Judge Grant and his nephew, James B. Grant. The Governor would not himself admit any favoritism, and doubtless none was intended, but circumstances created it, and perhaps the secret of it lay in the fact primarily that the nephew's name was James. From the time of George II there had been at least one James in the family. When young James B. Grant reached Davenport and consulted his uncle, he found no disposition to select a career for him, or to hamper him in whatever career he might select for him self. Judge Grant told him that if he wished to become a lawyer he would help him to that end to the exent of his ability; but the young man did not like this profession, for the reason, given by him, that he had not a classical educa tion. The upshot of it was that he chose the profession of civil and mining en gineer and went to Cornell for that reason, where he was graduated in 1875; he then went to Freiburg, Germany, for two years, returning by way of Australia and New Zealand and San Francisco, which was a long journey in those days. His education at home and abroad had cost his uncle about eight thousand dollars. One would think that the Judge might well have left his nephew to shift for himself at this point, but it was not so. Not a great while after the young man