The Republican

How Grant Stiffened up an Aide.

An old army officer told me to-day how Gen. Grant revived the flagging courage of one of his staff officers. The latter, when he was first assigned to duty under Grant, had never been in any serious engagement. Almost the first day that he reported to Grant he was placed under a fire of the hottest and most severe kind. The screaming of the balls, the roaring of the cannon, and the sharp crack and rattle of the musketry thoroughly demoralized him. He became absolutely sick and paralyzed with fear. He was so weak from nervous excitement that he lost physical control over himself. Grant came up at the very climax of his fright, and noticing his pale face, his blue lips, and clattering teeth, he said: "Captain, you are frightened. This is natural enough. You will get over it." Suppose, continued Grant, "I should come to you with a hat containing ninety-nine white beans and one black one, and I should ask you to thrust your hand into the hat at a venture and pick out the black bean; do you think your chance of getting that black bean would be very good? Well, your chance for being hit under this fire is no greater than your chance for drawing the black bean." This officer at once took heart, and from then on he never showed the slightest sign of fear. N. Y. World.