NEW YORK TIMES
June 20, 1885
ULYSSES S. GRANT NOT GAINING STRENGTH. NO IMPROVEMENT IN GENERAL GRANT'S CONDITION
Again General Grant's day did not begin until noon. The family also made up for the broken night by rising late. The entire night had been an anxious one for all. The lights burning in every room and the close watch kept upon the General, indicated what alarm the family regarded the patient's condition. The nurse was about all night and the light burned in the sick room continuously. A late injection of morphine quieted the sufferer, but he was uneasy until the dawn hours. At noon he appeared on the porch appearing refreshed. The temperature was 75 degrees, but a little of that went a good way with him, and after half an hour he returned to the cottage interior. The mucous accumulations still gave him trouble, though not as much as last night.
When the day was advanced the General returned to the porch. Visitors who saw him there, saw the General crouched in an easy chair, with a muffler around his throat. Earlier in the day he had taken from his pocket a scratch book and wrote as follows, having it to Dr. Douglas: "It is just a week today since I have spoken. My suffering is continuous. Drs. Sands and Shrady say my ailment is improving." Es-Judge Hilton, who visited the cottage today, walked up to the porch. He shook hands with the General and chatted pleasantly for awhile, the General listening with no sign of interest. People on the path watched the meeting and were impressed with the Judge's flowery manner. They wondered how the General could be so indifferent under it. Pretty soon the General rose and went indoors. Colonel Grant hastened to him to learn what he wanted. The General drew out the tablet and wrote upon it: "They will talk me to death if I stay out here," and hobbled grimly within. The General stayed indoors until after the train with visitors had departed. Then he went back outside again, staying in total about 3 hours outdoors.
It annoyed the General and the family that he was deprived outdoor time by those who insisted on talking to him. There was no gain in strength for the General today. For a time before daylight faded away, he sat on the porch with his body almost conforming to the shape of the straight-backed chair. His head rested upon the upper round and in silhouette it looked as if nothing rested there but a coat and hat. It was the nearest to an appearance of collapse in which the General has yet suffered himself to be seen. When the General went into his room at dark his throat was examined and found to be in its usual inflamed condition. He was a good deal fatigued from the exertion of the day and let it be understood that he was in the mood for sleep, and wanted no time lost in preparing him for it. It was 9 o'clock when the morphine was injected and the nurse had his easy chairs and pillows ready for him. Then the lights were lowered. |