, except for a legitimate purpose, as in military strategy;
and, above all, he was incapable of deceiving himself. He possessed
that rarest of all human faculties, the power of a perfectly accurate
estimate of himself, uninfluenced by vanity, pride, ambition,
flattery, or self-interest. Grant was very far from being a modest
man, as the word is generally understood. His just self-esteem was as
far above it as it was above flattery. The highest enconiums were
accepted for what he believed them to be worth. They did not disturb
his equilibrium in the slightest degree. Confiding, just, and
generous to everybody else, he treated with silent contempt any
suggestion that he had been unfaithful to any obligation. He was too
proud to explain where his honor had been questioned.

"While Grant knew his own merits as well as anybody did, he also knew
his own imperfections and estimated them at their real value. For
example, his inability to speak in public, which produced the
impression of extreme modesty or diffidence, 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 believe 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