Show SHERIDANS LITTLE I JOKE ON GRANT I I The Only Time the Great General Found a Cigar Which Was Too Strong For Him We had done Florida that is as much of the peninsular state as people generally managed to see 17 years ago and the party composed of General Grant General Sheridan their wives two nieces of Mrs Grant the secretary Mr Byron Andrews and a solitary artist ar-tist had just voyaged down the gulf coast stopping for an evenings sendoff send-off and a very lively time it was at Key West and now we were domiciled in Havana Grants perpetual cigar was a pillar of cloud early in the morning and a twinkle of fire at night The Cuban colony of cigar makers at Key West had stowed away our state rooms full of their choicest goods while the famous manufacturers of Havana had all brought out special brands sending sample hundreds to the palace for the approval of the two famous soldiers I would have been a breach of etiquette to keep a check upon ones smoking under such tempting conditions condi-tions So the American visitors puffed away at countless incomparable cigars while the gaily clad officers of the palace pal-ace household rolled their cigarettes and wondered how long the most famous fa-mous smoker of Los Estados Unidos del Norde could keep it up Presently there came a day when the programme included a visit to the lofty fortress of Cabanas over the bay The heavy state barges rowed the brilliant little party across the breezeless harbor har-bor and oh it was hot We climbed the zigzag path which leads up to the portal cut into the grim front of the great military prison which was even I then nearly filled with prisoners of I state We were shown through courts deep dank passageways parades barracks bar-racks and prisons which fill the whole vast interior of this great gloomy terrible ter-rible place General Pocurul then commandant com-mandant of Cabanas paraded the troops with a fine fanfare from a bugle bu-gle squad and then lunch was served at headquarters high up on the battlements battle-ments commanding a grand view of the city and village dotted country I which in those days presented a prost pros-t perous and beautiful appearance General Gen-eral Grant saw everything and smoked on faithfully He noted that the hundreds hun-dreds of cannon planted everywhere from the water batteries beneath the palms far below our outlook up along the precipitous slopes to the crest of I the Avails of Cabanas nearly all were of antique model and inferior caliber practically useless in a modern demonstration I demon-stration but over upon Moros Avails half a mile away as we were told there were rows of big new guns especially I es-pecially just to the right or eastward of the castle And so having shown an I interest in the matter the party must go over to Moro traversing covered I ways and long open spaces in the noonday noon-day heat All might have gone well I however but unhappily Grant ran out of cigars He searched despairingly through his sundry pockets but alas all in vain Then came Sheridans opportunity portunity the chance he had been ai ting t-ing for after a long and varied experience experi-ence of Grants marked fondness for telling army yarns at his expense He had a cigar I was not particularly large or obtrusive just a regular Al Havana but oh it was black and rich and wiled looking Sheridan had been shown through a tobacco factory the previous day While he waited the cigar was made for him and he put it away carefully and smiled a contented little smile So General Grant with a deep happy sigh of relief touched a match to General Gen-eral Sheridans cigar and Sheridan he lagged and gyrated like a bad boy who has put a tack on his teachers chair I took a little time for the strongest cigar ever made in Cuba to get in its deadly work upon the well seasoned old smoker like Grant and Sheridan began to grow despondent but joy once more suffused his rugged yet rubicund features as he saw his old commander with a pallid face talk hurriedly with the interpreter a funny mixture of English and West Point Spanish and a moment later he collapsed in the shade of a wall There was instant alarm among all who gathered gath-ered around and I fancy even the jolly Sheridan got a bit rattled at his own success but he only winked solemnly at the secretary and said Tell em to keep quiet and give him air Hell be all right in five minutes I thought it would fetch him Grant was indeed all right as soon as he got up among the jumble of defenses de-fenses at the top of Moro castle where the cool sea winds blew some of that nicotine out of his lungs and he gazed at Sheridan with a deep indigo look of suspicion but he smoked no more until the next morning I FRANK H > YLOR |