C046

I am going to tell you a story about General Ulysses Grant that very few people know. It was told to me by my grandfather, who went to school with Grant when both of them were living in Maysville, Kentucky.
One day when Grant was playing mumblety-peg at recess, he lost the game, which meant, of course, that he would have to "root the peg." Each boy gave it a lick with his knife, and, as there were several boys in the game, the peg was driven almost entirely into the ground.
Just as Ulysses got the peg firmly between his teeth, the school bell rang.
My grandfather and the other boys ran into line, calling, "Come on or you'll get a licking for being late," but it was sev-eral minutes after they were seated before Grant appeared in the doorway, a black ring around his mouth and the peg still between his teeth.