"You have made a mistake," I said to the waiter.

"No, sir," he answered, "I could not make a mistake about you."

"Who sent this?" I asked.

"The committee, sir, with positive instructions that you should
have it at five o'clock in the morning," he answered.

"Well, my friend, I said, is it the habit of the good people of
Hartford, when they have decided to go to New York on an early
train to drink a bottle of champagne at five o'clock in the morning?"

He answered: "Most of them do, sir."

(Nobody at that time had dreamed of the Eighteenth Amendment
and the Volstead law.)

With a smile General Grant then said: "Well, there are some
places in Connecticut where that could not be done, as local
option prevails and the towns have gone dry. For instance, my
friend, Senator Nye, of Nevada, spoke through Connecticut in
my interest in the last campaign. Nye was a free liver, though
not a dissipated man, and, as you know, a very excellent speaker.
He told me that when he arrived at one of the principal manufacturing
towns he was entertained by the leading manufacturer at his big
house and in magnificent style. The dinner was everything that
could be desired, except that the only fluid was ice-water. After
a long speech Nye, on returning to the house, had a reception,