His father, however, was unmistakably proud of the quiet boy who
did what he was told to do without talking about it, and though
he rarely displayed his feelings, the whole village knew that he
thought "Useless" was a wonder and smiled at his parental pride.
But the smile almost turned to a laugh when it became known that
he proposed to send the boy to West Point, for the last cadet
appointed from Georgetown had failed in his examinations before he
had been a year at the Academy, and few of the neighbors believed
that Ulysses would survive as long. Certainly, the boy himself had
never aspired to a cadetship, and when his father suddenly remarked
to him one morning that he was likely to obtain the appointment,
he receive the announcement with uncomprehending surprise.

"What appointment?" he asked

"To West Point," replied his father. "I have applied for it."

"But I won't go!" gasped the astonished youth.

"I think you will," was the quiet but firm response, and Grant, who
had been taught obedience almost from his cradle, decided that if
his father thought so, he did, too.

But, though the young man yielded to his parent's wishes, he had
no desire to become a soldier and entirely agreed with the opinion
of the village that he had neither the ability nor the education
to acquit himself with credit. In fact, the whole idea of military
life was so distasteful to him that he almost hoped he would not
fulfill the physical and other requirements for admission. Indeed,