Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-03-07
oeneraIGrant.

taken lnLO account
When the great civil war broke out;
the quiet man known in Galena as Cap
tain Grant, seemed a man whose career
was ended. He had been in the regu-
lar army, he had left It; he had not
succeeded in getting into any lucrative
or distinguished employment in civil
life; he had no taste for political labors
/ or prefernenss; no ambition, apparent
", OF any. sort, and was merely an en-
ploye, or, possibly, a partner in a little
! leather store
From the leather store, with its daily
visitors, who came IN to talk leather, or
play quie5 game of cards with the re-
tired army officer, from the drowsy
/ quiet Of the old Illinois town, in the
midst of it, deserted ''mineraI holes, -
/ Captain Grant was called to a brilliant
destiny. The hour had come and the
Ean. A war had begun, the serious
/ ness aDd magnitude of which neither
I party to it comprehended. The cOun-
I try was fun of volunteer soldiers proud
/ u marching, and Generals were as
I thick as bees in June. Most of the
Generals making speeches, putting
down the rebellion in 90 days; perhaps
it was because the silent Captain from
Galena knew that what they were say
ing was patriotic enough, butnOnsense,
for all that, he rose above them, and
Outlived so many of them; at any rate,
it was not long before they had dropped
back; had taken rear seats; had gone
home; or somehow, stopped growing,
in a military way and the GaIena Cap
tain Was a Colonel, General of Brigade,
Major General, COmmander-in-C Chief
It had got down too heavy, hard slug
cling; desperate, bitter fighting; no
more singing soldier or speech making
I Generals; only toilsome marching;
/ great columns of men hurled at noun
famous breast-wOrls, and such heaps OF
dead men, and endless professions OF
ambulances filled with wounded. In
the midst of all this the man, whose life
had once seemed to stop in the leather
store, rose like a star. A man was
wanted of like proportions with the war
ITSELF a man that nothing, however aw-
full, could move or shake, and Grant
was that man.
How great he seemed when the work
was done, and how he was cheered and
praised, and sung to. and GRATED at, and
the people gave him the best they had.
and once almost unanimously made him
President of the United States. The
next time there was some contention,
some who had been his friends in form
eF years fell away or went into OppOsi-
ton, but he walked over them. His
opponent was crushed in defeat and
died of modification.
Then Grant went around the great
world, he received such honors as no
other citizen of his country had ever
known. Kings, emperors, great gener-
ais, on both side Of the earth, took his
hand and babe him welcome, and he
came home to make q triunphal pro-
Dress from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
Then he aspired to third Presiden
tial term and then began trouble. His
candidacy before the convention hurt
him, and very greatly hurt his party
His garments, bright and shining be-
fore, seemed older and more frayed af-
ter that contest. He might thea have
retired, not from the world, but from its
strifes and struggles, its riValries and
contentious. 1t is a blessed alternative,
given to but few, but it was offered him.
lie was not rich, as we count riches in
these days, but he had enough. his
hoalth was unimpaired, his children
were we'll married. He need never
have had another anxiety. He could
have bought somewhere a noble landed
estate, ''faE from the madding crowd. Is
He was born q farmers boy, and he
could have learned to keep company
again with the new plowed earth, the
springing grass. A fine hOrseman, he
could have stood in his pasture and
watched speed and beauty circle about
him. Thus he could have lived, writ
ten his memoirs as a pleasure, not as a
task. and waited ''the inevitable b-ur. -
Another way of life was ckcsen.
Gen. Grant was possessed with the idea
that he could make money, although
his whole life should have shown him
that he had no capacity in that direo-
ton. He lost his money, his sons lost
( money, there came once and again ap-
/ peals from his friends for help. Then
he got a bad fall which made him a
poor, suffering cripple for many months,