Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-10-29
New Series-Vol. 25. No. a.

ing more unbec0ming to his memory,
than lying exaggeratiOnS and fulsome
batteries.
Men without faults are apt to be men
without force. A round diamond has no
brilliancy. Lights and shadows, hills
and valleys, give beauty to the land-
scape. The faults of great and generous
natures are often over-ripe goodness, or
the shadows which their virtues cast.
Three elements enter into the career
of good citizen:
That which his ancestry gives;
That which opportunity gives;
That which his will develops.
HIS ANCESTRY AND YOUTH.
Grant came from sturdy New Eng
land stock; New England derived it
from Scotland, Scotland bred it. at time
when Covenanters and Puritans were
made-men of iron consciences ham,
mered out upon the anvil of adversely.
From New England the stream flow
ed to the Ohio, where it enriched the
soil till it brought forth abundant har>
vests of great men. When it was Grants
time to be born he came forth withO ut
celestial portents and his youth had in it
no prophecy of his manhood. His boy
hood was wholesome, robust, with Wig
Orous frame. With heart susceptible
of tender love, he yet was not social.
He was patient and persistent. He loved
horses, and could master them. That
is good sign.
Grant had no art of creating circum-
stances; opportunity must seek him, or
else he would plod through life without
disclosing the gifts which God hid in
him. The gold in the hills cannot dis
close itself. 1t must be sought and dug.
A sharp and wiry politician. for some
reason of Providence, performed gen.
erous deed, in sending young Grant to
West Point. He finished his course
there, distinguished as a skillful and bold
rider, with an inclination to mathemat
| les, but with little taste for the theory
and literature of war, but with sympai
thy for its external and material devel+
opments. In boyhood and youth he was
marked by simplicity, candor, veracity
and silence.
After leaving the academy he saw
service in Mexico, and afterward in Cal
ifornia, but without conspicuous results.
THE CLoUDED PERIOD.
Then came a clouded period. sad
life of irresolute Vibrabation between
self-indulgence and aspiration through
intemperanee. He resigned from the
army, and at that time one would have
feared that his life would end in eclipse.
Hercules crushed two serpents sent to
destroy him in his cradle 1t was later
in life that Grant destroyed the enemy
that "biteth like serpent and stingeth
like an adder"
At length he struck at the root of the
matter. Others agree not to drink, which
is good, Grant overcame the wish to
drink-which is better. But the cloud
hung over his reputation for many years,
and threatened his ascendancy when
better days came. OF all his victories,
many and great, this was the greatest
that he conquered himself. His will
was stronger than his passions.
Poor, much shattered, he essayed
farming. Carrying wood for sale to St.
Louis did not seem to be that for which
he was created; neither did planting
crops, or raising cattle.
Tanning is an honorable calling, and,
to many, road to wealth. Grant found
no gold in tan vat.
Then he became listless merchant
a silent, unsocial, and rather moody
waiter upon petty traffic.
He was good suDaltern. poor farm
er, a worse tanner, worthless traficer.
| Without civil experience, without litera-
~ gift, too diffident to be ambitious, too
modest to put himself forward, too hon
est to be politician, he was of all men
the least likely to attain eminence, and
absolutely untitled, apparently, for pre-
eminencs: yet Gods Providence selected
him.
LEADING TO THE WAR.
| Mr.. Beecher here entered on graphic
narrative of the historical relations of
political parties, growing out of the fact
that both liberty and slavery were era
died in the Constitution, showing the
growth of the war feeling with great ex-
actness and startling power. Ordained
was Grant with the ointment of war
black and sulphurous." he exclaimed.
"The South, like queenly beauty, grew
imperieus and exacting; the North, like
an obseauious suiter, knelt at her feet,
only to receive contempt and mOckery.'
He likened slavery to Flood Rock in
He'll Gate. Their rock was their for
tress. The hand that fired upon Sump
| ter exploded the mine and tore the fort
tress to atoms. For one moment it rose
into the air like spectral hills-for one
moment the waters rocked with wild
confusion, then settled back to quiet, and
the way of civilization was opened
The South fought for slavery and in
dependence. The North fought for
union, but for political success after the
war. Thus for two years, not unmarked
by great deeds, the war fingered. Lin>
coin. sad and sorrowful, felt the modera-
ton of his Generals, and lOnged for
man of iron mould, who had but two
words in his military vocabulary, Victe-
ry or annihilation. He was comingl He
was heard from at Henry and Donelson.
THE REAL BIRTH.
Three great names were rising to
sight-Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, and
larger than either, Grant With his
advent the armies, with some repulses,
went steadily forward, from conquering
to conquer. Aside from all military
qualities, he had one absorbing spirit
the Union must be saved, the rebellion
must be beaten, the Confederate armies
must be threshed to cbaff as on sum-
mer threshing floor. He had no political
ambition, no imaginary reputation to
preserve or gain. A great genius for
grand strategy, a comprehension of COM
plex and vast armies, caution, prudence
and silence while preparing, an endless
patience, an indomitable will, and real,
downright fighting quality.
Thus at length Grant was really born!
He had lain in the nest for long as an
infertile egg. The broOding OF war
Matched the egg, and an eagle came
| forth
Here followed statistics illustrating
the magnitude of the war, which was
likensd to a sea of blood. The losses on
both sides in 1862, 1868 and 1864 were
added together. making about 100000 in
dead. wounded and missing. besides
26 900 deaths Of Northern soldiers in
1