The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-02-11

modern times, and President and fresh
from the honors which the crowned
heads Of the world delighted to be-
stow upon him, once more passed
through the Golden Gate, which he
had last gone ont of in penury.
ale told me that the certificate"
SO runs Capt. Ogden's diary, in con-
iinuanCe, "was matter of much i'm
portance to him, as he had depended
upon 1t to pay his steerage passage
East, 'and without it | can't do it,
was SO struck with his look of detection
that said, well, | will cash the Ger
tifiCate personally and can send it back
20 Oregon for correction His face
frightened up all at once, and signing
the usual voucher, he said, Il am
greatly obliged to you for this favor,
and now must go and get my ticket.
1t occurred to me that | could help
him in that direction, too, possibly,
and said, Il will 60 to the office with
you and may get you some concession.
Walking over to the Pacific Mail
Steamship office left him out side,
and, going in, explained the case to
Mr.. Babcock. We we're paying the
company thousands of dollars for trans
portation, and l frequently obtained
concessions for officers in the way of
free passes for their families; hence did
not hesitate to act
"Mr Babcock, in his prompt, Off
hand way, said, what do you want''
| said, CAS- near free pass as you can
give in the cabin He called to the
ticket clerk, Mr.. Havens, and gave
orders to issue cabin ticket on pay
ment of the regular cabin fare across
the lstmus, which the company had to
pay for each passenger, which, in his
case, was tantamount to free pass to
New York.
81 came out of the office and an
nounced my success to Capt. Grant,
who, as matter of course, was delight
ed, as the arrangement left him with
some little money (s15) in his pocket
when he landed in New York to get
home with. Having occasion to go
to the steamer to see some friends off,
| met the Captain (GranD again, and
he showed me the nice state-room
that had fallen to his lot, and said:
This is a great luxury, and what
| did not expect, and | am indebted
to you for ii. The prospect of ever
being able TO reciproCate is certainly
remote, but strange things happen in
this world, and there is no knowing. "
With these prophetic words on his
lips Ulysses S, Grant sailed. Four
years he vegetated on his Missouri
farm. He was always dreamer and
always mystery. He failed to make
success of farming and went to Ca
lena, H., where he attempted to carry
on the leather business. He was clerk
and shopkeeper and delivered with
his own hands the goods that he sold.
When he had leisure he chopped wood
for his own kitchen stove.
The Government of the United
States, when the Civil War broke out,
did not accept his offer to take COM
mission in the army. Mcclellan de-
clned to give him place on his staff.
He recruited an Illinois regiment, and
the Governor of that State made him
Colonel in command of the regiment
which he had brought into existence.
Then he became Brigadier General
of volunteers, and soon after, as Gen.
Barnes phrases it, "this leather dealer
who did his own washing and split his
own wood, this listless, sluggish, in
effective citizen, upon his own motion,
was permitted to capture Fort Henry
and Fort Donelson with IS, 900 prison.
ers.