The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-05-30

but in the American Walhalla a niche near to
his proclaims the fame of the warrior to whom
Lee surrendered.
Rarely does it happen that a man who earns
recognition as a total failure in life afterward
/, achieves exalted success. This was exactly what
happened, however, to Ulysses S. Grant, who not
only struggled through many years of grinding
and almost hopeless poverty, but actually fell into
such d~isesteem on account of his inability to
make good" at anything, that people generally
we're disposed to look upon him as an undesirable
person to employ.
There are people still living in st. Louis who
remember Grant as a shabby little man who
brought loads of cordwood into town and sold it
from door to door. He had been a captain in the
army, but had resigned, and at the period in
question he lived on a farm some distance out of
st. Louis, on the Gravois road.
But, in order to make it clear how this state of
affairs came about, one must go back a few steps
in fact, to the boyhood of Grant, who was born
at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 81, 1922. His name
was Ulysses Hiram. His mothed used jokingly
to say to him: BE sure you don't become use
less!" Not much is known about his early youth,
except that at eight years of age he could ride
horseback standing on one foot. He had remark
able skill with horses, and a story is told of his
volunteering to Desirable, at a circus, an unman-
ageable pony which nobody else dared tackle. At
the bidding Of the ~ringmaster a large monkey
jumped up behind him on the horse, and thence
upon his shoulders, holding on to his hair, but
he hung on like grim death, unperturbed.
Another anecdote has to do with a horse which
his father sent him to buy. How much did your
father tell you to pay for it?" asked the owner
of the animal. "He told me" replied the boy, Ito
offer you $50, and If you would not take that to
make 1t $55 or even $780,, If necessary"
Naturally, the man said that the price Of the
horse was $50, Whereupon the lad added: But
/ have made Up my mind not to pay you more
than $50, and you can take that or nothing"
He got the horse for $50.
1t so happened that General Hamer, the mem
Der of congress from that district, was a friend
of Grants father, and he took the trouble to
obtain for Ulysses an appointment at West Point.
In sending in the requisite papers, he mixed up
Ihe name Of Ulysses with that of his brother
Simpson, so that young Grant found himself put
down on the roster of cadets as U. s. Grant. This
accident earned for him at the Point the nick
name of Uncle Sam"-afterward abbreviated to
Sam" by which title of intimacy he was known
for many years after he left the military academy.
He is described at this period of his career as
an understood, awkward youth, much freckled,
with high spirits, and very careless about his
dress. Many of his fellow-cadets, who prided
themselves upon birth and breeding, manifested
an inclination to look dowA upon him, because he
was only a tanners son. While at the Point he
distinguished himself chiefly by his horseman-
ship, and one leap that he made on horseback
Is said to remain to this day an uneQualed record
at the academy.
Scarce was young Grant graduated from West
Point when he fell in love with a girl named
Dent, the daughter OF a man who owned consid-
cradle farming property on the Gravois road, not
far from st. Louis. Her father did not approve
of the match, but her mother favored it, and the
upshot of 1t was that they became engaged. Then
the Mexican war broke out, In which Grant fought
with credit, and at the termination of the conflict
he went back to st. Louis and married the young
lady.
Six years later. in 1854, he resigned from the
army, and with this separation from the military
service began a long struggle against poverty.
He was unable to hold on to any sort of employ
ment, and finally, to help him out, his fatherin-
law offered to give him 40 acres OF the Dent farm,
on the condition that he would clear the timber
off Of 1t. This task he undertook, incidentally
building a log house of four rooms, in which he
lived with his wife and children.
1t was at this time that he made a meager lv
ing by hauling wood to town and selling it on
the streets. Usually he was dressed In a worn
out private soldiers uniform. But it is a matter
of record that he never lost his cheerfulness
though everything he tried seemed foredoomed to
failure. He was defeated in his candidacy fol
the place of surveyor of st. Louis county, and his
later application for appointment as county engi
neer was turned down with the simple indorse-
ment, Rejected"
At length he decided to abandon his little farm
which he had called by the appropriate name OF
Hardscrabble, and moved with his family to st
Louis. There he tried the real estate business
but, as usual, failed at it. AS commonly happens
when a man is persistently unsuccessful, friends