The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1914-05-30

grew chilly. A, this juncture. when things
seemed about hopeless they could be.
Grants father offered him job Of clerk in his
leather and saddlery store at Galena the wages
to be $50 month. He was glad to accept 1t.
The year 1860 found Grant keeping the books
In the saddery store Everybody looked upon
him a failure in life and it Is likely that he
himself shared this opinion. But soon afterward,
when the war broke out. he was led to hope that
it might offer him some opportunity. His first
effort in this direction to urge relative to
furnish the small amount OF money necessary for
starting business OF selling bread to the mill
tary camp ST. Louis. Meeting with
fusal he went to Springfield Ill. and asked Gov
Yates to give him employment in some
capacity 1t mattered not what The governor
did not look upon his application with much
favor, but finally directed that he be hired at 81
a day to do odd jobs at Camp Yates.
Little he could have imagined II, however
new day was about to dawn upon the fortunes
of Captain Grant he then called. There
was in camp at Mattoon a very unruly regiment
OF volunteers. the Twenty-frst Illinois infantry
which seemed likely to be disbanded because OF
its unwillingness to submit to discipline Grant
after all West Pointer. and any real knowl
edge of military matters just then at a high
premium He asked II he cared to under
take the job of commanding the regiment In Ques-
tion. and promptly accepted the Offer becoming
Its colonel
1t did not take him long get the regiment
into shape. Anybody who attempted to dispute
his authority sorry for 1t. In July he
had orders transfer his command to Alton.
The regiment refused ride the freight
provided for its transportation and he made the
march all the way. He would not even al
low them to get aboard a freight train when one
along
Modesty always marked trait OF this
military commander. When some time before
the events just narrated. friend urged him to
apply for the colonelcy OF regiment, he said
Few able to command 1000 soldiers.
and I am sure am not one OF those And yet
the day to arrive before very long when he
would command million When asked,
three years later, What sort OF a lie
Grant" Abraham Lincoln replied He is the
quetest little fellow you saw He makes
the least fuss OF any man you ever knew. be-
lieve three times he has been in this
quite a while before knew he here.
Its about all around The only evidence you
have that he's in any place is that he makes
things git Wherever he is he makes things
move"
In later years particularly after he became
president, Grant careful about his attire, but
during the Civil he preserved that indifer
10 costume which had marked him while at
West Point. IN the Vcksburg campaign he wore
in place of the usual military hat and gold cord
an old battered 'stovepipe," such the average
private soldier in his army would not have picked
up In the street. In his mouth was always a
black cigar, and he seemed to be perpetually
smoking friend OF his, in excuse, said: Such
stoveppe Grants should be allowed to
smoke.
J. r. Ringwalt, author OF the Anecdotes Of
General Grant" says that he was never wounded.
though he constantly and even recklessy exposed
himself He not merely brave, but insensi-
BILE to danger. or his horse Cincinnatus, he
was devotedly fond. On one occasion, while rid
ing through piece OF woods in Virginia during
brisk engagement he and Colonel Dent we're
obliged to brook at place where the
fire of the enemy concentrated and muir
derous A piece OF telegraph wire had got twist