own lack of education, was determined his children should learn something. Being in comfortable circumstances, he sent the boys and girls to the best schools in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, Clermont county, Ohio, where Ulysses was born.

In his "Personal Memoirs," written a year before his death, General Grant admits that he was not much of a student, and probably did not make progress enough to compensate for the outlay.

Honesty to the very verge of the extremest simplicity-was one of young Grant's leading traits.

He was too honest to lie, and this faculty of an inability to deceive was not always to his advantage in a worldly and business way.

Ulysses admired a colt belonging to a neighbor, and at last induced his father to buy it.

"I'll give you the money," replied the father, "but don't pay more than the price the cash represents.'

Ulysses went straightway to the neighbor, who asked $5 less than the amount Ulysses had with him, but the boy “jewed" the neighbor up, saying he had been told he could pay all the money he had for the colt.

So Ulysses paid $5 more than was necessary, but he felt he ought to pay the outside price. Then he returned home, happy and triumphant.

Young Grant's father was a very practical man, and when the boy was not at school he had to work.

He detested the leather trade, but loved horses, so his father let him drive teams engaged in hauling timber.

Ulysses also followed the plough, and up to the time he went to West Point he had few hours of idleness.

Grant had a very exalted idea of the attainments necessary to pass the West Point entrance examination, and was, therefore, greatly surprised when he went through the ordeal without difficulty.

A military career had no charms for him; he did not expect to remain in the regular army even if he should succeed in being graduated from the Academy.

To tell the truth, he did not take very much interest in his military studies, and rarely read a lesson over the second time before going to the classroom.

A good portion of his leisure hours he spent in the Academy library reading novels-so he says in his "Memoirs."

CADET GRANT'S FEAT IS STILL THE RECORD.

Cadet Grant stood well in mathematics, but in French he was not very bright.

He excelled in horsemanship, and there is now at West Point a mark in the Riding Hall showing the height of a flying leap or jump made by Cadet Grant's horse-Cadet Grant being on its back at the time—and the feat has never been equaled.

Grant's love for horses was a passion, and he never saw the animal of the equine class he could not ride or drive.

Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott made a visit to West Point one day, and Cadet Grant thought him the most magnificent and imposing of men. Scott was, physically, a very big man, always dressed in the finest uniform procurable, and presented an appearance calculated to fill the soul of a mere cadet with awe.

Somehow or other Cadet Grant had a feeling, or presentiment, that one day or another he would occupy General Scott's place on review; and it is a remarkable fact that the grade of lieutenant-general (which lapsed when Scott died) was revived by Congress some twenty years later for the benefit of General U. S. Grant, who had been appointed to the command of the Union armies.

Cadet Grant's idea, while in West Point, was to secure, if possible, a position as assistant professor of mathematics at the Academy (provided he was graduated), and after a few years there to obtain a professorship in some college or university.

He had no desire to become the leader of mighty armies; he thought the great Napoleon one of the most despicable figures in history, notwithstanding his genius; he did not believe in war, save as a necessity, and was not eager for conquests on blood-stained battlefields.

GRANT DID NOT CARE TO SEE SOLDIERS.

In after years, when Grant, after serving eight years as President of the United States, was a private citizen, traveling around the world, the guest of monarchs and the recipient of all the honors nations could bestow, he startled Prince Bismarck, then Chancellor of the German Empire, with the quiet observation, "I don't care much to see troops on review."

The Emperor of Germany had ordered out several thousand men for

review on the Tempelhof Field, at Berlin, as a compliment to General Grant, and Prince Bismarck had so notified him.

General Grant was present at the review, but he was not much interested. When Grant went to the Palace of the Chancellor, in the Wilhelmstrasse, to return Prince Bismarck's call, it was supposed, and naturally, too, that the American hero would come in state.

At the appointed hour the sentries at the main entrance saw a rather small man approach, but as he was not in uniform they paid no attention to him until he turned to go into the courtyard.

Throwing his half-smoked cigar away, the quiet, small man walked toward the Palace of the Chancellor as if he had a right so to do, and the astonished sentries, with an intuition which told them this was no ordinary visitor, presented arms with as much precision and formality as though they were in the presence of their Emperor.

At the great door of the Chancellerie General Grant was met by officers in splendid uniforms and functionaries in magnificent array, but the American said nothing.

These officials knew this was the hour set for General Grant's visit to the Chancellor of the Empire, and the name "General Grant" was passed along the corridors and up the staircase as the "Old Commander" walked toward Prince Bismarck's apartments.

Sentinels, officers, officials, employes and all others saluted; Prince Bismarck met General Grant at the door of his outer office, shook hands with him, ushered him in and paid him every attention-and all this time Grant had not spoken a word.

THEY DID NOT "HAZE" HIM AT WEST POINT.

It is not a matter of record that Cadet Grant was ever "hazed" while at West Point. This cowardly and cruel practice was in vogue there during his stay, but Grant was not one of its victims.

He was of medium height, square-shouldered, and firmly built; had a clear eye, good nose and a jaw which did not fail to suggest the resolution and pluck of its possessor.

Cadet Grant was in good health, too, and the fact was noted that while he was not in the habit of seeking quarrels he was never known to go around the block out of his way to avoid meeting any fellow-student-no matter what his size.

Cadet Grant was graduated at the end of the fourth year, and it must

be said his standing in his class was not high. He would have been nearer the head had the class been turned the other end foremost.

His great antagonist in the War of the Rebellion two decades laterGeneral Robert E. Lee-was second in his class when graduated.

So far as general conduct was concerned, Cadet Grant was well up to the front; in mathematics he excelled; in other branches of study he received indifferent marks.

General Lee, in the four years he was a cadet, received not one demerit mark.

For the purpose of military exercises the cadets at West Point are divided into four companies, which are officered from the cadet corps. The superintendent and commandant of the Academy select these officers for their military bearing and qualifications.

Cadet Grant was made a sergeant once, but he was among the lowest in the list, and never rose to a higher rank.

Hence it was not strange that at the time of his graduation that he was not thought of as one who would, at some future period, command the largest armies in the world and take his place among the mightiest military leaders in history.

Being a horse-lover, Cadet Grant was anxious to be assigned to a cavalry regiment, but there being no vacancies in that arm he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Fourth infantry.

He reported for duty at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, on the 30th of September, 1843, and thus, when twenty-one years, five months and three days old, entered upon the career which was to gain him imperishable

renown.

WHY GRANT DISLIKED A UNIFORM.

An incident which occurred at Cincinnati, just before Grant joined his regiment, was responsible for his future distaste for wearing a uniform.

When in command of the Union armies during the Civil War, and when General of the Army afterwards, he never assumed full dress unless it was an absolute necessity.

On the occasion referred to, Grant was riding through a street in the Queen City, not averse to showing off his horsemanship and fine clothes, when a dirty little gutter-snipe shouted, "Soldier! Soldier! will you work? No, Sir-ree! I'll sell my shirt first!"

Lieutenant Grant had not been on duty a year at Jefferson Barracks

when his regiment was ordered South, the prospect of a war with Mexico having assumed the proportions of a certainty, but before his departure the young officer made known to Miss Julia Dent, sister of a West Point classmate, his feelings regarding her.

She became Mrs. Grant in 1848, at the close of the Mexican War.

Grant's gallantry in action and the casualties among his superior officers secured his promotion to a first lieutenancy. He participated in all the engagements possible for a man to be in, and saw some sharp fighting.

His Mexican experience was of inestimable value to him in later years, for he was brought into contact and had an opportunity to study several of those officers against whom he afterwards fought-Lee, Beauregard, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, Pemberton, Buckner and others nearly all of whom surrendered to him before the Civil War was

over.

Grant was ordered to San Francisco in 1852, after serving at various Eastern posts. In 1853, while stationed at Fort Vancouver, Oregon, he was made a captain, and in 1854 resigned from the army, finding it an impossibility to support his family upon his pay.

He was then thirty-two years old. Mrs. Grant had a farm near St. Louis, and the future President "worked" it until 1858. He afterwards established a real estate agency in St. Louis, but as it was not profitable he gave it up. In 1860 he removed to Galena, Illinois, and became a clerk in his father's leather store, which was managed by his two brothers.

This was the business Grant cordially detested, according to his own confession.

He did not remain in it long. In the early part of 1861 he took up his old trade of soldiering, and turned his back upon the leather store for all time.