Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1870 — The President Pays His Fare-What We Know Abont It. [ARTICLE]

The President Pays His Fare-What We Know Abont It.

Tn rtdiculotta import that the Prcsi dent and party r*fu«d to pay railroad hire on their return from General T'. in inns' funeral—now ret at Vest by the authentic statement of ]|rA Chßluh, of the Army m 4 Navy Gazette— hrtnntotntnd a little Incident illustrative of Gen. Grant’s quiet way of movin# among hie fellow men. One bright SajPliath mtuning, la October, 1888, juat before th* Prudential election, we were walking eouthwart on YFabasli avenue, in Chicago, when we eaw the General and two gentlemen, probably members of bis staff. In plainest citizen's attire, a f«V steps before us, going the same way. thousand* met the imortmtious trio, but not one of the vast throng turned tft 16ok St them. Ws felt an almost Uncontrollable Impulse to cry out “there goes the next President of the United Btates,” in order to aee how suddenly the human current would reverse At last, without having been, recrxrniztd by any one, the three entered the Church or the Messiah—Robert Laird Collier's. We, of oourse, followed. The Sexton showed them to a by-no-means prominent seat. The sermon was eloquent, as Mr. Collier’s sermons always sre, but we may be pardoned for not remembering whither or not there were any outcroppings of Unitafinnism la it; for it was not possible to altogether refrain from a study of General Grant’s face aa he listened with profound attention to the discourre and participated reverently in the services. Stepping up to the pastor, after the benediction, we asked him if he knew he had been preaching to General Grant! He answered that he had just been so informed—a few persons having by this lime discovered bis presence. After a few hasty greetings the General stepped quietly away, and proceeded by the shortest Cut to State street, he entered a street car. We found it convenient to enter the same one. Again ire felt an impulse to produce an excitement by stepping up and saying, “Good morning, General Grant,” butr included we had no right to expose him to annoying curiosity. Had wc done so, how many would have failed to offer him a seat? As it was, he stood up, and when the conductor came along put into bis band a .piece of fractional currency—to which the success of the Uirtdn arms had given all Its value-and took his change in a careful and business-like manner. Here was a man whose greatness was at tested by deeds, ’the record -of which covered thousands of pages, and were destined to cover tens of thousands more, of the world’s most thrilling and glorious history a man whose name was recorded iu military annals among the few great captains the reoe has produced—a man destined in a few months to be the Chief Magistrate of the greatest of the nations, not deeming it: beneath his dignity to mingle unknown among his fellow-men, and so anxious to avoid being the object of curiosity and applauding demonstration—so grateful to most distinguished people—that he suffered the inconvenience of a crowded street car to escape themlt was not until he had alighted at RAndolfih street that we spoke to him, and then only in a quiet way, which did not drew the attention of hall a dozen persons. Before the warmth of his friendly grasp was gone, he had disappeared in a West Division car; and that was the last we ever eaw of General Grant. We feel honored to have been a member of the convention which nominated him for President, glad to have been able to write and speak in favor of his election, and rejoiced that we have been blessed with sufficient poverty to keep us from going to Washington to bedevil him ior un office! —Lafayette Journal.