How many have emerged from the humblest positions to the foremost ranks of our citizenship!

Our barefooted plowboys rise to ride the Steed of State, and wield the rod of republican empire.

Our printing-press sends forth its Franklin; our shoemaker's bench, its Roger Sherman; our blacksmith's forge, its General Greene; our rustic inn, its General Putnam; our clockmaker's stool, its John Fitch; our little groceryshop, its Patrick Henry; the rude habitation of a peasant noble, in the midst of a forest, upon a frontier of civilization, its Daniel Webster; the shanty of a humble Irish emigrant amid the wilds of the Waxhaws, its President Andrew Jackson; a lowly cot upon the 'slashes of the Virginia Hanover,' its Henry Clay; our weaver's loom, its President Fillmore; our machinist's block, its self-taught representative of the industrious masses, N. P. Banks.

"And we may add, that, from the log-cabin of a Kentucky backwoodsman, Abraham Lincoln reaches the chair of President, to reflect more renown than he could inherit from the office, by subsequently ascending that dais in the temple of the world's great men, which only belongs to deliverers of nations and martyrs to liberty, and to the reserved seat upon it, which from the beginning had awaited the coming of the emancipator of a race."

IN ILLINOIS.

Grant as a Citizen of Illinois-His Life in Galena-What He Knows About Leather.

During the year 1859-twenty years ago-Grant became a citizen of Illinois, choosing the City of Galena, in Jo

Daviess County, as his place of abode, where he engaged in the leather trade with his father and a younger brother. He lived in "a cottage on the hill," with his wife and four children, walking to and fro, from the leather store

and back to his house three or four times a day; saying, always with decided emphasis, to almost every casual friend accompanying him, as they picked their broken way, “If I am ever mayor of Galena I will mend this pavement." His thorough knowledge of the leather business may be inferred from the following stories:

While operating in the vicinity of Vicksburg his professed political friends paid a visit to his headquarters, and after a short time spent in compliments, they touched upon the never-ending subject of politics. One of the party was in the midst of a very flowery speech, using all his rhetorical powers to induce the general, if possible, to view matters in the same light as himself, when he was suddenly stopped by Grant.

"There is no use of talking politics to me. I know nothing about them; and, furthermore, I do not know of any person among my acquaintances who does. But," continued he," there is one subject with which I am perfectly acquainted; talk of that, and I am your man?” "What is that, General?" asked the politicians, in great surprise.

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Tanning leather," was the reply.

The subject was immediately changed.

On another occasion an infamous proposal was made by a person to General Grant while he was staying at his headquarters in the field." The general, irritated, ad ministered a severe kick to the proposer, with the toe of his great cavalry boot; and, after the fellow had been driven from the tent, one of his staff remarked to a companion, that he did not think the general had hurt the rascal.

"Never fear," was the reply; "that boot never fails under such circumstances, for the leather came from Grant's store, in Galena."

General Smith's Graphic Description of Grant's Galena LifeLaughable Reception by His Regiment.

Sitting round a blazing camp-fire a few evenings since, writes a gentleman in a letter, dated Raleigh, N. C., April 24, 1865, several Illinois officers related their experiences of General Grant in civil life. Here is, as nearly as I can recollect it, what General John E. Smith said on the subject:

"I don't believe any man in Illinois knew Grant better than I did, and I think I had quite as much to do as any other man in bringing him into the war. I lived in Galena at the time. Grant's place of business was near mine. He kept a hardware and saddlery store. I used to drop in to see him very often on my way home, and he and I would generally smoke our pipes together in his office adjoining his store. He was a very poor business man, and never liked to wait on customers. If a customer called in the absence of the clerks, he would tell him to wait a few minutes till one of the clerks returned; and if he couldn't wait, the General would go behind the counter very reluctantly and drag down whatever was wanted; but he hardly ever knew the price of it, and in nine cases out of ten he charged either too much or too little. He would rather talk about the Mexican War than wait upon the best customer in the world.

"When the war broke out, I told him one day that I was going down to Springfield to see Governor Yates, who had sent for me. Grant merely remarked in a quiet way: 'You can say to the Governor that if I can be of any use to him in the organization of these regiments I will be glad to do what I can.'

"I went to Springfield, and made arrangements for Grant to be sent for. He came right down and went to work to organize ten regiments called out as a sort of home

guard, for thirty days at first, but afterwards enlisted for three years. When he had done this and was ready to go. home, Governor Yates offered him the Colonelcy of the Twenty-first Regiment, one of the ten. He accepted it, and immediately went to camp.

THE STATE CAPITOL AT SPRINGFIELD, ILL.

"I went with him, and I shall never forget the scene that occurred when his men first saw him. It was very laughable. Grant was dressed very clumsily, in a suit of citizen's clothes-an old coat worn out at the elbows, and a badly-dinged plug hat. His men, though ragged and barefooted themselves, had formed a high estimate of what