The last day of General Grant's stay in Chicago was crowded full of incidents of interest. In the forenoon occurred a visit to the Chicago Commandery of the Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, where General Grant was formally received and decorated as a member of the Order. Then followed a call from the only four surviving veterans of the war of 1812 residing in Chicago, all of them octogenarians, and proud of the privilege of greeting a military hero who was born ten years after their services ended. General Grant's visit to the Protestant Orphan Asylum, the first charitable association organized in Chicago, was an important episode in the history of that worthy institution, and a memorable experience for its inmates. In the evening the General shed the lustre of his presence upon the performance at McVicker's Theatre, as the guest of the Second Regiment, and thus ended the public portion of his sojourn in Chicago.

The General and Mrs. Grant left Chicago Wednesday morning for their home at Galena, where they arrived safely the same day.

The Inter-Ocean, in summing up the week's series of entertainment, said:

"The demonstration last night at McVicker's closed the

week in Chicago devoted to the reception of General Grant. The week has been a memorable one, and Chicago may well be proud of the record she has made. There has been, from the time of the great demonstration on Wednesday, scarcely a break in the line of receptions and entertainments. On Wednesday there were over one hundred thousand strangers in Chicago, and these, with the citizens who took part in the parade, or who turned out to witness it, swelled the crowd on the streets to over three hundred thousand. Although people were wild with enthusiasm and greatly excited, not a single serious accident occurred that day or during the week. The railroads centering in Chicago brought the great crowd of visitors to the city within the space of twenty-four hours, and although scores of extra trains came in such a way as to bewilder through passengers and suburban residents, there was little confusion, no disarrangement of time tables and no accidents.

"Chicago has succeeded in speaking vociferously a most hearty welcome to General Grant, and in prolonging the festivities and formalities incident to so great an occasion without having the record marred by any public or private calamity."

In all these gatherings Grant has been the central figure. The people have employed every possible means to express their enthusiasm and good feeling. The numerous receptions, banquets and informal meetings were but the outgrowth of this sentiment. Not content with a general shout of acclamation, or with one great outburst of enthusiasm, finding expression in swelling cheers and elaborate decorations, the people of Chicago have sought to testify their appreciation of the work and character of General Grant in ways that seemed to them most fitting and most expressive. They had only a week in which to speak volumes, and they have made good use

of the time. The series of receptions has been in effect a continuous ovation, and when the people say good-bye to General Grant, on his departure for Galena to-day, they will feel that, after all that has been said and done during this week, so remarkable for its demonstrations, Chicago has not spoken half as earnestly as she feels. Through all this experience General Grant has conducted himself in such a way as to make old friends still more devoted, and to make new ones quite as enthusiastic as the old

ones.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

POLITICAL AND BUSINESS LIFE.

It was the evening of the 19th of November when General Grant and his wife reached their home in Galena, and were escorted by old friends to the family residence, which had been donated to the general immediately after the war. It is an unpretentious brick house, one of the best in the somewhat deserted village, situated upon a bluff overlooking the town, "beautiful for situation," if not "altogether lovely."

The great tour was now over, the most memorable in many respects ever known in human history. No man had ever traveled so far and been received with such distinguished consideration wherever he went. He had circumnavigated the globe without getting beyond the reach of his fame. That in itself was something which no other man could do, not even excepting Gladstone or Bismarck. The modest gentleman who had said a few years ago, half seriously, half jestingly that he had no other ambition than to return to Galena and be the alderman of his ward, was home again, having been greeted in even the "uttermost parts of the earth," with salvos of honor, content to spend the rest of his days in dignified retirement, "far from the madding crowd." But such was not to be his fate; unfortunately two distinct lines of activity at once began to juggle with his name— the politicians who sought restoration to or perpetuation in power through his leadership and the money makers who saw a commercial value in his name. Without be