TOBACCO LEAVES 



us over, with an amused smile of sympa- 

 thy, and that cigar between his steel- 

 locked jaws, as if he would never let it 

 go. Every time I saw General Grant that 

 day, except during the solemn ceremonies, 

 he was smoking. After that day, I did 

 not see him for eight years. In 1883, I 

 was a clerk in Mr. Russell Sage's office, 

 and General Grant used to come in to see 

 Mr. Sage almost every day, until the awful 

 crash of May, 1884, when the house of 

 Grant and Ward went down in ruins, with 

 many another. General Grant never 

 smoked in Mr. Sage's office, but he smoked 

 continuously in his own, across the street, 

 at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street. 

 We got to be very friendly, and everybody 

 in the office loved and admired him. He 

 was one of the nicest men in the world. 

 The eight greatest men I have ever known 

 were the quietest and most likable and 

 modest: Martin Milmore, General Grant, 

 38 



