The stranger looked skeptically at the lad standing before him, and then at the waiting horses and wagon. Was it possible that this nine-year-old boy could drive him from Georgetown, Ohio, to the Ohio River where he was to board a boat? The group of men assured the stranger that young Ulysses Grant could do it—and he did.

Lys, as his parents and friends called him, was a horseman now. He loved horses and horses loved him. He swung on their tails when he was three years old. He rode horseback at five. He could hitch and drive a team at seven. He drove wagons loaded with oak bark to his father's tannery at eight. Now, at nine he was taking passengers over rough roads on long trips.

But his parents didn't allow him to stay out of school. He never missed a day in the three months' term of pay school. The rest of the year he worked in the tanyard and hauled wood and farmed. He liked best the kind of work that permitted him to drive or ride horses.

Ulysses was named after the Greek hero, and he lived up to his name. He was a quiet boy, kind and thoughtful. He had courage to stand up for his own ideas—like the time he saved the sick dog from the Indian boy, and the time he rode the trick pony at the circus. When he was with other boys he showed independence and leadership. These traits were to win for him in later years the posts of Federal commander in chief in the Civil War and President of the United States.

It was something of an embarrassment that his father bragged about him to the neighbors on every occasion. Lys had to prove that the brag was good, and to do it modestly.

When the chance came for Lys to go to West Point, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to go or not. He didn't like war, fighting and killing. But he learned how to be a good soldier. In the great conflict Ulysses was needed to save the Union, and he did his duty faithfully, courageously, splendidly.

Augusta Stevenson, popular author in the Childhood of Famous Americans Series, has written a book that will please all her admirers. She is at her best in bringing to life the many exciting and humorous adventures of young Ulysses. She has a gift for making the heroes and heroines of her books seem like friends to every young reader. She excites admiration for them, rouses a spirit of emulation. U. S. Grant: Young Horseman is a worthy new companion to the list of well-beloved books she has already written: Abe Lincoln: Frontier Boy, George Washington: Boy Leader, and many others.

From the dust jacket