158 GRANT AND BOGGS FORM A PARTNERSHIP. [1858. "The old gentleman is trying to persuade me to go into business with some one, and he speaks of you. He thinks I could soon learn the details, and that my large acquaintance among army officers would bring enough additional customers to make it support both our families." "I have worked hard to build it up," replied Boggs, "and I do not want a partner unless he can increase it, but I think you can. Come and see me the next time you are in town." Then, like a wise man, Boggs consulted his wife. She favored the project, thinking that from the large circle of Grant's and her uncle's friends the patrons would be largely re-enforced. So Grant and Boggs agreed upon a partnership. 1859.] GRANT LIVES IN CAMP STYLE. 159 CHAPTER XII. REAL ESTATE AGENT. On the first of January, 1859, the new firm began. The partners knew each other so well that no written agreement was necessary. No change was made in the office, but the little sign at the door was changed to correspond to the new style, and this business card was issued : H. BOGGS. U. S. GRANT. BOGGS & GRANT, GENERAL AGENTS, COLLECT RENTS. NEGOTIATE LOANS. BUY AND SELL REAL NO. 35 PINE STREET, Between Second and Third, SAINT LOUIS, MO. He At first, Grant left his family at Hardscrabble. could not afford quarters at a hotel or even at a boardinghouse, but Boggs, who lived at two hundred and nine South Fifteenth Street, had an unfurnished room which he was invited to occupy. He lived in it in genuine camp style. There was no carpet, and a bedstead with one mattress and a wash-bowl standing upon a chair were the only furniture. Here Grant remained for two months, taking his breakfasts and suppers at the house, and on Saturday nights walking 160 CONDUCTS BUSINESS IN BOGGS'S ABSENCE. [1859. out to Hardscrabble. He was always at his city home of an evening, and was very quiet and companionable. Early in the spring he sold at auction his farming tools and stock and rented Hardscrabble. Then he removed to St. Louis, and took up his residence in a little frame house on the corner of Seventh and Lynch Streets. It was near the river, not altogether a pleasant neighborhood, but the rent was only twenty-five dollars per month. The old office of Boggs and Grant yet stands-though in the changed numbering it is now designated as two hundred and nineteen-in Pine Street, one of the narrow St. Louis thoroughfares which unfortunately have never been burned out and widened since the old French rule. The law-firm occupied the entire lower floor of the ancient brick dwelling, of which we present an accurate view. It consisted of two large rooms, connected by folding doors. Beside a front window looking out on the street, stood the desk of Boggs & Grant. Here, talking through the open window with customers on the side-walk, Boggs negotiated many a loan and heard the gossip of many a summer afternoon. The projecting sign bore the words: "Boggs & Grant. Real Estate Agency. Money loaned on Real Estate security." Boggs, who had a good many houses to rent, and a good many tenants to collect of, inducted his new partner into the business by taking him about town and introducing him to all the leading customers. Then, at the suggestion of Colonel Dent, he left Grant to look after the business while he visited Philadelphia, where, as a young man, he had resided for many years and formed acquaintances among wealthy citizens. Money in Philadelphia was worth but five or six per cent., while in St. Louis ten per cent. was legal interest and fifteen often the current rate. He succeeded in effecting an arrangement with one capitalist in Philadelphia and another in New York to let the firm have four hundred thousand dollars at eight per cent., to loan out in small sums secured on real estate. Returning to St. Louis early in March, in excellent spirits, he advertised that Boggs & Grant were ready to advance money on real estate at ten per cent., the borrower paying the two per |