"Cleopatra waiting to receive Marc Antony," which I regret that I did not see. I am informed, however, that it is a beautifully-executed picture. Mr. Bannister has a good education, is often called upon to act as secretary to public meetings, and is not by any means a bad speaker, when on the platform. Still young, enterprising, and spirited, we shall be mistaken if Edwin M. Bannister does not yet create a sensation in our country as an artist.
LEONARD A. GRIMES.
Leonard A. Grimes is a native of Leesburg, Loudon
county, Va., and was born in 1815. He went to
Washington when a boy, and was first employed in a
butcher's shop, and afterwards in an apothecary's
establishment. He subsequently hired himself out to
a slaveholder, whose confidence he soon gained. Accompanying
his employer in some of his travels in the
remote Southern States, young Grimes had an opportunity
of seeing the different phases of slave life; and
its cruelty created in his mind an early hatred to the
institution which has never abated. He could not
resist the appeals of the bondmen for aid in making
their escape to a land of freedom, and consequently
was among the first to take stock in the Underground
Railroad. After saving money enough by his earnings,
he purchased a hack and horses, and became a hackman
in the city of Washington. In his new vocation,
Mr. Grimes met with success, and increased his business
until he was the owner of a number of carriages