"For no man is above the law."

I mentioned a few posts ago that I'd recalled a funny story about General and former President of the United States of America, Ulysses S. Grant. It's one of many plays in Citizenship Plays: A Dramatic Reader for Upper Grades (Eleanore Hubbard, 1929).

The scene is a fire in New York City. A crowd has gathered and police rope off the street for fear the building will collapse. Grant and a friend walk to the fire to watch "the firemen fight their enemy." Wall comes down. Grant slips under the rope for a better view. A policeman grabs him and pushes him back. 

An onlooker says, "That man must have thought he had a special privilege." To which Grant replies, "No, I had no business there."

As he and his friend walk away, the friend asks, "General why didn't you tell that policeman who you were? Think of him turning you back. A general famous all over the world, and an ex-President of the United States!"

Grant replies, "The policeman was perfectly right. I had no business under the rope. The rule that was made for others was made for me. President, general, or private citizen, I should obey it, for no man is above the law."