Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 2.djvu/222

 372 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS rush-light in comparison with the electric glare which our newspapers now focus upon the public man in Lee's position. His character has been subjected to that ordeal, and who can point to any spot upon it ? His clear, sound judgment, personal courage, untiring activity, genius for war, and absolute devotion to his State mark him out as a public man, as a patriot to be forever remembered by all Americans. His amiability of disposition, deep sympathy with those in pain or sorrow, his love for children, nice sense of personal honor, and genial courtesy endeared him to all his friends. I shall never forget his sweet, winning smile, nor his clear, honest eyes, that seemed to look into your brain, I have met many of the great men of my time, but Lee alone impressed me with the feeling that I was in the presence of a man who was cast in a grander mould, and made of different and of finer metal than all other men. He is stamped upon my mem- ory as a being apart and superior to all others in every way : a man with whom none I ever knew, and very few of whom I have read, are worthy to be classed. I have met but two men who realize my ideas of what a true hero should be : my friend Charles Gordon, was one. General Lee was the other. The following beautiful letter was written by Lee to his son in 1 860 : * " You must study to be frank with the world ; frankness is the child of hon- esty and courage. Say just what you mean to do on every occasion, and take it for granted you mean to do right. If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it, if it is reasonable ; if not, tell him plainly why you cannot ; you will wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind. Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one ; the man who requires you to do so, is 'dearly pur- chased at a sacrifice. Deal kindly, but firmly, with all your classmates ; you will find it the policy which wears best. Above all, do not appear to others what you are not. If you have any fault to find with anyone, tell him, not others, of what you complain ; there is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a man's- face and another behind his back. We should live, act, and say, nothing to the injury of anyone. It is not only best as a mat- ter of principle, but it is the path to peace and honor. " In regard to duty, let me, in conclusion of this hasty letter, inform you that, nearly a hundred years ago, there was a day of remarkable gloom and darkness still known as ' the dark day ' a day when the light of the sun was slowly ex- tinguished, as if by an eclipse. The Legislature of Connecticut was in session, and as its members saw the unexpected and unaccountable darkness coming on, they shared in the general awe and terror. It was supposed by many that the last day the day of judgment had come. Someone, in the consternation of the hour, moved an adjournment. Then there arose an old Puritan legislator, Davenport, of Stamford, and said that, if the last day had come, he desired to be Copied, with the kind permission of the publisher, G. W. Dillingham, from John Esten Cooke's Life of Lee.