Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/100

 94 Southern Historical Society Papers.

be gray or blue, the Republic will bear them as her proudest orna- ments.

My task is done. The fruitfulness of the theme has led me to tax your patience far beyond excuse. I may not follow Lee in that gra- cious and beautiful life to which he retired as college president at the close of the war, and in which he labored to the moment of his death in repairing the neglected education of the Southern youth, and in teaching his people by precept and example the lesson that " human fortitude should be equal to human calamity," the duty of adapting themselves to the situation in which Providence had placed them, of building up their ruined fortunes, and by a faithful discharge of the duties of citizenship of re-establishing themselves as members of that Union from which fate did not permit them to depart.

I may not pause to epitomize the various qualities which mark Lee as a great captain. His deeds speak for themselves, and exhibit the characteristics of that military genius which enabled him to achieve them.

I may not stop to delineate the peculiar nobility and sublimity of his character, nor the "daily beauty in his life," which, from the cradle to the grave, knew no diminution of its pure and steady lustre, which captivated the admiration of the good, and subdued by its subtle influence even the malice of the bad.

I may not enumerate those historic examples of heroic courage, by which, in desperate crises of battle, when the fate of the struggle trembled in the balance, he took his life in his hands, and would have rushed into the jaws of destruction had not his faithful soldiers forced him to the rear, and, reanimated by his daring, restored by superhuman valor the fortunes of the day. Whenever, in all future time, the leader in some great cause finding his followers about to yield shall be inspired to reanimate them by imperilling his own life, let him who first feels the shame of such exposure, but raise the cry of " Lee to the rear !" and if they be made of manly stuff the re- membrance of the grand example thrice set upon Virginia fields will avert that leader's danger and win the day without it!

Proudly, then, we unveil this monument, fearless of any denial that it perpetuates the memory of a man justly entitled to rank as one of the princes of his race, and worthy of the veneration of the world.

The Christian may point to it as commemorative of one who faith- fully wore the armor of Christ, and who fashioned his life as nearly after that of the God-Man as human imperfection would permit.

The moralist may recognize in it a tribute to a friend of humanity