Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-01-14

Of Lees dearest friends, who stood By
his bed and watched the last flutter o
his noble heart. II il the son Of Alber,
Sidney Johnston, who writes (ther
and now Professor at Washingtor
and Lee University } 'Once in the sol.
emn watches Of the night, when
handed him the prescribed nourish.
ment. he turned upon me q look oi
friendly recognition and then east dorm
his eyes with such sadness in them that
can never forget il. But he spoke
not . word; and this not bscause. !. he
was unable, for when he chose, he did
speak brief sentences with distinct
enunciation, but because, before friends
or family or physician feared the i'm
pending stroke, he saw the open por-
tails of death and chose to wrap himself
III an unbroken silence as he went down
to enter them. He against whom no
man could charge in a long life a
word that should not have been spoken,
chose to leave the deeds of that life to
speak for him. To me this woful ST.
lence, this voiceless majesty was the
grandest feature Of that grand death" !"
No last word, real or mythical, is chron-
icled of him-no kiss me, Hardv;"
no Il die content;" certainly not "Have
said anything unworthy of Daniel
Webster not even StonewalPs "Let
US cross the river and rest under the
trees" 1t was the mere majesty of
silence.
Before noticing this volume further
than by word of praise which more
minute criticism, if We have room to
give it, will fully justify, We cannot re-
frain from noting how much more
faithful the South has been to the
memory of her distinguished soldiers
than the North, for it is a self
reproach that all must share. There
are no accredited biographies of any of
the distinguished soldiers of the civil
war, dead or living. Take the striking
instances of Meade and Thomas. They
We're, as it were, shoveled shghtingly
into their graves, and to this hour no
adequate monument las been raised to
their memory; no proper. record of their
lives given to the American world,
which pretends to be grateful. We
throw out of view the living, though as
to them the contrast is quite as marked,
for while General Johnston has given
to the public the story Of his cam
paisns, there is nothing on the other
side but Badeau's big book, for which,
to the prejudice of everybody, the war
archieves We're rummaged if not spolia-
ted, and which, it is fair to infer, would
never have been written had not its
hero been a President with patronage,
and the author Consul General. His
tory has not nibbed her pen for either
Sherman or Sheridan, and even Sick
les, happily perhaps, lacks a truthful
chronicler. There are accredited bio
graphies on the other side of Jackson,
and bronze monument, which even
the penury of the South can afford to
raise, is on its way from Munich to Lex
ington. OF Lee there have already,
counting this as one, been two memo
rial volumes-and Colonel Marshalrs
promised story of Lees military life in
the press of the Messrs. Appleton is
looked for with great interest.
This book has peculiar value in so
far that it is strictly personal, and
though it is padded" with good deal
Of outside military narrative from other
pens, its especial value is its illustration
of the man, Lee, in all his relations,
especially social and domestic. There
is another charm in it. 1t is a gentle.
and, without meaning "cant," pure
" Christian book. Of the writer's
opportunities let him speak for him
self.
1t was my proud privilege to have
known General Lee intimately. I saw
him on that day in April. 1861, on
which he came to offer his stainless
sword to the land that gave him birth.
1 followed his standard from Harper's
Ferry. in lS6l. to Appomattox Court
House. in 1865, coming into somewhat
frequent contact with him, rejoicing
with him st his long series of brilliant
victories, and weeping with him when
compelled to yield to overwhelming
numbers and resources"
1t was my still higher privilege to
have been intimately associated with
him during the last five years of his
career, 10 have been one of the regular
chaplains Of his college, to have visited
him frequently at his Office and in his
home, and to have had him sometimes
under my own humble roof: to have
mingled with him in the freest social
intercourse. and to have been the daily
witness of those beautiful traits of char
acter which made him seem even gran
der IN peace than in war.
And here again we pause. 1t hes
been said, and truly, as ever Orientaliss