St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-11-27
another nice girl TO keep house with, as the
least compensation for her loss.
"REMINISCENCES.
ofGea. r. Z. Lees Family.
tCo--..,orao,o. os,ho c.loh. I

at the recent opening of the Metropolitan
Museum Of Art, 1 saw among the many not
able people there Miss Mary Lee, the second
daughter of Gen. Robert E. Lee. She is
plain-looking lady of thirty-hve, and, like
herfather, is altogether unpretentious. She
wore heavy cashmere wrap aud was in
company with lady similarly attired. Miss
Mary Lee resembles her mother in appear
anee more than her father. 1t is a remark
able fact that the only one Of Gen. Lees
children who at all resemble him is his old
est son, Gen. G. W. Gusts Lee, now the
president of Washington and Lee University
at Lexington, Va. There are five of the Lee
children-three sons and two daughters.
They were all born at Arlington, Ihe old
| Custis homestead near Washington, where
Mrs. Lee continued to reside after her mar
rage. The eldest daughter, Mildred, has
travelled a great deal since the war. spending
much of her time in Europe, hut when here
makes her home with her brother 'Custis at
Lexington. Miss Mary, the next sister,
also lives with him.
! Agnes, the youngest sister, died during
! the war at health resort in North Carolina.
/ None Of the daughters married and Gusts
\ Lee is also single, but Runey Lee and Rob
! ert E., jr., are both married and are both
/ Virginia farmers. One Of them only has
children, aud the probabilities are that it is
through him alone that the Lee family and
the Gusts family are to be perpetuated.
| Mrs. Robert E. Lee was the only child of
I George Washington Park Gusts, who was
! the only son aud heir OF Martha Washing
/ ton. 1t was from George Washington and
Martha Washington that Gusts obtained
/ Arlington, which, at the opening of the war,
] wa ~ Hua - frx-r
erty Of the South. II was the ideal southern
homestead. The Union forces took possep
sion Of It at the very opening OF hostilitie-
in 1861, and during the war IL was converted
I into a national cemetery. According 10 a
prOyiso Of the will Of George Washington
Park Custis the entire property was to go TO
the eldest son Of Mrs. Lee. The eldest son
was the present Gen. w. c. Lee and he OBJ
tanned Sl25, 600 from the government in
payment for Arlington last winter, there
having been along contest at law about 1t.
That money represents the bulk Of the
( property now in possession Of the Lee fami-
. ~, and is but trihiug remnant Of the mag
niheent estates they owned in Virginia be-
fore the war, not to speak of the hundreds
Of slaves that belonged TO these estates. But
tie family has Jared better than many others
OF the South that were equally wealthy before
the war. Gen. Castis Lee, though the legal
pOssessor Of the Si25,O0O he received for
/ Arlington, has biz heart and makes the
/ most liberal provision for his two maiden
sisters. Though, as stated at the opening of
this paragraph, Miss Mary Lee is a plain
looking lady, with no pretensions to beauty,
she is gifted In intellect aud Is a most
! charming person. During the war she was
most of the time in Richmond with her
mother and sisters, and with them endured
many privations. / have seen little ac-
count book in which there was a record of
I expenditures made on account of the little
party that Mrs. Lee and her daughters, messed
with. II was seldom they had meat or cof-
fee, and the most exorbitapt prices had to be
paid for a chicken or even green corn. The
bulk of the diet was made up of rice, bread
and such light articles.
Mrs. Lee was the most patient and self
abnegating of women, and though con-
tirmed invalid during the entire war in which
her husband was such u prominent actor,
never complained, but was, in the face o.
constant misfortunes and threatened dan
gers, always resigned and serene. She main
tanned this character up 10 the very hour o
her death. A touching story of which Mis-
Mary Lee Is the heroine Is that after one o
the terrible battles near Richmond, just pre-
yious to the close of the war. she aud SOM
other ladies went on the field to render what
ever assistance they could in the care of tn
wounded and dying soldiers of her father
army. One among those 10 which she wen
to o Ter relief was a youth of not over sixteen
who had been fatally shot and was ready I
expire. She saw the poor fellow was going I
die i'm mediateiy, and being struck by hi
youth aud neat attire asked him IL he Ina
any me ssage to leave behind. Eyes" SAFE
he; ''my name is, and my mother live
at; tell her, if you please, that hay
just seen our splendid commander, Gen
Lee, ride by, and that am content to die.
That was all. He never knew 1t was hi
splendid commanders daughter 10 whom b.
was eonfding that final message,