The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-09-19
GENERAL ROBERT E. LKx.
tMiddiesown Transcrip,.l

It may be that some of our readers have met with the following letier from General Robert E. Lee before, bat VIC have never seen 1t ourselves, and there fore publish it for the benefit of others who may not have seen it. Even if it has appeared in Virginia before, it is SO fine letter that we think it is abundantly worthy of republication. 1t is as remark able for the elegance with which it is ex- pressed as it is for the noble sentiments which it inculcates. We'll may the south ern people be proud of such a man as is portrayed in this letter. Would that among the public men of the country at the present time other specimens of the same type were more common. We find the letter in the New York ChrisfiGa Ad. U0caks:
 ARLINGTON HEIGHTS,
 April 5, Is5a.
 "MY DEAR SON am just in the act of leaving home for New Mexico. My fine old regiment has been ordered to that distant region, and must hasten to see that they are properly taken care of. l have but little to add in reply to your letters of March 26, P and 28. Your letters breathe true spirit of frankness they have already given myself and your mother great pleasure. You must study to be frank with the world :; frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say what you mean to do on every occasion and take it for granted veu mean to do right. If a friend ask favor, you should grant it if it is reasonable if not, tell him plainly why you cannot !; you will wrong him and yourself by equivocation of any kind. Never do a wrong thing to make friend or keep one the man who re- quires you to do so IS dearly purchased at a sacrifice. Deal kindly, but firmly, with your classmates, and you will find it the policy which wears the best. Above all, do not appear to others wh at you are not. If you have any fault to find with any one, tell him, not others, of what you complain; there is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a mans face and another behind his back. We should live, act and say nothing to the injury of any one. It is not only best as matter of p1inci- pie, but it is the path to peace and honor.
 " In regard to duty, let me, in conclu. sion ot this hasty letter, inform you that nearly 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 extin- guished as if by an eclipse. The legisla- ture of Connecticut was in session, and, as the 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. Some one, in the consternation of the hour, moved an adjournment. Then there rose an old Puritan legislator-Da- venport, of Stamford-whos said if the day had come he desired to be at his place doing his duty, and therefore, moved that candles be brought in, SO that the house could proceed with its duty. There was quietness in that mans mind-the quiet ness of heavenly wisdom an inflexible willingness to obey present duty. Duty, then, is the sublimest word in our lau- guage. You cannot do more you should never wish to do less. Never let me and your mother wear one gray hair for any lack of duty on your part. Your affec- tionate father, R. E. LEE.
 "To G. w. Curtis Lee.'