Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-05-29
THE VIRGINIA LEES.
A Chapter from Colonel Cockerill
About the Famous Family.
Mss NARY GUSTS LEES TRAVELS.
Conditions Of the Timber Clainn-Wiiiism
q. Astor's Unjust Treatments OF tue
Women in His Family.

| in New York of late, and one or two IN
teresting condolences have served 70 al
tract special attention to them. some
thing of the kind is needed to attract spe-
cial attention to any visitor here snoi. VI
royalty. A black princess from the Gan
nibal islands. or pirate king may COM
maud his own welcome at his own time.
The Lees have been people OF social pro-
minence, wealth. and refinement since lne
beginning of this country. The traces Vi
generations of gentle breeding snow as
plainly in men and women as IN no,sess
There could be. at this periou vi
equine development. and in tins country
now more and more given over 10 nVls5
| worship. no stronger smile than this. Ana
the Lees love horses with sufficient entnu-
siasm to be thoroughly in sympathy wi.h
the metaphor. The condolences 10 WIFI
| | allude were the announcement oy the
Court of Claims of a decision awarding
S2l6 900 to the heirs of Robert +. Lee on
| the very day when, perhaps. the most
gifted of them, Miss Mary Gusts Lee, was
receiving social attentions from num1er
of prominent New Workers and on the Guy
Immediately following a set dinner az . .ho
Manhattan Club by the PRESIDENT or tne
Southern Society to Grover Cleveland, at
which Ex-Governor Fitzhugi Lee. q
nephew of Robert f. Lee, was guest Oh
honor. Miss Mary Lee is ono or the most
interesting American women or our time.
People who were invited co meet ner ~ tne
residence of Colonel Richard Latbcrs
found n stately. gray-haired lady with the
manners of q court and the added charm
of personal magnetism and intellectual
culture. There Is no educator ike tra'ei,
and Miss Lee has been one OF the greatest
travellers OF her time. certainly the most
distinguished OF her country. know OF no
other American lady who has alone, save
for her maid, penetrated into the remoter
reoions of Syria, Egypt, Central and North
ern Europe, ana even the Isles Oh Tue iai
East
WILL THEY DE PRINTED?
But Miss Lees travels and adventures
have been more venturesome ana more
fruitful than this cursory mention could
indicate. Her graces of person and mind
fit her eminenty for writing them, ana TOT
all know she may alrealy haYs 'Io H.
cord in black and white. IL ought 10 De
good reading. The Lees, however, have
all the modesty of our ancestors. They DO
not shrink from publicity. but withdraw
themselves rather from elbowing the crowd
and contributing in any way TO q spectacle
There were FIVE children of the great Con-
federate leader, George washington Gus
Robert Edward Lee, Jr.. Mary GUSTS
Lee. and Mildred Leo. OF these but
three suryiye-George Washington GUSTS
lee who il the president of the Washing
! ton and Lee University, the famous Ola
Literary Hall School at Lexington. Va,
which was endowed by George Washihs-
TON and became Washington College;
Mary G. Lee. who has lust now been visit
inc here. and Mildred Lee, q cultivated
! and distinguished lady who has like her
! sister preferred a single life. The sons OF
: the family have been declared by contem-
porary critics to be inferior to the daugh-
ters in vIrility of intellect and force or
, character. Assuredly the dlfhcuit roe
of great mans son has been played with
dignity and modesty, at all events,
Inv the sons of Robert +. Lee. But
: they keep away from crowds and
have been less familiar personages to the
. eve of the American public than any other
men of their standing IN the country. Inc
sons Of Grant, of Lincoln. OF Mcclellan, OF
: almost any prominent American you can
: think of, IS recognized at once IN New
: York crowd. The son of Sherman Is reil-
pious recluse the son of Lee is even more
, Secluded. / do not believe he would be
! known by sight Ill any city north or Mason
& Di1on,s line. He is retiring In man
= per to most marked degree, brown
hesded brown-eyed, dlgnifed in manner,
ond refned after the manner of refinement
i. winch only those who live "far from the
naodening crowd" and yet with all the
:, comforts and luxuries OF clty-llfe abou'
them seem to possess.
WOULD DE LIoSIzED ELSEWHERE.
}. General George Washington Custis Lee
[, for he was general under his father II
!. .ba Confederate army, is tall and well
}, nronortloned, not unlike his father II
foure He is not only president OF me
= Washington and Lee University, or wnict
:" his father took charge alter the war, Du
he is still, believe, or was for some year
ar least. active professor in that lnstitu
n ton OF applied mathematics and engi
neerlnp. If mistake not General George
y WASHINGTON Gusts Lee is, "a his iathel
n wac n Nest Point graduate. But II Seems
= Gifficult for a New Yorker to realize tina
q IVA never has chance to look Mt anl
4 become, to some extent. acquainted
n with any American OF such distinction
k Anywhere in Great Britain ne woulu p'
> lionlzed. The claim referred TO-. b. th'
- w.v was for the timber cut from the grea
= old estate of Rayenswood, In talrta'
:. conntv Va by the Federal troops duTlns
:, the war and came from Mrs. Anna NJ
- FItzhugh by descent to Mrs: Mary Ousu
a Lee. Robert T.. Lees wife. Inc court 30 .
\. Claims makes the payment OF tpe SZlo.Oo
"a 10 the heirs of Robert Il. Lee conditional
"a mon their proving their loyalty TO TN
~ ioyernment of the United States; Now,
i. this could be held TO mean their loyalty
N tha fine the decision was rendered or NJ IN
:, time the money shall be paid, there. woul'
: he no trouble in collecting the award. Bu
nobody who ever knew the Lees least o
r all the surviving son ana dauehters, woul'
- arar snnnoso them likely to claim tn
7 monav under such conditions. lndeed
some of their southern friends think IN
n Lees would under no circumstances, claln
N the award Such an amount estimated
l. a recompense for the timber cut from
single estate gives the reader OF to-day
fair idea OF the area anu resources .
H. old fashioned plantations of the south
, arn aristocracy, There was lordly nj
ia mosphere about them and baronial dignit
Ia in their maintenance. Great parks, i
=, when deer disported themselves, IRE
"a ouently surrounded the mansion-house, Z
N which winding drives of mile or two ie
from the IMAM road" or nearest countr
D highway. The times for all these thing
. : has nassed away, and the great estates ar
- now subdiyided and farIned out. The grea
- wheat farms of Dakota. where everything
N done by machinery, have superseded tnen
= Rnt the race of men and women who wer
i bred M on the Old Dominion demesne
* still survives in such people as IA
Lees. | do not know whether the chi
y dren OF Robert +. Lee can rightfuliy Q
i. held as illustrating the truth OF tue uogl !,
Y that great mems daughters are more apt
= he great than great mems sons. But she
: man and Burr seemed, at least, 10 nan
o. down in the direct female line nearer r
t: production of their own ability and cnarn
10 And many other instances may occur
til the thoughtful.
Aston WOMEN AND THE MILLIONS.
The ignoring of Mrs. Coleman Drayto
!, ths will of her father. the late Willial
A a tos has has I been eel, severe shock to I'll
il iady's maDy friends. Just bow it has 81,
%: fectod Mrs. Drayton herself Is not uei
ul nitely known. but it Is surmised that 1t
IS Something of shock to her, In any even
st it has ''set society agog" and has been II
ag means Of reviving scandal that has bee bee
he stirred up too often already. Anoth'
IT. thing this has done-it has created an IN
he mense amount of sympathy for Mrs. Ora,
is ton. and served to intensity the populii
At MATING. II it were any family other thu
Ii the Astors, the will would undoubtedly
TO contested as it ought to be; II has su II
rer I..La ;rdictmaut found against he