The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-29

W a
does not hesitate to criticise. The ,,, ana
has been exceedingly kind TO tho a ps"no
and they should not run counter 10 MY
lie opinion any more than in sv
lutely necessary. The Astor .,.~s.
has become SO enormous that thu ,,ita ss
is beginning to view it with some aal .olle
At the rate at which ID is piling nm !, IN;
not be many generations until II I'll, III ~
able to dictate TO the governments if;.ss
not already in position to do 40 -
much wealth vested an men who can snS
it in their conscience to disiphe,,s 1a
brother and a daughter isn't a nls...I.
power to contemplate.
The descendants of Robert z. Lea h.,.
been much in evidence in New YorI =
late, ana one or two interestiuc cn;.g
dences have served TO attract spec;sl :.
tention TO them. Something of thu 49,; =,
is needed to attract special attent;or a -
any visitor here short Of ROYALTY. MAJ -
princess from the Cannibal islands ~
pirate king may command his own -,
come at his own time. The Lees h.s.
been people OF social prominence, wssI,s
and refinement since the beginning ~ al
country. The traces of generation, sa !.
gentle breeding show as plainly in NJ y
and women as in horses. There could -
at this period of equine DEVELOPMENT ~
In this country now more and mo.s
given over to horse worshin -
stronger smile than this. Ana ~
Lees love horses with sufficient enth"'
lasm to be thoroughly in sympathy v;,h
the metaphor. The condolences 10 vbiss
aliude were tho announcement by H.
court OF claims OF decision awsrains
$2i6, 900 to the heirs of Robert r. ~.
the very day when perhaps the most y;f, ~
of them, Miss Mary GUSTS Lee. wac =
ceiylng social attentions from numc.~ -
prominent New Workers, and on the A..
immediately following a set dinner a -.
Manhattan Club by the president N ~
Southern Society to Grover Cleveland -
which Ex-Governor Fitzhugh Lee. nsnh.-
OF Robert Il. Lee, was guest of hnrs.
Miss Mary Lee is one Of the most intsrs.,''
ing American women of our time. pso.
pie who were invited to meet her at ths
residence of Colonel Richard Laths,s
io found a stately, gray-haired lad,
with the manners Of cnur
and the added charm of personal marns,.
ism and intellectual culture There z ma
educator like travel, and Miss Ia ~.
beep one of the greatest travellers of A..
time, certainly the most distinguishes n
her country. l know of no other Arna,.
can lady who has alone, save for her maid
penetrated into the remoter regions n
Syria, Egypt, Central and Northern
Europe, and even the isles Of the far Rae
But Miss Lees travels and adventures
have been more venturesome and more
fruitful than this cursory mention cnnI5
indicate. Her graces of person and mind
fit her eminentiy for writing them. snd
for all know she may already haye H.
record in black and white. II ought h -
good reading. The Lees, however. hsvs
all the modesty of our ancestors Thsv
do not shrink from publicity, bat with.
draw themselves, rather, from sIbov.
ing the crowd and contributing in
any way to spectacle. There were i've
children of the great Confederate leader.
George Washington Gusts Lee William
IL. FitZhugh Lee, Robert Edward Lee. r..
Mary Gusts Lee and Mildred - I(1
these but three suryive-George Washing.
ton GUSTS Lee, who is president Of the
Washington and Lee university, the fam
Gus old Literary Hall school at Lexington.
Va, which was endowed by George Wash.
ington and became Washington college:
Mary c. Lee, who has just now been Nit.
ing here, and Mildred Lee, a cultivssed
and distinguished lady, who has, like her
sister. preferred single life The sons d
the family have been declared by conten.
porary critics to be inferior to the daugh-
ters in virility of intellect and force
of character. Assuredly the dificul.
role of great mans son has been
played with dignity and modessy,
at all events, by the sons Of Robert
+. Lee. But they keep away from The
crowds and have been less familiar per.
sonages. TO the eye of the American public
than any other men of their standingin
the country. The sons OF Grant, Of Lin
coin, of Mcclellan, of almost any promi-
nent American you can think of, is recog-
nized at once in New York crowd. The
rf IS fffy5f.r fhA
son of Lee IS even more secluded. do
not believe he would be known by eight in
any city north of Mason and Dixon's
line. He is retiring in manner to . most
marked degree, b-own-headed, brosE-
eyed, dignified in manner and refined after
the manner of refinement which only
those who live star from the madding
crowd" and yet with all the comforts and
luxuries Of city lite about them, seem 10
possess. General George Washington
Custis Lee, for he was a genera under bis
father in the Confederate army, is tall and
well-proportioned, not unlike bis father
in figure. He is not only president Of the
Washington and Lee university, OF which
his father took charge after the war, but
he is still, believe. or was for some years
at least, active professor IN that instltu'
ton OF applied mathematics and eng.
neering. Ii l mistake not. General Geofgs
Washington Gusts Lee is. as his father
was, a West Point graduate. But II seems
difficult for New Yorker to realize thai
he never has chance TO look at and pe'
come, to some extent, acquainted WA
any American of such distinction. Any
where in Great Britain he would Be lion'
ICED. The claim referred TO, by stae way
was for the timber cut from the great aa
estate of Ravenswood in Fairfax county,
Virginia, by the Federal troops during ~
war. and came from Mrs. Anna n
FitZhugh by descent TO Mrs. Mary Cusp:
Lee. Robert L. Lees wife. The court
claims makes the payment OF us
$4,000 TO the heirs Of Robert =. Lee eoE
ditional upon their proving their ioyMv
TO the government of the United otsssA
Now, ii this could De held 10 mean 1uen
loyalty &C the time the decision was rem
dered or at the time the money snsn
paid, there would be no trouble IN Collect
ing the award. But nobody wno ev1
knew the Lees, least OF all the sufsUin5
son and daughters, would ever suPp9
them likely to claim the money unaa
such conditions. Indeed. some OF tneI
Southern friends think the Lees Nou'9
under no circumstances, claim the 49,
Such an amount estimated as nq0I
pense for the timber cut from slnse
tate gives the reader of today fair lues
the area and resources OF the os0sDI
toned plantations of the Southern -
tocracy. There vas Iordiy atmoep0e
about them and baronial digniy =
maintenance. Great parks, IN W.
deer disported themselves, frequensly ~
rounded the mansion house 70 W.
winding drives of mile or two lea L. -
the main road" or nearest country ns
way. The time for all these thing
passed away. and the great estasssT ~
now subdivided and farmed out
great wheat farms of Dakota, wnefs 49,
thing is done by machinery, have w.
seeded them. But the race OF men
..1,~., - h-oI M IN the OiA ~