The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-01-19
LEES BIRTHDAY WILL NOT BE
pROFANED THIS YEAR.


| tatives of North Carolina refused to
adopt resolution to adjourn in honor
| of Robert T. Lee, though the birthday
of Lee was a legal holiday. On the
21st of February the House, by vote
| of "a to % adjourned in honor of the
| late Frederick Douglass, the negro
who had married a white wife.
Upon another anniversary of the
| birth of the peerless Lee, it is well to
recall the depths to which the Stae
has fallen when it denied to Lee an
honor it gave to a negro miscegena-
zionist. Happily this year the birth
day of the great soldier falls on the
| Sabbath, when every man and woman
who honors his memory can lift up
their hearts in thankfulness to God for
giving the world SO pure type of the
soldier and the man. This year this
great event will not be profaned.
At Stratford, Westmoreland county,
Va, on the 10th day of January, 1907,
Robert Edward Lee was born. He was
the son of the Revolutionary General,
Henry Lee, known as Lighthouse
Harry. He came by inheritance into
possession of those qualities which
make him the only famous general of
history whose greatness was not dim
med by defeat. In the hour of the
South's gloom and desolation, sheath
ing his stainless sword in the wound
of a broken heart he set an example
of fortitude that was the pattern for
all his followers. Others, emerging
from the war as he did with shattered
fortunes, sought wealth by lending
their name to any scheme that prom
Used large returns and immunity from
toll. Gen. Lee refused to make mer-
chandise of the glory that his own and
his soldiers heroism had brought
him. In the refusal to make use of the
many offers to amass fortune in this
way, Gen. Lee displayed his high sense
of duty to his comrades and his
country as on the field of battle. The
friends of General Grant have always
regretted his connection with Ward &
Co. as the friends of Beaureguard and
Early felt Inundated when they
terry. Lees refusal to thus traffic, or
permit others to traffic, III the conf
denee of his soldiers was an exhibition
OF unselfishness and devotion to lofty
ideals that added, and will add
through all the years, to his honor and
Genown.
this great and good man can but have
AN influence for good upon the youth
OF the country. IN day when the
worship Of money and the devotion to
Drawn are paramount in the public
mind, there is need that the teachers
hold up to emulation the characters of
such men as Lee and Washington and
jefferson and Vance. 1t is such types
of manhood that make history and
that elevate the race.
Father Ryan's poem ought to be
read and reread on this day by every
man in tn South, and by all men every
where who honor bravery and forti-
tude in defeat. We quote:
But OH il in song or speech,
In major or minor key,
Ny voice over the ages reach,
/ would whisper the name of Lee.
In the night of our defeat
Star after star had gone,
But the way was bright to our soldiers
feet
Where the star Of Lee led on.
But sudden there came cloud
Out rang a nations knell;
Our cause was wrapped in its winding
shrould.
Al fell when the great Lee fell.
Go. Glory and forever guard
Our chieftain's hallowed dust,
And honor! Keep eternal ward!
And Fame. he this thy trust
60. with your bright embiazened
scroll
And tell the years to be,
The first of names that flash your roll
rs ours great Robert Lee.
Lee wore the gray. since then
'1is Rights and Honor's hue!
He honored it, that man of men,
And wrapped it round the true.
Dead. but his spirit breathes.
Dead! but his heart is ours!
Dead but his sunny and sad land
wreathes
His crown with tears for flowers,
A statue for his tomb!
Mould il of marble white.
For wrong, "A spectre of death and
doom;
An angel Of hope for Right