The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-06-17
ROBERT EDWARD LEE.
A IRiBUTETO THE SOUTH'S GREAT
EST GENERAL.

>trode b-fnr. Camp Rion, u. 4. ". n
RIdgeway. SC.
Mr.. Commander, Venerable Survi
vors of the War between the States
ladies and gentlemen: When SOM
three months ago l was requested b.
this body to speak here Of the life Q
your great leader, 1 felt the compli
ment of your choice, found in you
bidding no less than command anc
then resolved to merit your conf
dence as best could.
But when 1 applied myself TO th
study of the subject Ior which you *
pressed a preference, day by day .h'
conviction grew upon me, 1t is tot
great and l cannot attain unto it, ant
despair might have been my portion
had not remembered your generou!
paltiality in calling me from my hum
BILE station as an instructor of youth to
speak in this assemblage of those who
have felt the fiery breath of battle, who
have 'stormed the looming bastlons
fringed with fire." to win for them
selves an undying fame on the pages
of heroic history.
In such an mblage should have
been we'll content to sit silent nearer
beholding in every man who wore the
gray, my fathers brother.
But since you have hcnored me with
the encouragement OFF your approval,
shall address myself as best I can to
the subject your partiality has as.
signed me, but praying that you will
continue to indulge my shortcomings:
In the northern part of the good old
state of Virginia, there lies between
the Rappahannock and Potomac riv-
ers, a section of country some thirty
miles in length with an average width
of fifteen miles. Within these narrow
confines have been born statesmen,
soldiers and patriots whose names IL
lumine the brightest pages of Ameri-
can history. Here was born the Father
of his Country, here James Monroe
first saw the light and near the birth
place of these two James Madison was
ushered into the world.
To this section there came from Eng
land in 1641 the Lees. belonging to
one of the oldest families in the moth.
er country. And it has been said Of
this family that it has perhaps given
more statesmen and warriors to their
new home than any other OF our old
colonial progenitors.
To this family belonged Col. Henry
Lee of Revolutionary fame, more ia
miliarly known as Light Horse Har-
ry." Early in the Revolution nomi-
mated by Patrick Henry, then Cover.
nor of Virginia TO be a Captain of cav
airy, ne became the we'll beloved of
Washington. was commended by Con-
gress for conspicuous gallantry, and
It was said of MIN that "he seemed to
have come out of his mothers womb
a soldier" Having won high nonor
in the Revolution he was, after the
return of peace, elected Governor of
Virginia. Upon the death Of Wash
ington he was chosen by congress to
deliver an oration upon the life of the
great patriot. This address it was that
he closed with these words, as immor-
tai as the great subject Of his eulogy,
first in war, frstin peace, and first in
the hearts of his fellow countrymen "
General Henry Lee was wounded
while striving to quell a riot in Balti'
more, and the last years OF his life
were spent vainly seeking a restora-
ton of strength in the West Indies.
His letters to his family during this
period of his affiiction are models of
chaste and elegant expression, of no.
BILE dictfon and lofty prccepts. In one
he writes, Fame in arms or art is
nought unless betrothed to virtue. "
How we'll his great son illustrated
with his life this maxim, all the world
knows.
General Henry Lee was married
twice; the second time to Annie Hill
Carter of an old Virginia family,
noted" we are told, ''for their unset,
fshness, generosity, purity and faith
fulness."
The fourth son by this marriage was
Robert Edward Lee, born January 19,
1907, at Stratford, Westmoreland
County, Virginia, in the same room
in which two signers of the Declara'
ton of Independence first saw the
light.
Amid such surroundings linked by
so many associations to an inspiring
past, Robert Lee grew a noble boy.
Walking the same wooded aisles that
sheltered Washington, he looked upon
the same noble river tnat cleaned fol
the eyes Of that great patriot.
We are told that the ancient Greeks
adorned their cities with the noblest
specimens of architecture land sculp,
ture that their youth beholding the
beauty of outward form might them
selves incline to the beautiful and the
good in their own development. How
much more potent as an inspiration
to noble endeavor must be the con
temptation of the graceful outlines
which mark the development OF a no
BILE life. And before the mind of Rob
ert Lee a devoted mother ever kept the
images of high ideals. After his sew
enth year he never saw his father, bu
that father still spoke to the son
through those faded letters writer
upon the rack of pain, and around the
son, who was to her, as she herself
bore witness, both son and daughter
were thrown all the tender solicltude
and fastening care of Cody mother
To her then more than to anyone else
is due the praise for his nobility o.
life.
Among his fellows he was popular
and good. If there was ever a time
in his life when he "sowed wild oats,
a most diligent search fails to revea
it. What shall l do with my life?'
Is the question that must command
the attention of every Young man