The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-11-18
LEES GENTLE NATURE.
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE GREAT CON-
FEDERATE LEADER.
One Who Knew Him as Little Child
Tells How He Impressed Her By His
Gentle Manner and Sympathetic
misunderstanding "reminiscences
of War Times Around Petersburg
Kindness of Federal Officers, &c.
(New York PO>t.)


In the life of General Lee, written
by his nephew, Fitzhugh Lee, may be
found the following extract from a
letter of Gen. Lee to Mrs. Lee, written
from his headquarters near Petersburg,
Jan. 10, 1865:
"Yesterday afternoon three ll,,le
girls walked into my room, each with
small basket. The eldest carried
some fresh eggs laid by her own hens,
the second, some pickles made by her
mother; the third, some popcorn which
had grown in her garden. They were
the daughters of a Mrs. n, refugee
from Northampton county, who lived
near Eastville, not far from old Ar
lington. The eldest of the girls
whose age did not exceed s years, had
small wheel on which she spun for
her mother, who wove all the cloth
for her two brothers-5oys Of IL and
IA years. | have not had SO pleasant
a visit for long time fortunately
was able to fill their basket with apples,
which distressed poor Bryan (his slew
ard), and begged them to bring me
nothing but kisses, and TO keep the
eggs, corn, ETC., for themselves"
When read the letter how wildly
the whole scene came up before me!
the many intervening years were blot
ted out, and | was again the tiny a
year old girl seated very much at ease
on the great generals knee, listening
with deep interest to his conversation
with my oldest sister. The second
little girl, being very shy, subsidized
into a seat, and employed herself
chewing her glove fingers, much to the
modification Of the nurse who accom-
panied US, and who was deeply i'm
pressed with the Importance of the oc-
Casion.
Our farm was divided only by a
fence from the Turnbull farm, where
General Lee had his headquarters, and
the two houses were only few hun
dred yards apart, and very soon after
our visit he called on my mother. He
had completely won our little hearts,
| and we were all eagerness to 60 in
| and see him, and after time of wait
ing which seemed very long to US, and
much washing of faces and curling OF
hair, we were sent in, with the admo-
milton from the nurse to "mind our
manners. But when General Lee
took me up, looking at my hand,
asked: "And how did these little fin
gers get burned?" | forgot all pre-
vious exhortations-also all lessons in
grammar-and promptly replied, "Me
and Althea were pulling roast 'laters
out Of the fire." General Lee seemed
much amused and proceeded further
TO enlighten him as to various pieces
of misChef in which ''me and Aithea
had been chief actors. do not re
member how my il>maled elders
checked my unuoua! ll ,w Of confidence.
Ordinarily i was shrInklngly sensitive
and quiet, So ,ha, my ou;burst Of can
dor was a Tribute 20 he charm OF Gen
eral Lees manner. The "Aithea" to
to whom | referred was a Colored child
Of my own age, and my constant com
panion and deally loved play
During those last months Of the
war we saw great deal Of General
Lee, and if he ever wearied Of our al
tentions we were never allowed to see
it, and we always kissed him at part
ing with the feeling that we had given
him a great deal Of pleasure. Ger
tainly we never failed to cnjpy our
selves. We never felt any awe in his
presence, but always chatted like mag
pies about all our hopes and plans. 1t
was during one OF our visits that he
gave me little tobacco-bag, filling it
with tiny cakes and telling me it was
a present to him from "lit,le May
Mosby, Colonel Mosby's little daugh
ter" 1t lies on the table before me, a
quaint little bag, made Of the red uni
form cloth, with seams covered with
yellow worsted and "M' worked on
one side in child's uneven Stitches
| had the honor Of ride once seated
before the General on the historic
"Traveiler. The pink Cha'lie frock
which | wore on the occasion was af-
terwards regarded as a sacred garment,
only to be worn On the highest Of high
days.
Times were growing harder every
day, and economies becoming mD!c
rigid My mother sent General Lee a
bowl ofsoup one day and in his mes
sage Of thanks he told her that "never
was dish more timely; | had three
generals TO dine with me to-day, and
only baked beans to set before them
We lived surrounded by the sights
and sounds Of war, and we drilled a.
soldiers and made miniature fortifica
tons Every day the end was draw
ing nearer, though al last i, came suG
denly, and found US quite unprepared
Had we foreseen, much could have
been saved, but no one thought OF per
sonal danger and Of our being forcee
to leave the house. A jar OF sllve
and family miniatures was buried in Z
wood shed and box Of china ant
glass was concealed beneath the roo
Of the porch, because il was though
possible that these things might attrac
the attention Of "raiders.' After III
battle, when siragglrrs, searching 70
hidden treasure, sounded every foot c
land around our house and ou,buld
ings, the jar escaped owing to Geners
Custer having used the shed for
stable.