El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-18
PICKETT AND HIS MEN

Cemetery Hill lay on the ground
among the PROSTATE forms of the men
who had so bravely borne them to the
very verge of victory. OF the five thou
sand who followed where the flash of
Pickett's sword lit the way to glorious
three thousand five hundred had gone
down to the soldiers triumphant
death, to live forever in our hearts and
| On the fame crowned pages of their
country's history"
Mrs. Pickett tells in her story of the
general and herself going to Canada in
exile in the fear of what might follow
In the days after the war. There they
had for neighbors William Florence,
Ellen Tree, Charles Kean and Joseph
Jefferson. Stories of them, of her at
tempt to sell her emeralds and her ap-
plication for . position as teacher Of
Latin, oil are amusing and bright with
that April quality of sentiment that
brings tears and smiles together. Her
life in Canada with her warrior was
happy but the two were
glad when Grant wrote to
General Pickett to return to his own
country, and that under his parole
and under the laws OF his land he
would be secure from harm. Their
fortunes were shattered, their great
hopes were dead, but they set about to
begin life under the new and hard con-
ditions.. and the general proved his
claim to that bravery which makes .
brave mans courage complete. He
took up the little affairs of life again
and set about earning q living with no
bitter complainings against fate.
| Mrs. Pickett's book is thrice worthy
of the note and interest of lovers of
books. First, for it's glowing ardent
tho hero. from the wife to the husband,
written in all sincerity. The tribute
| that the woman in Mrs. Pickett pays to
all that is brave in man, as typified by
Pickett and his men, is perfect in its
completeness.
Second, the book is q fascinating ro-
nance, the love story Mrs. Pickett's
own, the girl wife of the brilliant SOL
der. Her counting days, her wedding
day and the difficulties of getting
ring, frock and supper for the occa-
sion, her trials and rights over her
baby and his experiences with the
Yankees, are described with q quaint
sense of humor, and of the contrast of
the big and the little things
of life. She tells all of it 80 frankly
and with that humor of hers lightir
up the pages that if only for the ro-
nance the book is worth reading.
The third interest, it's historical va
lue, is hard to decide upon. The ap-
parent value will vary with the pre-
JUDGES of the reader. To come of the
south it will not be sectional enough
In it's sympathies, some of the north
will not understand It because their
ideas are limited to their northern ex-
periences. Undoubtedly the history of
the war of the rebellion is not yet
written, nor does Mrs. Pickett pre-
tend to write it. Here 10 only q his
tory of her warrior husband with
United States history Incidental to his.
As General Pickett fought under the
Stars and Stripes in Mexico and dur
ing trying days in the early history of
our northwest before he left
off the blue uniform and donned
the gray. and then was
one of the most conspicuous officers of
the south, it is impossible to tell of his
J life without telling some of the nation q
life, and SO far Mrs. Pickett has ven
tured into history.
Mrs. Pickett has satisfied herself bv
} the generals notebooks, reports, and
letters, and from reports of eye wit
nesses, that there is some foundation
, for all of her statements. She tells
, that it was the generals purpose t.
write the history of his men of whom
he was so proud and that she has only
> tried to carry out his purpose in hel
: book.
9 Mrs. Pickett seems to have taken *
= herself also, Lincoln's admonition Il
cadet Pickett, for there il not droE
l of gall in the whole book. She is
: Virginian to her hearts core, but sht
= tells her story without complaint OF
. bitterness that her hero's purpose wa
3 defeated.
r ELSIE MCELROY SLATER.