The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1901-01-17

which one be had oitenest looked out
upon this fairest picture in all the
land. Then my thoughts travelled to
that quiet retreat, far away from his
lordly Arlington, where in supreme
dignity, and with resignation little
less than divine, he gave those last
years to training the youth of his
State-refusing the riches that Eng
land and his devoted South eagerly
offered him. | turned away sad at
heart and yet with a thrill of pride
and exultation in the ajesty of the
man who had counted this regal
estate, and the highest military hon
ors OF the other side, as nothing when
duty was in the balance:
/ 1T is impossible to speak of Gen
Loe without seeming to deal in hyper
bole. Above the ordinary size, his
proportions were perfect. His fea
lures are too well known to need de-
description, but no representation OF
General Lee which | have ever seen
properly conveys the light and soft
ness of his eye, the tenderness and
intellectually Of his mouth, or the
indescribable refinement Of the face.
| have seen all the great men of our
time, except Mr.. Lincoln, and have
no hesitation in saying that Robert f.
Lee was incomparably the greatest
looking man | ever saw =.
Every man in that army believed
that Robert +. Lee was the greatest
man alive, and their faith in him
alone kept that army together during
the last six months of its existence
Whatever greatness was accorded to
him was not Of his own seeking. He
was less of an actor than any man |
ever saw But the impression made
by his presence, and by his leader
ship, upon all who came in contact
with him, can be described by no
other term than that of grandeur.
When have stood at evening and
watched the great clouds banked in
the West, and tinged by evening sun
light; when on the Western plains,
| have looked at the peaks of the
Rocky Mountains outlined against the
sky; when, in mid-ocean, | have seen
the limitless waters encircling us, un-
bounded save by the infinite horizon
the grandeur, the vastness OF these
have invariably suggested thoughts
Of General Robert f. Lee Certainly
it is that the Confederacy contained
no other man like him. When its
brief career was ended, in him was
centered, as in no other man, the
trust, the love, almost the worship Of
those who remained steadfast to the
end. When he said that the career
of the Confederacy was ended; that
the hope of an independent govern
ment must be abandoned; that all had
been done which mortals could accom-
plish against the power of ove rwhelm-
ing numbers and resources; and that
the duty Of the future was to abandon
the dream of a Confederacy and to
render new and cheerful allegiance
to re united government-his utter
ances were accepted as true as Holy
Writ. No other human being upon
earth, no other earthly power, could
have produced such acquiescence, or
could have compelled such prompt ac-
ceptance of that final and irreversible
Judgment.
''Of General Lees military great
| ness, absolute or relative, shall not
speak: of his moral greatness | need
not speak. The man who
could so stamp his impression upon
his nation, rendering all others in
significant beside him, and yet die
without an enemy; the soldier who
could make love for his army a sub
stitute for pay and clothing and food
and could, by the constraint of that
love, hold together naked, starving
band and transform it into a fighting
army; the heart after which the fail
ure of its great endeavor could breal
in silence and die without the utter
ance of one word of bitterness-such
man, such a soldier, such heart
must have been great indeed grea
beyond the power of eulogy.'