The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-10

of Emory College was delivered here to-
day by Hon. Emory Speer, judge of
the United states Court of the South
ern District of Georgia. Judge Speer
spoke eloquently, extracts from his ad-
dress being Is follows:
In the Capitol at Washington a hall
has been devoted to the images of our
illustrious dead The chamber is wor-
thy of its conservation. 1t is the
old Hall of Representatives. There
stand in storied marble or enduring
bronze the mighty whose patriotic i'm
agination conceived or whose mill
tary prowress made possible the great
republic whose president statesman
ship framed or whose. valor or elo-
ouence defended its Organic law, whose
inventive genius or whose scientific
skill unclaimed the mysterious forces.
of nature to its service, or anchor
ated the sufferings of its people. Ma
iestic monitors to the day when the
night has fallen, and the millions SUM
Der in the chamber where once rang
the musical voice of Clay, the lucid
periods of Calhoun and the sweet thun-
ders of Webster, in ghostly shadows
the silent gathering of these immortals
stands as if on guard in ceaseless vigil
for the liberty and happiness OF the
people whom they loved so well. Each
state there may place the scuptor's
conception of two of her illustrious
sons. Virginia has now pointed to
those whose chiseled presentiments VIII
with equal splendor illustrate that
proud commonwealth and forever glorl-
fy the American Valhalla.
"A mysterious influence seems to I'M
part to certain localities the power 10
produce men who are leaders OF thelr
race. Such was Athens. the city OF
the violet crown, to afford an untad-
ing charm to the artist and historian,
the philosopher and the poet. Sucn Is
the county of Westmoreland in VIZ
ginia. lying between those historic
streams, the Rappahannock and the
Potomac. Thence came many names
not born to die. Thence came those
whom Virginia from her golden ron,
counts her noblest and her pest, the
one George Washington and the other
the only name in all the recorded page
of time that can be uttered in the haz-
ardous connection, Robert EdWard Lee
cat Stratford, an ancient home OF the
Lees on the 18th of January, lSO'' Ihe
hero chieftain was born. No American
had prouder lineage and no other de-
pended on it less. His father was Gen.
Henry Lee. the famous Light Horse
Harry as he was termed by his low
ing and admiring comrades of the
Continental army. This distinguished
officer was a great favorite with 'he
patriot commander. His mother was
tbe charming Lucy Grimes, that low
land beauty on whom the ever sus-
ceptible Washington lavished a share
of that devotion for the fair sex when
ever marks the truly great.
ION the 25th of March, 1878 returning
from the tropics where he had gone IN
search of health. the father of Robert
n lee died in our own state. at beau
tiful Dungenness on Cumberland Is
land. and the stone which yet marks
his resting place for nearly century
has been caressed by funereal MOSES
pendent from Georgian oaks, and WOO
ed by Georgian winds, which Ger the
ashes of this hero of the Revolution
there dispel the fragrance of the mag
nolia and the bay.
THE mother of Robert E. Lee was
the second wife of Henry Lee. Her
name was Anne Hill Carter. This gen.
tie and lovely woman was the daughter
of Charles Carter of Shirley, a noble
mansion on the James. To this day ii
fuse and refined hospitality To the
care of young Robert his mother was
committed. when the declining health
Of his father compelled him to seek re-
lief in the West Indies. She declared
that her ahfectionate guardian was
both a daughter and a son to her The
purity, gentleness and spiritual Chris
tianity of Gen. Lee was no doubt
largely ascri bable to the influence of
the mother and the constant associa-
ton of mother and son so beautiful 10
the people of Alexandria of that day.
for TO that historic old town the boy
had been taken that he might attend
school.
''In the year 1926 he received his ap-
pointment 10 the United States Mill
tary Academy at West Point. and in
four years of rigorous discipline and
arduous tasks in that famous institu-
ton he never received a demerit, was
cadet officer and prime distinction,
adjutant in his class, and among
forty-siX classmates graduated sec
ond By army regulations the cadets
who graduate with first honors are
assigned TO the engineers and so in
1929, Lee was appointed to this corps
de elite of the regular army
Like Napoleon he was a marvellous
mathematician, and also like him ever
averse to drink. Many years after.
NhiiC INC fAi illS VI ANOTlne1n virginia
was in winter quarters at Petersburg
a number of officers were one night
busily engaged in discussing an alb
struse mathematical problem, and the
contents of a stone jug garnished by
two tin cups. While thus absorbed
Gen. Lee quietly came in to make
some inquiry At their request he
gave a solution of the problem. and
departed, the officers expressing to
each other the hope that the general
had not noticed the jug and cups
The next day one of them in the pres
ence of the others, was relating to
Gen. Lee a very strange dream that
he had the night before The gen.
eral observed: That is not at ali re-
markable. When young gentlemen
discuss at midnight mathematical
problems, the unknown quantities of
which are a stone jug and two tin
cups, they may expect to have strange
Dreams
The young lieutenant was soon ab-
sorbed with the most important duties
of his corps. He was assistant engineer
upon the defense of Hampton Roads.
and for a time assistant TO the chief
engineer at the War Department in
Washington. He soon developed such
skill that in 1888 he was made assistant
astronomer of the commission ap-
pointed to lay the boundary line be-
tween Ohio and Michigan, and soon
was intrusted with the duty of pre-
venting the Mississippi from leaving