The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-06-05
GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE.

mons TO the bar OF eterhdi Juushiehs
the hattie scared heroes of that gior-
ions army that wore the grey. The
ranks of the South's chivalrous de-
tenders are being decimated at the
rate of ten per cent year. Death
the great leveler which lays the scep-
ter and the shepherds crook side oy
side. spares neither the great nor the
mighty. All alike must answer mis-
summons. The sad weird strains OF
Taps beat for Generals and privates
and within a few brief years the Con-
federate soldier will live only in the
memory of a grateful people. the
survivors of this matchless band OF
Spartan heroes is now little more than
a thin grey line but long after the
last one shall answer the final roll
call. long years after the final salute
shall be fired over the last resting
Mace of the last veteran, they shall
live in the hearts and memories of the
nroudest race that ever walked be-
meath the eternal canopy of heaven.
Their fame. carved in immortal glory
upon a thousand battlefelds, shall be
a more enduring monument than the
pyramids of Egypt from which 'forty
centuries look down upon us"
General Stephen D. Lee, the rank
ing officer Of the Confederate army,
the best beloved survivor of that
knightly band, has just gone to join the
other immortal spirits who rest in the
shade on the other shore. His spirit
has been called by the great God Oh
all to Join the other and greater Lee
and to rest with the Johnstons ana
Pickett and Beauregard and Gordon
and the mighty host who conquered
every foe but Death. The South
mourns the death of the last chosen
leader of the surviving heroes. Lee
held a place in the affections OF MS
people that time cannot efface ana
his name and memory will be revered
as long as the children of men love
honor. admire heroic devotion to duty
and prize knightly Christian MANHOOD.
Stephen D. Lee was of that type OF
men which are the best embodiment
Of the highest ideals Of Southern man
hood. He was brave and chivalorous;'
hut as gentle as woman. He never
shirked a duty in peace or in war.
He was true to every commission ne
received. Of aristocratic bearing
proud of his race and of its heritage,
he was as unassuming and as sweet
spirited as Robert E. Lee. WHAT
name that is to conjure with. Al
though not related to the immortal
Virginia family of that name stephen
d. Lee had many characteristics thai
suggest close kinship to the chief
of all the Confederate armies.
A knightlier Christian gentleman
never crossed the shore than Gfn.
Lee. That he has not already enter
ed into eternal rest and received a
crown more glorious than all ea'thIy
honors no man who has faith IN MS
God can doubt Gen. Lee had the
faith of a child. He seldom MADE
an address, however brief or hurried,
that he did not acknowledge the
fatherhood Of God.
Although not an eloquent speaker
Gen Lee was a man of rare attain
ments and many of his addresses to
the veterans whom he commanded for
more than four years past were Her
airy gems He was thoroughly recon
structed and his devotion to the I'm
ion unchallenged, hut 40 word OF
apology for the course OF the South
in 1861 ever came from HIS lips IN
the great war he was . particular ia
yorite of President Davis and no man
in the South ever served another with
greater loyalty or more intense deVo-
ton than did Lee the great Southern
martyr. They trusted and loved each
other as few men do.
Gen. Lees death at this time is
particularly sad Within a few days,
had he lived, he would again have met
and grasped in loving friendship the
hands of hundreds whom he led to
the lannon's mouth and together they
would have recounted the deeds OF
those dark and bloody days. We
may imagine that in his last moments
he heard the shouts of the assembled
veterans as they again gave him the
highest honor within their powerto con-
fer But God willed it otherwise and Lee
has gone to that last reunion where
Generals and Colonies and privates
shall mingle together in perfect equal
ity and whore the lannon's roar Is