The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-21

versity. and this Is what he tried to in- spire into the breast of his own boy when he was away at school. It was duty. Duty. Loyalty. and .unswerv- ing fidelity in every instance with this great man, and as indicated above, the recounting of his heroic deeds Will amount to nothing unless you can be inspired with the same spirit. What we want is unswerving fidelity to school, church and State. and a spirit of loyal ty to every good and just cause, and ti.Is Is possible for you to attain.
 And next to his loyalty comes an- other element of his greatness equal with 1t. If not its superior. and that was his sunselflshness. I shall not flat ter any of, you by saying that you have even approximately attained to 1t, for 1t is not true. And in my Knowledge Of history and human nature. I know of nothing nor any one comparable to Lee in this respect, except the unselnshness of the blessed Nazerine. I intimated above how he gave up his beautiful home, Arlington, and now tnis has fellen into the hands or the Federal government. HIS WIZ however. has a small surplus ieit. ana she went to Richmond and bought an. other home. and while her nusoaha .sa was off controlling the armies or the South she was busy knitting socks ana sending them to the bare footed sol diers. But ere long Richmond was sacked, and the roof was burnt from over her head, and she fled out into the street without e penny. The city now felt such sympathy for the great chier and his s0ffltctede wife that they made up a purse, and presented him with the price to buy another home. but he said: "No,i if the city has anything to give, let them give it to the fam flies of the soldiers" And now that the war was over he still maintained his unselfish spirit and lived by his own efforts. The trustees of Washing ton and Lee feeling the same interest in >him so often manifested by others secretly deeded the house in which he lived to Mrs. Lee with an annuity of $3,O00, but when 1t was known to him he positively refused to accept 1t. and now that he was dead they renewed the same offer to her. but she with the same unselfishness refused any thing that savored of compensation. Altru- ism Is to be admired in any people or person, but the equal of this has never come under my observation. Mark 1t down my friends. that altruism and un- selhshness is one of the greatest marks of greatness, and these elements must enter into character if greatness in the highest and. truest sense is ever to come out. Would that more men of today were possessed of this same spir- 1t then we should have a, brighter and better world.
 And yet another element entering in. to our hero's greatness was his humil- ity and meekness. He was one of the meekest of all men. and never did he at any time exert his authority unless the occasion demanded 1t, and even has k.as oa a rntnp nA as modest as a maiden, but withal firm and positive. This I must say again is another one of those high qualities peculiar to. all great men. In our phraseology we sometimes confound terms and think a meek man is weak man, but the reverse is always true. A meek man has the strength of the lion less the shaggy mane and the fearful roar. Moses is said to have been the meekest man of his time as well as the greatest man. and trace all the great men from his time to the present, if he were truly great you will always find this element in his character. The great Broadus. one of the most pro- found scholars America has yet pro- duced, a man whose opinions are not only quoted in the greatest schools of this country. but in the universities of Europe, man who could demand any salary and yet one of the meekest of all men. If he had a guest to come in to see him, and if his servant happen ed to be out he would himself go to his guests room, take his boots out and black them and place them back at the door. I mention this to show you as Carlyle says that, "Ail great men are made of essentially the same stun" This was true in a preponderating de- gree of Robert E. Lee. With all of his authority he was still meek, and had the most profound respect for the feel ings of the most humble of Goi's crea- lures. and no man in his army was un- worthy of his notice. It is to be re-
 gretted that all men can't learn this most significant fact, viS That # one iR to be great he must imbibe this spir- 1t of humility and meekness, and then
 he shall be truly great just in propor- tion-as one element enters in the oth-
 CT will be manifested in the open.
 But in addition to all that has been
 said, we must not lose sight of the fact that he was a man of great ability,