Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-01-22
ROBERT EDWARD LEE.

hlOItlotllu, dO dill Olu homestead
called "Stratford", was born a
child named Robert Edward Lee.
OF aristocratic parentage, and
surrounded by conditions condu-
Give to Incidence and possibly
licentiousness-for the Virginia
plantation of that Colonial day
was and is by many so regarded
the boy Lee grew to manhood
very clean, very manly, very sin
cere and religious, of simple man.
ners and with frank and open
character. With little of the dash
OF the Cavalier, he slept on the
stage of lies action well enough
equipped in most of the fittings
that make good citizen, taking
his tasks as they came, doing
them carefully, conscientiously
and with much of painstaking.
As a cadet at West Point he was
not specially noted for great
brilliancy, but the work done by
him had always the mark of a
certain finish-he sighted moth
ing.
Had not the Civil War arisen
Lee might have passed most
of life a simple clean quiet
colonel of cavalry, noted for the
excellence of his engineering work
and pointed out as a model of
dignitied gentlemanliness. 1t is
possible in the long run he would
have attained the rank of head
OF the army of the United States.
such position conferringno great
responsibilities and no great
fame. That war, the turning
point In the lives of so many,
found him in a most peculiar po-
sition. A Virginian of Virginians.
educated in the school of States
rights, and ingrained in the be-
lief that the State came first and
the Union second, he stood at
the parting of the ways, tempted
as few men have ever been. On
the one hand the head of the
nations army was his had he
chosen it; on the other the heavy
task OF commanding what many
considered a forlorn hope. Had
he been less q man he would have
yielded to the desire to be the
head of something's something
many men would have deemed
great, and indeed it was great
the command OF an army capa-
BILE of development into a force
superior to any that Napoleon
ever led. But for Lee there was
only one thought; he was first
of all Virginian. Right orI
wrong, he simply could not fight |
his own brethren, he could notl
lift sword against those who had |
grown up with him and who were
to him brethren all. The one
word DUTY" outweighed all i
temptations to be great; the
heart of the man, not the head,
chose-and we know the rest. |
Sharing the privations of his
men, camping with them in tents,
(for Lee never, as did many of
his generals, take a house forl
headquarters he took what
came of campaign life, and at
the end surrendered to forces so
overwhelming as to be invinci-
bile. Ii he was manly in cam
paign life he was doubly manly
in the surrender, saying that
whatever he might prefer, for
himself he had no right to sacri-
flee the lives of the men who,
clustering around him, would |
have died so gladly to save him
a pang.
The greatness of Robert Lee
consists not SO much in his cam
palgns, although these the mill
tary critics of the day credit with |
beng the greatest in the annals |
OF history; his real greatness is
III defeat, or the attitude he as
sumed towards that defeat. AS
1t was his duty to lead his men
In battle, so now he felt it his
highest duty to resume life's /
work In field so different that
1t seemed almost trivial. Hell
might have sulked-others did:
he might have idled-others did.
and, sitting down told of his
campaigns and of the glory of
these. He might have made a
fortune writing a book. He
could have been at the head of
great enterprises or gigantic cor /
porations. One fact he saw
the young men who had grown
tonear manhood during those
four Hateful years were well nigh
destitute ofeducation. Ignorant,
and as a consequence unquali-
fed for LIES work, his heart went
out to these, and his duty" lay
before him, simple, unmistaka-
BILE. This was Lees greatest
greatness-to humble himself
and help others. No sulking, no
repining, no blaming others, no
recrimination or shifting of re-
sponsibility. He saw LIES work
work SO sadly needed-and he
took it up as dutifully and as
painstakingly as that of any
campaign. And he did it thor
oughly.
'Oh! good, grey head of Ar
lingtonl when thy great sore
heart, that ever took unto itself
all blame, burst behind the mute
lips, and Rockbridge earth re- |
ceived the stateliest man of all
our time, then indeed the last (,