The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-01-22
ROBERT e. LEE

IueSday was the anniversary of the
birth of Robert E. Lee, and the furth
er we get away from this the more
sanity his character appears. Per.
haps there is no man in history to
whom greater admiration il invoked
and greater respect accorded.
There is a Charm about his life that
is ennObling and as one stuc:es its
simplicity and grandeur he seems lift
ed into a purer atmosphere.
Mr.. Charles Foster Smith, one of
the professors in the Vanderbilt Uni
versity, devoted several months seek
ing light on the character of Lee. He
read nine volumes-several thousand
pages-and he says that he found
him greater than he had ever dream
ed he was. He says that he was a
majestic man in which there was alb
solutely no littleness.
In an address at the commencement
Of Vanderbilt University he delivered
an address on General Lee. The ad-
dress was entitled Ideal Teaching
and Teacher"
This address was printed in the Oc-
tOber Methodist Quarterly, from which
we make the following extract:
l share the feeling of danger threat
ening the democracy to which Profess
scr James reefrs, and believe in his
remedy. Young people in college and
university must be taught to know
good man when they see him. And it
seems to me we southern people have
had in our time as remarkable an OBJ
Ject lesson of this sort as the world
ever saw-a good and great man, idol
lied by a whole people, tried by the
severest test under the blaze of the
search-lights Of the whole civilized
world. Some of US know, and the rest
have heard and read. of what hap
pened in this country from 1860 to
1870. There was offered then, I'M
consciously, what might be called a
university course in ethics to form or |
test the character of a whole people. /
General Robert E. Lee was the in /
structOr and his immediate scholars /
were, from 1861 to 1865, the army of /
northern Virginia: from 1865 TO 1870. I
the students and faculty of Washing |
ton College; but back of these. and
looking on as a vast audience at a
great trial scene, stood the whole |
southern people; back of these a still /
wider outer circle, the whole Ameri-
can nation; and back of these We see
now already coming into view the cir
Gle of the whole civilized world. To
the honor of the southern people be it
said, they stood the test: the army and
the whole people of the south re-
spOnded as the needle TO the magnet.
They had a supremacy great and gOod
man among them, peerless, | think, in
the whole history of the American
people-and | say. this with a full APP
probation of Washington and Lincoln
and they knew the good man when
they saw him. The best proof was
the unparalleled confidence and Gevo-
ton of the whole southern army, the
trust and homage of this whole peo-
pie. This confidence and trust. born
Of an unprecedented series of veto
ries in 1862, grew into devotion and
loyalty such as, it seems to me. no
man, even a military hero. has ever
before aroused and so completely re-
tanned. an allegiance as unwavering
and UnQuestiOned in defeat as in vic
tory. Gettysburg was a crucial test; !
was the supreme proof.
The army, the people. accepted the f.
nal result without criticism or blame
Of their great leader. They felt, they .
knew. that "Marse Robert" had done
all that human agency could accom-
plish, that defeat was unavoidable be- .
cause he could not forfend it, Be ,
cause they were able to recognize the {
worth Of such a man and submit I'M ]
luestiOningly TO his guidance. they
we're able as a people to endure the
terrible strain Of reconstruction days :
with heroism equal to that of war
lines. When a whole people looks up
with pride and complete devotion to :
4 supremacy great and good man, the
whole mass is uplifted and purified. '
do not see how the people that pro-
luced and appreciated General Lee
an ever become degenerate while the
memory of him endures.
And what is the lesson for US. as a 3.
people, TO learn from our hero. 1t :
seems TO me to be this: As I read the :
.aily papers I cannot help feeling that :.
rave dangers are ahead of our dem =
'cracy. Can We stand our posperity? 2
Viii not the worship of the almighty =.
ollar carry us as a people 10 perdi-