The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1911-01-20
Memory of Robert E. Lee
Is HOnOred in NeWberry

| tNeW CaIlCe6n W UIl1lh. 1udl, IL oo0A1Ao
to me, is the stuff of which freedoms
men are made The love Of freedom,
than which no nobler impulse thrills
a. human heart, has SO refined the art
of war, so tempered it with love and
charity, that the American soldier is
the zest type Of fighting man the world
has ever seen.
| 7 have no purpose to recall the
names of the far-famed soldiers of the
| republic and to recount their deeds.
Time would fail to tell of Standish and
his compeers of pioneering days, of
Washington, that illustrous chief, and
the boys of '76, to trace the history OF
the eTentful, the disastrous sltxies, Or
of Manillia Bay, and of San Juan hill,
where sons of veterans who wore the
blue and SONS of veterans who wore
the grey fought side by side beneath
the common flag Of reunited country
GlIu U1O IlIS VI q ~7~~A~>N AAAS
people to Spanish misrule and oppres-
sion. There is no more illustrious roll
of heroes in the world than that this
! nation boasts!
But, ladies and gentlemen, standing
high amongst thjese grand illustraous
names, cut by vaIor's sword, into the
arch of fame, with lustre of it's own,
and glory that compels the admira-
tion of the world, shines that immor-
tai name which has assembled us here
today-uhe name of Robert Edward
Lee. Well might the poet sing:
All, muse, you dare not claim,
A nobler name than he,
Nor nobler man hath less Of blame,
Nor blameless man hath purer name
Nor purer name hath grander fame,
Nor fame-anooher Lee!
! T invite you to brief survey Of the
| character and career of Lee. There
are many ways of treating the spleal-
did story of his life. We might pic
ture him as the soldier and the states
man, and every paragraph would be q
tribute to his memory. We might
study him by the side of other gen
erals who have organized and mar
shalled armies, and come to fame as
tacticians and strategists in war, and
he would not suffer by the comparl-
son. No young man or woman can read
the story of his student days. at West
Point without profit and inspiration.
But I am eager to hold your thought
today to'one constituent feature of hls
greatness. It is an impression of the
man which I have never been able to
escape, a, feature of his mighty man
hood that seems to tone and sweet
en- all his heroism. mean his gentle
ness, the mildness of his manners,
whether in times of war or times OF
peace. There was no venom in the
sword of Lee, and when he sheathed
it in defeat there was no bitterness IN
his soul! Where will you go to lind
such poise of mind, balance, such
tself-possession, such mildness and dig
nifty of manner, Lee was soldier, was
strategist, was a marshaller of men,
was an educator, an engineer. He was
a scholar and statesman. He was
many things in war and peace, but in
war or peace, ON battlefield or cam
pus, in the parlor or the camp, I hold
that Lee was eTerywhere a gentle
soul, a noble and gentleman.
; In the words of Shakespeare:
His life was gentle, and
All the elements so mixed III him
That nature might stand up and say to
| all the world *'This was man."
Carry that thought of the gentleness
of Lee with you this afternoon.
! In the first place he was gentle-born.
On the anniversary of his birth it is
we'll to keep in MIND the rock whence
he was hewn and the pit when he was
dug? He had a brilliant ancestry, AS
Mr.. F:nsel says in his admirable es-
fsay on Gen. Lee: His forbears fought
at Hastings with William the Conquer
or, and rode upon the Third Crusade
with Richard Leon Heart. They got the
insignia Of the garter from Queen Eli
zabeth. As men may yet see their coats
of mail hanging in the armory OF Lon
dnn tower On his maternal side he