Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1913-06-06
GENERAL LEE ON DUTY
LETTER WRITTEN TO SON AT
WEST POINT IN 1852.
Characteristic Utterance of the Fam
GUS Civil War General Is Master
piece Of Parental Character
Building Advice.

The death of Gen. G. w. G. Lee, eld.
est son of Gen. R. E. Lee, recalled
to mind private letter of the famous
general written to this son, under
date of April 5, 1852, when Custis Lee
was a cadet at the United States mill
tary academy at West Point, and
which was found at Arlington house
during the Civil war, says the New
York Sun. The letter throughout is
characterized by conciseness, concin-
nifty and clarity, and on this account
should find place in any anthology
as a masterpiece Of correct English
and model Of parental character
building advice:
Arlington House, April 5, 1852.
"My Dear Son-I am just in the act
Of leaving home for New Mexico. My
old regiment has been ordered to that
distant region and | must hasten to
see that they are properly taken care
Of. l have but little to add in reply
to your letters of March 26, 27 and 2S.
frankness. They have given myself
and your mother great pleasure. You
must study to be frank with the world,
frankness is the child of honesty and
courage. Say what you mean to do
on every occasion, and take it for
granted you mean to do right II a
friend asks favor you should grant
1t, If 1t is reasonable; if not, tell him
plainly why you cannot. You will
wrong him and wrong yourself by
equivocation of any kind.
Deal kindly, but firmly, with your
classmates. You will find 1t the pol
icy which wears best. Above all, do
not appear to others what you are not.
If you have any fault to find with any
one, tell him, not others, Of what you
complain; there is no more dangerous
experiment than that of undertaking
to be one thing before a mans face
and another behind his back. We
should live, act and say nothing to
the injury of any one. 1t is not only
best as matter Of principle, but 1t
is the path of peace and honor. In
regard to duty, let me, in conclusion
Of this hasty letter, inform you that
nearly hundred years ago there was
day Of remarkable gloom and dark
ness-still known as the dark day, a
day when the light of the sun was
slowly extinguished, as IL by an
eclipse. The legislature of Connecti-
cut was in session, and as the men,
bers saw the unexpected and unac-
countable darkness coming on they
shared in the general awe and terror.
1t was supposed by many that the
last day, the day of judgment, had
come. Some one, in the consterna-
ton of the hour, moved an adjourn
ment. Then there arose an old puri-
tan legislator, Davenport, Of STAN.
ford, and said that If the last day had
come he desired to be found at his
place doing his duty, and therefore
moved that candles be brought in 30
that the house could proceed with its
duty.
There was quietness in that mans
soul, the quietness Of heavenly wis
dom and inflexible willingness to obey
present duty.
DUTY, then, is the sublimest word
in our language. Do your duty in all
things like the old puritan. You can
not do more. You should never wish
to do less. Never let me and your
mother wear one gray hair for any
lack Of duty on your part. Your af.
fectionate father. r. e. LEE.
&C. w. Custis Lee"
How simple, true and honest r. e.
Lee appears in this letter; what a
noble and conscientious character
stands revealed in the tenderness Of
his devoted paternal solicitude and
the grandeur of his terse maxims.