The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1913-03-12
FINE SENTIMENTS
Of GEN. R. {. LEE
Are Expressed In a Letter
Written To Son.
HE PLACES MUCH EMPHASIS
On Personal Duty, Which He
Glasses AS One of the
Highest Virtues.
\ LETTER WORTH PRESERVING

! chronicled in the Sun of February
/ 10. recalled to mind a private let
| ter of the famous General written
| to this son. under date of April ,,
I 1852. when Gusts Lee was a cadet
at the United States Military Acad-
found at Arlington House during
the Civil War. The letter through
out is characterized by conciseness,
concinnity and clarity, and on this
account should find place in any
anthology as masterpiece of COR
rect English and model of paren-
tai character-building advice:
Arlington House. April ), 1852.
MY Dear SOM am just in the
act of leaving home for New Mexi-
co. My old regiment has been or
dered to that distant region and |
must hasten to see that they are
properly taken care of. | have but
little to add in reply to your letters
of March 90, % and 2S. Your let
tiers breathe true spirit of frank
ness 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. If a friend asks a favor you
should grant it. if it is reasonable:
if not, tell him why you cannot. You
will wrong him and wrong yourself
by equivocation of any kind Never
do wrong thing to make a friend
or keep one the man who requires
a sacrifice. 81
Deal kindly, but firmly with
your classmates, You will. find il
the policy which wears bes. 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 an
other behind his back. We should
live, act and say nothing to the in
jury of any one. 1t is not only best
as matter of principle, but it is
the path of peace and honor In re-
gard to duty, let me, in. conclusion
of this hasty letter, inform you that
nearly hundred years ago there
was day of remarkable gloom and
darkness-still known as the dark
day, day when the light of the
sun was slowly extinguished, as IL
by an eclipse. The Legislature of
Connecticut was in session, and as
its members saw the unexpected
and unaccountable 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 CONSERVATION of the hour NOV
ed an adjournment. Then there
arose an old Puritan Legislator,
Davenport. of Stamford, and said
that If the last day had come he de-
sired to be found at his place doing
his duty. and therefore moved that
candles be brought in so that the
House could proceed with its duty.
There was quietness in that
mans soul, the quietness of heaven
ly wisdom and infiexible willingness
to obey present duty.
Duty. then. is the sublimest
word in our language. DO your
duty in all things like the old Puri-
tan. You cannot 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 affectionate faith
er r. E. LEE
G. w. Curtis Lee"
How simple. true and honest r.
+. 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.-
[ New York Sun.