Thomas Lee

“ Surrey and Hertford had long been pronounced enemies, and Hertford's appointment to Boulogne destroyed all hope of reconciliation. Negotiations which proved fruitless were pending at the time for the marriage of Surrey's sister, the widowed duchess of Richmond, to Hertford's brother, Sir Thomas Seymour. Surrey sarcastically denounced the scheme as a farce, and he indignantly scouted his father's suggestion that his own infant children might be united in marriage with members of Hertford's family. ”

“ No. 10 High Street was in the occupation of Buckingham, the lord admiral, and thither Felton trudged on entering the town. The hall was crowded with men anxious to be engaged in the expedition, and Felton mingled with the concourse unnoticed. Buckingham entered in conversation with Colonel Sir Thomas Fryer, a man of short stature. Felton approached the two and stabbed the duke over Fryer's arm in the left breast. No one saw the blow struck, and Felton retired to the kitchen leading from the hall. The duke staggered, and fell dead. ”

“ It now seems to have occurred to him that the troubles in America might afford a promising career for a soldier of fortune. He arrived in New York, 10 Nov., 1773, in the midst of the agitation over the tea duties, and the next ten months were spent in a journey through the colonies as far as Virginia in one direction and Massachusetts in the other. In the course of this journey Lee made the acquaintance of nearly all the leaders of the Revolutionary party, and won high favor from the zeal with which he espoused their cause. ”

“ VIII Tom Corbin got up quickly, with a smile.
"Well, it's good to see you, Milly, coming in that door! It's like old times, you know!"
She shook hands with him and glanced about the office.
"You haven't changed things much, have you?"
"More dust! That's about all!" said Tom. He looked about the room critically, as if he saw it with new eyes, and for the first time.
"Dust doesn't hurt!" he declared. "Good for finger-prints!" He laughed out.
"Bad for fingers," returned Milly. "Spoils the touch."
"Well—perhaps—you've decided to take the Mason case, have you?" ”

“ His clear, sound judgment, personal courage, untiring activity, genius for war, and absolute devotion to his state mark him as a public man, as a patriot to be forever remembered by all Americans.... I have met many of the great men of my time, but Lee alone impressed me with the feeling that I was in the presence of a man who was cast in a grander mould and made of finer metal than all other men. He is stamped upon my memory as a being apart and superior to all others in every way; a man with whom none I ever knew, a very few of whom I have read, are worthy to be classed. ”

“ It would have been surprising, under such circumstances, if Washington had not been Lee's hero, but he was more than a hero to the boy. From his father's lips he had learned to know him, not merely as a famous personage of history, but as a man and a leader of men. Indeed, his influence and example were those of a living presence in the household of "Light Horse Harry;" and thus to young Lee he early became the ideal of manhood upon which, consciously or unconsciously, he molded his own character and life. ”

“ Just then there was danger of the northern and southern States fighting against each other. If the people of the different States should really grow so angry that they [96] came to blows, Lee felt he must stand by Virginia, because that was his father's State. Indeed, the Lees had lived there since 1642, and Robert Lee loved every inch of its soil. He felt sad enough when he found there must be fighting, but he could not accept Lincoln's offer, so he gave up his high place in the United States Army and took the post of Major-general among the Virginian soldiers. ”

“ Nothing. . . . Everybody seems to have trusted him, down to the ground. Besides"—he pointed to the date—"he had the money before the jewels were taken, you see!"
"Yes—unless they misrepresented the date to shield him?"
"I wish they had!" chuckled Tom. "That would have been easy to check—like taking candy from a child. . . . They're simple sort of folks."
"Are they?" said Milly. And the gaunt figure in its black garments passed swiftly before her. . . .
"Perfectly simple! If you go out there to work, you'll like them all." ”

“ He generally wears a well-worn, long gray jacket, a high black-felt hat, and blue trousers, tucked into his Wellington boots. I never saw him carry arms, and the only marks of his military rank are the three stars on his collar. He rides a handsome horse, which is extremely well governed. He himself is very neat in his dress and person, and in the most arduous marches he always looks smart and clean.... It is understood that General Lee is a religious man, though not so demonstrative in that respect as Jackson, and, unlike his late brother-in-arms, he is a member of the Church of England. ”

“ The phrase of Lee has been worn threadbare with iteration since it was first uttered, but it always rings true of the high-minded, unfaltering soldier and honorable, simple gentleman whose genius in war and whose modesty in peace made the republic of America an enduring fact in history. Long after the great soldier and good man had been laid to rest an English poet did him justice, and no more than justice, by writing that "the first, the last, the best, the Cincinnatus of the West, whom envy dared not hate, bequeathed the name of Washington to make man blush there was but one." ”

“ In point of fact, Lee's military experience, as sketched above, had been scarcely more extensive than Washington's. Such little reputation as he had in Europe was not that of a soldier, but of an unscrupulous political pamphleteer. Yet if he had been the hero of a dozen great battles, if he had rescued Portugal from the Spaniard and Poland from the Turk, he could not nave claimed or obtained more deference in this country than he did. ”

“ The youth did not hear a word that was said, but his imaginative power enabled him to put himself in the place of the commander-in-chief. He knew that no man, however great his courage, could fail to appreciate his position in the heart of a hostile country, with a lost field behind him, and with superior numbers hovering somewhere in his rear or on his flank. He realized then to the full the critical nature of their position and what a mighty task Lee had to save the army. ”

“ A great painter should have been present then. Night had fallen, and the horizon was lit up by the glare of burning wagons. Every instant rose, sudden and menacing, the enemy’s signal rockets. On the summit of the hill, where the infantry waited, Lee rode among the disordered men of Ewell, and his presence raised a storm.
“It’s General Lee!” ”

“ Lee gazes for some moments through his glasses at the long range bristling with bayonets. Not a muscle moves; he resembles a statue. Then he lowers the glasses, closes them thoughtfully, and his calm glance passes along the lines of his army. You would say that this glance penetrates the forest; that he sees his old soldiers, gay, unshrinking, unmoved by the reverses of Longstreet, and believing in themselves and in him! The blood of the soldier responds to that thought. The face of the great commander suddenly flushes. ”

“ This followed him shyly into the world, the offices of the Magnolia Iron Works; where, he had told himself optimistically, he was but finding a temporary competence. What, when he should be free to follow his inclination, he'd do, Lee never particularized; it was in the clouds nebulous and bright, and accompanied by music. His dream left him imperceptibly, its vagueness killed partly by the superior reality of pig iron and ore and partly because he never had anyone with whom to talk it over; he could find no sympathy to keep it alive. ”

“ But that was not Lee's way. To advance an inexperienced lad over the heads of older men was, to his mind, unjust and he would not do it even for his own flesh and blood. Nor had his son himself expected it, for he had eagerly accepted his father's permission to enter the ranks and had cheerfully performed his full duty, never presuming on his relationship to the Commander-in-Chief or asking favors of any kind. ”

“ A smiling face, a cheerful mien, may conceal the sore place from the eyes, possibly even from the knowledge of his friends; but there is no healing for such a wound, which eats into the very heart of him who has once received it.
General Lee survived the destruction of the Confederacy for five years, when, at the age of sixty-three, and surrounded by his family, life ebbed slowly from him. Where else in history is a great man to be found whose whole life was one such blameless record of duty nobly done? ”

“ He grew to young manhood in the post-Revolutionary days, and developed into an able lawyer, one of those stalwart citizens, giving his time and energy to his family, his church, and his city. He has been overshadowed by his more famous brothers, "Light Horse Harry" and Charles Lee, Attorney General in Washington's cabinet, and his immortal nephew, Robert Edward Lee.
At twenty-four, Edmund Jennings Lee married Sarah Lee, daughter of Richard Henry Lee of Stratford, his near cousin, and that same year, 1796, settled in Alexandria. ”

“ The doctor presently came up and took a seat beside her.
"Wha—what do you think, doctor?" she sobbed.
"Well, I think it's tarnation hot operating with a big kerosene lamp six inches from your haid," he said, as he mopped his forehead.
"I mean—will he—get well?"
Lee snorted. "Well, I'd be ashamed of him if he didn't. If he lets a nice, clean, flesh wound put him out of business he don't deserve to live. Don't worry any about him, young lady. Say, I wish I had zwei beer right now, Arlie." ”

“ The silence and tortuous ways of the place oppressed Lee's senses like a nightmare dream; and he began to think that a guide through its dim passages was not altogether a mere courtly superfluity, but rather a thing of absolute necessity. "I'd sooner undertake to be finding my way for the first time through our hornbeam maze at home than in and out of all these crinkum-crankums," thought he; "and if this be your King Charles's merry court, give me the Nether Hall kitchen." ”

“ How long he fought Lee did not know. He was aware that the girl was screaming—and that he was hurling clutching figures away—figures that came pouncing back. Then the roaring in his head was a vast uproar. The fighting, scrambling dark shapes all seemed dwindling until they were tiny points of white light—like stars in the great abyss of nothingness....
He knew—as though it were a blurred dream—that he was lying inert on the verandah, with Franklin and the girl lying beside him.... The house was being searched.... Then the muttering shapes were standing here. Lee felt himself being picked up. ”

“ It was not by spectacular efforts or assertiveness of any kind that Lee had gained this hold upon his countrymen. He avoided everything that even tended toward self-display. His army reports were not only models of modesty, but generous acknowledgements of all he owed to his officers and men. He addressed none but respectful words to his superiors and indulged in no criticisms or complaints. He accepted the entire responsibility for whatever reverses occurred to the forces under his command and never attempted to place the blame on the shoulders of any other man. ”

“ Throughout a checkered life the conscientious performance of duty seems to have been the mainspring of the actions of General Lee. In his relations of father, son, husband, soldier, citizen, duty shines conspicuous in all his acts. His agency as he advanced to more elevated stations attracts more attention, and surrounds him with a brighter halo of glory; but he is unchanged; from first to last it is Robert E. Lee.
"The most momentous act of his life was the selection of sides at the commencement of the political troubles which immediately preceded the recent conflict. ”

“ But her voice broke across it joyously, speaking into the tube—"Is that you, Elise? Stephen is coming this morning! Did you know? Yes—this morning! And we want to come over to tea—if you are going to be home. . . . What is it? Yes, we are all coming! I have not seen you in an age, dear. . . . Yes, I know." The voice grew tender and seemed to follow inaudible words with murmuring assent—"I know, dear. But that is past. We are coming now—yes. Good-by."
She returned with radiant face. "She will be at home!" ”

“ It was not a position to be sought after since it had been filled for thirteen years by the senior bishop of the Church, but Mr. Lee was the choice of his official brethren and so was elected. President Lee is a native of New Jersey. He is about the medium height, well knit, of light complexion, dark hair and beard of the same color that covers a face handsomely moulded. He is plainly a man of excellent traits of character; he is somewhat bald and has a finely-cut head, broad and massive. He moves quickly, and impresses one as a man who is armed with a large amount of executive tact. ”

“ He was looking at her intently, and she returned the look, the flush flitting again in her face.
"Why, of course!" she said cordially. "I shall be glad to see you any time. . . . Only—" She paused a moment. "I am often away from home, you know."
"Then I shall come again—if I find you out. You will not get rid of me so easily—with an excuse!" And he touched his hat and moved away through the swinging door.
Her eyes followed the tall figure passing into the crowd. At the edge of the sidewalk he turned and looked back and raised his hat gravely to her, before he disappeared in the crowd. ”

“ It remained as strong in his hours of disaster as in his noontide of success. A few soured or desponding people might lose heart, indulge in "croaking," and denounce, under their breath, the commander of the army as responsible for failure when it occurred; but these fainthearted people were in a small minority, and had little encouragement in their muttered criticisms. The Southern people, from Virginia to the utmost limits of the Gulf States, resolutely persisted in regarding Lee as one of the greatest soldiers of history, and retained their confidence in him unimpaired to the end. ”