the conversation naturally turned on its beauty. At last appealed to for an opinion, the general replied: 'It is beautiful, but I have been thinking of the poor animals which must perish in the flames.' There was no affectation in this. His tone was simple and earnest-his manner a complete negation of all art. With this wealth of tenderness, added to his grand and knightly attributes of character, it is no wonder that his people loved him with all their hearts, and cherish his memory with a passionate devotion." An officer who witnessed the incident relates that on one occasion in 1864, when General Lee was visiting Captain G's battery, on the lines below Richmond, the soldiers gathered near him so as to attract the enemy's fire. Turning to them he said, in a very quiet tone and manner: "Men, you had better go into the back-yard; they are firing up here, and you are exposing yourselves to unnecessary danger." The men obeyed the order, but saw their loved general walk across the yard (as if entirely unconscious of any personal danger), and stoop down to pick up tenderly some small object, and place it gently upon a tree over his head. It was afterward ascertained that the object which had thus attracted his attention under the enemy's fire, was an unfledged sparrow that had fallen from its nest. That loving Father, without whose knowledge not even a sparrow falleth to the ground, gave to the stern warrior a heart so tender that he could pause amid the death-dealing missiles of the battle-field to care for a helpless little bird. His letters to his family were full of expressions of interest in birds and animals, or flowers. In a letter from Fort Brown, Texas, December, 1856, he says: I am able to give you but little news, as nothing of interest transpires here, and I rarely see any one outside the garrison. My daily walks are alone, up and down the banks of the river, and my pleasure is derived from my own thoughts, and from the sight of the flowers and animals I there meet with. The birds of the Rio Grande form a constant source of interest, and are as numerous as they are beautiful in plumage. I wish I could get for you the roots of some of the luxuriant vines that cover every thing, or the seeds of the innumerable flowers." He paused amid his pressing duties at Gettysburg, to reprove an officer who was beating an unruly horse. For the noble animal which bore him through so many of his campaigns he cherished the tenderest regard. In a letter written from the Springs to his clerk in Lexington, he says: "How is Traveler? Tell him I miss him dreadfully, and have repented of our separation but once, and that is the whole time since we parted." To those who knew his affection for this favorite horse it was very touchingly appropriate to see him, with saddle and accoutrements draped, led in the funeral procession by two old soldiers, and we could almost fancy that "Traveler" appreciated his loss, and entered keenly into the common sor row. His modest humility was very evident in his correspondence, and many letters illustrating it might be given. The several following must suffice: 66 LEXINGTON, VA., September 26, 1866. "Mr. EDWARD A & Co., } 104 West Baltimore St., Baltimore, Md. "DEAR SIR: I return to you my thanks for the compliment paid me by your proposition to write a history of my life. It is a hazardous undertaking to publish the life of any one while living, and there are but few who would desire to read a true history of themselves. Independently of the few national events with which mine has been connected, it presents little to interest the general reader. Nor do I know where to refer you for the necessary materials; all my private as well as public records have been destroyed or lost, and, except what is to be found in published documents, I know of nothing available for the purpose. Should you, therefore, determine to undertake the work, you 2 must rely upon yourself, as my time is so fully occupied that I am unable to promise you any assistance. "Very respectfully, "Mrs. EMMA WILLARD, Troy, N. Y. R. E. LEE." "LEXINGTON, VA., March 21, 1866. "I received, by the last mail, the package containing your letter of the 15th inst. I have mailed to Generals Johnston, Beauregard, and Bragg, the letters for them. The address of the first is Richmond, Va., and of the second, New Orleans, La. Not knowing the address of the third, I have forwarded his letter to a friend in New Orleans, who will give it the proper destination. I know of no one here who can give you as correct a history of the life of General T. J. Jackson as that written by the Rev. Dr. Dabney, which, I understand, is now in process of publication by Blelock & Co., of New York City. I am obliged to you for your proposition as regards myself, but it is not in my power to give you the account you require; my time is too fully occupied to permit me to undertake it, even if I were able to make it of value. "With great respect, your obedient servant, (Signed) R. E. LEE." In response to another letter from a Virginian lady, asking permission to visit him at his home in order to gather materials for writing his biography, he wrote the following: "LEXINGTON, VA., December 7, 1869. "MISS I have received your letter of the 3d inst., and am sensible of the implied compliment in your proposal to write a history of my life. "I should be happy to see you in Lexington, but not on the errand you propose, for I know of nothing good I could tell you of myself, and I fear I should not like to say any evil. The few incidents of interest in which I have been engaged are as well known to others as to myself, and I know of nothing I could say in addition. "With great respect, your obedient servant, CHAPTER V. HIS SPIRIT OF SELF-DENIAL FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS. CLOSELY allied to General Lee's modest humility was his spirit of self-denial. He never presumed upon his position to infringe the rights of others, and never called on his soldiers to make sacrifices or endure privations which he was not willing to share. Hon. A. H. Stephens says, in his "War between the States," that when he first came to Richmond as a commissioner of the Confederate States, to induce Virginia to join the Confederacy and turn over to it her army, he was met by a serious difficulty in the rank of General Lee. By vote of the Virginia Convention, he had been made commander-in-chief of the forces of that State, and his friends were unwilling for him to have less rank, while on the other hand there were other officers already commissioned who would rank him in the Confederate army. Mr. Stephens sought an interview with General Lee and explained to him the difficulty. He at once said that no personal interest of his should for a single moment stand in the way of the interests of the State; that he was willing to take any positioneven in the ranks as a private soldier-in which he could best serve the common cause; and that his rank should not for a moment bar the desired union. By General Lee's personal influence all difficulty was removed, and the fortunes of Virginia were blended with those of the other Southern States. A distinguished gentleman, who at the time held an important State office, has given the writer the following incident, of which he was personally cognizant: Before Virginia united with the Confederacy, President Davis had offered General Lee a position in the Confederate army, which he declined on the ground that he held a position under State authority. Mr. Davis did not formally renew the offer after the union was consummated, because he took it for granted that General Lee would come into his proper rank in the Confederate army. But General Lee did not so understand it; he was not the man to seek place for himself either directly or indirectly; and he was quietly getting positions for his staff, and arranging to enlist as a private soldier in a cavalry company, when, through mutual friends, the mistake was discovered and rectified. Soon after his West Virginia campaign, when-strange as it seems now-the newspapers and many of the people were severely censuring him for not fighting Rosecrans, he said to an intimate friend: "I could have fought, and I am satisfied that I could have gained a victory. But the nature of the country was such that it would have proved a barren victory, and I had rather sacrifice my military reputation and quietly rest under this unjust censure than to unnecessarily sacrifice the life of a single one of my men." Ex-President Davis said, in his speech at the great Memorial Meeting in Richmond, that on General Lee's return from that campaign he gave him a statement of the facts, which showed beyond all cavil that the failure was due to others and not to himself. And yet he urged Mr. Davis not to repeat his statement, as he would rather rest under censure himself than injure in the public esteem any who were bravely striking for the common cause. General Lee rarely slept in a house-never outside of his lines during the war, and when on the march some convenient fence-corner would be his most frequent place of bivouac. The writer has not unfrequently seen some colonel, or major-quartermaster, entertained in princely style at some |