of visiting you, and, when I urge her to make preparations for her journey, she replies, rather disdainfully, that she has none to make, they have been made years ago. C and Mare well, and M- writes that she will be back by the 1st of April. We are having beautiful weather now, which I hope may continue. I am so tired sitting at my table that I must conclude. Love to all, from "Your affectionate father, R. E. LEE." Many other letters of similar character might be given, and much more might be written on the domestic life of this great and good man; but the above must suffice. The home circle has been, alas! sadly broken. The illustrious head of the house-the noble matron who shared his joys and sorrows-the accomplished daughters who were indeed a light and a joy in the home-come not back to their accustomed places, and there are vacant chairs, and missing forms, and silent voices, which tell of a desolated hearthstone and a broken family circle. Father, mother, and daughter, rest together beneath the college chapel at Lexington, while the noble women of the old North State guard the resting-place of the other. But their pure spirits bask in the sunlight of the brighter home above, and await the day when, in one of those mansions which Jesus went to prepare, the home circle shall be reunited, and the "domestic life" be joyous forever. CHAPTER XI. HIS LOVE FOR CHILDREN. No record of General Lee's character would be complete without some mention of his marked fondness for children, and the incidents illustrating this are so numerous that I am at a loss to know which to recite. On the morning of July 4, 1861, little Henry T——— (a bright little boy of five, and an enthusiastic Confederate) went with his father to call on General Lee at his headquarters in Richmond, and to present him with a handsome copy of the Bible in four volumes. One of the staff met them at the door and reported that the general was too busy to see them; but, when the great chieftain heard the prattle of the little boy, he called to his aide to admit them. Receiving them with great cordiality, he accepted the gift of the Bible with evident gratification, and was fondling the little boy on his knee, when the father inconsiderately asked Henry, "What is General Lee going to do with General Scott?" The little fellow, who had caught some of the slang of the camp, and fully entered into the confident spirit which we all had in those early days of the war, instantly replied. "He is going to whip him out of his breeches!" General Lee's voice and manner instantaneously changed, and, lifting Henry down, he stood him up between his knees, and, looking him full in the face, said, with great gravity: "My dear little boy, you should not use such expressions; war is a serious matter, and General Scott is a great and good soldier. None of us can tell what the result of this contest will be." A few days after this, General Lee rode out to pay a special visit to little Henry. He told him that he wished to make him some return for his present; that he was very much pleased at such a gift from a little boy, and that he could not have given him any thing which he would have prized so highly as the Holy Bible, especially in so convenient a form. He then handed him a copy of Mr. Custis's "Recollections of General Washington," edited by Mrs. Lee, in which he had written his own name and its presentation to Henry. It is hard to say whether the boy was most delighted with the visit or the book, or with being placed by the general in his saddle on the back of "Richmond," the horse he then rode. While at Petersburg in the winter of 1864 he attended preaching one day at a crowded chapel, and noticed a little girl, dressed in faded garments, standing just inside the door and timidly looking around for a seat. "Come with me, my little lady," said the great soldier, "and you shall sit by me." And taking the little girl by the hand he secured her a comfortable seat at his side. Rev. W. H. Platt, of Louisville, who lived in Petersburg during the war, gives the following: "One day in Richmond a number of little girls were rolling hoops on the sidewalk, when word was passed from one to another that General Lee was riding toward them. They all gathered into a still group to gaze upon one of whom they had heard so much, when, to their surprise, he threw his rein to his attending courier, dismounted, and kissed every one of them, and then, mounting, rode away, with the sunny smile of childhood in his heart and plans of great battles in his mind. "Once in Petersburg, he called to see a child in whom he felt a special interest, and finding her sick, begged to be shown to her room. When the mother, who was at a neighbor's for a moment, came home, she found him by the bedside of her sick child, ministering to her comfort and cheering her with his words." In calling one day in Petersburg upon the accomplished lady of the gallant and lamented General A. P. Hill, his bright little girl met him at the door and exclaimed, with that familiarity which the kind-hearted old hero had taught her: "O General Lee, here is 'Bobby Lee' (holding up a puppy); "do kiss him." The general pretended to do so, and the little creature was delighted. Many children all through the land were named after him, and, instead of being annoyed by it, as some men of distinction have been, he seemed to regard it as a compliment, which he always acknowledged. The following are specimens of many similar letters: "LEXINGTON, VA., May 29, 1866. “ Mr. A. P. M—————, La Grange, Ga. (for Robert Lee M- -). "MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND: I have just become acquainted with you, through a letter from your father, and hasten to express the pleasure this knowledge gives me. I shall watch your future career with great interest, and pray that it may be one of great usefulness to your friends and to your country. That it may be so, listen to the teachings of your parents, obey their precepts, and from childhood to the grave pursue unswervingly the path of honor and of truth. Above all things, learn at once to worship your Creator and to do His will as revealed in His Holy Book. "With much affection, I am your sincere friend, "LEXINGTON, VA., August 29, 1866. "Mrs. ROBERT W, Clark County, Ind. "I am much obliged to you for your letter of the 22d inst., and thank you sincerely for the kind feelings you express toward the people of the South. The compliment paid me by your brother-in-law, Mr. H, is highly appreciated, and I pray that his little son may be guided through life by a merciful Providence, and be led into the way of everlasting happiness. "I am, with great respect, R. E. LEE." One day, on the street in Lexington, a little girl of six summers was trying in vain to induce her younger sister to go home, when, seeing General Lee approaching, she appealed to him with childlike simplicity: "O general! Fanny won't go home-please, make her!" The kind-hearted old hero could not resist this call of childhood, but with gentle persuasion induced the little girl to comply with her sister's request, and trudged back a quarter of a mile to lead the little ones by the hand, and enjoy their innocent prattle. The superintendent of one of the Sunday-schools of Lexington once offered a prize to the scholar who should bring into the school by a given time the largest number of new scholars, and the pastor of the church urged that they should not confine their efforts to the children, but should seek to bring in the old as well, since none were too wise to study God's word. A boy of five caught the spirit of the pastor's speech and went after his friend General Lee, to beg him to "go with me to our Sunday-school and be my new scholar." The little fellow was greatly disappointed when told that the general attended another church, and said with a deep sigh: "I am very sorry. I wish he belonged to our church, so that he could go to our Sunday-school and be my new scholar." The general was very much amused, and kindly answered his little friend: "Ah! C, we must all try to be good Christians-that is the most important thing. I can't go to your Sunday-school to be your new scholar to-day. But I am very glad that you asked me. It shows that you are zealous in a good cause, and I hope that you will continue to be so as you grow up. "And I do not want you to think that I consider my |