to the broad hall, where the family were waiting for
Colonel Lee. The lady visitor had pinned a rose in her hair, and the
other little boy had been dressed in his prettiest clothes. Pretty soon
there were shouts of "Here he comes--here he comes!" and they could see
Colonel Lee, in a handsome uniform, riding his chestnut horse, Grace
Darling.

He sprang from the horse and up the steps, and when he had greeted the
older ones, he sang out: "Where's my little boy--where's Robbie?" He
seized the child nearest him and kissed him half a dozen times.

But it wasn't Robert that he kissed. It was the other boy!

For a minute Robert cried, but his father had plenty of kisses for him
when he found what a mistake he had made, and he whispered something to
Robert that made everything all right. There was a mustang pony on the
way from Mexico for his little son!

This pony was pure white. A faithful Irish servant taught Robert to ride
in a short time, and he was the proudest boy in the world when he rode
out on Santa Anna beside his father on Grace Darling. Robert bragged a
good deal to his playmates about Grace Darling, because she had carried
his father all through the Mexican War and had the scars of seven
bullets on her sides.

Colonel Lee loved animals and taught all his children to be kind to
their pets. When the family lived in Arlington, "Spec," a lively black
and tan terrier, went everywhere with them, even to church. Colonel Lee
thought he made the children restless, so one Sunday, when they started
for church, he shut Spec in a chamber in the second story. Spec looked
out of the window for awhile. It was open, and he soon made up his mind
that he would rather be with his friends. So he jumped to the ground,
ran as fast as he could, and walked into the pew just behind the
family. After that he was allowed to go to church every Sunday.

Colonel Robert E. Lee was a very handsome man. When he and Mrs. Lee were
going out in the evening, the children always begged to sit up and see
them start. They never saw any man or any picture of a man they thought
so beautiful as their own father.

General Lee was not just a good leader of soldiers; he knew how to make
everyone mind, and although he was the best playmate his children had,
he was very firm with them. No slipshod ways were allowed in his house.
No, indeed! If his boys and girls were not tidy about their clothes,
faithful in their lessons, polite, and truthful, they foun