ting was nearest.

Yes, death, the unsolved and unsolvable mystery, has enveloped him, and
he has passed from our view never more to be seen and known of men on
this earth. But yesterday the living, moving, brave, sympathetic,
generous friend, and now, alas, but a memory--and yet a memory dear to
all who knew and appreciated his noble attributes of heart and mind; a
memory which has left its impress upon his fellow-men for nobility of
character; a memory which can not wholly fade, but must influence for
good not only his own immediate posterity, but all those who may come
after him.

My acquaintance with Gen. LEE began in the early part of the war between
the States. It was upon a night march, as we rode with the advance guard
of the army, where we might expect at any moment a hostile volley. He
related to me in a low impressive tone of voice an experience which had
occurred to him when his command by reason of surprise had met with some
disaster. What impressed me most at the time was that, although others
must have been to some extent culpable, he took all the blame upon
himself, and had not a word of complaint for either officer or man who
served under him.

This trait of magnanimity, such a splendid companion to personal
courage, I found afterwards to be characteristic of the man.

Though springing from a long line of heroic and patriotic ancestors, he
had not a particle of pretentious pride, but to all men, privates in the
ranks as well as officers, so that they were but brave and good
soldiers, he always found "time enough for courtesy." He never tried to
appropriate another man's laurels, but he possessed in a high degree
that quality of courage which is so well described by Emerson:

Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend
To mean devices for a sordid end.
Courage, an independent spark from Heaven's bright throne,
By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, high, alone.
Great in itself, not praises of the crowd,
Above all vice, it stoops not to be proud.
Courage, the mighty attribute of powers above,
By which those great in war are great in love.
The spring of all brave acts is seated here,
As falsehoods draw their sordid birth from fear.

In his friendship he was gentle and tender as one who is full of love
and human sympathy. You might have thought him better fitted for the
paths of peace, and yet upon the battlefield he was brave as the
bravest. Wheneve