expression, Lee had evidences of the position which he occupied in the
eyes of the people, which must have been extremely gratifying to him.
Gray-haired men came to his camp and uttered prayers for his health
and happiness as the great leader of the South; aged ladies greeted
him with faltering expressions full of deep feeling and pathetic
earnestness; and, wherever he went, young girls and children received
him with their brightest smiles. The august fame of the great soldier,
who has now passed away, no doubt renders these memories of personal
interviews with him dear to many. Even the most trifling incidents are
cherished and kept fresh by repetition; and the writer of these
pages recalls at the moment one of these trifles, which may possibly
interest some readers. There stood and still stands an ancient and
hospitable homestead on the south bank of the Opequan, the hearts
of whose inmates, one and all, were ardently with the South in her
struggle. Soon after Sharpsburg, General Lee one day visited the old
manor-house crowning the grassy hill and overshadowed by great oaks;
Generals Jackson, Longstreet, and Stuart, accompanied him, and the
reception which he met with, though we cannot describe it, was such as
would have satisfied the most exacting. The children came to him and
held out their small hands, the ladies divided their attention between
him and the beloved "hero of the Valley," Jackson; and the lady of the
manor could only express her sense of the great honor of receiving
such company, by declaring, with a smile, that the dinner resembled
the famous _breakfast at Tillietudlem_ in Scott's "Old Mortality."
General Lee highly enjoyed this, and seemed disposed to laugh when
the curious fact was pointed out to him that he had seated himself at
table in a chair with an open-winged _United States eagle_ delineated
upon its back. The result of this visit, it appeared afterward, was a
sentiment of great regard and affection for the general personally by
all at the old country-house. Old and young were charmed by his grave
sweetness and mild courtesy, and doubtless he inspired the same
sentiment in other places.

His headquarters were at this time in a field some miles from
Winchester. An Englishman, who visited him there, described the
general and his surroundings with accuracy, and, from the account
printed in _Blackwood's Magazine_, we quote the following sentences:

"In visiting the headquarters of the Confeder