r relief, but
before it could reach them both had perished. Efforts to
restore your son's life, though long continued, were
unavailing. Mr. Birely's body was not found until next
morning. Their remains were, yesterday, Sunday, conveyed to
the Episcopal church in this city, where the sacred ceremonies
for the dead were performed by the Reverend Dr. Pendleton, who
nineteen years ago, at the far-off home of their infancy,
placed upon them their baptismal vows. After the service a
long procession of the professors and students of the college,
the officers and cadets of the Virginia Military Academy, and
the citizens of Lexington accompanied their bodies to the
packetboat for Lynchburg, where they were placed in charge of
Messrs. Wheeler & Baker to convey them to Frederick City.

With great regard and sincere sympathy, I am,

Most respectfully,
R. E. Lee.

[5] From "Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee," by Capt.
Robert E. Lee. Copyright, 1904, by Doubleday, Page & Co.

LETTERS OF SYMPATHY IN CASE OF ILLNESS

When President Alderman, of the University of Virginia, was forced to
take a long rest in the mountains in 1912 because of incipient
tuberculosis, the late Walter H. Page, at the time editor of the
_World's Work_, wrote the following tenderly beautiful letter of
sympathy to Mrs. Alderman:

Cathedral Avenue, Garden City, L. I.,
December 9, 1912.

My dear Mrs. Alderman:

In Raleigh the other day I heard a rumor of the sad news that
your letter brings, which I have just received on my return
from a week's absence. I had been hoping that it was merely a
rumor. The first impression I have is thankfulness that it had
been discovered so soon and that you have acted so promptly.
On this I build a great hope.

But underlying every thought and emotion is the sadness of
it--that it should have happened to _him_, now when he has
done that prodigious task and borne that hard strain and was
come within sight of a time when, after a period of more
normal activity, he would in a few years have got the period
of rest that he has won.--But these will all come yet; for I
have never read a braver thing than your letter. That bravery
on your part and his, t