Part 6 (1/2)

Amid all the trials of life we two found we had adhered to simple beliefs of those Southern homes in which we were the reared; that no advance in civilization, no pretense of progress, had ever obscured our views as to the olden beliefs and the simpler truths which had been inwrought into our being by the venerable fathers and beloved mothers with whom we had been blessed. The substratum of our beliefs was precisely the same. And we found that we were not ashamed of that substratum, that we were not given to apologizing for adhering to so-called ”obsolete” traditions or to creeds ”that were pa.s.sing out of fas.h.i.+on.”

We also found that on the political questions of the day we were similarly in accord. We believed in the same political principles. And so it was a very rare occurrence that when the roll was called in this House we were not found voting, even on what seemed to be trivial matters, upon the same side. It was not strange that with these coincidences of belief and with our having both served in the Confederate army and the local accident of the nearness of our seats which threw us together, there grew up a regard greater than was indicated by our a.s.sociation outside of this Hall.

If I were to select in my acquaintance him who, as much as any other, deserved the t.i.tle, I would say of Gen. LEE that he was a gentleman. All that had concurred in producing him was of the best. The blood which gave him life, the soil out of which he grew, the kindly influences which always surrounded him, the molding powers to which he had been subjected--all were of the n.o.blest. A son of such houses, reared at such knees, influenced by such powers, he pa.s.sed early under the influences of Harvard. Later he took his young experience as a soldier under Albert Sidney Johnston. He began his civil life in a delicious home, with the love of an exquisite young wife. And in the Confederate service he was a.s.sociated with the best and the bravest volunteers of the Old Dominion herself.

It was not strange that the product of such influences should be a gentleman. All that was courageous, all that was loyal to truth, all that was courteous to those with whom he came in contact, all that was gentle and kindly was not only the heritage which he received with his name and his blood, but it was developed by all the environments which he was so fortunate as to have surround him. If I were to select a character of which it might be said that it was round, without angles, even without salient points, it would be his--not because he was weak, but because the calmness, the serenity, and the magnificence (if I may use a word that seems to be hyperbolic) of the equipoise of his qualities made each of them seem less important than it would have seemed if other qualities had been less.

It would not be extravagant to apply to him the paraphrase of the apostolic description of a Christian gentleman--loving without dissimulation; abhorring the evil; cleaving to the honorable; preferring to confer honor rather than to receive it; earnest in the work of life, and careful of time and opportunity to labor; hopeful of all good; patient in tribulation; forbearing to resent trespa.s.s; charitable in thought and word, as in deed; given to hospitality; at peace with his own conscience and with G.o.d.

We live, Mr. Speaker, in a heroic age. I constantly hear of this being an age of materialism, of the wors.h.i.+p of the ”almighty dollar.” I challenge all the past, in all the endeavors of man, to reach a higher level, to equal the heroism of the age in which we have been called to perform our part--the devotion to duty, the readiness to make sacrifices, the willingness to give all for the truth which have marked our generation--the era in which we have to act our part.

This simple, kindly, unaffected, modest gentleman; this man, with his sweet calm smile, who met us every day, pa.s.sing in and out with a certain reticence of modesty, was himself but the type of the age in which he lived and of the people from whom he sprang. All modest as he was, he had given up everything at the call of duty. All simple and kindly as he seemed to be, he had at the head of charging squadrons captured cannon, and with more heroic endurance had lain without complaint in the cell of solitary confinement. He carried about with him in the simple modesty of his everyday life the heart that at a moment's notice was ready to still its beating at the call of duty; and with the same simplicity, with the same freedom from ostentation, with the same delicious smile, he would have walked into the jaws of death if it had become him as a gentleman to do so.

To live in such an age, to be a.s.sociated with such men--and, thank G.o.d, they are not uncommon amongst us--the bar at which I practice, the tables at which I sit in the kindliness of social intercourse, the men with whom I have been blessed enough to be called into contact, the very strangers who call on business at my house, rank among them men just like unto him. I say to live in such an age, to be a.s.sociated with such men, to play a part, however obscure, in such drama, make life worth the living; make the hereafter n.o.bler for him who has been so blessed.

Mr. Speaker, to-day, in the midst of this the ending of the nineteenth century, we who will soon pa.s.s away, we who are but the remnants of a generation of war, can proudly hand over to those who shall come after us the example of lives that in war feared nothing but G.o.d, in peace strove for nothing but the good of the people.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE.

EULOGIES.

MARCH 4, 1892.

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Chair lays before the Senate resolutions from the House of Representatives, which will be read.

The resolutions were read, as follows:

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, _February 6, 1892._

_Resolved_, That the business of the House be now suspended, that opportunity be given for tributes to the memory of Hon. WILLIAM HENRY FITZHUGH LEE, late a Representative from the State of Virginia.

_Resolved_, As a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a distinguished public servant, that the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceedings, shall stand adjourned.

_Resolved_, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate.

Mr. BARBOUR. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I send to the desk.

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The resolutions will be read.

The resolutions were read, as follows:

_Resolved_, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the announcement of the death of Hon. WILLIAM H.F. LEE, late a Representative from the State of Virginia.

_Resolved_, That the business of the Senate be now suspended, in order that fitting tribute may be paid to his memory.