The Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee, For Children, In Easy Words
By Mary L. Williamson

UNVEILING OF LEE MONUMENT
At Richmond, Va., Friday, May 29, 1890.

THE LIFE
of
GEN. ROBERT E. LEE,
FOR CHILDREN,
IN EASY WORDS.
ILLUSTRATED.

MRS. MARY L. WILLIAMSON.

B. F. JOHNSON PUBLISHING CO.
RICHMOND, VA.

Copyright, 1895,
BY
MRS. MARY L. WILLIAMSON.

PREFACE.

In preparing the “Life of Lee for Children,” for use in the Public Schools, I beg leave to place before teachers good reasons for employing it as a supplementary reader.

First, I urge the need of interesting our children in history at an early age. From observation I find that the minds of children who study history early expand more rapidly than those who are restricted to the limits of stories in readers. While teaching pupils to read, why not fix in their minds the names and deeds of our great men, thereby laying the foundation of historical knowledge and instilling true patriotism into their youthful souls?

Secondly, In looking over the lives of our American heroes we find not one which presents such a picture of moral grandeur as that of Lee. Place this picture before the little ones and you cannot fail to make them look upward to noble ideals.

This little book is intended as auxiliary to third readers. I have used the diacritical marks of Webster, also his syllabication. In compiling this work I referred chiefly to Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's “Life of Lee,” and Rev. J. William Jones' “Personal Reminiscences of R. E. Lee.”

MARY L. WILLIAMSON.

New Market, Va.,
September 28, 1898.

The Sword of Robert Lee.

Words by MOINA.     Music by ARMAND,

---

Forth from its scabbard, pure and bright,
     Flashed the sword of Lee!
Far in the front of the deadly fight,
High o'er the brave,
in the cause of right,
Its stainless sheen, like a beacon light,
     Led us to victory.

Out of its scabbard, where full long
     It slumbered peacefully—
Roused from its rest by the battle-song,
Shielding the feeble, smiting the strong,
Guarding the right, and avenging the wrong—
     Gleamed the sword of Lee!

Forth from its scabbard, high in air,
     Beneath Virginia's sky,
And they who saw it gleaming there,
And knew who bore it, knelt to swear
That where that sword led they would dare
     To follow and to die.

Out of its scabbard! Never hand
     Waved sword from stain as free,
Nor purer sword led braver band,
Nor braver bled for a brighter land,
Nor brighter land had a cause as grand,
     Nor cause a chief like Lee!

Forth from its scabbard! All in vain!
     Forth flashed the sword of Lee!
'Tis shrouded now in its sheath again,
It sleeps the sleep of our noble slain,
Defeated, yet without a stain,
     Proudly and peacefully.

Contents

	Preface
	The Sword of Robert E. Lee
Chapter I	Birth and Youth
Chapter II	A Young Engineer
Chapter III	A Cavalry Officer
Chapter IV	A Confederate General
Chapter V	A Confederate General (Continued
Chapter VI	A College President
Chapter VII	A People's Hero
Appendices	General R. E. Lee's Farwell Address to His Soldiers
	Lee to the Rear
	The Conquered Banner
	Music in Camp
	The South
	Some Leading School Books [Omitted]