Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee (A Representative from Virginia): Delivered in the House of Representatives and in the Senate,; Fifty-Second Congress, First Session — John Shaqi
Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee (A Representative from Virginia): Delivered in the House of Representatives and in the Senate,; Fifty-Second Congress, First SessionVarious
History
Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee (A Representative from Virginia): Delivered in the House of Representatives and in the Senate,; Fifty-Second Congress, First Session
Various
Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh, 1837-1891
In a large university--and Harvard had gained that rank even as far back
as those days--there are various fields of action, and other honors are
recognized than those marked on the catalogue or contained in the
degrees. The graduate who excels in mathematics, the languages, the arts
and sciences, is decked with the highest honor on commencement day, but
there are unwritten honors given by general consent of classmates to
those who have developed a superiority in any mental or physical
excellence. When in after life the members of a class meet on some
public college anniversary or gather together at a reunion and the
memories and traditions of college life are talked over anew, the merits
of those who excelled in pleasant companionship, in kindly bearing, in
generous conduct towards their associates, in outdoor games and sports
requiring strength and dexterity, are pleasant subjects to dwell upon,
even if the possessors failed to stand among the highest upon the roll
of scholarship.
Thus it was that LEE established himself among his associates during the
three years that he remained among us, and though he contented himself
with a medium standing in scholarship and exhibited no ambition to gain
a high rank upon the college rolls, he won the regard and confidence and
respect of all his classmates and held a warm place in the hearts of
those with whom he was most intimate.
Towards the close of our junior year, in the early part of 1857, upon
the recommendation of Gen. Winfield Scott, he received a commission as
second lieutenant in the Army, and was assigned to the Sixth Regiment of
Infantry, which was ordered into active service on the Western frontier,
and took part in the expedition to Utah which was commanded by Col.
Albert Sidney Johnston. LEE accepted this appointment, closed his
connection with the college, and our paths in life diverged for more
than thirty years.
In 1887 we both became members of the Fiftieth Congress. I well remember
his coming to me, with kindly face and outstretched hand, on the first
day of our session in December, as I sat in my seat in this Chamber,
expressing pleasure at meeting me after so many years of separation and
satisfaction that we were to have opportunities of renewing the
acquaintance and friendship of our early days. Though the exacting
duties of Congressional life gave me fewer opportunities of associating
with him than I could have wished, yet I saw much of him during the
years we spent here together, and I shall always remember those
occasions with satisfaction. Sometimes it was only a word in passing, a
shake of the hand, a brief conference on public business, but whether
the interview was brief or prolonged his manner and conduct were always
kind and friendly and sincere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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