Produced by David Garcia, Roberta Staehlin, Steve Read and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) ROBERT E. LEE A STORY AND A PLAY LITTLE FOLKS' PLAYS OF AMERICAN HEROES GEORGE WASHINGTON BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ABRAHAM LINCOLN ULYSSES S. GRANT ROBERT E. LEE JOHN JOSEPH PERSHING MAKERS OF AMERICA Richard G. Badger, Publisher Boston _Little Folks' Plays of American Heroes_ ROBERT E. LEE A STORY AND A PLAY RUTH HILL [Illustration: ARTI et VERITATI] BOSTON RICHARD G. BADGER THE GORHAM PRESS Copyright, 1920, by Richard G. Badger All Rights Reserved MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE GORHAM PRESS, BOSTON, U. S. A. CONTENTS THE STORY-- PAGE Growing Up 9 A Young Soldier 10 The Mexican War 12 A Returned Hero 15 The Civil War 16 The College President 21 THE PLAY-- Act I 29 Act II 37 Act III 44 Act IV 52 THE STORY THE STORY OF ROBERT E. LEE GROWING UP Once upon a time in beautiful Virginia there lived a little boy named Robert Edward Lee. It was in the days before the Civil War when, if we may believe all we hear, all the women were charming, and all the men were gentlemen. The boy's father was one of the most gallant of the gentlemen, for he was Light Horse Harry of Revolutionary War fame. He it was who said of Washington, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Mr. Lee did not realize, then, how many people would apply this same remark to his own son. No doubt little Robert got in and out of as many scrapes as any other active little boy, but all the time he was hard at work learning to control his temper. I started to say he was learning to be a gentleman, but that was something he did not have to learn. A gentleman he was by nature, as the Lees of Virginia had been for generations. He did not have a very happy boyhood. His father died when Robert was only eleven. His mother was an invalid and Robert was the one who did all the thoughtful little things that mean so much when one is sick. He would race home from school to take her out to ride. He would arrange all the pillows carefully and then tell her everything amusing he could think of, because he said unless she was cheerful the ride would do her no good. In her last illness he nursed her day and night. If Robert left the room, she kept her eyes on the door until he returned, but she never had long to wait. A YOUNG SOLDIER