(January 19th)

In which it appears that a good boy can become a great man.

Robert E. Lee was born on a beautiful plantation in Virginia. He was a very handsome boy. His father was rich and had many servants, but Robert was not spoiled by all these things. His father and many members of his family had been soldiers. Robert loved to listen to their stories about the battles they had fought for love of their country. He said to himself: “When I am a man I, too, will be a soldier and fight for my country.”

As he listened he learned that a soldier must always do his duty; that means he must do the right thing in the right way at the right time. He learned that a soldier’s duty is always to obey orders, to be brave, to be faithful, and to be tender-hearted.

Day by day this little boy tried to do these things. Was it easy? Oh, no! but soldiers do not hunt for easy things to do. Perhaps sometimes when he had a hard lesson he would rather have gone hunting or drilled with his boy company or played ball, but he did his duty first, and then he played as hard as the other boys. Soon his family, his teachers and boy friends found that Robert could be trusted, in work or play, to do his very best.

When Robert was eleven years old his brave soldier-father died. It was a sad time for him. His brothers were away from home, and his mother was sick. Then Robert showed his faithfulness and tenderness.

Young as he was, he carried the keys to the big store-house and gave out the rations to all the servants on that big plantation. He helped his mother in many other ways. On pleasant mornings he would order out the carriage and leaving his playmates, would take his mother to drive, and tell her all about his work and play to cheer her up.

How his mother loved him! She would often say: “Robert is both son and daughter to me.”

I wonder if the boys teased him sometimes and if he felt like giving up? I think he did, but he knew that soldiers must keep on trying.

With work and study and play the years went by until Robert was eighteen years old, and it was time for him to go to West Point and learn to be a soldier. During the Civil War he became a great general, and was in command of all the soldiers of the Confederate States. He always felt kindly toward his enemies. After the war he said to a lady, “You must train your sons to love all the country, and to be good Americans.” He was one of the greatest soldiers a country has ever had, and a pure hearted, Christian man. That is why we celebrate his birthday.