IMPORTANT DATES IN LEE'S LIFE
1807. January 19. Robert Edward Lee born. 1825. Entered West Point. 1829. Graduated second in his class. Made second-lieutenant in engineers. 1831. Married Mary Custis. 1838. Appointed captain. 1845. Joined General Scott's staff in Mexico. 1848. Made colonel for gallant conduct. 1852. Appointed superintendent of West Point. 1855. Appointed lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, in service against Indians. 1861. Made general in Confederate Army. 1865. Surrendered to Grant. 1865. Accepted presidency of Washington College, Virginia. 1870. October 12. Died at this college.
NAPOLEON
THE FRIENDLESS BOY WHO WAS TO SWAY MIGHTY ARMIES
"Hayseed! hayseed!"
Thus mocked a group of schoolboys of a mate who stood moodily by and glowered upon them.
Although their words were not English, "Hayseed!" was what they meant by the punning French phrase. This boy from the South who did not speak as they did, or act as they did, and wore cheaper clothes, was the butt of their ridicule.
"He calls himself 'Napoleone,'" they said. "He means 'La paille au nez' (straw-nose)."
And the way they rattled it off sounded like his name turned round. No wonder the Southerner glared.
How this moody and unpopular schoolboy grew from childhood without intimate friends—without being understood—into a masterful leader of men is one of the strange puzzles of history. It totally upsets that other paradox, "The child is father of the man," for there was little to indicate in the child Bonaparte, the man Napoleon.