He went to work with great skill and energy, and soon all felt that a great man was leading them.
Some one has aptly said, “Suns seem larger when they set;” so it was with Lee. At this time of his life he appears nobler and grander than ever before. In his quiet study, away from the noise of the world, he gave his time and talents to the young men of his dear South. His earnest wish was to make Washington College a great seat of learning, and for this he worked and made wise plans.
In March, 1866, he went to Washington city to appear as a witness before the committee which was inquiring into the state of things in the South. This was his first visit to any of the cities since the war, and it caused much comment.
General Fitz. Lee tells us that the day after his return, he proposed a walk with one of his daughters, who said, in fun, that she did not admire the new hat which he was about to put on. “You do not like my hat?” said he; “why, there were a thousand people in Washington the other day admiring this hat.” This was the only time that he spoke of the crowds of people who sought him while in that city.
When his nephew, General Fitz. Lee, wrote to know what he thought of having the Southern dead moved from the field of Gettysburg, he said, “I am not in favor of moving the ashes of the dead unless for a worthy object, and I know of no fitter resting-place for a soldier than the field on which he so nobly laid down his life.”
It is sometimes asked if General Lee was content in the quiet of his home at Lexington. This is what he wrote to a friend:
“For my own part, I much enjoy the charms of civil life, and find, too late, that I have wasted the best years of my life.”
In his life as College President, duty was, as ever, his watchword. He knew each student by name, and just how well he studied.
Once, when asked how a certain young man was getting along, he said: “He is a very quiet and orderly young man, but he seems very careful not to injure the health of his father’s son. Now, I do not want our young men to injure their health, but I want them to come as near it as possible.”
One of his friends relates that, even amidst this busy life at college, he found time to be the most polite gentleman in town. “How often have I seen him,” says this friend, “in the stores and shops of Lexington, talking pleasantly with each new comer; or, walking a mile through mud and snow to call on some humble family, who will hand it down as an event in their lives that they had a visit from General Lee!”