“Do you know why?” said the Captain. “It is because I have never been caught in the parlour at ten o’clock. I came very near it least night, but got into the porch before the General shut the first blind. That’s the reason he calls me ‘a fine young man.’”
A young friend who was a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute called on my sisters one evening, and remarked, just for something to say:
“Do you know this is the first civilian’s house I have entered in Lexington.”
My father was in the room in the room in his gray Confederate coat, shorn of the buttons; also my two brothers, Custis and Fitzhugh, both of whom had been generals in the Confederate Army; so there was quite a laugh over the term CIVILIAN. I have already mentioned how particular my father was about answering all letters. It was a great tax on his time, and some of them must have been a trial to his temper. The following will explain itself:
“Lexington, Virginia, September 5, 1866.
“A. J. Requier, 81 Cedar St., New York.
“My Dear Sir: I am very much obliged to you for your kind letter of the 22d ult. So many articles formerly belonging to me are scattered over the country that I fear I have not time to devote to their recovery. I know no one in Buffalo whom I could ask to reclaim the Bible in question. If the lady who has it will use it, as I hope she will, she will herself seek to restore it to the rightful owner. I will, therefore, leave the decision of the question to her and her conscience. I have read with great pleasure the poem you sent me, and thank you sincerely for your interest in my behalf. With great respect,
“Your obedient servant,
“R. E. Lee.”
Here is another one of many of a similar character: