I enjoyed a bit of newspaper gossip about this peculiarity of my dear general. A physician was testifying before him in a malpractice case, and repeatedly used the word "pare´sis," accenting the second syllable. The judge exhibited extreme restlessness, and finally ventured, "Excuse me—the word you mean is possibly par´esis?" As the witness proceeded, the offence was repeated and again corrected. "Now, your Honor," said the offender, "I concede all wisdom to the bench in legal matters, but I am a physician, and in the profession the word is pare´sis." "It is par´esis in my court," was the decision promptly handed down, with an emphasis that forbade appeal.
I am sorry I cannot record his services to his country and his profession during the seven years before he was overtaken by the age-limit prescribed by New York law—his championship of maligned women, his decision that divorce cases should not be tried secretly but must be held in open court—now become a law—his restriction of the right of naturalization to at least knowledge of the English language. I cannot go into these learned subjects as I trust some one of the profession will do some day. I only record that my dear general, as was conceded by every one, fulfilled the sacred trust—"he was a father to the poor, and the cause that he knew not he searched out."
This public recognition of his ability and worth, with its opportunity for larger usefulness, came at last as the crown of his long and heroic struggle. The war had left him with nothing but a ragged uniform, his sword, a wife, and seven children,—his health, his occupation, his place in the world, gone; his friends and comrades slain in battle; his Southern home impoverished and desolate. He had no profession, no rights as a citizen, no ability to hold office. That he conquered the fate which threatened to destroy him,—and conquered it through the appreciation awarded by his sometime enemies,—is a striking illustration of the possibilities afforded by our country; where not only can the impoverished refugee from other lands find fortune and happiness, but where her own sons, prostrate and ruined after a dreadful fratricidal strife, can bind their wounds, take up their lives again, and finally win reward for their labors.
BY Mrs. ROGER A. PRYOR
Reminiscences of Peace and War
Illustrated. Cloth, crown 8vo, $2.00 net
"Few persons now living had a better opportunity to be in, and a part of, the life of the national capital and mingle with its social and political leaders during that period when the war clouds were gathering to burst in 1861 than Mrs. Roger A. Pryor. Still fewer could have had the power to absorb the vital and charming side of it, and to record it so entertainingly as she has done. She was not only a keen observer of all that transpired during those memorable days, but the manner in which she has recorded her recollections is done with charming grace. It is a pathetic story of woman's heroism and devotion, sad and amusing by turns, and always interesting. It is told in a modest way by one who bravely faced every deprivation and returned to her desolate home with a cheery, hopeful spirit which manifests itself in every page, as it did in the days following the war when by her self-sacrifice she aided her husband to attain, in the face of great odds, eminent rank in the bar and bench of New York."—Boston Herald.
"Nothing which has yet been produced excels in charm of style, in temperate and modern statement of facts, and in vivid portrayal of social characteristics and incidents of private and military life than the thoroughly delightful book of reminiscences just completed by Mrs. Roger A Pryor. Mrs. Pryor's narrative ... gives a wealth of information, which is essential to the true understanding of history, and in a shape that must charm and delight the reader. Americans who would see the full conditions of the South in its great crisis have been placed under a debt of lasting obligation to the talented author of 'Reminiscences of Peace and War.'"—Philadelphia Public Ledger.
The Birth of the Nation: Jamestown, 1607
Illustrated. Cloth, 8vo, $1.75 net
"No better book could be found to give a lively impression of the early days of the seventeenth century."—The Outlook.
"She has weighed the reputations of men in the balance, and one feels that her judgment is equally just and sympathetic."—The New York Times.