A Girl's Life in Virginia before the War Part 15

Then they unpacked a sideboard. "This will do _very well_," said the general, "to be placed in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the chapel to hold the college papers!"

And so with everything the lady had sent, only keeping for his own house the articles which could not possibly be used for the college or chapel,--a quaint work-table, an ornamental clock, and some old-fas.h.i.+oned preserve-dishes--although his own house was then bare enough, and the donor had particularly requested that only those articles which they did not need at their home should go to the college.

The recollection of this visit, although reviving many pleasant hours, is very sad, for it was the last time I saw the dear, kind face of Mrs. Lee, of whom the general once said, when one of us, alluding to him, used the word "hero": "My dear, _Mrs._ Lee is the hero. For although deprived of the use of her limbs by suffering, and unable for ten years to walk, I have never heard her murmur or utter one complaint."

And the general spoke truly,--Mrs. Lee was a heroine. With gentleness, kindness, and true feminine delicacy, she had strength of mind and character a man might have envied. Her mind, well stored and cultivated, made her interesting in conversation; and a simple cordiality of manner made her beloved by all who met her.

During this last visit she loved to tell about her early days at Arlington--her own and her ancestors' plantation home--and in one of these conversations gave me such a beautiful sketch of her mother--Mrs. Custis--that I wish her every word could be remembered that I might write it here.

Mrs. Custis was a woman of saintly piety, her devotion to good works having long been a theme with all in that part of Virginia. She had only one child--Mrs. Lee--and possessed a very large fortune. In early life she felt that G.o.d had given her a special mission, which was to take care of and teach the three hundred negroes she had inherited.

"Believing this," said Mrs. Lee to me, "my mother devoted the best years of her life to teaching these negroes, for which purpose she had a school-house built in the yard, and gave her life up to this work; and I think it an evidence of the ingrat.i.tude of their race that, although I have long been afflicted, only one of those negroes has written to inquire after me, or offered to nurse me."

These last years of Mrs. Lee's life were pa.s.sed in much suffering, she being unable to move any part of her body except her hands and head.

Yet her time was devoted to working for her church. Her fingers were always busy with fancy-work, painting, or drawing,--she was quite an accomplished artist,--the results of which were sold for the purpose of repairing and beautifying the church in sight of her window, and as much an object of zeal and affection with her as the chapel was with the general.

Indeed, the whole family entered into the general's enthusiasm about this chapel, just then completed, especially his daughter Agnes, with whom I often went there, little thinking it was so soon to be her place of burial.

In a few short years all three--General Lee, his wife and daughter--were laid here to rest, and this chapel they had loved so well became their tomb.

CHAPTER XX.

All plantation reminiscences resemble a certain patchwork, made when we were children, of bright pieces joined with black squares. The black squares were not pretty, but if left out the character of the quilt was lost. And so with the black faces--if left out of our home pictures of the past, the character of the picture is destroyed.

What I have written is a simple record of facts in my experience, without an imaginary scene or character; intended for the descendants of those who owned slaves in the South, and who may in future wish to know something of the lofty character and virtues of their ancestors.

The pictures are strictly true; and should it be thought by any that the brightest have alone been selected, I can only say I knew no others.

It would not be possible for any country to be entirely exempt from crime and wickedness, and in Virginia, too, these existed; for prisons, penitentiaries, and courts of justice were here, as elsewhere, necessary; but it is my sincere belief that the majority of Southern people were true and good. And that they have accomplished more than any other nation toward civilizing and elevating the negro race may be shown from the following paragraph in a late magazine:

"From a very early date the French had their establishment on the western coast of Africa. In 1364 their s.h.i.+ps visited that portion of the world. But with all this long intercourse with the white man the natives have profited little. Five centuries have not civilized them, so as to be able to build up inst.i.tutions of their own. Yet the French have always succeeded better than the English with the negro and Indian element."

Civilization and education are slow; for, says a modern writer:

"After the death of Roman intellectual activity, the seventh and eighth centuries were justly called dark. If Christianity was to be one of the factors in producing the present splendid enlightenment, she had no time to lose, and she lost no time. She was the only power at that day that could begin the work of enlightenment. And, starting at the very bottom, she wrought for _nine hundred years_ alone. The materials she had to work upon were stubborn and unmalleable. For one must be somewhat civilized to have a taste for knowledge at all; and one must know something to be civilized at all. She had to carry on the double work of civilizing and educating. Her progress was necessarily slow at first. But after some centuries it began to increase in arithmetical progression until the sixteenth century."

Then our ancestors performed a great work--the work allotted them by G.o.d, civilizing and elevating an inferior race in the scale of intelligence and comfort. That this race may continue to improve, and finally be the means of carrying the Gospel into their native Africa, should be the prayer of every earnest Christian.

Never again will the negroes find a people so kind and true to them as the Southerners have been.

There is much in our lives not intended for us to comprehend or explain; but, believing that nothing happens by chance, and that our forefathers have done their duty in the place it had pleased G.o.d to call them, let us cherish their memory, and remember that the Lord G.o.d Omnipotent reigneth.

"For he who rules each wondrous star, And marks the feeble sparrow's fall, Controls the destiny of man, And guides events however small.

"Man's place of birth, his home, his friends, Are planned and fixed by G.o.d alone-- 'Life's lot is cast'--e'en death he sends For some wise purpose of his own."

THE END.