'^^^^ 
 
 

 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 HENRY W. SAGE 
 
 1891 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 69L47 M88 
 
 Memoir of Colonel Henry Lee: with select 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 028 815 244 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028815244 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
CTC^-tVW' X-<_-t- 
 
MEMOIR OF 
 COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 WITH SELECTIONS FROM 
 HIS WRITINGS AND SPEECHES 
 
 PREPAUED BY 
 
 JOHN T. MOESE, Je-. 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
 
 1905 
 
Copyright, 1905, 
 By Elizabeth P. Shattuok. 
 
 An rights reserved 
 
 Published November, 190S 
 
 THE imiVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 
 
TO 
 
 ELIZABETH P. SHATTlfCK 
 
 IN RECOGNITION OF HBK 
 
 ENEBGT, PATIENCE, AND VALUABLE ASSISTANCE 
 
 IN THE FSEFASATION OF 
 
 THIS MEMOIS OF HER FATHER 
 
 IT IS 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 GHAFTBB PAGE 
 
 I. His Youth 3 
 
 n. Matters Theatrical : Family Relations . . ■ , 21 
 
 III. During the Civil War 53 
 
 IV. Interest in Public Affairs .91 
 
 V. Harvard University 122 
 
 VI. Personal Traits ; Literary Labors 151 
 
 VII. Attitude towards Eeligion — Sundry Occupa- 
 
 .TioNS — Death 198 
 
 SELECTIONS FROM WRITINGS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Personal Reminiscences of Governor Andrew - . . 227 
 
 Speech on the State House : 1895 262 
 
 The Old North End 273 
 
 Broad Street Riot 287 
 
 The Shaw Memorial . 291 
 
 Frances Anne Kemble 295 
 
 OBITUARIES 
 
 Major Charles J. Mills 329 
 
 Brigadier-General Thomas G. 'Stevenson ..... 331 
 
 G. HowLAND Shaw . . 333 
 
 Sarah Alden [Mrs. Samuel] Ripley . 335 
 
 William H. Logan . 338 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Francis Cabot Lowell 340 
 
 Martin L. Whitchbk 344 
 
 Mrs. George Ticknor 345 
 
 George Higginson 348 
 
 John Gibbs Gilbert 852 
 
 Henry J. Bigelow 357 
 
 George Partridge Bradford 363 
 
 Charles Devens 366 
 
 Patrick Tracy Jackson 371 
 
 George Cheyne Shattdck 373 
 
 Waldo Higginson 375 
 
 Robert C. Winthrop .... 884 
 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes 389 
 
 William Minot ... 394 
 
 Benjamin Eddy Morse 397 
 
 Ebenezer Kockwood Hoar . . 399 
 
 William Story Bullard 407 
 
 Theodore Lyman 410 
 
 Sakah Paine Cleveland 413 
 
 Martin Brimmer 418 
 
 gpEECH on D.EATH OF Mk. Wm. PeRKINS 420 
 
 INDEX 427 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Henry Lee Frontispiece 
 
 The "Boylston House," Brookline, owned by 
 
 Colonel Lee's father and himself .... Page «90 
 
 The "Boylston House," east end "124 
 
 Colonel Lee's headland 9,t Beverly Farms ... " 192 
 
 Colonel Lee's house at Beverly Farms .... " 196 
 
 Henry Lee " 216 
 
 House built and occupied by Colonel Lee, at 
 
 Brookline . "260 
 
 The Samuel Cabot house, Brookline, the last 
 
 house occupied by Colonel Lee .... " 326 
 
 In the garden of the Samuel Cabot house at 
 
 Brookline " 370 
 
MEMOIR 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 HIS YOUTH: BUSINESS 
 
 EvEEYONE who knew Colonel Henry Lee feels that his 
 memory should not lapse into oblivion for lack of an 
 enduring record of what he was and what he did. But 
 not less must it be felt that an adequate record became 
 an impossibility when he died without having himself 
 written that which, under his hand, could not have failed 
 to be a charming volume of reminiscence. Anyone 
 else, undertaking the task, must be painfully discour- 
 aged at the thought of how immeasurably better Colonel 
 Lee would have done it. Yet the effort ought to be 
 made ; some one must move halting along over the road 
 which he would have traversed with such a lively and 
 spirited quickstep. 
 
 It is a common delusion that every character can be 
 accounted for by reciting the names and occupations, 
 the births and deaths of a parcel of deceased ancestors, 
 not widely different from the average of their coevals 
 who were also at the same time being the ancestors of 
 somebody. The genealogical paragraphs with which 
 
4 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 we have to do can be best given by adopting Mr. Lee's 
 own memoranda. He says that he numbers among his 
 direct ancestors Governors Thomas Dudley and Simon 
 Bradstreet, Major-General Daniel Goodwin, Major 
 Thomas Savage, whose wife was Faith Hutchinson, " a 
 daughter of the famous Anne Hutchinson." There 
 were also the " Reverends John Cotton, Francis Higgin- 
 son, Flynt, Symmes, besides Tyngs, Lakes, Quincys, 
 Pickerings, Ameses, Tracys, Jacksons, and Cabots." 
 " The family line includes no less than nine clergymen 
 prominent in Colonial times." Colonel Lee was wont 
 to say that he was prouder of the blood of Anne Hutch- 
 inson than of that of the Governors. Certainly she and 
 the military men contributed the most obvious traits in 
 his character. 
 
 " The Christian name of Mr, Lee's first ancestor in 
 this country is somewhat in doubt, as is also the date of 
 his arrival. His wife's name was Martha Mellowes. 
 His son lies buried in his tomb on Copp's Hill, and his 
 obituary is worth quoting : ' July 21, 1766. — Yesterday 
 morning died Mr. Thomas Lee, in the 94th year of his 
 age, who in the early and active part of life carried on 
 considerable Trade in this Town, though he deserves 
 to be recorded rather for the unblemished Integrity of 
 his Dealings, and the exact Punctuality of his Pay- 
 ments, than for the extent of his Trade, or the length 
 of his life.' " 
 
 Thomas Lee, born December 17, 1702, graduated at 
 Harvard College in 1722 ; he was bred a merchant; lived 
 in Salem ; was for several years a Representative to the 
 General Court; married first Elizabeth Charnock, and 
 
HIS YOUTH 5 
 
 on December 29, 1737, as his second wife, Lois Orne. 
 His son Joseph was born in Salem, May 22, 1744; 
 became a sea-captain ; " had a great talent for mechanics, 
 especially for ship-building; a numerous fleet, designed 
 by him, was sent out as privateers during the war of 
 the Revolution, and was afterwards engaged in trade 
 with Europe and the East and West Indies. . . . He, 
 with the Messrs. Cabot, whose only sister, Elizabeth, 
 he married, removed to Beverly, and after a term of sea 
 service, carried on an extensive business for many yeSirs 
 with his distinguished brother-in-law, the Honorable 
 George Cabot, who, as junior, had served him through 
 all the grades from cabin-boy to partner." 
 
 Henry Lee, ninth child of Joseph Lee, was bom in 
 Beverly, February 4, 1782. He became " a prominent 
 East India merchant," and was "in Calcutta at the War 
 of 1812, and forced to remain until peace was concluded 
 in 1815. In the prime of life Mr. Lee was well known 
 as a writer on financial topics, as he had command of a 
 large amount of statistical knowledge, and was a valued 
 correspondent of the Anti-Corn-Law League. He was 
 the unsuccessful rival of Honorable Nathan Appleton 
 as candidate for Congress from Boston, in 1850, upon 
 the tariff and free trade issues. He was a firm believer 
 in free trade, and wrote the famous ' Boston Report ' 
 of 1827 against a further increase of tarifp duties. It 
 was his fortune in 1832 to receive the electoral vote of 
 South Carolina for Vice-President of the United States, 
 on a ticket with John Floyd. ^ Mr. Lee married Miss 
 1 This was by reason of his free-trade or low-tarifE Views. 
 
6 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Mary Jackson, daughter of Honorable Jonathan Jack- 
 son, June 16, 1809, by whom he had six children. 
 He died Tebruary 8, 1867, having just completed his 
 eighty-fifth year." 
 
 Of this Henry Lee and Mary, his wife, the third 
 child was Henry Lee, the subject of this Memoir. Here 
 again we may quote Colonel Lee, for, having been often 
 entreated to the autobiographic task, he at last began in 
 a vague, indeterminate way to cherish the purpose ; and 
 among his fragmentary manuscripts, written in his old 
 age, occur these: 
 
 "RANDOM REMINISCENCES OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 
 
 and in his brain, — 
 Which is as dry as the remainder bisket 
 After a voyage, — he hath strange places cramm'd 
 With observation, the which he vents 
 In mangled forms : 
 
 " Long ago, in my College days, there was a hermit 
 in Cambridge. Early in life he had been crossed in 
 love and revenged himself on the cruel fair and upon 
 the world by complete seclusion. Great was the curi- 
 osity of the neighbors, great was their sympathy with 
 this forlorn mourner; they gazed at his window in 
 passing and pictured to themselves a hero of romance. 
 Alas! one fatal day, this interesting hermit, wearied of 
 solitude, of ' chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy, ' 
 roused by a fire or some other catastrophe, emerged 
 from his hermitage, and so refreshed was he by the ex- 
 periment that he tarried among his fellow-men, degen- 
 erating day by day from a hero of romance to a village 
 bore and tatler. 
 
HIS YOUTH 7 
 
 " ' Have you written these recollections down ? You 
 really ought to write them down, otherwise when you 
 are gone they will be lost.' These warnings, these 
 exhortations have been so many times repeated, as well 
 as solicitations from literary caterers, that I have rashly 
 and, I fear, unwisely engaged to gather and present some 
 of my recollections, which may prove stale, flat, and 
 unprofitable. 
 
 "I was born in a house on the southeast corner of 
 Columbia Street fronting on Essex Street, the 2nd § f 
 September, 1817. The tenant who had occupied this 
 house and from whom my father had it, had left it in a, 
 verydirty condition, and my mother, the most scrupulous 
 of housekeepers, had to superintend its purification, and 
 she always insisted that the pre-natal influence of her 
 devotion to the Augean task was unfavorable to my 
 character, making me, as she expressed it, too much of a 
 quiddle, more nice than wise. I have been handicapped 
 aU my life by this unfortunate pre-natal influence. 
 
 • ■•••■ 
 
 " Many persons of social position and importance then 
 lived in this street and its neighborhood. Almost 
 directly opposite to us dwelt Gilbert Stuart, the great 
 portrait-painter of the period, in a brick' house which had 
 one peculiarity in common with but three other houses 
 in Boston, — a vaulted doorway, or doorway in a niche. 
 The three others of this, peculiar fashion, now passed 
 away, were Judge Jackson's house in Bedford Place, 
 Otis Everett's on Washington Street, comer of Oak, and 
 Mr. White's on the other side of Washington Street just 
 beyond Castle Street. 
 
8 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " My first personal reminiscences are of my life in a 
 delightful semi-rural house in Common Street, where the 
 portico of the Tremont House afterward stood. It was 
 a two-story wooden house, a few feet back from the 
 street, with a rear yard paved with parti-colored pebbles, 
 behind which was a garden ascended by two or three 
 steps under an arch. I recollect, while living in that 
 house when a child of about three years, being carried 
 into King's Chapel in the arms of our servant, Daniel 
 Webster, — and, by the way, his manly heart ached at 
 the degradation of carrying me about. It must have 
 been a Christmas or an Easter service. The beautiful 
 old church, the warden's pew, the bust of Vassall, the 
 several mural monuments which embeUished its interior, 
 made an impression on me which was never lost. An- 
 other recollection is of being held up in the front porch 
 when a military procession passed by, — the funeral of 
 General Porter or Miller, I do not remember which, — 
 and of hearing the salute fired over the grave in King's 
 Chapel Burying Ground. These are further instances 
 of my great attraction by externals, — the architectural 
 beauties of King's Chapel, and the military pageant at 
 the funeral of this old officer." 
 
 The " Random Reminiscences " stop short at this early 
 point of infancy ; if continued upon the scale adopted, 
 they could hardly have come down very near to the 
 present day. 
 
 Perhaps indiscretion is the best characteristic of the 
 biographer, and therefore one of the most daring things 
 that even Mr. Lee ever said may be repeated. " The 
 Jacksons," he remarked, " came up from Newburyport 
 
HIS YOUTH 9 
 
 to Boston, social and kindly people, inclined to make 
 acquaintances and mingle with the world pleasantly. 
 But they got some Cabot wives, who shut them up. The 
 fact is that the Cabots had been the ' best people ' in 
 Beverly ; but they were a little doubtful whether they 
 would be properly received in the larger town, so they 
 kept in seclusion ; the Jacksons had no such anxieties, 
 but were ruled by their wives." In fact, Lees, Cabots, 
 Jacksons and Higginsons knew each other well in Essex 
 County, and had a satisfying belief that New England 
 morality and intellectuality had produced nothing better 
 than they were ; so they very contentedly made a little 
 clique by themselves, and intermarried very much, with 
 a sure and cheerful faith that in such alliances there 
 could be no blunder. 
 
 Evolved from such a well-assorted lot of local types, 
 born and bred amid the influences thus created and 
 maintained, one would say of Colonel Lee : "A typical 
 New Englander, of course." An erroneous label, how- 
 ever, for he was not typical ; the process of composite 
 photography does not present his portrait, and his charm 
 lay in his individuality. A list of affirmatives and nega- 
 tives may sum up the character of the average man as so 
 many plus and minus quantities produce a definite result 
 in mathematics. But not so in Mr. Lee's case. To those 
 who did not know him he cannot be so described as to 
 present a life-like picture ; for those who did know him, 
 no portrait can be satisfactory; words cannot do the 
 work ; we look back upon him through the atmosphere 
 of the imagination, for he was a man of striking, singular 
 and picturesque traits, and we smile with pleasure as we 
 
10 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 call up the memory of the shrewd, witty, impulsivej 
 kindly gentleman, whose own rare gift of language would 
 alone depict himself. 
 
 Of his youth nothing noteworthy is to be said. He 
 kept, for a while, a Diary which gives with simple boy- 
 ishness one or two good sketches of student life in his 
 day. There is a description of a clash, which seemed to 
 him nothing out of the ordinary, that is entertaining : 
 
 " It is not a pleasant day, misty and rainy at interr 
 vals ; the sun has peeped out once or twice this morning, 
 but it was only for a minute. Been to recitation to-day; 
 recited very well, as I thought. After dinner Pinckney 
 came over here ; I lent him an half a dollar. Went to 
 confectioner's this afternoon. Spent .01/4 in refreshing 
 myself. While at prayers I heard that there had been a 
 combat between the carpenters, who were working upon 
 the church, and the students, and that there would prob- 
 ably be another in the course of the evening. Went out 
 after prayers, expecting one every minute ; for a num- 
 ber of students, who had been struck during the after- 
 noon, with their friends, went behind the meeting-house, 
 and endeavored, as I thought, to pick a quarrel with 
 the carpenters; I waited a good while, and at last it 
 began. I will speak of nothing but what I saw and heard 
 myself, because accounts are so various that one cannot 
 tell what to believe and what not to. In the first of it, I 
 was -standing in the graveyard and all at once I saw the 
 carpenters all run to the end of the building, and heard 
 some one of them cry out : ' Take care there, take care I 
 Don't let him kill that man.' Then I ran with the rest 
 to the end of the building, where the fight was going 
 
HIS YOUTH 11 
 
 on, and just then they all of them began to cry, ' Har- 
 vard ! Harvard I ' The first person I saw was Webster; 
 he had been sick for two or three days, and I never 
 in the course of my life saw a person look so pale and 
 ghastly; he was standing up fighting, I believe, like a 
 lion. The next person was Rutledge, he was fighting 
 well, swinging round and driving his fists into his an- 
 tagonist's face; the next moment I saw him thrown 
 upon the ground senseless, without seeing how it was 
 done ; however, since then I have found out that he was 
 struck from behind with a joist upon his head. I ran 
 up to see if he was very much hurt, and I saw Earle of 
 our class with one side of his face entirely covered with 
 blood ; he looked horribly, the blood was running down 
 his neck and upon the bosom of his shirt ; Wyman and 
 another student were trying to get him away, but he had 
 become raving mad and declared he would not go ; I 
 then saw Rutledge carried off by some other students, 
 and at last they persuaded Earle to go too; I then 
 turned round and saw Lawrence driving a fellow round 
 in great style, and afterwards Pendleton, boxing in the 
 most scientific manner, knocking men down by the 
 dozens, and at last fighting with Wheeler, a great cham- 
 pion among the townsmen ; but he got beaten by Pen- 
 dleton, and they were fighting when President Josiah 
 Quincy came up and stopped it immediately. ... It is 
 now half -past eleven, and I think I must go to bed. I 
 shall continue this to-morrow. 
 
 " Friday, — May 31. After the President had stopped 
 the figJiting and begged the scholars to go to their 
 rooms, they dispersed for a few minutes only, after 
 
12 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 which they came back and stood round the college 
 rooms wishing, some of them, to fight again, and some, 
 not to. While I was standing there, I saw Labranche 
 going with Dr. Higginson to Earle's room ; the scholars 
 stayed round college xmtil about 10 or 11 o'clock, when 
 they most of them dispersed. President Quincy and 
 one or two of the Faculty kept watch nearly, or quite, 
 all night. I believe that I have omitted nothing of any 
 importance which I saw of this fight, and that this is 
 aU." 
 
 It further became his fortune to be concerned in a 
 memorable occurrence. Those were the days of College 
 Rebellions, of which the most famous, prior to Mr. Lee's 
 entering College, had been that of 1819, celebrated by 
 the historic poem of the " Rebelliad," a " most happy 
 production of humorous taste," written by Augustus 
 Pierce, of the Class of 1820. But the outbreak of 1819 
 was surpassed by that of 1834, " the most remarkable 
 one which the College has ever seen," " a matter of pub- 
 lic notoriety and of general interest," and which was, 
 indeed, in the history of the College almost what the 
 Civil War was in the history of the country. Precipi- 
 tated by the act of a Southerner, it endured for three 
 months, was finally closed by the victory of the consti- 
 tuted authorities, but left a bitter sense of wrong in the 
 memories of the students. Colonel Lee remained alto- 
 gether " unreconstructed " to the end of his days, and 
 always declared that he did not repent his part in that 
 singular and obstinate conflict. The following memo- 
 randum is among his papers : 
 
 "In the year 1875, at the solicitation of the editors 
 
HIS YOUTH 13 
 
 of the Harvard Book, I wrote an article on University 
 Hall, in which I gave an account of the Rebellion of 
 1834. At the dictation of some unknown censor this 
 most important and interesting item in my sketch was 
 stricken out, which so aroused my indignation that I 
 declined to have my garbled contribution published. 
 But the entreaties of the editors prevailed and I re- 
 luctantly consented. Now that sixty-four years have 
 come and gone, now, if ever, it is time to publish the 
 true history of the Rebellion of 1834." Some pas-» 
 sages of the paper, which the censors of the "Harvard 
 Book " unfortunately lacked nerve to publish, give the 
 narrative : 
 
 " Dr. Barber, the teacher of elocution, had a step-son, 
 Dunkin, a puny youth, born and bred in England, of 
 very national modes of speech and thought, then more 
 offensive because more strange than now. Immediately 
 after quitting Harvard, this beardless young English- 
 man, bright, but insufferably conceited and totally withT 
 out tact and experience, was appointed Greek tutor, and 
 surely a more unwise appointment could not have been 
 made. Hence the RebelUon of 1834. 
 
 'Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.' 
 
 " One day, in recitation, the teasing interruptions of 
 this greenhorn teacher so exasperated a Freshman of 
 very mature age, much older than his tutor, that he 
 refused to recite. The President interfered and the 
 student resumed his place; but, being passed over, he 
 at last requested to leave the College, not wishing to 
 create a disturbance and not willing to submit to what 
 
14 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 he deemed unjust treatment from Dun kin. His class 
 espoused his cause, the other classes sympathized, meet- 
 ings of all the undergraduates were held at University 
 Hall, and committees appointed to confer with the 
 Faculty. Lawless outbreaks took place which might 
 have been averted by tact, common sense, and decent 
 candor on the part of the immediate government, till 
 one morning the Sophomores marched in procession to 
 prayers, entering the chapel at the north door, crossing 
 to their seats on the south side, and conducting them- 
 selves riotously. The class was dismissed sine die, with 
 the exception of two members, who refused to join the 
 procession, and one who, -contrary to rules and regula- 
 tions, was off on a shooting expedition. As soon as the 
 sentence was promulgated, the Sophomores raised the 
 black flag on Rebellion tree, drank, sang and danced 
 till they could dance no more, and then drove off 
 triumphantly in wagons to Boston to swelter through 
 the summer months over their Logic and Rhetoric, 
 Mathematics and Greek Tragedies. 
 
 ■ ••••• 
 
 " ' Occasions shake the tree, they never form the fruit,' 
 and the primary cause of this trouble, which pretty much 
 destroyed one class, decimated two more, and deprived 
 many of the best scholars of the graduating class of their 
 degrees, for their remonstrance against injustice, was the 
 scandalous appointment of an absurd tutor; and the 
 secondary cause was the vacillating, uncharitable and 
 inconsistent action of the President and his coun- 
 sellors. . . ." 
 
 It was by reason of this wholesale expulsion that the 
 
HIS YOtJTH 15 
 
 Class of 1836 graduated only thirty-nine members, a 
 number much smaller than was then customary. 
 
 Later, in his senior year, Mr. Lee amused himself by 
 screwing a tutor into his room, for which prank he was 
 again " rusticated " at Reverend Mr. Ripley's, Waltham, 
 " where Emerson, Dr. Convers Francis and he (Mr. Rip- 
 ley), then fresh from German universities, were wont to 
 hold high converse, kindled by the enthusiasm and elo- 
 quence of their inspired hostess." Mr. Lee never found 
 fault with this punishment, often remarking that banish-, 
 ment into such surroundings was probably fully as bene- 
 ficial as prayers and recitations at Cambridge. 
 
 Immediately after graduation Mr. Lee entered his 
 father's "counting room," and in 1838 he was taken 
 into partnership. Two years later he said to the senior 
 partner that either he, the father, must retire from the 
 business, or he, the son, would do so. Thus in after 
 years he used humorously to tell the story ; but in fact 
 he was always a very respectful and affectionate son. 
 The elder acted upon the suggestion, and two years 
 later retired, and the partnership was continued by Mr. 
 Lee and Mr. W. S. Bullard until 1852. The business 
 was foreign commerce, chiefly conducted with the East 
 Indies, but in part also with Brazil, so that soon after 
 graduating, Mr. Lee sailed as supercargo for Rio de 
 Janeiro. His journal of the voyage was chiefly filled 
 with memoranda of weather, accoimts of his dreams and 
 comments on the writings of Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 In 1852 it was quite time to retire from this commer- 
 cial business. The protective tariff had slowly but 
 surely destroyed the foreign commerce by which the 
 
16 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 merchants and shipowners of New England had hitherto 
 lived and prospered. For the most part those who were 
 unable to change their ways had reason to regret their 
 unfortunate constancy ; too many of them, clinging to a 
 steadily declining business, lost in their later days all 
 that they had won in their prime. Mr. Lee, more clear- 
 sighted, understood the new condition and saved himself 
 by leaving, not precisely the sinking ship, but the rot- 
 ting ships. New England was turning to new pursuits ; 
 all her streams were being dammed for water power to 
 run her cotton nulls, and Lowell and Lawrence were 
 growing apace. A transition from foreign commerce, 
 wherein the merchant had to keep constantly informed 
 as to the products and industries, the laws and customs, 
 the policies and even the poKtics of nations all over the 
 world, to the dull business of spinning as many yards of 
 cotton cloth as could be sold in each year, did not com- 
 mend itself to Mr. Lee. Moreover he resented the eco- 
 nomic policy which had effected this transformation ; for 
 his father's belief in free trade had descended to him, 
 and he remained a stalwart free trader to the end of his 
 days. With his usual warmth of feeling, he carried his 
 hostihty to these upstart factories so far that he would 
 never invest in their stocks. Thus debarred from com- 
 merce and from manufacturing, he turned his attention 
 to banking and brokerage and joined the firm of Lee, 
 Higginson & Co., of which the senior member was his 
 relative, John C. Lee, and the junior, George Higgin- 
 son, was his brother-in-law. Thereafter he was in State 
 Street nearly every day ; and the firm, of which in due 
 time he became the senior partner, took the lead in its 
 
BUSINESS 17 
 
 department, of business. At his death he left a large 
 property. In view of these facts it is right to say that 
 he was a successful business man, and certainly he was 
 a master of the art of business ; yet he was never really 
 very fond of it, never became absorbed in it, and was very 
 moderately ambitious of the distinctions which it had 
 to offer. He was fortunate in his coadjutors in the firm 
 and might have prospered less with the aid of partners 
 less able than his brother-in-law, George Higginson, and 
 his nephews, Henry L. Higginson and Francis L. Hig| 
 ginson. 
 
 Major Higginson says that it was in the periods of 
 stress, in the " hard times," that Mr. Lee showed to best 
 advantage. Then his courage and constancy were ad- 
 mirable. But no sooner had the darkness passed than his 
 habitual caution resumed its sway, and his counsel was 
 to gather resources for the next days of panic. 
 
 In handling his property it is probable that he was 
 governed more by his opinions about the men who were 
 conducting the enterprises in which he embarked than 
 by minute investigation into the enterprises themselves. 
 For example, he was well satisfied to stake his money in 
 the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad with one 
 who had studied the West as John M. Forbes had done, 
 and in the Calumet & Hecla mine with so well-trained 
 a scientist as Professor Alexander Agassiz. The sound- 
 ness of his judgment worked along the human line; 
 and it was his nature to be strong alike in his faith and 
 in his distrust. Real estate, however, he understood 
 well. He once said, indeed, that he had been studying 
 it all his life, and knew nothing about it, — a remark 
 
18 MEMOIE OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 not litely to be misoonstnied. But a gentleman who 
 can pronounce as good an opinion in the matter as any- 
 one in Boston says: "Colonel Lee had a remarkably 
 sagacious judgment in real estate; he owned, bought 
 and sold a great deal of it ; I have constantly run across 
 the trail of his transactions, and pretty much always 
 there was a profit, — and a big one, tool" Certainly 
 the judgment of an observant community accorded to 
 him high ability as a financial adviser and a shrewd 
 judge of investments. A natural consequence was that 
 he was much in demand for positions of trust, and the 
 funds of which,- first and last, he acted as treasurer were 
 innumerable. All these charges involved much care and 
 responsibility ; and of course a large proportion of the 
 labor brought no other compensation than such meas- 
 ure of gratitude as beneficiaries saw fit to feel. For 
 many years he was active in the management of the 
 finances of the Provident Institution for Savings, of 
 which he was elected a member in 1848, Secretary in 
 1851, Trustee in 1854, and President, December 21, 
 1887, which last office he continued to fill until his death. 
 His great undertaking, which was wholly his own in 
 conception and fulfilment, was the building of the 
 " Safety Vaults " at No. 40 State Street. It is fair to 
 say that this was an entirely novel undertaking; for 
 though some constructions of the sort had been at- 
 tempted in Philadelphia and in New York, these were 
 in a crude form, and Colonel Lee's were for many years 
 the best thing of the kind in the country, and be- 
 came the model for others elsewhere. Of course im- 
 provements have come and modem vaults display 
 
BUSINESS 19 
 
 superior accommodations and somewhat more elaborate 
 safeguards ; yet until the date of this writing the pres- 
 tige of these old original vaults, opened for business so 
 long ago as January 1, 1868, has enabled them to hold 
 their popularity in a competition which has become keen. 
 The building plans and the systems of protection against 
 theft and fire were the fruit of Mr. Lee's own hard, 
 patient and thorough labor. For example : he made an 
 exhaustive investigation into the methods of safe- 
 burglars; he estimated the force of impact of a larg# 
 safe falling from the top story of the " Union Building " 
 and alighting upon the roof of his vault, and having 
 ascertained what number of steel girders of a given 
 weight would resist that impact, he doubled this number. 
 In measuring spaces he took as his unit a bond of the 
 largest size then folded, and upon this basis he arranged 
 his boxes. All this was work very much to his taste, 
 and when all was in successful operation, the glory and 
 the emolument were rightly his own. Properly known 
 as the "Union Safe Deposit Vaults," they were long 
 commonly spoken of as " Lee's Vaults," and the name is 
 still sometimes heard. All the later vaults have been 
 incorporated and these now are so ; but for many years 
 they were conducted as his private enterprise. The 
 control and the responsibility were exclusively his. He 
 alone was hable for any loss through malfeasance or 
 misfeasance or error, and some nice legal questions arose 
 in which error would have been serious. His reputation 
 and his fortune were at stake, and were the backers of 
 the business. Therefore the reception which was ac- 
 corded to the new enterprise was a great tribute to him. 
 
20 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 A peculiar combination of character and capacity was 
 needed; and even among the most esteemed citizens it 
 would have been hard to find another who, presenting 
 this new scheme and quite alone in managing it, would 
 have secured the fundamental condition for success in 
 the confidence of the anxious and careful owners of 
 bonds and stocks. Evidently the personal compliment 
 to Colonel Lee can hardly be stated too highly. He 
 appreciated it, and in later years with just self-satisfac- 
 tion he declared this undertaking to be the " crowning 
 effort " of his life and his " special pride." If he had 
 been conscious merely of having exhibited mechanical 
 and constructive ingenuity he would not have spoken 
 thus ; the word implied a just recognition of the trust 
 which had been reposed in his personal traits. But the 
 generous rewards of compliment and of income cost 
 their full price ; the burden of responsibility could not 
 always be lightly carried, and Major Higginson says 
 that it was when this enterprise was getting under way 
 that he first observed that Mr. Lee was beginning to 
 look old. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 MATTERS THEATRICAL: FAMILY RELATIONS 
 
 DuEiiirG these years of active business, before the 
 outbreak of the Civil War, especially during the earlien 
 part of them, Mr. Lee made leisure for the active culti- 
 vation of his taste, or rather his passion, for the drama. 
 From this let not anything derogatory to his intelhgence 
 be inferred, for the stage had not then sunk to the pre- 
 sentation of mere brilliant spectacles, at best foolish, at 
 "worst demoralizing. What Mr. Lee delighted in were 
 the good old " standard " plays, presented by men and 
 women who were generally well educated and often 
 well bred, and who had real genius for the calling. 
 He knew by heart his favorite plays of Shakespeare and 
 Sheridan, as a clergyman knows the Church Service. 
 He could act admirably in a certain range of parts, and 
 had the chance of life sent him upon the stage, he would 
 have left a name to be long remembered. Doubtless 
 the best amateur is excellent only as an amateur, yet 
 Mr. Lee's Sir Anthony Absolute has probably left in the 
 memory of those who saw it as lively and pleasing a 
 presentment as the best actor ever gave them of that 
 famous part. 
 
 Opportunely for him, there occurred in Boston a great 
 outburst of enthusiasm for private theatricals ; many of 
 
22 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 his friends and of those younger than he were seized 
 with the dramatic passion and developed an unusual 
 capacity. In this movement he naturally took the lead, 
 stimulating and training the others with infinite zeal and 
 with a vigorous resolve not to rest at the point of mere 
 amusement and perfunctory excellence. Beneath his 
 imperious and unsparing criticism some of these amateurs 
 would occasionally rebel, and provoke a little of that 
 plain speaking which was his impetuous habit. But for 
 the most part all appreciated his invaluable services, and 
 justly attributed to them the exceptional success which 
 was obtained. 
 
 The first play was given in or about the winter of 
 1847. A tentative and comparatively an unambitious 
 selection was made of a play called " The Turnout." 
 The parts were taken by Mr. Lee, by Miss Elizabeth 
 Gary (afterwards the wife of the first Professor Agassiz), 
 Mr. Frank Lee and Mr. Edward Jackson. Mr. Samuel 
 Cabot, the father of Mrs. Lee, placed the parlors of his 
 house on Temple Place at the disposal of the players. 
 Colonel Perkins came in to witness the performance, 
 and was so pleased that he offered his double parlors 
 for such plays as they might like to produce during the 
 following winter. Thus encouraged, Mr. Lee and his 
 friends pushed their enterprise vigorously. Later a 
 complete little theatre was built on the Brookline estate 
 of Mr. Cabot. In due time the name of the Varie- 
 ties Theatre was adopted; and a play-bill, dated 1857, 
 announces the " Second Season," and informs the public 
 that " this favorite theatre has been carefully refitted 
 with improved Machinery and a new Drop Scene." 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 23 
 
 Later the Messrs. Gushing organized the Belmont 
 Dramatic Club which took its name from their father's 
 country seat. They were much younger men, but de- 
 veloped an equal skill, and later on the older and the 
 younger groups came together and imited in presenting 
 many plays. 
 
 One of the earlier plays given in Colonel Perkins' 
 parlors was "Perfection," which was- repeated a few 
 times. Another, given later at Brookline, was "The 
 Waterman," a musical piece ; Mrs. Felton, the wife <|l; 
 the Greek professor at Harvard College, presided at the 
 piano, and the parts so far as can be remembered were 
 taken as follows : 
 
 Bundle Mr. Lee 
 
 Tom Tug Mr. Richard Caey 
 
 Robin Mr. Fkancis L. Lee 
 
 Mrs. Bundle Miss S. Cakt 
 
 Wilhelmina Mrs. Agassiz 
 
 Another popular part of Mr. Lee's was that of the 
 King in "Bombastes Furioso ; " his brother Mr. Francis 
 L. Lee played Bombastes, Mr. Edward C. Cabot was Buzz- 
 fuzz, and Mr. Thomas Cary was Distaffina. Also Mr. 
 Lee and his brother Frank provoked uproarious laughter 
 in the old farce of " Box & Cox." 
 
 Naturally Mr. Lee's great liking for " The Rivals " 
 led to its production on more than one occasion. It is 
 a play not now often placed on the stage, because it 
 demands a stronger troupe than the present star system 
 permits to be brought together; but the amateurs 
 could fill the cast. On one notable occasion Mrs. 
 
24 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Kemble assumed the part of Mrs. Malaprop; but it 
 was several years since she had been upon the stage, 
 and as she was about to appear before this select audi- 
 ence she had a genuine attack of stage-fright, and forgot 
 her lines. On this memorable evening, said the play- 
 bill, " A prologue, written by Lady Wiachester, [Mrs. 
 Charles P. Curtis] will be recited by Mr. [William R.] 
 Ware." The cast was as follows : 
 
 DBAMATIS PEBSONAE 
 
 Sir Anthony Absolute Mr. Lee 
 
 Captain Absolute Mr. Gambeill 
 
 Mr. Faulkland Mr. Edwaed C. Cabot 
 
 Mr. Acres Mr. William S. Whitwell 
 
 Sir Lucius O'Trigger Mr. Francis L. Lee 
 
 Fag Mr. Robert B. Forbes, Jr. 
 
 David Mr. "Walter Cabot 
 
 Coachman and Boy, by the Company 
 
 Mrs. Malaprop Mrs. Kemble 
 
 Miss Lydia Languish Mrs. Harrison Eitchie 
 
 J"lia Mrs. Wilde 
 
 Lucy Miss Clevbngee 
 
 MANAGER 
 
 Mr. Lee 
 
 PROMPTER 
 Mr. J. E. Cabot 
 
 At another presentation Mr. Edward N. Perkins 
 played Captain Absolute, Mr. John Lowell (who was 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 25 
 
 afterwards Judge of the U. S. Circuit Court), played Bob 
 Acres, Mr. R. B. Forbes, Jr., was Fag, and Mr. "Walter 
 Cabot was David. Miss Cary was Julia; Mrs. Mala- 
 prop was played by Mrs. Charles Torrey, and she was 
 considered to give it admirably, much better even than 
 Mrs. Kemble. Mrs. Davis (daughter of William H. 
 Gardiner) was Lucy. On still another occasion Mr. 
 T. Cary, Miss Julia Cabot (afterwards Mrs. Wilde), 
 Miss Fanny Cary (afterwards Mrs. Edward Cunning- 
 ham) and Miss Mary Torrey appeared. 
 
 In " The Amusing Farce of A Splendid Investment " 
 the play-bill was : 
 
 Eockingham Mr. F. L. Lee 
 
 Titus Fulgent Mr. William S. Whitwell 
 
 Boddy Mr. Lee 
 
 Joe Mr. Theodore Ltman 
 
 Bailiff Mr. E. B. Fokbes, Jr. 
 
 Mrs. Winterton Miss Susan Dokk 
 
 Miss Emily Fielding Mrs. Ltman 
 
 Fanny Boddy Miss Cakoline Cabot 
 
 On February 3, 1858, the Manager " had the honor to 
 announce that the theatre, having been cleaned and 
 dusted during the recess," would be "re-opened, with 
 additional scenery, for its third season." On this even- 
 ing a prologue, "by a distinguished authoress," [Mrs. 
 FoUen], was recited by Mr. FoUen ; the first play, one 
 of Planche's comedies, bears the title of " Not a Bad 
 Judge," but is perhaps more commonly known by the 
 name of " Lavater," from the principal character. This 
 was the part taken by Charles Mathews when the play 
 
26 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 was brought out in 1848 at the " Original Olympic " 
 in London. It was one of the best pieces given at the 
 Varieties Theatre. The oast was as follows : 
 
 Marquis de Treval Mr. Charles Howard 
 
 Count de Steinberg Mr. Edwakd C. Cabot 
 
 John Caspar Lavater Mr. Lee 
 
 Christian Mr. William R. Waee 
 
 Betman Mr. Theodore Lyman 
 
 Zug . Mr. EoBEET B'. Forbes, Jr. 
 
 Eutley Mr. F. L. Lee 
 
 Notary Mr. William S. Whitwell 
 
 Servant Mr. Higginson 
 
 Louise de Steinberg Miss Fanny McGregor 
 
 Madame Betman Mrs. Theodore Lyman 
 
 The record of some other plays, of which the bills 
 have been preserved, will be so interesting to those who 
 will recall them, that space may properly be given for 
 their reproduction: , 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 27 
 
 PRIVATE THEATRICALS 
 
 FOB THE 
 
 BENEFIT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS INFANTS' ASYLUM 
 
 AT 
 
 HORTICULTURAL HALL, 
 
 Wednesday Evening, Makch 31, 1869. 
 
 SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER! 
 A Comedy in Five Acts, by Oliver Goldsmith. 
 
 CAST OF GHABAOTEBS. 
 
 Sir Charles Marlowe, Mr. E. Jackspn. 
 
 Young Marlowe, Mr. R. M. Gushing. 
 
 Hardcastle, Mr. Jebe Abbott. 
 
 Hastings, Mr. E. D. Boit, Jr. 
 
 Tony Lumpkin, Mr. O. Goodwin. 
 
 D^gory, Mr. E. F. Bowditch. 
 
 Roger, Mr. C. Loveeing. 
 
 Landlord, Mr. E. Bowditch. 
 
 Jeremy, Mr. F. Dabney. 
 
 Thomas, Mr. T. Motlet, Jr. 
 
 Servant, Mr. A. Goeham. 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle, Miss H. A. Adam. 
 
 Miss Hardcastle, Miss Russell. 
 
 Miss Neville, Miss Abbott. 
 
 Dolly, Miss Chapman. 
 
 The Curtaiu will rise at Eight o'clock. 
 
28 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 PBIVATE THEATRICALS 
 
 AT 
 
 HORTICULTURAL HALL, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 BOSTON AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB, 
 
 Evenings of 
 December 20th, 21st, 22d, and 23d [1869 or 1870]. 
 
 The performance will begin with the Comedy entitled 
 
 THE BRIGANDS OF LODI. 
 
 Marquis del Dougo, Mr. H. Lee 
 
 Maurice, (Lieut, of Infantry,) . Mr. Edward Bowditch 
 
 Dumoulin, (Sergeant,) ' Mr. F. L. Lee 
 
 Chevalier Hercule del Piffero, .... Mr. T. F. Gushing 
 
 First Footman, Mr. O. Goodwin 
 
 Second Footman, Mr. A. Gorham 
 
 Marquise del Dongo, Mrs. James Lodge 
 
 Comtesse Beatrice Pietranera, Miss Russell 
 
 Helena, Miss Steedman 
 
 To he followed by the Farce of 
 
 DAMON AND PYTHIAS. 
 
 Damon, Mr. E. D. BoiT, Jr. 
 
 Pythias, Mr. G. B. Blake, Jr. 
 
 Mr. Timepiece, Mr. H. Lee 
 
 Billy, Mr. E. Jackson 
 
 Mrs. Stokes, Miss H. A. Adam 
 
 ^^^^) , Miss BiGELOW 
 
 Guests. 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 29 
 
 PRIVATE THEATRICALS 
 
 AT 
 
 HORTICULTURAL HALL, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 BOSTON AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB, 
 
 Evenings op 
 February 14th, 15th, and 17th [1870 or 1871]. 
 
 The performance will begin with the Comedy, 
 in three Acts, entitled 
 
 MODERN WARFARE. 
 
 Philippe de Mauri, Mr. R. M. Gushing 
 
 Gaston de Rech, (Capt. in the 2d Zouaves,) Mr. E. D. Boii, Jr. 
 
 M. Badinois, Mr. G. B. Blake, Jr. 
 
 M. Montgerard, Mr. H. Lee 
 
 Henriette Dolcy, Mrs. G. D. Howe 
 
 Athdnais, (Montg^rard's sister,) . . . Mrs. James Lodge 
 
 Claire, (her niece,) Mrs. E. D. Boit, Jr. 
 
 Servants, Guests. 
 
 To be followed by the Farce of 
 A GOOD NIGHT'S REST. 
 
 Snobtlngton, Mr. E. F. Bowditch 
 
 Stranger, Mr. F. L. Lee 
 
30 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 PRIVATE THEATRICAIiS 
 
 AT 
 
 HORTICULTURAL HALL, 
 
 BT THE 
 
 BOSTON AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB, 
 
 Evenings of 
 January 17th, 18th, 20th, and 21st [1870 or 1871]. 
 
 The performance will begin with the Comedy 
 THE CAT CHANGED INTO A WOMAN. 
 
 Karl, (a student,)- Mr. H. G-. Pickering 
 
 Moritz, (an Indian Juggler,) Mr. F. L. Lee 
 
 Minette, (Karl's cousin,) Mrs. S. Hammond 
 
 Martha, (Karl's housekeeper,) . . . Mrs. James Lodge 
 
 To he followed by the Comedy in Three Acts, entitled 
 
 A NERVOUS SET. 
 
 M. Berg^rin, (retired old bachelor,) . . . Mr. J. Abbott 
 M. Marteau, (house-owner,) .... Mr. S. M, Quinct 
 Tiburce, (employed in post-oflBce,) . Mr. E. F. Bowditch 
 Cassar, (Marteau's nephew,) . . . Mr. G. B. Blake, Jr. 
 M. Tuffier, (retired hardware merchant,) Mr. R. M. Cushing 
 
 Louis, (his son,) Mr. O. Goodwin 
 
 Notary, Mr. E. Jackson 
 
 Auguste, (Marteau's servant,) .... Mr. A. Gorham 
 
 Mme. Tuffier, Mrs. James Lodge 
 
 Marion, (Marteau's adopted daughter,) . . Miss "Warren 
 Placide, (Marteau's housekeeper,) . . Miss H. A. Adam 
 Lucie, (Marteau's daughter), .... Miss M. Steedman 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 31 
 
 PEIVATE THEATRICALS 
 
 AT 
 
 HORTICULTURAL HALL, 
 
 BT THE 
 
 BOSTON AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB, 
 
 Evenings of 
 April 18th, 19th, and 21st [1871]. 
 
 27ie performance will begin with the Comedy 
 in Four Acts, entitled 
 
 SMILES AND TEARS. 
 
 Maurice Borel, Mr. R. M. Gushing- 
 
 M. Bidaut, Mr, H. Lee 
 
 Vincent, Mr. O. Goodwin 
 
 Meunier, Mr. T. F. Cushing 
 
 Clerk Mr. S. M. Quinot 
 
 Junior Clerk, Mr. H. "Williams 
 
 Mme. Rey, Mrs. E. J. Lowell 
 
 Jeanne Rey, Mrs. S. Hammond 
 
 Jeanne Vannean, Miss Hale 
 
 Laurence, Mrs. E. D. Boit, Je. 
 
 And will conclude with the Farce of 
 THE GOOD FOR NOTHING. 
 
 Tom Dibbles, (a gardener,) .... Mr. Jebe Abbott 
 Harry Collier, (a railway fireman,) . . . Mr. O. Goodwin 
 
 Charley, (a carpenter,) Mr. N. Childs 
 
 Mr. Simpson, Mr. S. M. Quinct 
 
 Nan, Miss Hale 
 
32 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Another play, sometimes presented, was " False Col- 
 ours," a translation of "La Poudre aux Yeux," So 
 nearly as can be ascertained it was in the " Season " 
 of 1865-66, and after the union with the Gushing 
 troupe, that Mr. Lee urged that they should under- 
 take " The Hunchback," an ambitious and difficult 
 enterprise, which somewhat alarmed his associates. 
 But he insisted that they could do it, and they did 
 with remarkable success. Mrs. Alexander Agassiz 
 played Julia, Mrs. Charles Pierson played Helen, Mr. 
 Edward Boit was Clifford, Mr. Robert Gushing was 
 Modus, and Mr. Jere Abbott was Fathom. Mr. Lee 
 himself was Master Walter, and presented the char- 
 acter with a success which is still spoken of with 
 enthusiasm by those who saw it. 
 
 Another cast of these characters, written in Mr. Lee's 
 book, is: 
 
 Master Walter Mr. H. Lee 
 
 Sir T. Clifford Mr. Edward D. Boit, Jr. 
 
 Lord Tinsel Mr. Daniel C. Payne 
 
 Modus Mr. Theodore Ltman 
 
 Fathom Mr. Ozias Goodwin 
 
 Master "Wilford Mr. Edward C. Cabot 
 
 Julia Miss Emily Bcssell 
 
 Helen Mrs. Theodore Lyman 
 
 As the interest expanded and the successes were 
 scored in a way that gave encouragement to the players. 
 Horticultural Hall was hired, in 1870-71, and many per- 
 formances were given there. The corps of actors and 
 actresses naturally underwent many changes, as some 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 33 
 
 " retired from the stage " and others entered the calling. 
 Besides those who have been already named, there are 
 remembered Miss Warren, afterwards Mrs. Charles Gib- 
 son, and Mr. Howard Dwight, of the Brookline troupe ; 
 and there were many more whose names the writer fails 
 to gather. Very charming it all was, alike for those be- 
 hind and those before the footlights, and few pleasanter 
 reminiscences remain for those who live to recall these 
 scenes. But it would be futile to seek to do more 
 than merely catalogue them; description would be> 
 colorless. 
 
 Later, when these groups were broken up, as such 
 groups always must be in time, Colonel Lee was often 
 asked to read in a sort of quasi-public way, and many 
 times consented. Somewhat modest as to his capacity 
 to read Shakespeare, he was apt to choose Sheridan. 
 " The Rivals " and " The School for Scandal " were thus 
 given with fine picturesquehess and grace. His prefer- 
 ence was for the former ; the latter, he said, left a some- 
 what bad taste in his mouth. 
 
 Recalling pleasant hours passed in listening to these 
 readings, one of Colonel Lee's nieces writes : 
 
 " All my memories of evenings at the Brookline house, 
 in the days when we were going to school, are filled with 
 associations with Shakespere's plays. It was a matter 
 of course that after supper we should all take our draw- 
 ing and sit round the table in the parlor while Uncle 
 Harry, usually with one of the children in his, arms, read 
 aloud to us. The great comedies. As You Like It, 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth 
 Night, Much Ado About Nothing were often read; and 
 
34 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 finest of all, the Merchant of Venice, in every line of 
 which I can hear his Toice and wonderfnl dramatic in- 
 flexion, so filling out each part that never in later years 
 in seeing it acted have I enjoyed it as then I enjoyed 
 hearing him read it. This familiarity with Shakespere, 
 which we owe to Uncle Harry, has run like a golden 
 thread through our lives ever since. 
 
 " During the many years since that time, almost always 
 reading to Aunt Lizzie a part of each evening, Uncle 
 Harry must have read aloud books enough to overpass 
 the narrow limits of an everyday education. Sometimes 
 it would be some political address of the day, or some 
 book of importance. Sometimes a novel by TroUope, or 
 Scott, or Miss Austen, so read that one got the flavour 
 of the author better than if one were reading to one's 
 self. 
 
 " The short services which Uncle Harry held on sum- 
 mer Sundays at Beverly Farms were very delightful, 
 and made the day a true Sunday for us. The picture 
 is very clear and bright still, of the cool western 
 drawing-room, the view of the sea, Mr. and Mrs. EUiot 
 Cabot, Mrs. Parkman, sometimes one or another neigh- 
 bor, and many of us children, quiet for the moment at 
 least. Uncle Harry would read from the Bible, and 
 then a sermon, perhaps by F. W. Robertson, or Dr. 
 Arnold, perhaps by Dr. Hedge, or Dr. James Freeman 
 Clarke, and two hymns would be sung, Mrs. Cabot play- 
 ing and every one singing. 
 
 "A drive with Uncle Harry in the broadly-built 
 phaeton with the two spirited horses was always memo- 
 rable, and his vivid antiquarian and genealogical sense 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 35 
 
 gave one more of the past than one could attain in any- 
 other way. His love of natural beauty was keen and 
 very perceptive and discriminating. He cared also for 
 the human beauty of the landscape, that look which the 
 surface of the earth acquires when it has been patiently 
 worked over for generations, and when it stiU bears 
 witness to its history in the relation of its towns to each 
 other, its roads, and its local names and traditions. 
 
 " Perhaps his roots struck deeper into the soil of Essex 
 County than into that of Norfolk, and its past was more- 
 living to him. It seemed as if one drove back into the 
 days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony as one drove 
 toward North Beverly, by the old plantation houses, 
 well proportioned, with big recessed chimney-stacks, and 
 that ineffaceable dignity which neither time nor present 
 shabbiness obliterates. He took especial pleasure in the 
 Ipswich Farms Road for its true Essex County charac- 
 teristics of small farms, well-tilled fields, and carefully 
 tended fruit trees, comfortable houses, whose square 
 outlines, white paint and trim garden beds by the front 
 door all spoke of earlier days in Essex County, when all 
 who dwelt there made it their home winter and summer 
 alike, and seemed to draw into their very fibre the charac- 
 teristics of the region." 
 
 Mr. Lee lived long enough to see the passing away 
 of that stage which he loved. Modern actors seldom 
 pleased him as the old ones had done. Among his 
 papers there is a fragment, in which his contempt and 
 indignation for so distinguished a pair as Irving and 
 Miss Terry find unfinished expression. He had seen 
 them in some of those parts which in earlier days he 
 
36 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 had seen presented, as he thought, so immeasurably 
 better. His wrath boiled over, and he began a paper 
 for publication. So much of it as he completed is too 
 pangently characteristic to be lost : 
 
 "Am I verging into senility that I can no longer 
 experience satisfaction, much less enchantment, at the 
 theatre ? What are to me calcium lights, gorgeous oft- 
 changed costumes, or even well-painted scenery, if the 
 actors are wanting ? When aided, or encumbered, as one 
 may view it, by these accessories, how can I be carried 
 away when a shambling, halting, galvanic, wooden-faced 
 Benedick with spasmodic utterance makes love to a 
 faded, coquettish, thinly superficial Beatrice ? 
 
 • «•••• 
 
 " As Charles Kemble played Petruchio, the audience 
 beheld a high-bred spirited gentleman, who so assumed 
 violence that they could enjoy it without fear ; but now 
 one is made to feel that Katherine has been consigned to 
 a bom ruffian. These are instances of vulgarity or 
 imbecility, but what excuse can be proffered for mutilat- 
 ing a work of art that an impotent actor may masquerade 
 as the hero? Was any act more preposterous than 
 Irving's rough-hewing Macbeth that he might creep into 
 the part ? Look at the portrait of EUen Terry dressed 
 as Lady Macbeth, and then think of Mrs. Siddons, or of 
 our own Charlotte Cushman in that part Could im- 
 pertinence further go, unless it be Mr. Mansfield outdoing 
 Colley Cibber with Richard III ?" 
 
 Afterward, in other characters, he esteemed Sir Henry 
 more highly, and he was willing to preside at the dinner 
 which the Tavern Club gave in honor of the actor. On 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 37 
 
 that occasion he made such a veiy flattering speech as 
 the festivity demanded ; and after all allowance is made 
 for the necessity imposed by the situation, it is right 
 to believe that he spoke sincerely when he said : 
 
 "I am surely not here in any theatrical capacity to 
 offend our guest with adulation, or to insult him with 
 criticism, but simply to articulate, as it were, your 
 hospitality, to assure him how eagerly we have looked 
 forward to the day when we could entertain him as our 
 guest. 
 
 " As an old play-goer, however, I may perhaps venture 
 to say that I have seen Charles Kean from his d^but to 
 his farewell as Louis XI., and while I have always 
 thought that his greatest achievement, and have recol- 
 lected it with admiration, I was more deeply imprisssed, 
 or, as I may say, horrified, by Mr. Irving's personation. I 
 should shrink from gazing at any more lifelike presenta- 
 tion of this craven, crafty, superstitious old monster, 
 hovering between life and death, his corruption made 
 more ghastly by the sheen of his bejewelled crown and 
 ermined robes. There was not a tone, or a look, or a 
 gesture, or a movement at fault, — it was a diabolical 
 symphony from beginning to end. 
 
 " And the figure of that guilt-burdened Matthias, 
 haunted day and night by the jangling of the bells, and 
 confounded ever and anon by the ghost of his victim, 
 and at last, under the influence of the mesmerizer, 
 writhing with terror and remorse, and revealing his 
 guilt! 
 
 Hast thou not seen upon a lifted face 
 
 Thoughts that the halting lips hare failed to tell ? 
 
38 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 The resources of the stage were exhausted in that 
 appeal to eye and ear; one remembers it as the vivid 
 enacting of a hideous nightmare, as it was. 
 
 "It is said that a man may be known by the 
 company he keeps. I think we are well satisfied 
 with the company Mr. Irving keeps, including espe- 
 cially Miss Ellen Terry. Let us all join in drinking to 
 the health of Mr. Henry Irving, the hospitable host, the 
 welcome guest, the eminent actor, the liberal manager." 
 
 By another distinguished actor a famous character of 
 the old stage was so strangely bedizened and miscon- 
 strued as to stir Mr. Lee's gall. It demanded some 
 courage to assail a presentation given by the popular 
 Joseph Jefferson. But Mr. Lee was nothing if not 
 outspoken, and no respect for persons, not even his 
 friendly feeling for Mr. Jefferson, could keep him silent 
 when Sheridan's brilliant creation of Bob Acres was 
 turned into a vulgar burlesque. No one who has 
 witnessed that strange aberration into mere buffoonery 
 on the part of the great actor will deny that Mr. Lee's 
 scathing criticism was as just as it was severe : 
 
 " The papers announce that Jefferson is to appear as 
 Bob Acres. I look forward with impatience, for I dote 
 on The Rivals. Contrary to the critics, I prefer it to 
 the School for Scandal, which always leaves a bad 
 taste in my mouth. At last the hour arrives, I make 
 my way into the theatre breathless and fluttered, awaiting 
 the test. Two hours later I slink out of the building, 
 stunned and compromised. I have assisted at a vulgar 
 outrage, a wanton insult, a nauseous incongruity. Is 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 39 
 
 this the classic composed by Sheridan, every line full of 
 meaning, every sentence rounded, which the best come- 
 dians had illustrated ever since the battle of Bunker 
 Hill, which I have seen countless times in Boston and 
 New York, as well as in New Orleans, London, and 
 elsewhere, every word of which I know by heart? 
 What is this hodge-podge they are talking ? Why does 
 Sir Lucius, a high-spirited Irish gentleman, exchange 
 vulgar familiarities with Fag, and why is he so elephan- 
 tine ? Sheridan gives us to understand that Bob Acres 
 is a jolly, obtuse, raw, country Squire, apple-faced, 
 goggle-eyed, pudding-voiced; but here we have a 
 lanthom-jawed, nasal-twanged, shrewd-eyed, speculative 
 Yankee. As for the dialogue, instead of Sheridan's 
 finished, perfect, impressive sentences, sparkling with 
 wit and humour, neither too long nor too short, we 
 have a hodge-podge composed by the dramatis personse 
 as they go along, wretched verbiage. 
 
 ...... 
 
 " Why are Julia and Faulkland, whose over-strained 
 sentiments and lovers' quarrels serve as a foil to Lydia's 
 light absurdities, left out, leaving the picture like the 
 new Spanish school without the shading ? " 
 
 That the pessimism of advancing years had not 
 robbed Mr. Lee of the power of enjoying what was 
 good, is shown by a letter from him to Mr. Kendal, 
 written in December, 1889, and which the most ardent 
 admirers of that actor would certainly not have found 
 deficient in enthusiasm. As a septuagenarian, he enume- 
 rates the actors and actresses, French and English, 
 whom he had seen, making one feel that there were 
 
40 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 advantages in living half a century or more ago, even 
 though it might result in being dead now. These, he 
 says, were " actors who had died or retired before you 
 two were brought into this naughty world, or Mrs. 
 Kendal would not be so fair, or you so fresh, as • you 
 are. As an old-stager, I say that, outside of the Fran- 
 gais, or the Gymnase in its palmy days, I have never 
 seen comedy better supported or its leading parts 
 better taken than by you and your company." He 
 selected for especial compliment the parts of Philippe 
 Derblay and Oaptain Crichton. He did not know, he 
 said, " which most to praise ; " and then, with the fine 
 gallantry of an old gentleman, he penned his concluding 
 paragraph : 
 
 " As for Mrs. Kendal, if I should attempt to portray 
 her charms, I should bubble over as did Sir Anthony 
 in describing Lydia Languish. She is, in one word, — 
 fascinating. I cannot say whether I prefer to see her 
 take the stage,, when she recalls the example in the 
 Latin grammar ' Ilia incedit regina,' or whether I prefer 
 to listen to her English so exquisitely delivered. . . . 
 Some of your drslmatic brethren have vexed my 
 spirit by peeping out from their parts, their pecu- 
 liarities as individuals clashing with their character- 
 istics as personators of parts. You throw yourselves 
 into your parts, land leave your own characters at 
 home." 
 
 Naturally, Mr. Lee's personal acquaintance ; with the 
 best actors and actresses became extensive. One of his 
 friendships, much transcending casual acquailitance, was 
 with William Warren, the accomplished gentleman and 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 41 
 
 delightful companion, who passed his life on the boards 
 of the Museum, so that for more than a generation 
 dwellers in ouirof-the-way Boston could see, whenever 
 they pleased, an actor who could have made a great 
 name in the world had he been wiUing to show himself 
 more widely. When Mr. Warren died Mr. Lee wrote 
 this obituary, two months before he followed his old 
 friend : 
 
 "Two score years have slipped by since William 
 Warren came amongst us, a stranger in a strange land ;> 
 unheralded, unknown save to those of his profession 
 who recognized in him a promising scion of a sound 
 dramatic stock. Five of the seven ages have been spent 
 in this town, five of his seven acts played here. The 
 last scene of all ended and the curtain rung down but 
 yesterday. 
 
 " If it would be extravagant to say that his death has 
 ' eclipsed the gayety of nations,' it is certainly true that 
 ' it has impoverished the stock of harmless pleasures,' 
 for which during his long service he has been the 
 delight of town and country. While he has convulsed 
 his hearers with laughter, and again melted them to 
 tears, the laughter has been innocent, the grief whole- 
 some, for he has never overstepped the bounds of 
 modesty. Banging all the way from high comedy to 
 broad farce, depicting every age, country and condition, 
 he. contrived to extract the humour of the part with- 
 out its grossness ; he was ' familiar, but by no means 
 vulgar,' he was pathetic, but never mawkish. In brief, 
 his characters, clearly conceived, sharply executed, ad- 
 justed to the perspective of the stage, stood forth 
 
42 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 living, breathing human beings, without a trait lost, 
 blurred, or exaggerated. 
 
 Whate'er he did, was done with so much ease 
 In him alone 't was natural to please. 
 
 " The success of an actor upon the stage is not propor- 
 tioned to his private worth ; and yet with actors, as with 
 authors, the character of a man betrays itself, and in- 
 creases, or decreases, our relish of his performance. We 
 all knew when we listened to this charming actor that 
 he was free from ' the fretful stir unprofitable,' and was 
 content to remain a member of the stock company on a 
 meagre salary, while men vastly his inferiors were flash- 
 ing about the country as stars ; — we aU. knew that he 
 not only dedicated his invaluable talents to one theatre, 
 but also that by his unvarying kindness, his charitable 
 silence when criticism would have been excusable, he 
 won the respect and love of his fellow-actors ; that he 
 was a peacemaker, and not, like so many leading actors, 
 a stirrer of strife. 
 
 " His life was gentle. ' Nobody knows how good he 
 was,' says his old friend and landlady for these many 
 years, ' nobody else knew how good he was.' While 
 the f uE measure of his goodness was appreciated only by 
 his relatives and intimates, to whom he was loyally at- 
 tached, enough transpired to beget a universal affection 
 and esteem. He was the recipient of many compliments 
 from societies and from clubs, and only his invincible 
 modesty preserved his privacy. But what must have 
 been more gratifying to him was the universal regard,, 
 deepening into solicitude in these last years, which man- 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 43 
 
 ifested itself in a thousand ways, as with slower and 
 slower steps he paced the streets of the old town he had 
 adopted as his home. The faithful watchers by his bed- 
 side hardly know how many outside watchers shared 
 their hopes and fears while this unselfish and well- 
 beloved man hovered between life and death. 
 
 " ' When the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and 
 
 when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me.' 
 
 " H. L. 
 " Sept. 22, 1898." 
 
 John Gilbert and Mrs. Gilbert, impersonations of the 
 fine dignity and courtesy of the " Old School," are names 
 dear to all playgoers. Mr. Lee knew them well, and 
 loved them with his sympathetic warmth of appreciation. 
 When Gilbert died Mr. Lee performed for him the like 
 service of affection and respect which he performed for 
 Warren. 
 
 With Mrs. Fanny Kemble, in whose veins ran, — and 
 in a very vigorous stream, too, — as good dramatic blood 
 as any in England, Mr. Lee maintained one of his most 
 highly valued friendships. Her strenuous and exuber- 
 ant nature overwhelmed ordinary persons, who were 
 content to admire her brilliant vitality at a safe distance. 
 But Mr. Lee gave outspoken admiration to a character 
 which resembled his own in its courage and frankness, 
 its ardor and generosity. The same plays were familiar 
 to each, the same school of acting was dear to each. 
 Many hues of sympathy connected them. The letters 
 which she wrote to Colonel Lee, up to her latest days, 
 are charming, with their warmth of expression and 
 vividness of phrase ; so that for the moment one may re- 
 
44 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 gret that there is no memoir of her wherein these out- 
 bursts might find a place. Unfortunately only one or 
 two of Mr. Lee's letters to her are to be found. A note 
 from her indicates that Mr. Lee had ventured upon the 
 delicate task of selecting a lady's hat for the actress to 
 wear in the part of Mrs. Malaprop : 
 
 " My dear Sib : -^ 
 
 " I am extremely obliged to you for the trouble you are 
 taking about my attire. You have found the identic 
 hat I wish for — with the alterations — it is not neces- 
 sary that the sides should be curled as those in the model 
 are, — a plain £at brim is all that is required because, as 
 the hat should be made of light black velvet with a wire 
 round the brim, it can be easily made to sit upon the 
 head at the wearer's discretion. Instead of the feather 
 from behind, I should like a bunch of shortish black 
 feathers in front." 
 
 In 1888 Monsieur Coquelin came over to the United 
 States and gave anjextraordinary treat to our people, 
 even to those who could not understand French. He 
 warmed the cockles of Colonel Lee's heart, recalling the 
 delightful days when he had been able to frequent Paris- 
 ian theatres. The Tavern Club gave a grand dinner in 
 honor of the clever foreigner, at which Colonel Lee pre- 
 sided, pronoiincing a welcome in an admirable speech, 
 which also was full of reminiscences and of hearty com- 
 pliment. He opened it happily with a quotation from 
 the play of Mademoiselle de la SeigliSre, in which 
 Coquelin had won much applause : " Monsieur, vous 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 45 
 
 Stes chez vous." As ill luck will have it, only frag- 
 mentary notes can be found of this occasion, so mem- 
 orable for all who were present. On May 24, 1889, he 
 presided at the dinner given by the same club to Mr. 
 Gericke, the leader of the Symphony Orchestra, then 
 about to leave for Europe. On November 14, 1889, he 
 again presided when the club gave a dinner to the elder 
 Salvini. 
 
 The day after this Salvini dinner brought to Colonel 
 Lee this letter of quasi-official recognition, which justly* 
 expressed his success and his influence on these occa- 
 sions : 
 
 " My dear Mr. Leb : — 
 
 " I want to let you know again in writing what uni- 
 versal pleasure has been expressed among the Tavern 
 Club members over your charming leadership last night. 
 It is such evenings as these which put the Tavern Club 
 on a high plane and make one realize the fact that a 
 group of men, who can have a really hilarious and jolly 
 good time, can also enjoy the dignity and charm of a 
 dinner like this to Salvini. 
 
 " I sincerely hope that the worry you felt over it has 
 not been too much for you ; but rest assured we all feel 
 grateful for your help. 
 
 " Believe me, in the name of all those present last night, 
 " Gratefully and sincerely yours, 
 
 "Vincent Y. Bowditch." 
 
 For a time Mr. Lee was president of the Tavern Club, 
 but declined re-election. A dinner was, given in his 
 honor, which, like gratitude, signified thanks for favors 
 
46 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 conferred and the hope of favors to come. That he felt 
 a little embarrassment in replying before such an audi- 
 ence to the speech of welcome is easily seen in his 
 words : 
 
 " Your president's kind words and your hearty ap- 
 plause manifest warm hearts rather than cool heads ; I 
 am both flattered and confounded. 
 
 " Waldo Emerson once said to me : ' It was your grand- 
 father, yes I your father's father, who was wont to say 
 to his sons : " I don't care what you do, so long as you 
 speak the truth." ' Professor Norton had much converse 
 with Emerson, but I don't believe he ever heard him 
 say that. Since that rebuke by Mr. Emerson I have 
 striven to follow the injunction of my grandfather, 
 though in that, as in other respects, I don't come quite 
 up to George Washington. 
 
 " Some years ago at a political convention to which I 
 was a delegate, a peace-loving member expressed a hope 
 that, when the nomination was made, it would be unan- 
 imous ; whereupon I replied that could not be, as I would 
 not vote for either candidate if every other delegate did. 
 So on the present occasion the expression cannot be 
 unanimous, as my intimate acquaintance with the per- 
 son lauded compels me to disclaim some of the credit 
 awarded him. I felt how it would be, for I knew that 
 you were under a delusion, and I accordingly shrank 
 from the occasion. Twenty-four years ago some over- 
 zealous friends urged me to accept a similar compliment ; 
 an event in the family prevented the dinner taking 
 place, and I have always congratulated myself upon my 
 escape. The fact is, that instead of a surplus, there is a 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 47 
 
 deficit in my account; so when you speak of thanks 
 and obligations, I can only say, as the embarrassed angel 
 said to Abraham when he invited him to sit down : ' II 
 n'y a pas de quoi. Monsieur.' 
 
 "But as we are together once again, there is one subject 
 of mutual felicitation ; we have kept our promises ; we 
 have fulfilled our assurances. I warned you that through 
 age and infirmity I should frequently disappoint you, 
 and I have ; — you assured me that you would spare and 
 support me, and you have done so most loyally. When 
 the bells clang in the tower, the vibrations would shake 
 it to the ground were it not for the buttresses, and I 
 should have reeled to the ground sometimes had you 
 not cheered and encouraged me. 
 
 " ' How could I help speaking well,' said a Phi Beta 
 Kappa orator to me, ' with such a responsive audience, 
 and I can truly say that the success of our meetings has 
 been owing quite as much to your determination to be 
 pleased as to my powers of pleasing. The ease of 
 manner, the fulness of tone, the flow of thought of the 
 speaker, depend much upon the responsiveness of the 
 hearers. But after-dinner speaking is nervous work, 
 at the best. 
 
 " When Mr. Kendal confided to me his panic at being 
 summoned to speak, how he turned as white as the 
 table-cloth, that it gave him great pain to be called 
 upon, I assured him that his case was not peculiar. I 
 remember the night of M. Coquelin's reception; — I 
 had been to the theatre and escorted a lady friend to 
 her carriage. While waiting for the coachman to drive 
 up, she saw that I was quaking, my teeth chattering. 
 
48 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 and ascribing it to the cold, she kindly desired me to 
 leave her. I replied that the occupation was a relief, 
 that I was trembling with fear, not with cold, that I was 
 engaged to welcome M. Coquelin in French and Eng- 
 lish, and that I was nearly dead with fright. And upon 
 every occasion when I have been called upon to preside, 
 the ordeal has been formidable to me; I have always 
 feared a failure and it is to your cheery support, as I 
 have already said, that I owe my success. 
 
 " We all agree that we have had a good time together; 
 we have played the host to distiuguished and agreeable 
 guests, and conferred and received gratification. And 
 how much the general tenor of our life is affected by 
 'snatching these fleeting pleasures 1' They who tread 
 the path of duty too steadily, thinking to take their 
 pleasures hereafter, make of their lives a dike from the 
 cradle to the grave ; our work and play must be alter- 
 nated a;s we go along. My regrets for pleasures fore- 
 gone date back to my earliest days. One afternoon 
 as I was * creeping like a snail unwillingly to school,' at 
 the age of four years, a company of soldiers in brilliant 
 uniforms, with martial music, marched by and I longed 
 to follow them. Through seventy years I have never 
 forgotten how reluctantly I turned away and dived 
 down the little alley by St. Paul's to my schoolroom^ 
 nor have I ever ceased to regret my loss of that feast 
 of sight and sound. 
 
 " So long as you select your members and your guests 
 as carefully as now, and guard against forcing occasions, 
 you will continue to have entertainments delightful in 
 reality and retrospect. To draw your members from a 
 
MATTERS THEATRICAL 49 
 
 wide range, to mingle old and young, is surely desirable ; 
 but it is not wise to select a president from the oldest. 
 You hear of practical plumbers ; you should have a 
 practical president, which I was not. As for me, I am 
 like those old generals and admirals, who have reached 
 their high rank by outliving their comrades. Mr. Web- 
 ster's saying, ' There is always room at the top,' applied 
 to the ladder of achievement and not to a procession. 
 To find yourself at, or near, the head of a chronological 
 procession is but a reminder of your advanced standing ^ 
 in years, and not in achievement ; it is not pleasant, and 
 this winter has recalled that fact with sad frequency. 
 An eminent surgeon dies, my old playmate from in- 
 fancy to mature age, — he is my junior by one year ; 
 my good old friend, who has served his country faith- 
 fully in peace and war, dies, — he was a boy playing on 
 Cambridge Common to the end of my sophomore year ; 
 a distinguished general passes away, — like my friend, 
 he was three years my junior ; a bishop, called ' vener- 
 able,' dies, — he is eleven years my junior. These, and 
 other events of a more private nature, feelingly per- 
 suade me what I am, admonish me of the passage of time 
 and of the limits of life. So, while I hope to be with 
 you occasionally, it would have been a poor requital 
 of your unremitting kindness and forbearance to have 
 remained your president on such a precarious footing. 
 
 It is time to be old, 
 To take in sail ; -^ 
 The god of bounds, 
 Who sets to seas a shore, 
 Came to me in his fatal rounds, 
 And said : — 'No More ! ' " 
 4 
 
50 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 On October 20, 1845, Colonel Lee was married to 
 Elizabeth Perkins Cabot, a daughter of Samuel Cabot, 
 and through her mother a granddaughter of that Col. 
 Thomas Handasyd Perkins who, in his day, was one of 
 the most prominent citizens of Boston. The match 
 proved eminently happy in spite of certain misgivings ex- 
 pressed by a lady who had married one of his relatives,^ 
 and who now ventured the opinion that the men of the 
 family were not well adapted for matrimony. This lady 
 was highly esteemed for her intelligence by a large 
 circle of judicious fiiends; and she should have had 
 abundant opportunity to know concerning that where- 
 of she deponed ; but, if her generalization was true, at 
 least Mr. Lee furnished the necessary exception. He 
 was never " rough " to any woman, least of all towards 
 his .wife. Ordinarily his manners to ladies were marked 
 by a fine gallantry, which never failed to charm them, 
 for it was altogether sincere, the natural expression of 
 a very chivalrous sentiment towards the sex ; he did not 
 keep it for full-dress occasions, holding another set of 
 manners in reserve for domestic use. 
 
 Of this marriage there were born four sons and four 
 daughters. George Lee, Eliot C. Lee, Joseph Lee, and 
 Mrs. Frederick C. (Elizabeth P.) Shattuck, are living. 
 
 Of the year of affliction which robbed Colonel Lee of 
 three other children, his niece. Miss Frances R, Morse 
 writes : 
 
 " Unusual and heavy sorrows fell upon Colonel Lee in 
 the year 1872. In the autumn of 1871 he and Mrs. Lee, 
 with their daughter Clara, then twenty-one years old, 
 
 1 See post, p. 77. 
 
FAMILY MATTERS 61 
 
 and two younger daughters, went abroad. Colonel Lee's 
 eldest son was then in Paris, a student in Bonnat's 
 atelier, where they saw him for a time on their way to 
 Italy. They passed the winter in Rome, and there, in 
 February, the little youngest daughter, eight years old, 
 was taken ill with diphtheria, and died. Clara, who had 
 nursed her devotedly, took the disease from her and died 
 a week later. Both are buried in the Protestant cemetery 
 in Rome. 
 
 Colonel Lee's son came from Paris and joined his^ 
 father and mother in Florence, and was with them 
 through the summer in Switzerland, — a companionship 
 which brought healing and comfort, "In October he 
 contracted typhoid fever in the Low Countries, and 
 after some weeks of illness in London he died there on 
 November 10th. 
 
 "Bereaved of three children. Colonel and Mrs. Lee 
 came home to Brookhne in the late autumn of 1872. 
 What they lost in the two elder children, abeady come 
 to manhood and womanhood, it is better not to try to 
 tell. That in his little youngest daughter Colonel Lee- 
 lost a source of soothing, comfort and delight, no one 
 can forget who had seen him come home tired from the 
 day's work in town, take her in his arms, and put his 
 head by hers. Fifteen years after her death the 14th of 
 February is noted in his diary as 'Susie's birthday.' His 
 heart was very tender for others who bore like sorrows. 
 
 "Colonel Lee seldom directly referred to the hopes 
 and promise which ended in that sad year. He made no 
 pause in his work, but went steadily on with all that he 
 had undertaken, but when he sometimes spoke of the 
 
52 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 way in which a house, built to be a happy home, might 
 become a tomb, one felt how deep was the scar." 
 
 During the latter part of this period, Kalph Waldo 
 Emerson with whom Mr. Lee was on terms of warm 
 friendship, together with his son Edward W. Emerson, 
 then a student of medicine, were in Europe, and Dr. 
 Emerson writes : 
 
 "When we reached London, we learned that the 
 younger HaiTy Lee was very sick with typhoid fever. 
 The alarm and distress which this brought to his parents 
 can be imagined, yet day by day I saw Colonel Lee tak- 
 ing his solitary walk with a brave face and that redoubt- 
 able military air which he always had. More than that, 
 he called almost daily upon my father, and putting his 
 own suffering out of sight, was friendly, helpful and 
 always entertaining, treating my father with that re- 
 spectful banter of the man of affairs towards the phi- 
 losopher which he liked to indulge in, and calling Mr. 
 Emerson to account for his attitude of an admiring 
 listener to the wisdom of others at the meetings of the 
 Overseers of Harvard College, instead of taking an 
 active part in the debate. 
 
 "Yet all this time his son was growing sicker and 
 died a few days later." 
 
 Many years later a third daughter died. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 DURING THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The Cabots had not been a race very strenuous in 
 activities; the Jacksons, more laborious, were a serene 
 and placid family; the Lees, impulsive and energetic, 
 had shown more interest in public affairs, but had 
 the conservatism natural to members of an upper and 
 prosperous class. All had usually been what are called 
 influential citizens, but devoid of political ambition. 
 Only by going back to belligerent, contumacious, in- 
 dependent Mistress Anne Hutchinson can we account 
 for those cells in Colonel Lee's brain which made him 
 a "radical," — the word is his own, and perhaps a trifle 
 extravagant, though he justifies its use by saying that 
 he had been promoting the formation of the Free Soil 
 party during four years before it took actual shape, and 
 that he "was one of the Vice-Presidents at the first 
 meeting of the party in 1848, at which Governor Andrew 
 served as President." With this political group he 
 stayed until its absorption into the new organization of 
 the Republican party. To his action at this time 
 Colonel Lee repeatedly referred in subsequent years 
 with much satisfaction. Thus, in a speech before a 
 Civil Service Reform Association, he said: 
 
64 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " You, who have known the Republican party of the 
 last twenty years, can hardly be made to know, much 
 less to feel, how insignificant in numbers and standing 
 seemed the Free Soilers when they seceded from the 
 great Whig party, then panoplied with the respectabil- 
 ity, the wealth and talent of New England. Words 
 failed to express, looks or acts to convey, their (the 
 Whigs') contempt, and the Democrats' hatred, of these 
 few, young, obscure appealers to a higher law. It was 
 a long contest, beginning openly in 1848, and ended 
 only by the breaking out of the Civil War. . . . The 
 triumph of the Free Soilers, or Republicans, as they 
 were subsequently called, was the slow triumph of pro- 
 gression over retrogression, of resolution over irresolu- 
 tion, of principle over policy, of the higher law over the 
 lower law." 
 
 By a natural sequence, when John A. Andrew en- 
 tered upon the Governorship of Massachusetts, he 
 nominated Henry Lee as one of his staff; the commis- 
 sion bears date January 15, 1861. Hence came the 
 title of Colonel which seemed so appropriate that it 
 ever after remained the familiar prefix to his name. 
 When these aides, usually civilians, are suddenly 
 honored by military titles, it is considered desirable 
 that the choice should fall upon tall, handsome gentle- 
 men, well set up physically, so that they may at least 
 wear the ornate panoply of war with good effect. In 
 these particulars Mr. Lee was well up to the standard. 
 But Governor Andrew sought also other qualities in 
 these decorative personages who were, in his shrewd 
 opinion, likely to be called upon to sustain him in more 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 65 
 
 difficult functions than attending dedications and sun- 
 dry sorts of openings, and dancing at charity and other 
 reputable balls. Nor was even the addition of efficiency 
 in practical affairs sufficient; the governor must, if 
 possible, connect himself with that portion of society 
 which regarded itself as constituting an upper stratum. 
 Governor Andrew now dwells in the serene atmosphere 
 of apotheosis; the children of the men of Colonel Lee's 
 generation have put him into Valhalla. But he seemed 
 no candidate for such blissful quarters when he was* 
 elected governor. Boston's high society distrusted him 
 as a fanatic, an enthusiast, a sentimentalist, a dreamer 
 of dreams very objectionable in the peculiar circum- 
 stances of the times. They doubted his practical good 
 sense and deemed his election unfortunate for the 
 country. What Governor Andrew in return thought 
 about these high-placed persons is not recorded; but 
 he was obliged to recognize that by their education and 
 wealth, by their solidarity and by their ability and in- 
 tegrity (regarding them en masse), they were powerful. 
 If trouble was brewing, he must seek sympathetic rela- 
 tions with them. Accordingly he selected three men 
 from their ranks, — Horace Binney Sargent, Harrison 
 Ritchie and Henry Lee. Mr. Lee's family connec- 
 tions were extensive, and were of excellent quality 
 morally, intellectually and financially, as well as of 
 ancient flavor socially. He was popular, respected for 
 his character and esteemed for his abilities. Thus he 
 was wisely selected ; but when he received the invita- 
 tion, he hesitated. Though differing widely from most 
 of his acquaintances in political convictions, he was not 
 
56 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 altogether free from their prejudices against the new 
 governor. His own account, given many years later, 
 is as follows: 
 
 "Meeting the governor just after his election at a 
 political levee I refrained from joining in the congratu- 
 lations generally expressed, because 1 distrusted his 
 fitness for the office at such a critical period. ... I 
 was afraid he might be one-sided and indiscreet, defi- 
 cient in common sense and practical ability. So when, 
 in the first days of January, 1861, I unexpectedly re- 
 ceived a summons to a position upon his staff, I was 
 agitated by my desire to perform some little service for 
 my country in the approaching crisis, and by my re- 
 luctance to attach myself to a leader whose judgment I 
 distrusted. After a frank explanation of my embar- 
 rassment, finding that the governor still desired my 
 aid, I reluctantly accepted the appointment." 
 
 Work began at once. But it is needless to repeat 
 the hundred-times-told tale of Governor Andrew's mili- 
 tary preparations, the glory whereof has since been com- 
 fortably adopted by Massachusetts as her own — by right 
 of eminent domain, perhaps — whereas in fact nearly all 
 Massachusetts derided and abused him at the time, and 
 the glory was really as much his individual property as 
 were his coat and hat. 
 
 "For the moment," says Colonel Lee, "you had only 
 to mention the word overcoat, or speak of 'kissing the 
 musket, ' to excite the risibles or call down the objurga- 
 tions of any of the scoffers, to whom these timely acts 
 seemed the height of folly or wickedness." 
 
 The Boston Post, then a conservative journal, ably 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 57 
 
 conducted and illuminated with frequent sallies of the 
 lively and oftentimes keen wit of the editor, Colonel 
 Greene, was especially lavish of its sarcasm. Colonel 
 Lee at last wrote to Colonel Greene, with whom his 
 relations were personally friendly, protesting that the 
 newspaper was going too far and was not giving the 
 governor a fair chance ; whereupon the editor, who was 
 a gentleman of good feeling, stayed his satiric pen, and 
 gave the governor as much peace as could reasonably 
 be expected on the part of an opponent; Later Colonel 
 Lee gratefully paid this sheet the compliment of calling 
 it "patriotic," and praised its good temper and "stoi- 
 cism" in the hours of the downfall of its party. 
 
 The presentation of the muskets, relics of the battle 
 of Lexington, bequeathed by Theodore Parker (who, 
 by the way, had married a kinswoman of Colonel Lee), 
 took place in the Representatives' Chamber. The gov- 
 ernor's aides stood with him, and there was a great 
 concourse. The governor was in a highly emotional 
 condition. "That morning," he says, "as I was con- 
 templating my own remarks ... I sat down, yielding 
 to a perfect tempest of emotion, and wept as I had not 
 done for years." In this frame of mind, just as he was 
 handing the musket to the chairman, he raised it to 
 iiis lips and kissed it! Colonel Lee admitted that 
 spectators "felt cold chills run over" them, but said 
 truly that " the fervor which was natural to him (the 
 governor) and which burst forth at times in a way 
 which made some of us who were fastidious shiver, 
 was precisely what inspired and kindled the people." 
 When Colonel Lee came home that evening, and, as 
 
68 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 was his habit, narrated to his wife the occurrences of 
 the day, he said: "I could not have done that." 
 "No," she replied, "Governor Andrew is a poet and 
 you are not." Yet poetry is a dangerous weapon, and 
 it was a chance whether the scene would live in history 
 to excite sympathetic emotion or ridicule. Had Andrew 
 later proved inefficient, or had there never been serious 
 war, ridicule would have been enduring ; but as the oppo- 
 site facts ensued, the excess of expression has been con- 
 doned, if not altogether admired. 
 
 Very soon the word overcoat ceased to seem so ex- 
 ceedingly funny; and such are the mutations of human 
 affairs, that the time actually came when the honor of 
 the timely provision of this military raiment was claimed 
 by General Butler, always ready to bind into his own 
 sheaf any especially luxuriant stalk in the field. There- 
 upon Colonel Lee kindly corrected the general, writ- 
 ing to the editors of the Boston Daily Advertiser: 
 
 "Returning from a journey, my attention has been 
 called to a speech of General Butler. At a meeting 
 of the Sixth Regiment on the 20th of April last, he 
 claimed that he prevailed upon Governor Andrew to 
 secure an appropriation for army overcoats in anticipa- 
 tion of an appeal to arms. I beg to state that General 
 Butler's advice upon this matter was neither asked nor 
 received by Governor Andrew, and his first and last 
 word was a request that a mill, in which he was a 
 director, might manufacture the cloth for the overcoats." 
 
 But this spurious claim was not to be forever laid to 
 rest by a few lines in the comer of a news sheet. In 
 history there can be but one truth, while possible 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 59 
 
 blunders are countless. Whether the volume of false- 
 hood injected by General Butler into the history of the 
 Civil War period, and of Massachusetts in particular, 
 •will ever be utterly eliminated is fair cause for anxiety. 
 In 1892 Rev. Edward Everett Hale published a volume 
 which he called the "Story of Massachusetts." In this 
 book, with easy carelessness as to facts, he gave to 
 Butler the credit which belonged to Andrew, and there- 
 by stirred anew the wrath of Colonel Lee. In a " com- 
 munication " sent to the Nation, and embodied in an* 
 article in that paper (March 3, 1892), Colonel Lee cor- 
 rected, with just severity, the blundering clergyman.^ 
 Corrections in newspapers are all very well for the 
 moment; but for future times they are lost in the 
 newspaper ocean, while the book remains on the shelves 
 of libraries to mislead later writers, and perhaps to be- 
 come a "contemporary authority." 
 
 During the first part of the year 1861 it could not 
 have been altogether agreeable for Colonel Lee to meet 
 his friends and acquaintances who, for the most part, 
 were of the aforesaid "scoffers, "and who doubtless said 
 " overcoat " and " musket " oftener than he liked to 
 hear those suggestive words. He said afterwards: 
 
 "Old acquaintances ceased to bow to the governor, 
 or, what was more cutting, conveyed disapproval by 
 austerity of manner. At Salem, whither the staff ac- 
 companied him for the first visit of ceremony to witness 
 an exhibition drill of the Salem Light Infantry, their 
 old aristocratic company, the past officers and members, 
 leaders of society, though proud of their corps and 
 
 1 See post, p. 176 et seg. 
 
60 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 eager to figure in the few festivities of the decaying 
 town, sternly fasted, absented themselves, to express 
 their extreme disapprobation of the governor and all 
 his ways. It was characteristic of the old town as it 
 would have been of Little Pedlington." 
 
 In another place he wrote: "I recall the personal 
 expression of surprise and regret from friends and ac- 
 quaintances at my connection with this supposed foolish 
 fanatic." 
 
 In later years, speaking of the punishment which 
 the well-to-do class visited upon these "come-outers," 
 Colonel Lee said: "For Richard H. Dana it meant a 
 great deal to join the Free Soilers; he was a lawyer, 
 and was likely to lose his best clients and injure himself 
 seriously. But I was in business, and I did not care." 
 
 This comparison was generously to the credit of his 
 comrade, for the social cold shoulder is not pleasant, 
 and Colonel Lee deserved his share of credit, even 
 though he could continue to do business, and though 
 his temper, his spirit and his wit made it awkward 
 for any man to treat him with incivility. This dis- 
 position of " society " towards the men of the new party 
 found its stronghold in the Somerset Club, the " swell " 
 club of Boston, — a social vessel filled to the brim with 
 finely ancient and eminently aristocratic conservatism. 
 To it Mr. Lee would naturally have belonged, by his 
 connections, but he never applied for membership, and 
 soon after the outbreak of the war he was one of the 
 prominent founders of the Union Club, which signi- 
 fied by its name its purpose of serving as the social 
 gathering-place of the loyalist party. Of this he was for 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 61 
 
 many years the president, and afterwards, for many more 
 years, did good service on the election committee. 
 
 In the middle of April came the President's call for 
 troops, seventy-five thousand of the militia ; and it was 
 a proud day for Massachusetts when she was found to 
 be the best prepared state at the North to respond. 
 Colonel Lee was detailed to arrange means for trans- 
 portation, which he was able to do chiefly by the efiB- 
 cient aid of his friend, John M. Forbes. Within a day 
 or two the troops were streaming into Boston ; arms, 
 munitions and equipment were collected in the " Doric 
 Hall " of the State House, and the soldiers halted on 
 Mount Vernon Street to receive these supplies. All 
 was bustle and haste ; in the allotment of duties, " on 
 the 16th of April, 1861," says Colonel Lee, "I was 
 deputed by Governor Andrew to receive and provide 
 for the militia summoned to the rescue of Washington 
 and the defence of Fort Monroe." ^ In a pencilled note 
 to Mrs. Lee her husband said: "I was from 9:00 a.m. 
 till 10:00 P.M. feeding, quartering, and looking after 
 the 1400 troops thus suddenly thrown into Boston, and 
 when at six o'clock I seized a hunk of bread and meat 
 from the soldiers' table, I was as tired and hungry as 
 a tiger." , 
 
 In his reminiscences he wrote : 
 
 "Early Tuesday morning four regiments reported, 
 marching in sleet and rain. From that hour till the 
 dawn of Sunday, the 21st of April, we all had to 
 
 1 Pearson's " Life of John A. Andrew," 1, 183. " As company after 
 company marched up," says Mr. Pearson, in his excellent volume, 
 " Ritchie and Lee superintended the distribution and inspected each 
 man to see that his outfit was complete." 
 
62 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 work night and day, and, assuming the r61es of armor- 
 ers, quartermasters, commissaries, to obtain from raw 
 officers the lists of arms, clothing, equipments and 
 rations required; to collect and distribute, or pack 
 and forward and invoice these, to organize a Medical 
 Board, to examine surgeons and provide them with 
 their instruments and supplies, to engage steamers and 
 railroads to transport the troops, and finally to accom- 
 pany the governor as he presented to them the stand- 
 ards under which they were sent forth and spoke words 
 of encouragement and thanks. It is wonderful that 
 the preparations were so complete considering the raw- 
 ness of all. It was the pressure that did it." Very 
 soon organization was brought into better shape, and 
 each aide undertook service in special lines. Colonel 
 Lee says: "One of the greatest difficulties that the 
 governor had to meet was the selection of officers. He 
 used to say that he did not ask how much a man knew, 
 but how much he could learn. No one knew anything 
 in those days, no one had any experience; it was only 
 a question of choosing the best material out of which 
 good officers could be made. The best officers we 
 found were the quiet, patriotic men of education and 
 ability, who would never have become soldiers from 
 choice, but who now offered their services from a simple 
 sense of duty. A man asked for a position as quarter- 
 master on the strength of his having belonged to the 
 band. A Senator headed his recommendation paper, 
 but declared in confidence that the man amounted to 
 nothing and should not have any commission. So 
 letters of recommendation had to be scrutinized." 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 63 
 
 In this department Colonel Lee was of the greatest 
 use. Applications for commissions poured in; espe- 
 cially was there a rush by the young men of the old 
 Boston families, by recent Harvard graduates, and by 
 several undergraduates. The governor knew almost 
 none of these, and was entirely at a loss as to their 
 qualifications. Colonel Lee, on the other hand, knew 
 many of them personally, had abundant means of ob- 
 taining information as to others, and at worst could 
 often venture a guess on the ground of heredity; for, 
 if he did not know the individual, he was quite likely 
 to know all about his ancestors. So the joke ran that 
 he would often say to the governor: "I don't know the 
 youngster, but his grandfather was a first-rate captain 
 at Louisburg;" or, "the son of this man's father ought 
 to be about fit for a second-lieutenancy," and so on. 
 What he knew or thought, he spoke out with his 
 habitual directness. "Colonel," said the governor one 
 day, " what do you say to my appointing quarter- 
 master in the Regiment?" "I say you shan't 
 
 do it, Governor." "Why not?" "You know as well 
 as I." "No one of us is perfect." "No, but some are 
 nearer to it than others. That man is a damned thief, 
 and you have no business to put him in charge of 
 Uncle Sam's property." On another occasion he said: 
 " Governor, my time is yours ; my character is my own : 
 and unless you drive off some of these scallywags, I 
 shall leave you. You are so concerned about the 
 wicked, that you have no heart for an honest man." 
 
 Colonel Lee took the warmest personal interest in 
 the young men whom he thus studied, valued, and 
 
64 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 introduced to their military career. The officers of 
 the 20th Regiment, which was in the initial engage- 
 ment at Ball's Bluff, he always called "his boys," with 
 a special affection. The deaths and the wounds among 
 them moved him deeply. This letter, written some- 
 what later to Mrs. Kemble, well shows the keenness 
 of his feeling: 
 
 "My dear Mrs. Kemble : — 
 
 " At last you have unburdened your great generous 
 heart and have done us more good by your eloquent 
 letters than all the writers who have argued with or 
 railed against your confounded old John Bulls since the 
 Rebellion burst forth. 
 
 " You don't know, — as we are not aware until some 
 generous recognition of our true positions melts us, — in 
 what a state of tension we are existing. Truly our 
 lives have grown haggard with excitement; every family 
 you know, as well as thousands you do not, has sent 
 forth its sons to, the war, and in almost every family 
 is a vacant chair and a portrait upon the wall, of the 
 husband or the darling son gone forever. 
 
 "In my own family, my only brother, left six children 
 and their mother to lead his regiment, and with him 
 went my wife's brother Edward, and Charles Dabney, 
 whom you know. They were besieged in Washington, 
 North Carolina, for twenty days by over ten times 
 their number, my brother Commandant of the Fort 
 with 1200 men and three gunboats to defend it, and 
 I had the ghastly honor of hearing his death hawked 
 about the streets by the newsboys; but a merciful 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 65 
 
 Providence at last rescued them and they are safe at 
 home once more, their hour of service over. Two of 
 my brothers-in-law are still in service, one of my four 
 nephews, Henry Higginson, Major of Cavalry, is just 
 off his bed, having recovered from two sabre cuts on 
 his head, and had a ball extracted from his backbone, 
 which the rebels fired at him as he lay on the ground. 
 His brother James came back from Berlin, where he 
 had been studying, was taken prisoner at the same 
 battle,^ where he was leading his company, and has 
 lain in Libby Prison since the 17th of June. 
 
 "Frank Higginson, a young senior from Harvard, 
 was the oldest officer but one in Bob Shaw's regiment 
 after the bloody assault on Fort Wagner. Cabot Russell, 
 my cousin, one of my brother Frank's sergeants, later 
 a captain in Shaw's regiment, was wounded or killed 
 at the same assault, for we cannot learn of his fate 
 from the rebels into whose hands he fell. Wendell 
 Holmes, another cousin, has been wounded three times 
 and has risen by 'death and promotion ' from lieutenant 
 to lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 "James Lowell, another delicate little lamb, was 
 severely wounded at Ball's Bluff and killed at Mal- 
 vern Hill, a Christian martjn:; his brother Charles 
 commands our Second Cavalry and will command our 
 army if the war lasts long. ' Their sister, a delicate 
 frail young girl, has been for nearly two years a nurse 
 in a Washington hospital, and their mother spends 
 her days at the Sanitary Commission, as do many of 
 our matrons and young girls. 
 
 1 Aldie Gap. 
 5 
 
66 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " Another young cousin, Sumner Paine, was killed at 
 Gettysburg, a young lieutenant whom I had just got 
 placed; his brother led a brigade in the two bloody as- 
 saults on Port Hudson, and has come home for a time 
 with chills and fever. 
 
 " Of our little theatrical troupe at the Cabots, Paul 
 Revere, the most gallant Hercules that ever breathed, 
 after many wounds and illnesses, poured out his life 
 at Gettysburg; his brother, a surgeon, was killed at 
 Antietam, both leaving widows and orphans. Dick 
 Gary made his wife a widow at Cedar Mountain, where 
 also fell another of my wife's cousins, Stephen Perkins. 
 Another cousin, Charles Cabot, left his watch and ring 
 and parting message with his servant and led his com- 
 pany over the bridge at Fredericksburg, and never re- 
 turned. Howard Dwight, our low comedian, was killed 
 by guerillas who swarmed near Port Hudson; his 
 brother Wilder at Antietam; Willie Forbes is Major 
 under Charles Lowell and a splendid fellow he is. 
 Theodore Lyman, our eccentric comedian, has returned 
 from Europe and left his wife and child to go upon 
 General Meade's staff. 
 
 " This very day I have written two letters to express 
 my vain sympathy with the fathers of two young sol- 
 diers, both of them, like Putnam and Lowell, scholars 
 and gentle youths who, after struggling against malaria 
 and exposure and wounds, have fallen, one in an attack 
 on the rifle pits of Fort Wagner and the other killed 
 by the murderous host at Vicksburg. 
 
 " In one of our Massachusetts regiments there are but 
 half a dozen of the forty officers who composed the 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 6T 
 
 roster at first, and as I have acted as a sort of military 
 midwife, presiding at their birth, and have held fre- 
 quent intercourse with them and their families, have 
 known their motives and their wealth of mind and 
 heart and attainments, I have felt their deaths keenly, 
 knowing how costly was the sacrifice. Of course they 
 are not lost, thrown away, for they have, with hardly 
 an exception, so discharged their duties as to have ful- 
 filled the hopes of their families and their country, 
 leaving bright examples, if no heirs begotten of the 
 body. It is maddening, then, to read some of the Eng- 
 lish denunciations of our army, to learn that these 
 young heroes are the 'scum of the earth.' . . . 
 
 "The mail had gone, so let me add a few lines to re- 
 deem, if possible, the horrid death-rattle of my letter. I 
 have catalogued, — 1 have not conveyed the state of 
 feeling here. "With the exception of a few over-rich, 
 and of the vanishing party of peace Democrats among 
 whom are Hillard and Winthrop (not avowedly, b'lit 
 really, — not positively, but negatively), the whole 
 population of New England and of the North are more 
 sternly resolved every day, in spite of love of life and 
 consequent affliction, to prosecute the war till slavery 
 is extinguished, undismayed by increasing taxes and 
 enormous contributions to Sanitary Commissions, Sol- 
 diers' Funds of a hundred varieties, undiscouraged 
 by the repeated failure of our generals whom Lord 
 Palmerston, for once his temper overcoming his tact, 
 when England was rejoicing at the anticipated triumph 
 of Lee in Pennsylvania, ridiculed superciliously. 
 
 "And our hour of victory seems to have arrived — 
 
68 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Gettysburg have been fol- 
 lowed this week by Knoxville, which cuts the railroad 
 from West to East, and to-day Morris Island, which 
 assures us Charleston; and our news from Tennessee 
 and North Carolina assures us of two more free states ; 
 and every southern journal confirms the stories of the 
 great numbers of dissensions and defections through- 
 out the South. 
 
 " God, in his mercy, has prolonged the war till con- 
 viction of the incompatibility of freedom and slavery, 
 of the descending and the ascending, the demoralizing 
 and the elevating systems of society, has reached the 
 minds and hearts of our people. 
 
 " You long ago noticed the phenomenon of the superi- 
 ority of our people to their government, or rather to 
 the representatives of the government; the comparison 
 still holds good; the people have been in advance of 
 their nominal leaders, although the President is honest 
 and sagacious and courageous; still, like Sir Robert 
 Peel, he rather waits till the policy is pointed out by 
 popular clamor than anticipates remotely. But, like 
 Peel and Cavour, such a man carries through a re- 
 form more successfully than a Garibaldi or a Wendell 
 Phillips. It is a consolation to feel that Abraham has 
 no sinister, no selfish designs; that he earnestly en- 
 deavors to carry out the will of the nation. 
 
 " As to England, you must feel, all the more that you 
 are so intensely patriotic, as do Mill and Newman and 
 Cairnes and Hughes and Bright, though you would 
 call the last 'shy.' England, from selfish stupidity, 
 has lost her best friend and ally, from aristocratic out- 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 69 
 
 weighing moral and intellectual sympathies — her pres- 
 ent commercial loves blinding her to future gains — has 
 repudiated her anti-slavery philanthropy, with which 
 she deluged us for so many years, has feebly kept her 
 international faith, and has so equally disgusted North 
 and South, not by her neutrality, but by her selfish- 
 ness, that there would be no surer bond between our 
 two sections than a declaration of war. The feeling of 
 hatred is not general, it is universal; it is not super- 
 ficial, it fills the heart. 
 
 " I pray for the sake of our broken families, for the 
 sake of our heavily burdened people, that the wise men 
 of England will direct and the good men will influence 
 your government to remember the Golden Eule and 
 carry out honestly their Foreign Enlistment Act, as 
 we have done under greater trials in their behalf; for, 
 if not, war must come and a fearful war it will be, one 
 in which all here will enlist, cost what it may. 
 
 " You know well the Shaws, and perhaps you know 
 what a lovely, manly, modest young soldier Bob Shaw 
 was. I spent an hour with him on board the steamer — 
 the hour before he sailed. I was the last to shake 
 hands with him, and I carried his farewell to his 
 mother. His ready acceptance of a command so ques- 
 tionable in the eyes of many, with all its additional 
 dangers, the simplicity of his manner, his unconscious 
 heroism, his almost immediate death, — all combined 
 to wring the heart more than the loss of others who 
 fall in the common course of their career." 
 
 Mrs. Kemble's reply evinces her generous sym- 
 pathy: 
 
70 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 " My dear Haery Lee — by which friendly and af- 
 fectionate title I address you, the rather that I have 
 forgotten your present military dignity and think the 
 above will always designate you . most pleasantly to 
 your friends. I have to thank you for a most interest- 
 ing letter, as painful, alas, as it is interesting, con- 
 taining a sad catalogue of names associated to me with 
 pleasant friendly memories, and which henceforward 
 will call up heroic and pathetic memories of your great 
 national agony whenever I hear their sound. 
 
 "You are right, my dear Sir, in saying that I love 
 and honor Massachusetts, and hold, as I have ever 
 held, the New England States to be the very pith and 
 marrow, heart and brain of the great empire of which 
 they form a part. I need not tell you that I have 
 followed with my fervent prayers every turn of the 
 momentous struggle in which your country is now en- 
 gaged; and tho' the price of precious life at which 
 your national regeneration is being bought has wrung 
 my heart with the deepest sympathy, I have believed 
 the costly sacrifice to betoken the inestimable value 
 of what it is to win for ypu; nor am 1 alone among 
 English people in so thinking and feeling. Therefore, 
 I feel grieved and troubled that men like yourself 
 should speak of England as you do. The people of 
 England have never for an instant gone with the wrong 
 side of your national quarrel ; the government of Eng- 
 land has acted, in my opinion, with the utmost fairness 
 and consistency towards you. A portion of our press, 
 especially the ablest paper we have, — The Times — 
 have done the devil's service to the best of their ability 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 71 
 
 in the matter, and our aristocracy has done according 
 to the natural law of its existence, and sympathised 
 with those whose social status it could best compre- 
 hend. Nor must you forget that in the conduct of 
 the war and in such political action as the pseudo gov- 
 ernment of the South has exercised, great bravery and 
 great ability have been shown, courage and capacity 
 worthy of the best cause. I, who abhor their cause, 
 have admired their conduct of it, and for persons as 
 ignorant as the mass of upper-class English people are. 
 of everything concerning your country and her present 
 tribulations, you should not wonder that there has been 
 an utter confusion of the motives of the struggle. Do 
 not, I entreat you, add one grain of bitterness to the 
 ill will which mutual ignorance alone can prolong be- 
 tween Englishmen and Americans, and above all, do 
 not make it appear that the latter allow the contemp- 
 tuous ignorance and indifference of a mere caste to out- 
 weigh the zeal and honest sympathy of the nation; for 
 if you do, I for one shall hold that you justify your 
 English descent and are the snobs that our snobbish 
 lords and ladies consider you. . . . Meantime God 
 bless your cause and give you in the regeneration of 
 your noble country the only adequate compensation 
 for all your losses and all your griefs." 
 
 As appears by these letters. Colonel Lee like most 
 Northerners, was hurt and angered by the behavior of 
 English statesmen and of the English press. He had 
 been "an old subscriber of eleven years' standing" to 
 the London Spectator, "but by the end of 1861 (he) 
 was so wounded by its insolent criticisms that (he) gave 
 
72 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 it up and never read a line of it afterward." A year 
 earlier, in November, 1860, when our troubles were 
 already casting their shadows before, he had sent to 
 that weekly a letter which, by connection of topic, may 
 perhaps be properly enough inserted here: 
 
 "For ten years a subscriber to the Spectator, I 
 have perused your lucubrations upon many subjects, 
 and it is perhaps fair that you should reciprocate by 
 reading this letter. 
 
 "Like all Englishmen, you do sometimes misunder- 
 stand us Americans ; we are to you a nation of bores ; 
 as Sam Slick expresses it: 'You don't know nothing 
 about us, and what 's a darned sight worse, you don't 
 care nothing about us,' while we care enough about 
 you to understand and make some allowance even for 
 this imperfect sympathy. 
 
 " Utterly indifferent to the opinion of the rest of the 
 world, we are sensitive to the criticisms of our English 
 brethren, and certainly animadversions and aspersions 
 enough have been made by your travelling countrymen 
 to establish a 'raw.' 
 
 " Full of curiosity and affection, we go, pUgrims to 
 our fatherland, knowing you all and your fathers before 
 you by your Christian names. We meet with an em- 
 brace ? — no, with a gentleman who stutters forth that 
 'we have the advantage of him,' and who stares through 
 an eye-glass. No enthusiasm can survive this rebuff; 
 and, foregoing our native English, we hasten to lands 
 where we care not for cordiality, and where civility 
 and amusement can be purchased. We go away, like 
 poor relations, our hearts aching with disappointment. 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 73 
 
 "This coldness is to be attributed partly to your 
 natural superciliousness, which offends your European 
 neighbors as it does us, and your unreasonable require- 
 ments as to the non-essentials of etiquette; partly to 
 the bad manners of many of our nouveaux riches, who 
 make the grand tour; but principally to your compara- 
 tive indifference to and ignorance of us, which wears 
 away slowly as you travel more in this direction, and 
 as we grow more interesting. 
 
 " But to this favor you must come ; blood is thicker 
 than water, as one of our brave captains strikingly 
 proved on a late occasion ; we yearn towards you, and, 
 isolated as you are in Europe, with no natural alliances, 
 no sympathies with despotic governments and alien 
 races, you must turn from those wearisome entangle- 
 ments and strengthen the ties with your kinsmen on 
 this side of the ocean, who, side by side with you, may 
 meet the world in arms." 
 
 Years passed, and brought to Colonel Lee the oppor- 
 tunity, of which he availed himself, to "rejoice at the 
 evolution of fraternal feeling "and that his "propheqy 
 . . . had at last come true." 
 
 In literary labor of another kind Colonel Lee was 
 not so successful as altogether to escape criticism. 
 The governor's correspondence was enormous, and 
 though most of it was undertaken by the other aides. 
 Colonel Lee was occasionally pressed into the service. 
 His pen, however, knew no more restraint than his 
 tongue ; and written words, not interpreted by manner, 
 voice or expression, and seeming more deliberately 
 chosen, carry greater offence than the winged words 
 
74 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 of speech. The perturbation which followed sundry of 
 Colonel Lee's epistolary efforts induced the good-natured 
 governor to dub him "the unfortunate letter- writer," — . 
 while at the same time always loyally standing by him 
 in his most brusque effusions. Brusque enough some 
 of them must have been, if many are to be judged by 
 this paragraph written to a major of a regiment: "Your 
 Colonel insults the governor and oppresses his officers ; 
 he thinks that he wields a two-edged sword, whereas 
 in fact it is a boomerang." 
 
 In the autumn of 1861 there was a very disagreeable 
 clash betweeen the governor and General Butler as to 
 the enlisting of two regiments and the commissioning 
 of their officers. Butler astutely gained the backing 
 of the President and the War Department; but the 
 governor, impregnably entrenched behind the law, re- 
 fused to budge. It was a complex, prolonged and most 
 uncomfortable quarrel. Already Colonel Lee had ac- 
 quired the feeling of personal loyalty; and, being in 
 Washington, he there took the governor's part with 
 characteristic heartiness, writing to Andrew that he 
 had learned "that Butler is here for the express pur- 
 pose of abusing you and making misstatements," and 
 that therefore he himself had called on the President in 
 order "to present simultaneously counter testimony." 
 "The President expressed his regret at the want of 
 concert between your Excellency and General Butler, 
 . . . but inferred that the want of encouragement to 
 General Butler was owing to a personal dislike, whereas 
 I contended that the President's own declaration to 
 me , . • was strong presumptive evidence in your favor 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 75 
 
 and against Butler. ... To sum up, the President said 
 that the alternative presented by me was to crush Butler 
 or to prevail upon your Excellency to forgive him and 
 to commission his officers." It was in the course of 
 this interview that the President said : " Then, Colonel 
 Lee, you mean to say that I lie ? " " No, sir, I mean 
 no such thing." "Then you mean that General Butler 
 lies?" "That is precisely what I mean." Now the 
 President and the War Department were loath to " crush 
 Butler," and were most desirous to see the governor 
 forget and forgive, and therefore the arguments of 
 Colonel Lee were very distasteful. It is not every 
 man who can speak freely to a president, but evidently 
 Colonel Lee did so, and perhaps thought that he had 
 transcended prudence, for he wrote that, at his request^ 
 Attorney-General Foster " was presenting to the Presi- 
 dent in a more quiet and convincing manner than I am 
 master of, the confusion brought upon us by General 
 Butler's mode of recruiting, during which conversation 
 the President remarked that General Butler was cross- 
 eyed and he supposed he did n't see things as other peo- 
 ple did." To the assistant-secretary of war Colonel 
 Lee promised "to communicate to you (Andrew) at 
 once the desire of the department," and said that he 
 would not " add that they had caught an elephant and did 
 not know what to do with him, whereat the assistant- 
 secretary smiled." But anyone who hoped that Gov- 
 ernor Andrew would obligingly aid in disposing of 
 Elephant Butler by a process of submission little knew 
 the disposition of the "War Governor." He persisted 
 and he won. The story, at its liength, finds its proper 
 
76 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 place in the governor's biography where it is well told 
 by Mr. Pearson; while those who wish to read the 
 other side will find it in that veracious chronicle 
 ycleped: "Butler's Own Book." 
 
 After the engagement at Ball's Bluff Colonel Lee 
 went to Virginia to attend to the wants of the two 
 Massachusetts regiments, which had suffered severely, 
 especially the Twentieth. It was his first observation 
 of real bloodshed, and he was deeply moved. Later 
 his brother Francis went as colonel and his brother- 
 in-law, Edward C. Cabot, as lieutenant-colonel, of 
 the Forty-Fourth Regiment, and Colonel Lee accom- 
 panied them to New Berne and stayed there some little 
 time. But he saw no engagement and knew little of 
 the real hardships of war upon this trip. In a speech 
 which he made at the 150th anniversary of the foun- 
 dation of the First Corps of Cadets, M.V.M., he 
 told them that in 1778 the corps "was ordered, 
 with the rest of the militia, to Newport to aid General 
 Sullivan. . . . They reached the field of battle on 
 Sunday and General Sullivan placed them in a rather 
 prominent position, when one of the aides rode up to 
 him and said: 'General Sullivan, do you know what 
 you have done? Why, if one of those young men 
 got killed, it would put half Boston into mourning! ' 
 Consequently he withdrew them to a safer distance." 
 The fortune of war was almost as considerate towards 
 the Forty-Fourth Regiment, though the Cadets in the 
 Revolution and the Forty-Fourth in the Civil War 
 were of course quite ready for all the fighting which 
 might fall to their lot, and many members of the 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 77 
 
 Forty-Fourth served afterwards and saw bloodshed 
 enough. 
 
 Colonel Lee's service as aide exacted prolonged labor 
 on his part, and a sacrifice of time which was greatly 
 to the detriment of the many private interests en- 
 trusted to him. Accordingly, after three and one- 
 half years, when matters were in such train that he 
 felt free to leave, he offered his resignation. In doing 
 so he wrote to the governor this letter: 
 
 "Mt dear Governor: — 
 
 "Your note of the 7th reached me to-night in this 
 remote region where I have been tending a sick child 
 the past few days. I was very much touched by the 
 very kind tone of your note and the expressions of 
 confidence and affection conveyed to me. 
 
 " When my engagement was announced by my mother 
 to the talented but somewhat eccentric Mrs. Eliza 
 Buckminster Lee, that lady expressed a regret, as she 
 thought the Lees were too rough to be husbands. I 
 have had frequent occasion to recall that remark to 
 my wife, and I think you may possibly appreciate it 
 when you remember me as a former aide-de-camp. On 
 the other hand, I know I have been honest; I did for 
 nearly two years serve you with a devotion which so 
 deranged my affairs that I have been obliged since 
 then to virithdraw very much more from you than is 
 convenient to you, or consistent with my own sense of 
 proprieiy. 
 
 "My father is very old, ... I have always for 
 twenty-seven years managed all his affairs, and I have 
 
78 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 numerous family and other trusts which I cannot neg- 
 lect. My family is so large, my wife's health so deli- 
 cate, that I am never sure of fulfilling an engagement, 
 and this mortifies and distresses me. 
 
 "I feel a very sincere attachment to you; I appre- 
 ciate very highly the zeal and great ability you have 
 developed in carrying, — lugging along — the state 
 through this great crisis; I admire still more your 
 entire disinterestedness, and I shall always be as now, 
 
 " Your devoted friend, 
 
 "Henky Lee, Jr." 
 
 The governor accepted the resignation on the follow- 
 ing day, June 9, 1864, with many friendly words. 
 
 In 1865, the war being over, the fatigue incident to the 
 
 highly wrought public interest had its natural effect in a 
 
 temporary reaction. The behavior of the people was like 
 
 that which is seen at the theatre two or three minutes 
 
 before the curtain falls, when the departing audience 
 
 turns its back upon the actors. This greatly irritated 
 
 Colonel Lee and called forth his eloquent protests, 
 
 addressed, as usual in those days, to the Boston Daily 
 
 Advertiser: 
 
 « October 30, 1865. 
 
 " How galling it must be to the feelings of our gal- 
 lant volunteers, who have returned to their native state 
 after years of toil, hardships and unparalleled priva- 
 tions, not to speak of dangers and sufferings, to witness 
 the ovations and enthusiastic public receptions given 
 to the Boston Lancers after their ten days' campaign in 
 Chicago. 
 
 "Verily, our people are highly inconstant! Here is 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 79 
 
 a company who for mere pleasure — to gratify a whim 
 and their sense of ostentation — journey, by invitation, 
 to a town some hundreds of miles distant; they are feted 
 and feasted and made much of; on their return their 
 fellow-citizens think fit and proper to give them a 
 public reception worthy of heroes. 
 
 "Yet it is but a few weeks since that I witnessed, 
 from the steps of the State House, the return of the 
 Second Regiment, Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. This 
 regiment had served with marked distinction on several 
 occasions during the war, had throughout the rebellion 
 evinced a high sense of patriotism, had borne without 
 flinching privations and dangers without number, and 
 in the end returned with a character for steadiness never 
 surpassed by any organization in the country. It will 
 hardly be credited by other than eye-witnesses that this 
 regiment, during their march through Boston, from the 
 Providence Depot to Commercial Wharf, where they 
 embarked for Gallop's Island, did not receive a single 
 cheer, not an expression of sympathy, not one joy- 
 ful greeting; not a handkerchief was waved, no tear 
 dropped; — whilst the Boston Lancers, after a ten days' 
 campaign against prairie hens and Bourbon whiskey, 
 return and find themselves greeted as heroes and 
 patriots. 
 
 "Our Volunteers are by no means jealous of the 
 honors so readily showered on the Lancers, but decid- 
 edly think that their fellow-citizens have not shown 
 a nice sense of discrimination in their distribution of 
 favors and public receptions since the collapse of the re- 
 bellion and the return home of the State Volunteers." 
 
80 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Again, a few days later, he wrote in like strain : 
 
 " ' But what went ye out for to see ? A man clothed in 
 soft raiment ? ' 
 
 "An orator has said that 'the only debt the United 
 States can never pay is that we owe to our brave Vol- 
 unteers. ' Is this a figure of speech, or does the obliga- 
 tion lie too deep in our hearts to find utterance ? As 
 the shattered remnants of our regiments, veterans from 
 the armies of Grant or Sherman, 
 
 With lank, lean cheeks, and war-worn coats, 
 Their gayness and their gilt now all besmirched 
 With rainy marching in the painful field, 
 
 have passed through our streets unheeded, or been 
 suffered to straggle home from Readville or Gallop's 
 
 Island, and 
 
 No man cried, God save them ; 
 No joyful tongue gave them their welcome home ; 
 
 that welcome so fondly looked for, to homes that had 
 been saved by their self-imposed renunciation, their 
 prolonged sacrifice ; the hearts of these weary and dis- 
 appointed men must have been chilled by the stony 
 apathy of a people saved, so in contrast with the fer- 
 vent acclamations and abundant promises showered upon 
 them by a people imperilled, as they marched away. 
 Had they returned to find themselves, like Rip Van 
 Winkle, forgotten among another generation, or are 
 republics ungrateful? 
 
 " I confess when I read in last week's journals, how 
 a few meandering citizens dubbed 'M. W. G. M.' 'Sir 
 Knights,' were received by some Boston Sir Knights 
 with the same profuse alphabetical prefixes, how they 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 81 
 
 were waylaid in every street and collated till at last 
 they brought up at our State Prison fairly suffocated 
 and exhausted, eager to find an asylum even there, and 
 when I read of the grand reception of the Lancers after 
 a week's junketing at Chicago — two or three bands of 
 music, as many corps of militia, a collation and speeches 
 at Faneuil Hall — I could not but ask: 'What have 
 these city train-bands, these self-styled Sir Knights 
 achieved, that they should be so boisterously welcomed 
 and feasted within an inch of their lives, while our real 
 knights are left to grope their way home, hungry and 
 tired, unrequited for all their toils and perils by even 
 a greeting ? 
 
 Wherefore rejoice ? What conquests bring they home ? 
 Why do you now cull out a holiday ? 
 Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, 
 Fray to the gods to intermit the plague 
 That needs must light on this ingratitude." 
 
 About the same time, not losing his habit of advis- 
 ing the governor, he wrote to him this characteristic 
 letter: 
 
 "My DEAR Govbknoe: — 
 
 "As you take a paternal interest in my efforts in 
 behalf of the militia, I enclose a piece which may have 
 escaped your notice, in which I attempt to express my 
 deep dismay at the negligence or pusillanimity of the 
 Legislature in abandoning the system of compulsory 
 service, and also at the falling to pieces of the Second 
 Regiment owing to this sneaking legislation, and also 
 at the delay of the state to uniform them. 
 
 6 
 
82 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " We have never raised, and shall never in our life- 
 time raise, a regiment so well composed and officered, 
 consequently so well disciplined. The principal officers, 
 many of the lesser officers, are men just from actual 
 service. 
 
 " I attribute this suicidal policy to the Banksy, tricky, 
 shilly-shally character of our law makers ; and the delay 
 as to uniforms to the equally low and tricky quarter- 
 master general of this state. 
 
 " My dear Governor, if the Lord forgives knaves, he is 
 equally forgiving to honest men; why will you therefore 
 
 surround yourself with P and S and W and 
 
 a host of others to your great moral and mental wool- 
 gathering and to the disgust of your friends, who are 
 at least indifferent honest? I fear this bad appoint- 
 ment, when you had a state full of honorable disabled 
 officers to select an Inspector General from, has cost 
 us our militia and you a benefaction you might have left 
 on going out of an office you have filled so gloriously in 
 spite of your crazy optimism. 
 
 " Your old blackguard, 
 
 "H. L., Jr." 
 
 Colonel Lee's loyalty to the Volunteers, and his untir- 
 ing services in their behalf, were handsomely recognized 
 by them later, when they placed him in the small and 
 carefully selected list of Civilian Members of the " Mili- 
 tary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States," 
 in the Commandery of the State of Massachusetts. It 
 should, however, be said in this connection that his 
 indignation was bitter against the men who came out 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 83 
 
 from civil life to demand and accept high military com- 
 mands and responsibilities, for which their knowledge 
 and experience did not fit them. There is one paper 
 called "Militia Brigadiers: Banks' Statue," in which 
 he says : 
 
 " No man of self-respect or humanity would have ac- 
 cepted such an impossible task as that of an untaught, 
 heaven-born Major-General ; and if he had, any con- 
 scientious man would have resigned after the wanton 
 slaughter at Cedar Mountain, and would have peniten- 
 tially started again, as did all our best youths, ere they 
 essayed to expose those under them to wounds and cap- 
 ture and death by their ignorance." Of the "incom- 
 petent generals " he said : " Banks and Butler were 
 flagrant instances. ... I have known Banks ever since 
 he was apprenticed to a hatter in Waltham, and knew 
 every step in his career, and I agree with Thaddeus 
 Stevens, who said there was nothing remarkable about 
 him except the ' wabble in his voice '." Again he spoke 
 of one of his acquaintance, " whose only son was mur- 
 dered by General Banks at Cedar Mountain, with five 
 other braves." 
 
 Mr. Lee's love of things military began in childhood, 
 but did not pass with that period. In college he had 
 taken the liveliest interest in the Harvard Washington 
 Corps, a military company maintained by the students 
 at a really high grade of excellence. As a young man 
 he joined the Independent Corps of Cadets, of which 
 he was a member and an oiBcer for many years. Later 
 the Veteran Association of the Independent Corps of 
 
84 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Cadets voted that the thanks of the Association "be 
 tendered to Colonel Henry Lee for his valuable and 
 efficient services vrhile in the Legislature, in procuring 
 for the Association an Act of Incorporation." 
 
 On January 29, 1841, Governor John Davis issued 
 to him a commission as second lieutenant of a company 
 of light infantry in the First Regiment of Light In- 
 fantry in the First Brigade and First Division of the 
 Militia of the Commonwealth; and on December 28th 
 of the same year he was promoted to a first lieutenancy. 
 George Tyler Bigelow, afterwards Chief Justice of Mas- 
 sachusetts, was the colonel. 
 
 The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company is 
 now a somewhat grotesque portion of the military force 
 of our Commonwealth. But the time was when it 
 could be taken seriously; and in both its serious and 
 its humorous aspect it was interesting and picturesque 
 for Colonel Lee. One of his children says: "Father 
 never missed Artillery Election ; he never came out of 
 town till it was all over, no matter how late it was." 
 This queer organization called forth one of his delight- 
 ful bits of vivid, entertaining reminiscence : 
 
 "We dwelt in town winter and summer, and here 
 were all our resources ; so Artillery Election, one of the 
 three holidays of the year, was a great occasion; peo- 
 ple flocked to see the governor in full uniform take his 
 seat on the Common and commission the officers of the 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and great 
 was the interest to know who was the new commander. 
 
 " There hangs in my library the full length portrait 
 of one of the first generation of Puritans, five times 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 85 
 
 commander of this old company,^ while others of my 
 kin have handled the pike or have been decorated with 
 the gorget and intrusted with the espontoon in the 
 colonial days. 
 
 " So it is natural that, as the season comes round, I 
 should feel an unwonted stir in my blood, and that, in 
 spite of old age and some lack of sympathy with the 
 present composition of this overgrown heterogeneous 
 body, the somewhat speckled military contingent sup- 
 plemented by a legion of jury-shirking merchants and 
 brokers, — notwithstanding this intrusion of the pre- 
 sent, I find myself in the crowd pondering over the 
 past. 
 
 " There stands my ancestor in his bufE leather coat, 
 his silver-hilted sword hangs from an embroidered bal- 
 dric over his shoulder, his collars and cuffs are likewise 
 embroidered, his truncheon is in his gloved hand. In 
 the middle distance soldiers drawn up in line are dip- 
 ping their flags, while vessels just off shore are firing 
 a salute. These are the men I seem to see mustering 
 in the Town House, marching into the Common to go 
 through their evolutions, and concluding with prayer, 
 listening to the reverend divine's sermon, to his open- 
 ing and closing prayer, and after dinner singing four 
 staves of the 68th Psalm, followed by the 9th and 
 11th verses of the 2d Psalm; or perhaps complain- 
 ing that there has been too much singing, for even at 
 that time the members were not all saints. 
 
 "In my early days there were still some old soldiers 
 in the ranks, the sight of whom conjured up the heroes 
 1 Major Thomaa Savage. 
 
86 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 of the Revolution, who followed in the footsteps of 
 their colonial and provincial ancestors and fostered the 
 institution. Lincoln, Knox, Heath, Brooks, and some 
 of their less noted associates served in the ranks or 
 accepted the command of the Ancients. 
 
 " I am one of the few who can remember the old blue 
 coat with red collar, cuffs and lapels, silver buttons, a 
 half-moon chapeau de bras with a tall white plume, 
 white cassimere breeches and long black gaiters; and 
 a very handsome uniform it was, and with their hair 
 powdered and queued they looked distinguished. But 
 the stately uniform was only worn by a few veterans, 
 for, in order to fill up their depleted ranks, the Ancients 
 voted to allow every member (they were mostly then 
 officers in the militia) to parade in his own uniform; 
 hence the motley which has ever since existed. 
 
 " How to partake most fully of the festivities of the 
 holiday, how to economize our time and money, exer- 
 cised us boys. In the early morning we paid a visit to 
 the Common, we treated to a glass of ginger beer from 
 the sable proprietor of one of the row of white-hooded, 
 squash-colored hand-carts ranged along in front of the 
 great elm. Then we went to see how Paddy Rowan, our 
 old scouring-woman's boy, was getting along with our 
 peep-show, which it had taken us a fortnight to build 
 and decorate, and which we had intrusted to him to 
 exhibit. Then to the tents which covered the hill, 
 some of them, we fear, 'the tents of wickedness,' to 
 spend our little fairings upon candy and election buns, a 
 cent or two to the Indian shooting with bow and arrow at 
 a mark, and as many more to enter the Camera Obscura. 
 
DURING THE CIVIL WAR 87 
 
 " There goes Fillebrown, the captain of the Brigade 
 Band, with his clarionet under his arm, and there plods 
 along a little militia captain, his long white plume 
 tipped with red nodding as he walks, his bell-crowned 
 cap, his bob-tailed blue coat with three rows of silver 
 buttons and his cotton gloves, altogether a meagre uni- 
 form. They are bound to Faneuil Hall, and we must 
 follow if we would march up with the Ancients to the 
 State House. The men were setting posts along the 
 Common from Belknap to West Street, to enclose- 
 the parade gound, and old Richardson, the armorer, 
 had just pitched the officers' marquee nearly opposite 
 St. Paul's Church. We loosened some of the guy lines 
 and he chased us. 
 
 " Down at Faneuil Hall there were wheelbarrows of 
 lobsters ; they looked so red I wanted to taste them. 
 
 " At last the drums beat, the Ancients marched.forth, 
 wheeled into platoons, and we accompanied them up 
 State, Washington, School, and Beacon Streets to the 
 State House. They formed in line and sent the ad- 
 jutant. Colonel Tyler, up to the governor. Down 
 marched meek Sheriff Sumner, with his long white 
 wand, then Governor Lincoln, dressed like Napoleon, 
 with his aides, Josiah Quincy, Jr., very flat-chested, 
 and John Brazer Davis, with bis pop eyes, behind them 
 the silver-haired Lieutenant Governor Winthrop, much 
 bent with age, and then Adjutant-General Sumner, 
 with a buff-breasted coat all ribbed with gold lace, and 
 an enormous chapeau fringed with ostrich feathers, stout 
 and pompous. Then the Ancients saluted, wheeled into 
 column and marched, not as now at common time, but 
 
88 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 slow and stately, and we ran down to get tip to the 
 staircase window to see them as they wheeled into 
 Chauncy Place. 
 
 "At first we could only hear the bass drum, and then 
 a wail from the clarionets, and at last the tune, as they 
 marched slowly under the trees down Park and Winter 
 and Summer Streets, and wheeled into Chauncy Place. 
 The music ceases, a few sharp orders are given, the An- 
 cients salute and file into the church after the governor. 
 Then we boys parade, our commander has an epaulette 
 of his grandfather's, once a major of the Cadets, and 
 after a slow march to our own tooting, up and down 
 the Court, we enter a small building and read a ser- 
 mon from some of the newspapers lying there. That 
 ceremony ended, we issue forth in time to accompany 
 the Ancients down to Faneuil Hall, and then home to 
 dinner. 
 
 "In the afternoon, sitting on the octagonal rail of 
 the Common fence, we wait until (about four o'clock) 
 the Ancients march through a gate half way up Park 
 Street, opened only on this day, into their reserved 
 parade ground; the artillerj'- men, most of them old 
 members or officers of artillery companies, prepare for 
 a salute ; the infantry march to the State House for the 
 governor, etc. As he is escorted into the square, the 
 artillery fire thirteen guns; he takes his seat just in 
 front of the Hancock House, and the whole company 
 salute him and pass in review. Then they form a 
 square and their captain talks to them, and re-forms 
 them in line. Now comes the great ceremony; the cap- 
 tain, brandishing an espontoon, marches up the slope to 
 
DURING THE CIVIL "WAR 89 
 
 a slow march by the band, salutes and then addresses 
 the governor and resigns his commission. The gov- 
 ernor takes his espontoon and talks to him, — I could not 
 hear what either of them said. The captain was Colonel 
 Hunting, — he is a good honest-looking man in one of 
 the plain blue and silver uniforms, with a half-moon 
 chapeau, his white sword belt over his shoulder, and 
 his wide white trousers were stifE and very short and 
 his boots clumsy. 
 
 "When the governor had done talking, he wheeled 
 about, the drums and fifes struck up, and down he 
 marched at quick-step through the company down to 
 the marquee, and there he jumps up twice, high in the 
 air, — what for I don't know, unless because he is glad 
 he has got through, or perhaps, like Judge Sewall 
 when commander, 'the firing much distempered him.' 
 As Colonel Hunting marches down, up marches the 
 new commander; he is a little short, square-built man. 
 Colonel Learned ; looks well for a country soldier. He 
 listens while the governor tells him what he ought to 
 do and gives him the espontoon; then he begins to talk 
 and shake his head very much, — I don't know what 
 it was about. Then he wheels, the band plays a slow 
 march, and flourishing the espontoon, he marches down 
 to the company. 
 
 "We are tired and go home, and on my mother's 
 bureau I find just eleven cents, my share of the peep- 
 show, — it isn't much for two weeks' work." 
 
 Colonel Lee's labors as aide-de-camp stimulated his 
 interest and greatly increased his knowledge in matters 
 
90 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 military. Accordingly, he says: "During the war, 
 Governor Andrew commissioned me to write a history 
 of the militia with a scheme for its improvement." 
 This led to a great amount of labor, and at last to the 
 publication, in 1864, of a monograph of one hundred 
 and thirty pages, entitled " The Militia of the United 
 States: What it has been: What it should be." In 
 this he " laid down what he considered to be the true 
 basis for a satisfactory militia system; urging, espe- 
 cially, reduction in numbers, uniformity in organization, 
 the furnishing by the general government of arms and 
 equipments, the framing of a code of tactics expressly 
 for the militia, the creation of a general militia staff, 
 and rudimentary, instruction in tactics in every public 
 school. Large use of his labors was made by the Com- 
 mission which had much to do with framing the exist- 
 ing militia law of Massachusetts. " ^ For many years 
 afterwards Colonel Lee, availing himself of our recep- 
 tive newspapers, continued to pour liberal contributions 
 into the ocean of literature on this subject. 
 
 1 "Memorial History of Boston," III, 828. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 
 
 After his retirement from Governor Andrew's staff, 
 Colonel Lee held only two other offices in public life. 
 One of these was as a member of the State Legislature, 
 to which he was elected from the Ninth District of the 
 County of Suffolk, and in 1877 was re-elected. In 1876 
 he was on the Committee on Banks and Banking; in 
 1877 he was on the joint Committee on the Hoosac 
 Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad ; and in both 
 years he was on the joint Committee on Military Affairs. 
 This last committee took much testimony as to proposed 
 changes, interest in the subject being- very lively for 
 the moment ; but these labors were contributory rather 
 than final, for the permanent law was not passed until 
 1878. 
 
 Mentioning these two legislative terms in certain 
 memoranda in his later years, Colonel Lee added that, 
 "having like his ancestors little taste for public life, 
 he has since declined various official positions of a 
 public nature." What these positions were one would 
 like to know. They could hardly have been any which 
 the manipulating politicians of either party could have 
 blockaded against him. He was precisely the kind 
 of man whom they detested, and he could hardly have 
 
92 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 achieved in their despite a lasting success in public life. 
 He was too unmanageably upright, independent and 
 outspoken; and in the mixed and questionable com- 
 pany which constitutes the " machine " he would soon 
 have been at odds with eveiy component part, down 
 to the smallest pin. Fortunately by holding aloof from 
 competition for office he at least avoided the useless- 
 ness attendant upon the reputation of being a dis- 
 appointed seeker, or a wrong-headed and whimsical 
 " kicker." It is not, however, to be fancied that he 
 was one of those who assume to sneer at others who 
 engage in the public service. His attitude was the 
 direct opposite of that depreciation which some persons 
 like to affect. He thought himself unfit for such tasks, 
 and he lamented this supposed unfitness, and spoke 
 with generous and hearty admiration of his friends and 
 acquaintance who accepted and faithfully labored in 
 positions of public usefulness. 
 
 His interest in public affairs suffered no diminution 
 down to the end of his life. With a very fervid tem- 
 perament and having strong, clear convictions about 
 every measure and every man, he constantly made his 
 opinions public, and in so doing exercised a varying, 
 but generally a considerable, influence in eastern Massa- 
 chusetts. Meeting daily, in the way of talk, an un- 
 usually large number of persons, he had abundant 
 opportunities of uttering his views, and those who 
 remember him will bear witness that he availed him- 
 self of those opportunities with much eloquence and 
 persistence. As a frequent writer for the newspapers 
 he reached a wider audience. These illimitable news- 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 93 
 
 papers, which smother our breakfast tables and obstruct 
 the draft at the evening fireside, are glad, of course, to 
 spread their broad sheets as hospitable burial places for 
 communications even from the least valued correspond- 
 ents. But the skilled reader learns the earmarks, and 
 few of the intelligent class in Boston passed by a letter 
 or paragraph signed " H. L." or " L " or " An Old Free 
 Soiler" or "Senex." These favorite signatures, like 
 red flags, indicated something to be looked out for, 
 something probably explosive in the immediate neigh- 
 borhood. For as the foe of all that was dishonest, mean, 
 truckling or incompetent in public life. Colonel Lee 
 inevitably wrote more often in hostility than in praise, 
 and spirited attack is a much more exhilarating spectacle 
 than judicial commendation. We all delight to see any- 
 one skilfully carved, and his surgery was so brilUant 
 that when he held the knife spectators gathered eagerly. 
 In a literary way his work had much fascination in his 
 singularly happy use of quotations and allusions. Of 
 these he had a vast store, drawn chiefly from the Bible, 
 Shakespeare, Sheridan and Emerson, but by no means 
 limited to these writers, for every picturesque phrase 
 seemed to rest in his memory. There is no more tren- 
 chant blade than the well-adapted and not too common- 
 place quotation, and Colonel Lee was apt to open his 
 paper with one which struck the. keynote and set the 
 reader at once in a sympathetic and appreciative atti- 
 tude. Thus, when in 1864, General McClellan was 
 nominated for the presidency, Colonel Lee's paragraph 
 bore the heading : " Died Abner as the Fool Dieth," and 
 continued : 
 
94 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " His only distinction being a disputed claim to 
 generalship, he relinquishes his profession in time of 
 war to head a party which coquettes with the enemy 
 and threatens armed resistance to the federal govern- 
 ment 
 
 " His letter of acceptance displays the vanity and moral 
 obtuseness evinced by his consent to stand, or rather 
 to tilt, upon the Chicago platform; for platform it is 
 called, though it will prove to McCleUan a gallows, the 
 drop of which is in the hands of the enemy." 
 
 If the Civil War, like all wars, stimulated corruption 
 in excess, it also, by its unusual infusion of moral ele- 
 ments, encouraged the growth of a small but earnest 
 body of idealists in public affairs. These men cherished 
 an affection for the Republican party quite different 
 from the ordinary party fealty ; they respected it, and 
 really believed that it was going to introduce perma- 
 nently a decent, even a high, standard of morality in 
 public affairs. Among them, in Massachusetts, Colonel 
 Lee was prominent, and for him and these comrades 
 the two administrations of General Grant were a dis- 
 illusioning period, during which they had to learn that 
 Republican politicians and office-holders were no better 
 than any other politicians and office-holders. General 
 Grant entered on his novel duties resolved to have a 
 clean administration. But soon, lassoed by the horde 
 of experienced knaves in Washington, thrown down 
 and helpless, he surrendered at discretion. Colonel Lee 
 bemoaned his "moral obtuseness," but was obliged to 
 recognize that the blame in fact belonged to his own 
 beloved party, wholly controlled by men whose favorite 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 95 
 
 sin of dishonesty was precisely the sin most abhorrent to 
 him. Unfortunately, also, he had to admit that nowhere 
 else did conditions seem worse than in Massachusetts, 
 where the party either could not, or would not, eject 
 General Butler. From the outbreak of the war until 
 about 1885, this politician was constantly demanding, 
 and often occupying, public office, and at frequent inter- 
 vals during that period all the honest and respectable 
 citizens of Massachusetts gathered to the hunting of 
 Butler, as men in primitive communities gather to the 
 hunting of a dangerous beast. Colonel Lee, among the 
 foremost, filled and emptied and refilled many times 
 his quiver. No more than any other could he inflict a 
 mortal wound, but that he sent shafts which hurt was 
 proved by the fact that Butler, who was not often 
 personally revengeful, singled him out for punishment. 
 During the term as governor, which the general's patience 
 and perseverance at last won for him, a bUl for the in- 
 corporation of Mr. Lee's Safety Vaults was passed by the 
 Legislature. Butler vetoed it ; and when he was asked 
 " Why ? " he replied simply : " I am human ! " He had, 
 however, a more conventional reason for use when he 
 wanted it ; he said that the bill was so largely phrased 
 that it "would permit Mr. Lee to stable horses down 
 in that basement, if he should take it into his head 
 to do so." 
 
 But the ignoble story of Butler has become stale unto 
 weariness. The man is dead, and the few friends who 
 have endeavored to have his statue set up in front of 
 the State House to dishonor the Commonwealth have 
 failed of success. Everyone is glad to bury his memory 
 
96 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 in the grave with himself, and the assaults of Colonel 
 Lee wiU not be reprinted here. 
 
 In January, 1875, the purging of the Louisiana legis- 
 lature by General Sheridan, and the endorsement thereof 
 by the national government, aroused a great outburst of 
 indignation in many quarters. In Boston a meeting was 
 called in Faneuil Hall to protest against it, and the call 
 was signed by a long list of representative citizens of the 
 city and neighborhood, among whom was Colonel Lee. 
 The gathering was so stormy as to recall the anti-slavery 
 meetings of the years before the war, and the resem- 
 blance was increased by the presence of WendeU 
 Phillips, the brilliant orator, always so nobly right until 
 1860, and always so hopelessly wrong afterward. That 
 gentleman now appeared perched " on the railing of the 
 left-hand gallery at the upper end of the haU, in full 
 view of and facing the audience," and as usual he was 
 opposed with his wonted intensity to the purpose of the 
 assemblage. It was soon evident that a large number of 
 those present were of his mind, and were ready to break 
 up or capture the meeting under his experienced leader- 
 ship. These persons interrupted the regular speakers, 
 and loudly called for " Wendell Phillips, " until the 
 chairman gave him the platform and he uttered a de- 
 nunciatory harangue, sneering at the signers of the call, 
 and denying, with asperity, that they were representative 
 citizens of Boston. Colonel Lee was stirred to a few 
 impromptu words in reply: 
 
 "I had not," he said, "the slightest intention of 
 speaking, but I want to say one thing. We have 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 97 
 
 against us here the most formidable orator in the 
 United States. . . . We have invited him to speak. 
 Nobody proposes to answer him ; in fact, he is generally- 
 unanswerable. One remark I want to make, and that 
 is, when he begged us not to criticise General Grant's 
 message, it is the first time that ever I knew him to 
 abstain from criticism of any sort. I thought that 
 Mr. Phillips was nothing if he was not critical. I 
 have always supposed that he criticised everything and 
 everybody. I served for four years with Governor 
 Andrew during the war, in which we were enrolled 
 to emancipate the negro. During all that time I am 
 not aware that Mr. Phillips ever gave one word of 
 cheer to Governor Andrew, who, I know, felt the want 
 of it. . . ." 
 
 Not content, however, to let the matter rest thus 
 Colonel Lee wrote the following paper, obviously in- 
 tended for publication and perhaps published, though it 
 is now impossible to trace it : 
 
 " We wonder if Mr. Phillips ever consulted an oculist ; 
 if not, he reaUy should have spectacles to enable him to 
 see himself and his fellow-creatures in the same focus. 
 Exaggerating his own rights, he claimed that Governor 
 Andrew should, without the shadow of authority, 
 assemble the militia of the State to be ready in case 
 of need to protect a meeting which Mr. Phillips and his 
 friends proposed to hold in the critical days of February, 
 1861, contrary to the Governor's advice; and as the 
 chief magistrate would not break the law at his bidding, 
 Phillips withdrew from him his approbation all through 
 the four weary years of the War. The interruption of 
 
 7 
 
98 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 said meeting by certain citizens he denounced the other 
 day at Faneuil Hall as an outrage, as it certainly was, 
 the act of a mob ; while he utterly ignored the fact that 
 he was at Faneuil Hall perched in the most conspicuous 
 spot, attracting attention by his lively movements and 
 exaggerated exclamations, interrupting the speeches by 
 hisses led off by him and echoed by Custom House 
 loafers judiciously distributed by Simmons the Col- 
 lector and ballot-stuffer, — that he came there to 
 enact the part of a mob leader by his own definition. 
 Wilby should not have captured the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, — the pro-slavery citizens should not have 
 captured Mr. Phillips' meeting, but PhiUips as censor 
 morum and reformer par excellence might capture the 
 meeting of Friday, without incurring the charge of 
 inconsistency ! 
 
 " Mr. Phillips is above all things an aristocrat, and a 
 man of great sensitiveness, a man proud of his lineage, 
 proud of his faultless form and face, of his mellifluous 
 voice, of his graceful delivery ; they give delight to all 
 who see and hear him, and to none more than to himself. 
 I say proud, — perhaps vain would be the more correct 
 word. He comes to capture the meeting, but is foiled ; 
 he is cordially invited to follow the advertised speakers, 
 is courteously introduced, a hearing claimed for him by 
 the president again and again, and how does he return 
 this courtesy? By turning upon these gentlemen who 
 were not, like Mr. Phillips, men without a country, 
 but men who deemed their citizenship a privilege in- 
 volving some duties which they had no right to abdicate, 
 — by turning upon these gentlemen, as if ' they had 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 99 
 
 no rights anyone was bound to respect' and ridicul- 
 ing them for presuming to call a meeting. 
 
 " D& minimis non curat lez, and the public takes little 
 heed of the efforts of the lowly and obscure, but I 
 thought Phillips and Garrison were born to champion 
 just this class. There were men among the callers 
 who might dispute with Mr. Phillips his superior birth 
 and claims, but he would have remained unconvinced. 
 There were about two dozen lawyers among the signers, 
 headed by his friend, Mr. Paine; there were over' 
 twenty merchants, bankers and manufacturers; there 
 were two well-known Boston clergymen, though over- 
 looked by him ; there were about a dozen men who have 
 held responsible public places, headed by Mr. Charles 
 Francis Adams, whom he condescendingly allowed to 
 be a worthy man ; there were two writers of history, — 
 one, Mr. Frothingham, supposed to know something 
 of our constitutional history ; the President of Harvard 
 College and two professors were on the list ; the Mayor 
 of Boston and two Aldermen, besides many more men 
 of character and talent. But he damned them aU with 
 faint praise, with the pride of a Coriolanus and the 
 subtlety of Mark Antony, and he would not even grant 
 them the right of issuing an invitation. It is hardly 
 worth while to explain that the signers published were 
 selected as representatives of a larger list, nor to state 
 that many men with handles to their names would have 
 gladly joined the caUers had they been wanted, nor to 
 remind Mr. Phillips of what he has had such frequent 
 occasion to expatiate upon with bitter scorn, that there 
 are always a majority of tones, — of preachers, judges, 
 
100 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 editors, placemen of all kinds who are sworn to pusil- 
 lanimity, rich men, who are above politics, lazy men, 
 stupid men, timid men; — the very men he has been 
 tilting at all his fiery life, whom he never before cited as 
 authorities, — besides the other side who uphold the 
 soldiers with sincerity. 
 
 " When Mr. Phillips stated that he had been studying 
 the Constitution for twenty years, I felt as I should had 
 I been bothering with my front door lock and a polite 
 burglar should have volunteered his help with the 
 remark that he had been studying my lock for a year 
 or more. What ! Wendell Phillips studying " that com- 
 pact with hell" for twenty years? What a diabolical 
 occupation! And then to hear him deprecate criticism 
 on Grant ! Does he recollect his speech on Grrant made 
 some three years ago? Did anyone ever vituperate 
 him more roundly? Criticism! Why, Mr. Phillips, 
 what man living or dead, including our own Garrison, 
 have you not found fault with, except, yes ! except that 
 renowned, brave, truthful, honest Benjamin F. Butler! 
 He is, I believe, your idol and, like his admirer, he is 
 afflicted with strabismus. When we were at peace, that 
 was a disgrace, a compact with hell; when the war, 
 which you had done your best to bring on, had broken 
 out, you deprecated that and prophesied evils which, of 
 course, never visited us. The world is always out of 
 joint, according to you, and in your opinion you were 
 bom to set it right. I wonder, had one of the five 
 ejected members 
 
 been guilty of a skin 
 not colored like his own, 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 101 
 
 whether Mr. Phillips's diatribes would have been shifted 
 to the other side ? 
 
 " The trouble with Mr. Phillips is his transparency ; 
 everybody sees thi-ough him ' that can see a church by 
 daylight.' Handsome and graceful as a Grecian statue, 
 eloquent as Cicero, devoted, as he probably believes, to 
 humanity, to the greatest good of the greatest number, 
 everybody else knows that in Mr. Wendell Phillips's 
 heart of hearts, that number is number one. Hence, 
 hosts go to be excited by his eloquence as they go to 
 the play, but they do not identify the player with the 
 play ; they never follow his lead." 
 
 In 1876, in spite of much dissatisfaction with the 
 Republican party, Colonel Lee stiU adhered to it, though 
 by a somewhat tenuous attachment. A letter more full 
 of protest than loyalty, closed with this paragraph : 
 
 " For one, I propose to vote for Hayes and Wheeler, 
 believing them to be honest and hoping them to be com- 
 petent to fulfill the great responsibilities imposed upon 
 them ; but I would not vote for an Usher, a Banks or a 
 Butler. And while I abhor the very name of Democrat 
 associated with all its dirty history from Jefferson down, 
 I hold slack allegiance to a party which offers as candi- 
 dates, and parades as its great men, political bummers 
 like the men enumerated above, men who merit not 
 only political, but personal contempt. 
 
 A Free Soileb or 1848." 
 
 If Colonel Lee carried out the intention thus ex- 
 pressed, and voted for Mr. Hayes, he may have re- 
 pented it afterward, in the evil days when the Silver 
 Bill became law. This act he " considered to be not 
 
102 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 the act of honest men, who have given the subject care- 
 ful thought, and reached a conclusion different from 
 that of himself and others, believing in gold as the only 
 honest currency of the country, but rather the act of a 
 set of men bent upon repudiation." As he continued 
 his wrath rose, and with somewhat amusing extrav- 
 agance he declared : " Though I have lived here for 
 sixty years, and know no other home, I wish that I 
 might awake some morning and find Boston annexed 
 to Canada or to some other nation, so ashamed do I feel 
 of this stain upon the nation's honor." Concerning 
 the possibility of averting the action by Congress he 
 expressed "the fullest belief that the President was 
 largely, if not wholly to blame for the passage of the 
 measure. If President Hayes had in June last put one 
 heel on Arthur and the other on Simmons, and filled 
 both their offices with men who have to be sought for, 
 rather than such as seek public office, he would have 
 created a party that would have rallied about him. and 
 made such an act as the passage of this biU. an impos- 
 sibility. No man since the days of the outbreak of the 
 rebellion ever had such an opportunity to command a 
 following as did President Hayes after taking the office 
 of chief magistrate. I thank him for his veto, and for 
 the record that he made for the nation in that brief 
 message, but I cannot but feel that he has disgraced his 
 great office by not leading the nation to better things." 
 
 Thus in Massachusetts fully as much as in the coun- 
 try at large one offence after another continued to irri- 
 tate and to alienate Colonel Lee. General Butler, who 
 had begun in 1871 to seek the Governorship of Massa- 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 103 
 
 chusetts, who had renewed his efforts at intervals since 
 then, and had caused the bitterest campaigns known 
 in the annals of the state, won the contest in the 
 autumn of 1882. In smaller matters Colonel Lee had 
 been outraged at seeing "the unspeakable creature, 
 Simmons," Butler's worst henchman and smirched with 
 the meanest dishonesties, acting as a chief manager of 
 the Republican party; also Mr. Beard, appointed col- 
 lector of the port of Boston, making the Custom House 
 the centre of the political wire system of the state. But 
 the ultimate day did not actually come until Mr. Blaine 
 was nominated as the Republican candidate for the 
 Presidency. That blow finally severed the allegiance of 
 Colonel Lee. He still had too much of his old " abhor- 
 rence " of the name of Democrat to permit his joining 
 that party; he therefore became an Independent, or 
 more correctly a Mugwump, — for a slight distinction 
 was sometimes made between the two, a Mugwump 
 signifying a Republican temporarily malcontent. But 
 the temporary condition soon taking on an aspect of 
 permanence, most Mugwumps became strictly Inde- 
 pendents, so long as they stopped short of avowed 
 Democracy. 
 
 In October, 1884, "An Old Free Soiler" at Beverly 
 Farms wrote some strenuous paragraphs for the Daily 
 Advertiser against " Blaine's defenders." He also wrote, 
 this time suggestively selecting the Democratic Post 
 as his newspaper, a trenchant defence of the Mugwump 
 group: 
 
 "At a meeting of the little mutual admiration clubs 
 which assemble every week, and serve up political hash 
 
104 MEMOIK OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 for men with strong stomachs, Judge Adin Thayer made 
 what the Advertiser calls a vigorous analysis of the 
 Boston Mugwump-machine combination. Now in the first 
 place, the Mugwumps keep no machine ; the leaders, like 
 the manager of the Associated Charities, inculcate self 
 help. Mugwumps compare with partisan politicians as 
 wrought iron, each piece hand-hammered into its indi- 
 vidual shape, compares with machine-made cast iron in 
 interchangeable pieces. Judge Thayer says that he 
 looks on the Mugwumps ' with indignation, not unmin- 
 gled with contempt.' Well, well ! I never did suppose 
 that I should fall so low, or Adin rise so high, that he 
 could look upon me with contempt. Perhaps, like many 
 another sick man, he misunderstands his feeling ; he, as 
 a party wire-puller, feels vexation, not unmingled with 
 incredulity, at men who refuse to play the jumping-jack 
 at his bidding. They are to him the Barnum ' What is 
 it ' ; they have never been included in his happy family. 
 He inveighs, too, against the professors of our colleges 
 because they preach free trade doctrines, unable to 
 comprehend that these single-hearted men, like the 
 Mugwumps, are in search of truth, and, like upright 
 judges, sum up the testimony on one side and on the other, 
 striving thereby to lead their pupils to just conclusions 
 without regard to the fortunes of either political party. 
 • ••••• 
 
 " The Mugwumps, as Judge Thayer well knows, are 
 men who have reluctantly quitted the party which some 
 of them, as Free Soilers, helped to found, for the success 
 of which they contributed money and work, because of 
 the successive adoption, against their protests, of such 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 105 
 
 men as Butler and Loring and Simmons and Blaine; 
 and it was not until long deferred hope was hardened 
 into despair by the nomination of Blaine that the 
 protestants banded together and were recognized as 
 Mugwumps. 
 
 • ••••• 
 
 " While Judge Thayer denounces Simmons as a down- 
 right robber, and the citizens of Boston for their coward- 
 ice in not bringing such a character to justice, he, in the 
 same breath, declares that 'he honestly believed, and 
 still believes, Blaine entitled ta support ! ! ! ' 'A Daniel 
 come to judgment ! Yea, a Daniel ! O noble judge ! ' 
 We wonder what court Judge Thayer presides over, 
 what are the rules of evidence, what constitutes reason- 
 able proof? The Mugwumps and college professors 
 naturally appeal to a higher court, but we should 
 suppose that the most petty judge who could 'see' a 
 court by daylight could gather from the tenor of Blaine's 
 life, personal and political, whether he was honest or 
 dishonest, a man of truth or a liar. If Judge Thayer 
 wishes to be thought a man of truth, he must either 
 acquit Simmons or convict Blaine ; they are both tarred 
 with the same brush. ' Raising anew the standard here 
 in Massachusetts ' is an unfortunate phrase for a man 
 who, when selected as standard-bearer upon a former 
 occasion, had such a brief and inglorious career. 
 
 " No, Adin was not bom a judge or a standard-bearer ; 
 for a standard-bearer must be made of sterner stuff, and 
 a man to be a judge must be modest, dignified, impartial, 
 blind to prejudice, but not to vileness, and so capable of 
 holding the scales evenly and wielding the sword right- 
 
106 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 eously ; he must know that one witness who does see is 
 worth ten who do not see ; above all, he must first cast 
 the beam out of his own eye, before he can see clearly 
 to puU out the mote that is in his brother's- eye. A 
 man who has passed his life in counting noses, manipu- 
 lating caucuses, arranging slates, valuing men for their 
 availability, not for their integrity, placing partisanship 
 before patriotism, had best not ' invoke the judgment of 
 all intelligent, sincere men,' for they will refute hia 
 assertions and expose his duplicity. 
 
 ■ ■•••• 
 
 " Adin's vocation, wherein he is eminent, is hustling 
 in and out of a country hotel on the eve of a political 
 convention, followed by local dignitaries and wire-pull- 
 ers, or crooning over the register with one in the corner 
 of the hotel parlor, as they alternately spit and mutter 
 over their schemes ; and there we leave them." 
 
 A little later came another screed, with some of that 
 brilliant rapier work which delighted everyone except 
 the individual whose vitals were pierced : 
 
 "HOW SHALL INDEPENDENTS VOTE? 
 To THE Editors of the Boston Daily Advertiser: 
 
 " As the day for voting draws near, it behooves all 
 Independents to make up their minds as to whom they 
 will support for governor and for members of Congress. 
 
 "The character of the presidential candidate nomi- 
 nated by the Republican convention has compelled his 
 supporters to adopt the dishonest alternative of eluding 
 the real and substituting false issues between themselves 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 107 
 
 and their former political associates, or to commit them- 
 selves to the more barefaced, if not more dishonest, 
 course of lauding the character and career of a candi- 
 date whom they repeatedly denounced before his sinuous 
 course had been traced, leaving no doubt of his lifelong 
 consistency of dishonesty. 
 
 "The citizen who votes to confide to this political 
 mountebank the executive power of President does so, 
 either because he believes in the name of the party when 
 the spirit has fled, thereby losing the moral result which 
 gave that party its specific value and insured its triumph 
 over the party it superseded ; or because he refuses to 
 accept evidence which would have convicted his candi- 
 date in any court in Christendom ; or because his stand- 
 ard of morality is reached by Mr. Blaine. 
 
 " Inasmuch, then, as I hold that the citizen who advo- 
 cates Mr. Blaine does so from inexcusable ignorance, 
 from party bigotry, or from moral obtuseness, and as 
 I deem such men incapable of promoting the common 
 weal, I accept my exclusion from their conventions, and 
 shall vote for no Kepublican candidate for Congress or 
 
 for governor. 
 
 "An Old Fkeb Soileb." 
 
 The position of the Mugwump was not long tenable, 
 especially for men of Colonel Lee's temperament. A 
 permanent malcontent loses influence; moreover, their 
 quondam RepubKcan associates persisted in regarding 
 the word as a synonym of apostate, and thus held them 
 too much upon the defensive. It is true that they were 
 even violently aggressive ; yet the most brilliant attacks 
 which Colonel Lee could make, — and no man was a 
 
108 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 better master of assault, — seemed to move from a de- 
 fensive base. Therefore it was inevitable that, fighting 
 side by side with the Democrats, they should in time 
 become merged in that powerful organization. So by 
 1890 Colonel Lee forgot his " abhorrence of the very 
 name of Democrat," condoned the " dirty history " of 
 the party and enrolled himself as a member. There 
 was in that year in Massachusetts one of those sharply 
 reactionary episodes which at intervals disable political 
 machines for one or two elections. John F. Andrew, 
 the " War Governor's " son (who was up for re-election), 
 Charles R. Codman, an ex-Republican like Colonel Lee, 
 and who had commanded a regiment in the war, Sher- 
 man Hoar, nephew of the stanch Republican senator, 
 George F. Hoar, and Professor William Everett, offered 
 themselves avowedly as Democratic candidates for the 
 National House of Representatives. Sherman Hoar, 
 when invited to stand, consulted Colonel Lee, who at 
 first, on personal grounds, dissuaded him, but afterwards, 
 upon removal of these objections, changed his advice and 
 actually wrote a long letter to his friend, Judge E. R. 
 Hoar, seeking to reconcile that stalwart Republican to 
 this action on the part of his son. Into this campaign 
 Colonel Lee threw himself with more than his usual 
 vigor. On November 4th, by invitation of the Demo- 
 crat, Josiah Quincy, he presided at a great Democratic 
 rally in FaneuE HaU. He opened the meeting with a 
 very brief speech, evoking much laughter by his initial 
 statement : " T am not a practised politician ; but have 
 been brought here simply as an object lesson, to prove to 
 those on the other side that there are old men, as well 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 109 
 
 as young, in our ranks;" for many of the candidates 
 had been twitted with the " atrocious crime " of youth. 
 Later in the evening he introduced Sherman Hoar with 
 words thus reported : 
 
 " I shall now have the pleasure of introducing to you 
 'the lad,' Sherman Hoar, and before he stands up to 
 address you, I want to pay a passing tribute to my old 
 friend, his father. There has not been a more patriotic, 
 public-spirited citizen or a better man adorn this genera- 
 tion than Judge Hoar. (Applause.) When, at about 
 the present age' of his son Sherman, he broke away from 
 the "Whig party — then panoplied in wealth and respect- 
 ability — he broke away from them because of their 
 sordid pusillanimity. They were in just the condition 
 which the Republican party, I believe, is in now. (Ap- 
 plause.) He broke from many friends in order to satisfy 
 the dictates of his conscience. (Applause.) And that 
 monitor has guided him ever since. There were a good 
 many boys around at that time. There is a good boy ^ 
 whose portrait I see here, in whose service I was in the 
 Civil War, — ■ he was a year younger than I, and that boy 
 presided at the first Free Soil meeting held in Boston in 
 1848. I was thirty-one. I was one of the vice-presidents ; 
 he was not thirty. He was a boy of the present age of 
 Sherman Hoar, but he made some impression on the 
 public. I want, therefore, now to introduce to you this 
 boy, but don't tire him out, (Laughter.) Don't do any- 
 thing that is disrespectful to him, even if he is a boy." 
 
 In the newspapers he assailed opponents with his usual 
 imcompromising directness, especially Mr. Greenhalge, 
 1 Governor John A. Andrew. 
 
110 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 then a member of the national House of Representatives, 
 whom he pilloried as a " puny whipster " who " seems to 
 be capable of violating decency unconsciously, or else is 
 guilty of duplicity." Then he turned to place Messrs. 
 Pillsbuiy and G, F. Hoar in the stocks together: 
 
 '"Charles, did you ever hear me preach? ' said Cole- 
 ridge to Lamb. ' I n-n-never heard you d-d-do anything 
 else,' was the reply. And so I could say of Senator 
 Pillsbury. It used to amuse me to watch him, then 
 younger than is Mr. Curtis Guild, Jr., to-day, preaching 
 with all the ignorant complaisance of a Sophomore to 
 members of the Legislature, quite unconscious that they 
 had heard all he had to say before he was bom. Now 
 he poses as one of these same experienced men, speaking 
 oracularly to his juniors, and very extraordinary, not to 
 say very unprincipled, advice he gives. Of course he 
 prefaces this bad advice with an assertion of high prin- 
 ciple : ' No man has a higher respect for conscience 
 than I have.' • The personal character of a candidate is 
 of the utmost importance and ought not to be lost sight 
 of.' Then comes the impotent and lame conclusion: 
 ' The question whether I ought to support a candidate 
 for nomination and whether I ought to support a candi- 
 date after he is nominated are altogether different mat- 
 ters, and I should vote every time for the party nominee,' 
 Thus does Mr. Pillsbury rebuke young Mr. GuUd for 
 refusing to vote for the incompetent and unworthy can- 
 didate, Mr. Fox. 
 
 " In the same key Senator Hoar says : ' I commend 
 candidate Fox to you for the simple reason that, if he is 
 sent to Congress as a Republican, he must vote to en- 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 111 
 
 throne the 65,000,000 people of this country in comfort, 
 honor and equality.' 
 
 " It is one thing to yield to temptation, it is a much 
 baser thing to preach iniquity to those whom we may 
 expect to influence ; and what can be wickeder than to 
 counsel young men to forfeit their self-respect and to 
 follow a multitude to do evil?" 
 
 Ex-Governor Long said that if General Walker, Henry 
 Lee and Phillips Brooks were to select men to go to 
 Washington, from a business standpoint, they would 
 hardly choose the Democratic nominees. Mr. Lee replied 
 that he considered these nominees "quite above the 
 present members in character and independence; and 
 while some of them may lack experience, they are all 
 capable of learning, and, I trust, incapable of yielding 
 to caucus or to the arbitrary dictation of a vulgar, bully- 
 ing Speaker." 
 
 Senator Hoar, never famous for an innocuous tongue, 
 scored his Democratic nephew without remorse. But 
 Mr. Lee came into the hsts and the senator met his 
 match, or better: 
 
 " When Charles Eussell Lowell, the natural leader of 
 men, graduated, the first and youngest of his class, the 
 subject of his oration was : ' The Respect Due to the 
 Young,' It is a pity that Senator Hoar did not hear that 
 oration, or that, hearing, he did not heed its lesson ; it 
 might have saved him from insulting his nephew by 
 impertinent condescension and hypocritical lamentation. 
 
 • ••••• 
 
 "The Senator calls his nephew 'an amiable young 
 gentleman.' I only wish that he could return the com- 
 
112 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 pliment. No man can be rightly called ' an amiable 
 gentleman ' who turns against and asperses early associ- 
 ates whose characters he respects and whose tastes he 
 shares, and who takes up with those whom he once 
 denounced and whom he must always despise ; who, deaf 
 to remonstrance and false to his teachings, allows meas- 
 ures to be passed which endanger and diminish prosperity 
 and stability, — who does all this, perverted from his 
 early patriotism by a devouring egotism and an insensate 
 partisanship. There are no men high enough to be 
 beyond his detraction, or humble enough to escape his 
 scorn ; he impales the conspicuous, from President Eliot 
 to the Democratic candidates for Congress, and arraigns 
 the party as a whole for ' its offenses against constitu- 
 tional liberty and honest government, and its attempts 
 to destroy the comfort and happiness of the workman's 
 home.' And this austere moralist, who condemns thus 
 in wholesale and retail, does not shrink from commend- 
 ing candidate Fox to the voters of the Fifth District. 
 
 " Sherman Hoar's best friends will counsel him to use 
 his uncle, the senator, as a warning, not an example." 
 
 The result of this campaign was the brilliant vic- 
 tory of the young brigade, to Colonel Lee's great sat- 
 isfaction. But two years later a reverse came. In 
 the presidential election Mr. Cleveland was defeated 
 by Mr. Harrison. Mr. Lee, however, took it in good 
 part, and drew the moral against his own political 
 associates without flinching. 
 
 " I think," he said, " the best policy for the Demo- 
 cratic party, in order to retrieve the disaster of yester- 
 day, would be to keep their promises. The Democratic 
 
INTEREST m PUBLIC AFFAIRS 113 
 
 party is pretty well smashed. If its members had all 
 followed the lead of Mr. Cleveland, not alone in regard 
 to tariff, but all other measures as well, it would have 
 been well for them. Mr. Gorman and other wicked 
 leaders undertook to frustrate all his plans, and the 
 result is to be seen now. No one-horse shay can go in 
 two directions at the same time. 
 
 • ...•• 
 
 " The Democrats had a good leader in Mr. Cleveland, 
 an upright, courageous leader, and they had a truthful, 
 considerate man at the head of the Ways and Means 
 Committee in Mr. Wilson ; but some Democratic sena- 
 tors tried their best to harass the leaders and not follow 
 Mr. Cleveland, and to upset all Mr. Wilson's well- 
 laid plans. Now it can be seen that they have made a 
 mess of it." 
 
 In 1892 Colonel Lee returned to his attack upon 
 Senator Hoar in a personal letter, eminently charac- 
 teristic of the fairness with which he gave praise and 
 blame precisely according to his opinion. The follow- 
 ing is a copy of the rough draft, but apparently cor- 
 rected for sending : 
 
 "My dear Senator: — 
 
 " I have a personal and hereditary affection for you ; 
 I believe that against your pecuniary interests you have 
 stayed in public service from a patriotic motive. You 
 were nominated while I was a member of the House of 
 Representatives, and when summoned to the Tremont 
 House to be talked to by that officious Punchinello, Mr. 
 Thayer, and they were talking of their kindly feeling to 
 
114 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Mr. Boutwell, etc., I rose to depart, saying that I had 
 no kindly feeling to Mr. Boutwell, and should Tote for 
 you whether the caucus did or not. I said this, not 
 for show, but to evince my contempt (for what it was 
 worth, as every honest man should) for all this insin- 
 cere political twaddle and all the machinery managed by 
 little, insignificant men practising mischief, placing 
 availability, etc., against honesty and self-respect. I 
 voted for you because, as a son of Samuel Hoar, I be- 
 lieved you to be incorruptible, though I knew that as a 
 descendant of Roger Sherman you were knotty, not to 
 say cranky. I care so little about people's opinions and 
 so much about their principles, that I voted gladly for 
 you. 
 
 " For instance, in 1827, my father vnrote the ' Boston 
 Report,' and Judge Shaw the ' Memorial,' — in 1831 my 
 father vsrrote the ' Exposition of Evidence ' and Galla- 
 tin the ' Memorial ' at a ' Free Trade Convention of all 
 the States.' For these admirable writings . . . my 
 father was treated as badly as was your father in 
 Charleston. Of course in a northern community no 
 violence was offered, nor could a man of his birth and 
 position be looked down upon by promoted shopkeep- 
 ers ; but as far as they dared and as they could, the then 
 rich sellers of dry goods showed their ill wiU. From 
 that hour I have been an intelligent, earnest Free 
 Trader, with a knowledge and undying remembrance of 
 the spirit of the sometimes greedy, sometimes supersti- 
 tious, tariff men, bent, not upon discussion, but upon 
 bribery (as towards Daniel Webster), and upon browbeat- 
 ing and arrogance and plunder towards the public at large. 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 115 
 
 Nevertheless, I held some slack allegiance to the Whig 
 party, not because I respected a party based on greed 
 and ignorance of economic laws, but because in other 
 matters which I deemed important I agreed with them. 
 Gradually more and more nauseated by their eternal 
 backing and bragging, I eagerly joined the Free Soil 
 party, acting as a vice-president at the first meeting in 
 Boston in 1848, and took special delight in the indig- 
 nant remonstrances of all the old-man-ocracy at insur- 
 ance offices, banks, and other parlors, — social and 
 financial. I was never deemed of any political impor- 
 tance, but was never forgotten when money was needed. 
 Since the war the party has, in my judgment, been 
 going down steadily, tarnished by corrupt administra- 
 tion, and belittled by egotistic narrowness. Governor 
 Andrew felt an ineffable disgust at its policy before he 
 died, and I shared his nausea. When Butler was put 
 up for Congress I wrote exposing, among other crimes, 
 his trading with the enemy ; and, answered by one of 
 his satellites, I returned to the charge, obliged, how- 
 ever, to sign a legal document to save the paper ^ from 
 a lawsuit for libel. I was told by a political leader that 
 I was a clever fellow, but that I didn't understand 
 politics. I have gone on refuting jackdaws in pea- 
 cocks' plumes, knaves whether they called themselves 
 Eepublicans or any other name. 
 
 " This extended autobiography is given to prove that 
 
 I cannot be guided by opinions, still less by professions ; 
 
 for I have patiently acted politically all along with a 
 
 party steeped in ignorance on tariff matters and so led 
 
 1 The Nation, N. Y. 
 
116 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 by greedy, unscrupulous, rapacious manufacturers; — 
 I have acted with them, because, while I felt contempt 
 for their tariff policy, I deemed other issues more immi- 
 nent and paramount. 
 
 " You have seen fit to vote for and advocate a Blaine 
 whom you once confessed to me you did not respect; 
 you have, as it has seemed to me, been a bigoted partisan 
 on many occasions ; you now sit silent while a tariff 
 only more absurd than villainous, and a silver inflation 
 bill destined to bring great disaster, and a pension bill 
 dictated by claim-agents and bummers, threatening to 
 empty the' treasury and discolor our war record, con- 
 founding shirks with men of honor, men of the eleventh 
 hour with those who bore the heat and burden of the 
 day, the whole and the maimed; and you sneer at 
 college professors fronv Charles Eliot down, no matter 
 how elevated their character ; you speak supercUiously 
 of young students of political economy in your own 
 college ; you say that you know five hundred times as 
 much about pension claimants as does President Eliot. 
 Now if I, for fifteen years a merchant, should say that I 
 know necessarily five hundred times as much about the 
 qualities of a collector [of the port], you would not take 
 it kindly. You voted for Harrison and try to think 
 him a great and good man; Governor Brackett says 
 that posterity will gaze at him as we look back upon 
 Washington. I, on the contrary, not speaking ore 
 rotundo from any rostrum, but only humbly from my 
 Vault, say that, naturally an ordinary man, he has falsi- 
 fied every profession made beforehand. As to the 
 SaltonstaU matter, I read your letter to Eaton with care, 
 
INTEREST rsr PUBLIC AFFAIRS 117 
 
 and while I disagree entirely as to the political excuse 
 for violating civil service principles, that cannot excuse 
 you or Harrison for succeeding him by a coarse-fibred 
 hack politician like Beard. There are plenty of excuses 
 for Clarksons, Quays, and Gormans (for they are in my 
 eyes of the same color, no matter what their denomina- 
 tion among politicians), but your father's son must be 
 disheartened and disgusted by any responsibility for 
 such rascals. Wanamaker's show of piety in conjunc- 
 tion with his purchase of office, and his shopkeeping 
 vulgarity towards the Pan- American delegates are hard 
 enough to bear ; but your Belknaps, Delanos, Babcocks, 
 Robesons, Butlers, Blaines, Gormans, Quays, Clarksons, 
 must and can be sent where they belong only by the 
 conjunction of all honest men, incapable of partisanship. 
 
 " Hoping for the millennium, when men who are pa- 
 triotic and honest may combine, even while differing as to 
 some matters where difference is no crime, and respect- 
 ing your character while gaping at your conduct, I am, 
 with a belief in your sincerity, not in your sanity, . . . 
 
 "P. S. Let me adduce a contrast between the spirit 
 of a Free-Trader (ultimate only, as things are now) and 
 of a Tariff man : 
 
 " Some years ago my youngest son insisted upon my 
 giving some money to the Political Economy Depart- 
 ment of Harvard University, Finding from President 
 Eliot that the money was needed, and how much, I 
 gave 11500 a year for five years. In my letter I 
 stated that while I was, and always had been, a Free 
 Trader, I wished that my money should be spent in 
 seeking the truth and having both opinions set forth 
 
118 MEMOIK OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 with equal ability. There was another fund held by- 
 some Tariff men ; they instructed President Eliot not 
 to use that to advocate any doctrine but Protection. 
 Which of us was justified ? Were we both men, or was 
 one a man, the other a hog ? " 
 
 His feeling towards Senator Hoar was curiously min- 
 gled of contradictory impulses. The combativeness of 
 the senator aroused the combativeness of Colonel Lee, 
 and when they came near each other there was apt 
 to be a boxing match with gloves not so heavily padded 
 as to insure entire protection against injury. But they 
 enjoyed the bouts as two Irishmen at a wake enjoy 
 a friendly clashing of shillalahs, and either would have 
 been disappointed if his adversary had ever failed to 
 come up to the line. Praise and attack were charac- 
 teristically combined in this excellent example of Colo- 
 nel Lee's attitude : 
 
 " It is a pleasure to hear a man at his best, and Sena- 
 tor Hoar never appears to such advantage as when, 
 emerged from self, freed from partisan obligations, he 
 illuminates history. His oration on General Rufus Put- 
 nam was instructive, eloquent, fascinating; it was a 
 deserved tribute to a man developed by responsibility 
 and patriotism into a remarkable engineer and eventu- 
 ally into the founder of a state, the saviour of a great 
 territory from slavery. So little has been known about 
 this patriot to whom the country is indebted, that we 
 hope this charming oration setting forth his qualities 
 and services may be published and advertised, until 
 Rufus Putnam is as familiar as his burly kinsman, 
 Israel. 
 
INTEREST m PUBLIC AFFAIRS 119 
 
 " It is a commonplace that an actor's capacity lies in one 
 direction, his ambition in the other, — the Grave Digger 
 feels sure he could play Hamlet, wonders at the in- 
 credulity of his manager, but submits from prudential 
 consideration. 
 
 " What a pity that prudence or some other divinity that 
 shapes our ends should not relegate our two senators 
 [Hoar and Lodge] to their legitimate occupation of 
 literature, where the Mugwump would cease from 
 troubling, ambition cease from gnawing; and where 
 these two scholars, 'beholding the bright countenance 
 of truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies,' 
 would entertain and enlighten their countrymen." 
 
 In closing with Colonel Lee's political work, this 
 r^sum^, which he wrote near the end of his life, shows 
 what acts he himself esteemed most highly : 
 
 « (1) 1848 — Vice-President of a Free Soil meeting. 
 
 (2) Next morning's experiences. 
 
 (3) 1846 — By my contributions and collections, 
 
 the chief (and I think the only) sup- 
 porter here of the Louisville , 
 
 — an anti-slavery journal, — and I 
 remember the position then of some 
 who have been prominent long 
 since. 
 
 (4) Member of Kansas Emigrant Aid Com- 
 
 pany. 
 
 (5) Treasurer during Kansas Famine. 
 
 (6) Saved Music Hall for Theodore Parker, 
 
 1864. 
 
120 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 (7) Assisted Governor Andrew to the ex- 
 
 tent of my ability. 
 
 (8) Did not join in dinner to General Butler, 
 
 although urged. 
 
 (9) Opposed his (Butler's) election to Con- 
 
 gress ; brought charges against him 
 of so serious a nature, that, to have 
 them published, was obliged to sign 
 a legal paper agreeing to stand a 
 suit. 
 
 (10) Have given largely to promote elec- 
 
 tions, state and federal, although 
 have been as dissatisfied with the 
 Republicans from Grant's first term 
 till now as ever I was with the 
 Whigs. ' Like causes, like effects.' 
 
 (11) Have never sought, — on the contrary, 
 
 have declined to accept, — what nomi- 
 nations or positions have been urged 
 on me. 
 
 (12) Having no political aspirations, I was 
 
 able, perhaps, to act with more inde- 
 pendence, more true consistency, than 
 those who had become inoculated with 
 the virus of political ambition ; what 
 I have done or been, has been aU- 
 important to me, unimportant to the 
 public. 
 
 (13) I have for over forty years written on 
 
 political subjects in the papers, moved 
 generally by some folly or outrage." 
 
INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS 121 
 
 In this presentation of Colonel Lee's opinions and 
 actions in matters political, little has been quoted con- 
 cerning either Free Trade or Civil Service Reform. He 
 remained all his days a strenuous advocate of a low tariff, 
 "for revenue only; " also he was of course heartily in 
 sympathy with Civil Service reformers. He attended 
 their meetings, sometimes presided, sometimes spoke 
 briefly, and from time to time took occasion to put his 
 views in writing. But he did not go so profoundly into 
 either of these subjects that he was able to add anything 
 to the arguments of men who were devoting to them 
 much time and study. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
 
 The government of Harvard College had laid its 
 hand severely upon Mr. Lee's class and not over gently 
 upon Mr. Lee personally; but he bore no malice, and 
 apart from persons officially connected with the Uni- 
 versity probably no one ever rendered more willing, 
 more continuous, and more various service than he did. 
 
 Natural aptitude led him constantly into the position 
 of chief marshal, not only upon such an ordinary oc- 
 casion as Commencement Day, but upon the two or 
 three grand celebrations which occurred during his 
 years of activity. Professor Bowen, familiarly known 
 to students as " Fanny Bowen," once said of him : " Lee 
 is a good marshal; he is our best marshal; and the 
 cause is largely his supreme impudence." President 
 Cleveland also corroborated this judgment. Colonel 
 Lee was marshal on the occasion of that President's 
 visit to the University ; and later the President, meeting 
 and recalling the colonel, said : " Oh, yes, you are the 
 fellow who bossed me around so at Cambridge." The 
 fact was that Colonel Lee really was of noteworthy ex- 
 cellence as a marshal ; he wished to bring these proces- 
 sions up to his high ideal of what a procession should 
 be ; but the rank and file, more lax in their notions, 
 
HAKVARD UNIVERSITY 123 
 
 rambled through the paths of the yard as they would 
 have strolled through Washington Street, which led him 
 to complain with some vexation of the " bovine move- 
 ments of the alumni." He was chief marshal upon the 
 day of the Commemoration Celebration held by the Col- 
 lege, July 21, 1865, in honor of the graduates and under- 
 graduates who had died in the war. It was the occasion 
 when Mr. Lowell delivered his famous Commemoration 
 Ode, but unfortunately read it in a manner so ineffective 
 as to obscure its beauty. Colonel Lee, somewhat dis-^ 
 appointed with the whole affair, said that " the services 
 on that occasion were not equal to what men felt. 
 Everything fell short, and words seemed to be weak. 
 Phillips Brooks' prayer was an exception. That was a 
 free speech to God, and it was the only utterance of that 
 day which filled out its meaning to the full extent." The 
 unfavorable part of the criticism may be set down, at 
 least in some degree, to the reaction from overwrought 
 anticipations. But the impression made by the prayer 
 was enduring, and many years afterwards, when Dr. 
 Brooks, then Bishop of Massachusetts, died. Colonel 
 Lee, in some remarks before the Massachusetts His- 
 torical Society, said: 
 
 " In the annals of our College there is a red-letter day. 
 Commemoration Day, when, after years haggard with 
 anxiety, the mother welcomed back the remnant of her 
 children who had escaped ' the pestilence that walketh 
 in darkness, the destruction that wasteth at noonday.' 
 On that day words seemed powerless ; they did not vent 
 the overflowing of sympathy and gratitude all felt. But 
 in the exercises came a prayer, a brief prayer of a few 
 
124 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 minutes, of one inspired to pour forth tlie thanksgivings 
 . of the assembled brethren. From that moment the name 
 of that inspired young man, till then unknown, became 
 a household word." 
 
 Several years later, in November, 1886, at the 250th 
 Anniversary, Colonel Lee again acted as chief marshal. 
 On this occasion Mrs. Agassiz, the widow of the first 
 professor of that name, wrote to him as follows : 
 
 " After all the anxieties concerning our Anniversary, 
 the shower of claims, grievances and suggestions that 
 have been poured upon your devoted head in the last 
 week, I think you would be pleased to hear the chorus 
 of applause about yesterday. On every side I hear 
 nothing but expressions of satisfaction, from strangers 
 and from Cambridge people themselves, that this day 
 in our history has been worthily met. It seems to me 
 there is not a dissenting voice, and I wish to be among 
 the first to thank our marshal. It seemed to me that I 
 saw the anxieties clearing away from your face as Lowell 
 proceeded with his admirable address. But one of these 
 days we must talk it over, — the paper would not hold 
 all I have to say to you. This is only a word of 
 affectionate congratulation from your old and loving 
 friend." 
 
 In other ways, which many will think more important 
 than these displays, Colonel Lee also played his part as 
 a liberal son of his Alma Mater. Harvard College has 
 lain in the midst of the community like a sponge upon 
 moist ground, always thirsty and soaking up all the 
 nourishment within reach. Colonel Lee was a constant 
 and generous contributor to various funds and expenses, 
 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 125 
 
 SO that for him it became almost an annual tax. How 
 much he gave in the total cannot be known ; probably 
 he himself never could have stated it ; but unquestion- 
 ably that total equalled, or exceeded, sums which have 
 been given in single blocks by donors whose names have 
 been coupled with their gifts for the memory of coming 
 generations. This giving was the more praiseworthy 
 on his part because he was by no means always in 
 sympathy with the policy of President EHot, nor always 
 sure that his money would serve the purposes which he 
 most approved. Unlike many givers, he did not respond 
 to demands only to clear his conscience by discharging 
 a duty incumbent upon a man of ample property. He 
 had a very deep affection for the College and great 
 interest in it. He was always watching every new 
 movement, kept himself familiar with all conditions, 
 and had very clear opinions as to present needs. The 
 policy of numerical expansion did not find entire favor 
 with him. He would have preferred rather to intensify 
 what already existed than to move the boundaries fui'- 
 ther out. Thus a scheme which was near to his heart, 
 and which he frequently urged in conversation, was the 
 raising of a fund for increasing the salaries of professors 
 and tutors. He preferred this to the establishment of 
 new professorships and the engagement of a larger force 
 of instructors. In advocating it he used to draw a 
 sketch of the lives of the underpaid Harvard instructors, 
 which might have recalled the tales told by labor lead- 
 ers of the condition of miU hands during a strike. 
 It made, however, very little difference what Henry Lee 
 thought as to policies of expenditure so long as Charles 
 
126 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Kliot was president, a situation which the colonel appre- 
 ciated goodhumoredly. At a meeting of the Board of 
 Overseers one day he said with his shrewd and pleasant 
 smile : " I offer to the president my purse and my advice, 
 and I am reminded of the two women who were grind- 
 ing at the mill, — the one shall be taken and the other 
 left." 
 
 In 1879 he was invited to the dinner of the Harvard 
 Club of New York. Being unable to go, he sent them 
 a letter of thanks, seizing the opportunity to convey a 
 humorous hint concerning the chronic impecuniosity of 
 the ancient corporation: 
 
 " I regW that circumstances prevent my availing my- 
 self of the invitation of the 'Harvard Club of New 
 York,' and I desire to thank them for kindly inviting 
 me to their dinner, and you for your cordial expres- 
 sions. 
 
 " The recent report of President Eliot caUs atten- 
 tion to the growth and advance of the College since 
 it was placed in the charge of the Alumni, and especially 
 during President Eliot's administration. His annual 
 reports are cheering and interesting as novels; the 
 moral inculcated is filial piety. 
 
 "As to the reduction of rents and dividends just 
 now threatening to arrest development and to en- 
 force contraction, your Club may see fit to cheer 
 the heart of Ijhe president and to render aid to your 
 Alma Mater by remitting hither a fraction of your large 
 revenues. 
 
 " Anticipating the adoption of this suggestion, I beg 
 to offer this acknowledgment, — 
 
HARVARD TINIVERSITY 127 
 
 Now ia the winter of our discontent 
 
 Made glorious summer by the sons of York." 
 
 In the building of Memorial HaU Colonel Lee played 
 a very prominent part. In January, 1866, the Finance 
 Committee made him their treasurer and in July he was 
 associated with the Building Committee. It was nec- 
 essary to raise a large sum. People had been subscrib- 
 ing during the Civil War to many funds and giving as 
 much as, sometimes more than, they felt to be reasonably 
 within their means ; and soon it became obvious that in 
 order to raise the requisite amount it would be neces- 
 sary to put out at interest the sums which came in, and 
 to await gradual accretions during several years. It was 
 supposed that Colonel Lee had knowledge and oppor- 
 tunities for placing money to good advantage, and it 
 was therefore either agreed, or at least tacitly under- 
 stood, that he should invest the funds in such securities 
 as seemed to him likely to fructify generously. In pur- 
 suance of this he bought sundry bonds of Western 
 railroads, then being rather freely issued and bearing 
 attractive rates of interest, sometimes even so high as 
 ten per cent. It has been said that when he accepted 
 this perilous responsibility he undertook to guarantee 
 the fund to the full amount received by him. If this 
 very improbable statement is correct, he made a gallant 
 promise, and ultimately much more than redeemed it. 
 
 The comer-stone of the building was laid in October, 
 1870, and of the ceremonies on that occasion Kalph 
 Waldo Emerson wrote : 
 
 "To-day at the laying of the corner-stone of the 
 Memorial HaU at Cambridge aU was well and wisely 
 
128 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 done. The storm ceased for us, the company was large, 
 — the best men and the best women all here, or all but 
 a few, — the arrangements simple and excellent, and 
 eyery speaker successful. Henry Lee, with his uniform 
 sense and courage, was the manager; the chaplain. 
 Reverend Phillips Brooks, offered a prayer, in which 
 not a word was superfluous, and every right thing was 
 said." 
 
 Afterwards work went on very slowly, or was practi- 
 cally suspended, by reason of insufficiency in the treas- 
 ury. Mr. Lee's transactions, however, were having 
 gratifying results ; they were speculative, but not reck- 
 lessly so ; and during his absence on a trip to Europe, 
 his partners, the Messrs. Higginson, took the burden 
 upon themselves, and the account looked very well, in 
 spite of having weathered one or two moderate panics, 
 the Chicago fire and the Boston fire. With perhaps im- 
 prudent frankness, Mr. Lee reported to the Committee 
 these gains. In 1873 the inevitable reaction began, and 
 business depression was soon sweeping over the country; 
 the cost of building was greatly reduced and the Build- 
 ing Committee saw their opportunity to make extremely 
 favorable contracts and wished to push the work imme- 
 diately. But Mr. Treasurer Lee was on the other side 
 of the situation with his bundles of bonds, which he 
 could not sen for anywhere near what he regarded as a 
 fair price. If it was an excellent time to put up their 
 building, it was a poor time to sell bonds to pay for it. 
 But the Committee was insistent, and at last Colonel 
 Lee agreed to make his own note for the full amount of 
 the sum originally received by him, and all interest, 
 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 129 
 
 profits and increment at any time shown by the account. 
 This note was to be endorsed by other members of the 
 Finance Committee, with the intention of thus raising 
 the cash and satisfying the Committee. When it came 
 to the point, however, only one member of the Commit- 
 tee, Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, would endorse, and certain 
 Trustees who had been expected to take the note refused 
 to do so, though fully informed as to the circumstances. 
 Mr. Charles U. Cotting then came to the rescue, and fur- 
 nished the money on the note, at eight per cent, interest, 
 and Colonel Lee made his payment to the Committee. 
 The bonds also were deposited by him as collateral ; on 
 payment of the cash they were of course to become his 
 property ; and it should be added that, as a part of this 
 transaction, the bonds were appraised, and the appraisal 
 was intentionally made above any price in the market and 
 above the first cost, so that in every way the very ulti- 
 mate cent was obtained by the Committee. When the 
 note fell due and was paid and the securities were re- 
 leased. Colonel Lee took them back, but their price 
 had now risen even higher than ever before. Thereupon 
 the College claimed the profit 1 Colonel Lee was at first 
 irritated at the demand, which seemed somewhat on the 
 "heads I win, tails you lose" principle; but after a 
 little reflection he decided to make the payment. The 
 story carries its own comment; two men, Colonel Lee 
 and Mr. Lawrence, came out of it handsomely. Colonel 
 T. Wentworth Higginson says that his kinsman " was 
 the principal man who carried through the building of the 
 Memorial HaU, and himself paid, to clear up the matter, 
 the final 120,000 due on it." Whether this was in ad- 
 
 9 
 
130 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENEY LEE 
 
 dition to the transaction above narrated, is not clear. 
 Some years later, at a meeting on Commencement Day 
 in the Sanders Theatre, Professor Charles Eliot Norton, as 
 chairman, introduced Colonel Lee as " one to whom more 
 than to any other one graduate of Harvard we owe this 
 Hall." Colonel Lee, replying, passed by the excellent oc- 
 casion to magnify himseK by telling the full story, spoke 
 only a few trifling words, and then said that the chair- 
 man in calling him up, had reminded him of Hogarth's 
 series of pictures called " The Good and the Idle 
 Apprentice;" as the bad apprentice was about to die 
 he had reached up and bitten off his mother's ear; 
 Professor Norton, who had been an apprentice in his 
 (the Colonel's) counting-room, had tried to draw his 
 tongue out, but he did not propose to allow this, and 
 would therefore take his seat. On another occasion 
 Colonel Lee loyally gave the chief credit to President 
 Eliot. 
 
 On the occasion of the presentation of the bust of Gen- 
 eral William Francis Bartlett, to be placed in Memorial 
 HaU, Colonel Lee, who had been on the committee for 
 obtaining the bust, was naturally selected to present it, 
 and made a speech which eloquently expressed the ad- 
 miration which he felt for this brilliant officer, who had 
 always been one of his favorite heroes. 
 
 Not intimidated by the gentle effort which Colonel 
 Lee had made in 1879 to open their pockets, the mem- 
 bers of the Harvard Club of New York renewed their 
 invitation in 1885 with such pressure that he went over 
 to their city and made them the following speech : 
 
HARVAKD UNIVERSITY 131 
 
 «'Me. President asb Brethren: — 
 
 " To sit at dinner with any or all of you would be a 
 pleasure to any well-conditioned man, but to be sum- 
 moned to address you from this platform is to me embar- 
 rassing; it is an honor, but hardly a pleasure. And why 
 embarrass a would-be speechless brother, when you have 
 among you natural orators hke Curtis, Evarts, Choate, 
 Carter and others, gladiators trained in the arena, who 
 speak as freely as they breathe. Whether the tongues 
 of these transplanted New Englanders are loosened by 
 the geniality of the climate, or whether they talk more 
 readily, just as Travers stammered more persistently, 
 'because it's a bigger city,' I know not, but their 
 superior fluency designates them for speakers. 
 
 " As to Mr. Evarts and the rest of Roger Sherman's 
 descendants and their collaterals, whether named Sher- 
 man, Hoar or Evarts, I have known many of them down 
 to the third and fourth generation, — soldier, scholar, 
 statesman, — and my experience convinces me that where 
 any of the race are present, the company will be best 
 entertained by listening to them. They are scattered up 
 and down the land, are not sensibly affected by climate, 
 and the ring of their voluble discourse circles round the 
 world like the British drum-beat. 
 
 " But, after all, this is a meeting of brothers, nursed by 
 the same mother, and surely such a meeting, whether 
 within the old college grounds or elsewhere, should be 
 jolly and hearty and our thoughts and feelings should 
 find expression in fitting words. 
 
 " I suppose that I am expected to speak to-night for the 
 Qverseers, and first let me express my gratitude to you 
 
132 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 and to my brethren generally for the honor and privilege 
 of serving on the Board for eighteen years, save one 
 when I was not re-eligible. I can conceive of no posi- 
 tion more honorable, no privilege more grateful to an 
 ardent lover of the College. 
 
 " The contrast between the old Board, chosen by the 
 Legislature of Massachusetts, some of whom still 
 lingered for the first four years of my service, and the 
 new Board, elected by the Alumni, was indeed striking, 
 — the contrast between efficiency and inefficiency, be- 
 tween love and indifference. Read the roU of men you 
 have elected for nineteen years, — the leaders in their 
 several professions, the men whose counsel is eagerly 
 sought and willingly paid for, — and where else will you 
 find such a succession of competent and disinterested 
 referees ? Bound together by mutual respect and love 
 of their Alma Mater, they have been characterized by 
 independence of thought and unity of spirit. 
 
 " I am quite sure that your New York representatives 
 will heartily endorse this estimate of the Board, and that 
 they take the same deep interest in the meetings. Had 
 you be^n present at the meeting when your senior rep- 
 resentative read his report on the Quinquennial Cata- 
 logue, witty and erudite, exposing the inconsistencies of 
 the mixed Latin and English nomenclature of the 
 Alumni, — when Parker, in a speech flavored with wit, 
 fun and irony, extolled the august and conservative 
 past, and deplored the vulgar and iconoclastic present, 
 — when Adams, with sledge-hammer violence, denounced 
 the use of Latin in the Catalogue and Commencement 
 exercises, as a lie and a sham, the duello between these 
 
HAKVAKD UNIVERSITY 133 
 
 champions of the past and the present reminding one of 
 the combat between Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu, or 
 rather, between Valentine and Orson, the one practising 
 every pass and ward with his keen and polished rapier, 
 the other, regardless of fence, belaboring his adversary 
 with a Hercules club, — or had you, at the next meeting, 
 heard the debate on voluntary or compulsory worship, 
 and listened to the well-considered report of Dr. Pea- 
 body, the impassioned outburst of Phillips Brooks plead- 
 ing for the study of the Book of Life, the only great 
 book which a student at present may with impunity 
 omit to open, the warning voice of Parker, as he pointed 
 backward to the parting of the ways, and summoned us 
 to choose our course and not to drift, and, finally, the 
 clear, comprehensive statement of the president, as in 
 words which dropped from his lips like metal upon glass, 
 he narrated the religious changes in the coiomunity and 
 the College, and set before us distinctly the alternatives 
 practicable and the objections to each, — had you as- 
 sisted at these debates, you would have felt that the 
 subjects were discussed earnestly and intelligently, and 
 that the welfare of the College was secure in such 
 hands. 
 
 " The marvellous growth and awakening of the College 
 is consequent upon the transfer of the privilege and 
 responsibility of shaping its policy from the Legislature 
 to the Alumni; and their wise exercise of this power 
 has inspired its friends, within and without, with new 
 interest and confidence ; and hence the continuous flow 
 of gifts, great and small, from rich and poor, into its 
 treasury. 
 
134 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " Of course we must not and do not forget the 
 important agency of our president, elected three 
 years after the new organization, — who, by the by, 
 never would have been elected our president by the 
 old Board of Overseers ; his unceasing vigilance, his 
 leader-like assurance, have determined and directed 
 many of the donations. Some words of Emerson on 
 character apply to him: 
 
 " ' The face which character wears to me is self- 
 sufficingness. I revere the person who has riches, so 
 that I cannot think of him as alone, or poor, or exiled, 
 or unhappy, or a client, but as perpetual patron, bene- 
 factor and beatified man. Character is centrality, the 
 impossibility of being displaced or overset. Men should 
 be intelligent and earnest. They must also make us 
 feel that they have a controlling, happy future opening 
 before them, which sheds a splendor on the passing 
 hours.' 
 
 " Oftentimes in the progress of Memorial Hall when 
 I, as treasurer, held back, the president would enumerate 
 my various resources in such a convincing way that 
 I felt for the time embarrassed with riches, and you owe 
 to him, more than to anyone else, the completion of 
 that noble edifice, for less than the estimated cost and 
 one year before the promised time. But he is a fanatic, 
 and we run Harvard College trusting to fanaticism, pick- 
 ing up here and there enthusiastic scholars willing 
 to take the vows of perpetual poverty ; and this policy 
 seems to me dangerous and derogatory to a great Uni- 
 versity, which we are striving to build up. The com- 
 pensation should be such as to invite men of scholarly 
 
HAKVARD UNIVERSITY 135 
 
 tastes and enthusiasm, who long to become teachers 
 of men, to adopt that profession, without feeling that 
 by this choice they are depriving their wives and 
 children of the social and educational privileges of 
 the families of lawyers or physicians, or of average 
 merchants. The calling of a teacher is much more 
 appreciated than it was fifty years ago, but there is 
 stiU a selfish disregard of their rightful claims, be- 
 cause of their helplessness, on the part of their more 
 money-getting brethren, which savors of meanness and 
 hypocrisy in a community which is forever ' pointing 
 with pride,' as The Nation would say, to their schools 
 and their colleges. We want, for Harvard College, 
 to place her professors and other instructors on a 
 proper footing, just to them and creditable and secure 
 for us, $60,000 more per annum, or something over 
 $1,000,000, and now is the opportunity you New 
 Yorkers have been longing for to endow your Alma Mater. 
 " I am aware that the approach of old age is stealthy ; 
 
 No eye observes the growth or the decay, 
 To-day we look as we did yesterday. 
 
 Still I must confess that I was shocked at the president's 
 complaint of the senility of the present Board of Over- 
 seers, and stiU more shocked that in a torchlight pro- 
 cession during the late unpleasantness. Harvard students 
 bore a transparency inscribed : 
 
 Average age of Harvard Overseers, 95 in the shade. 
 
 Now this is absurd, as absurd as the assertion in one of 
 your journals, that your Mr. Evarts 'was too old for 
 a senator ' and that he ' was too old to change his mind.' 
 
136 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Why, your new senator is Billy Evarts, who used to 
 reel off Adams' Latin Grammar at the Boston Latin 
 School, — Billy Evarts, Leverett's pet, whom that good 
 man snatched up and bore away to his school, — as did 
 the pious Aeneas the old Anchises from the flames 
 of burning Troy, — only a few years ago; and we are 
 his contemporaries. I contend that these charges are 
 libellous, both as against Mr. Evarts and the Overseers. 
 Still there are younger Alumni and you can, if you see 
 fit, in your next election, drop some of us silver-tops and 
 insert some younger graduates. Remember, however, 
 that ' striving to do better, oft we mar what 's well.' 
 If the president succeeds in composing the Board of 
 young counsellors, I trust he may, in the words of the 
 preacher, ' miss not the discourse of the elders.' 
 
 " And now, brethren, young and old, let us drink 
 to the welfare of our Alma Mater. May the youth 
 within her ancient walls live mindful of her motto : 
 
 " ' Beholding the bright countenance of truth in the 
 quiet and stiU air of delightful studies.' " 
 
 Another speech which he made, and which has been 
 preserved, was given at the Harvard Commencement in 
 1884: 
 
 " Beetheen : — 
 
 " Two years ago we enjoyed the presence of Mr. Wil- 
 liam Thomas, then the oldest living graduate, who in 
 his boyhood had conversed with Grandfather Cobb, who 
 had in his youth listened to the talk of Peregrine White 
 born on board the ' Mayflower.' 
 
 "Now your president has imbibed the idea that I go 
 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 137 
 
 back to ' the time whereof the memory of man runneth 
 not to the contrary,' that I remember Peregrine White in 
 the flesh (and he was fleshy) ; but you will allow that he 
 has overestimated my age, as well as some of my other 
 attributes. As to the charge of being both young and 
 old, I can only say that, however I may appear to others, 
 when I stroll through the College Yard and look up to 
 the windows of HoUis 11, not even Brother Sibley could 
 convince me that I have been five years out of college, 
 much less that I have been associated with the class 
 which graduated fifty years ago under circumstances 
 much more creditable to them than to the College. 
 Neither this class nor their associates will ever forget 
 the discreditable chapter in the history of Harvard, when 
 an accountable act of insubordination of a mature Fresh- 
 man, provoked by an immature prig of a tutor, was 
 fomented into a general rebellion, involving the sus- 
 pension of one whole class, the decimating of the other 
 three classes, the alienation of all the undergraduates, 
 of many members of the Faculty and of the Overseers, 
 and the disgust of the public. The efforts of the Sen- 
 iors as peacemakers, welcomed by the president, were 
 rewarded by the expulsion of eight of their best men, 
 because their report, endorsed by most of the Overseers 
 as true, reflected severely upon the president. Fifty 
 years have passed, and that report would be re-endorsed 
 by most, if not all, who were then undergraduates. I 
 am no believer in papal infallibility, — ' Veritas ' is our 
 motto, and it should inspire all investigating commit- 
 tees, whether composed of undergraduates, of Overseers, 
 or of members of the Corporation. 
 
138 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " With this class died two of the famous institutions 
 of Harvard, — the 'Medical Faculty' or 'Med. Facs.,' as 
 they were generally called, a learned society of which 
 the Emperor of Russia, General Jackson, and many other 
 exalted personages were Honorary Members, and the 
 Harvard Washington Corps, whose emblazoned flagi 
 with its 'Tam Marti, quam Mercario' legend, had 
 always been borne aloft, however the young bearer 
 may have staggered under it. I recollect well the last 
 commander, the tall, gaunt Kentuckian, Robert Wick- 
 liffe, the grim warrior Nat West and the rest of the 
 handsome young officers as they issued forth from 
 Stoughton and marched to the parade for the last 
 time. I have witnessed many brilliant pageants, but 
 none so impressive as the parades of the Harvard 
 Washington Corps. There was one tune the old Bri- 
 gade Band used to play as the company marched through 
 the College grounds, which always struck me as highly 
 appropriate, — ' I see them on their winding way.' ' Old 
 Quin,' as he was universally called, was wont to speak 
 of these societies as the ' safety valves ' of the College, 
 and just why he dissolved them, it would have puzzled 
 him to explaia. 
 
 " Apropos of Plymouth and the Harvard Washington 
 Corps there is a college tradition illustrating President 
 Kirkland's humanity. At a Faculty meeting held just 
 before President Monroe's visit to Massachusetts, the 
 president overhearing some talk of expelling Sever, the 
 captain of the corps and a Plymouth man, exclaimed: 
 ' Sever! expel Sever? Oh no ! we can't get along with- 
 out Sever,' and so the captain was saved to parade hiS 
 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 139 
 
 corps and to escort President Monroe, who was so de- 
 lighted with the martial display that he offered Sever a 
 West Point cadetship. That was declined for familj' 
 reasons, but the gallant captain's gratitude to President 
 Kirkland has found expression in a Sever scholarship 
 and the stately Sever Hall, the chief architectural adorn- 
 ment of our College grounds, upon whose portals might 
 be appropriately inscribed the motto of the corps : ' Tarn 
 Marti, quam Mercuric' 
 
 " First impressions are indelible, and I always think 
 of these semi-centenarian graduates as Juniors, for such 
 they were when I entered college. I hear the stentorian 
 Fox upon the Delta, and see Joe Sargent scudding along 
 with the foot ball ; Hinckley flourishes anew his thunder- 
 ing bolus; Cohnan appears as Fanny Kemble; Tom Gush- 
 ing, with his Napoleon figure, drills me in the school of 
 the soldier; Sam Rodman stalks along as if he had his 
 eye on a plover and his hand on his double-barrelled 
 Joe Manton; Gassett, before he leads the Pierians, lisps, 
 ' Excuse the air from my flute ; ' Henry Wayne, late at 
 prayers, marches by our Freshinan seats, a model of 
 youthful beauty; fair-faced Sam Parkman, beloved of 
 ■gods and men, waves the flag while the Corps salutes 
 it; Sam Felton pokes along abstractedly, as if he were 
 pondering how best to forward our Eighth Regiment 
 from Philadelphia to Washington now his bridges are 
 burned ; there beam in the face of Tom Donaldson the 
 beatitudes of the peacemaker and the pure in heart, but he 
 looks too delicate to stand the wear and tear of head and 
 heart he is destined to undergo jpro aris etfoois ; Charles 
 Wheelwright hasj with other generous comrades, shared 
 
140 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 the penalty inflicted on the best of his classmates and 
 declined to take his degree. One claim I make on the 
 friendship of my Juniors, as I fondly call them, — I 
 fought for that degree year after year in the Board of 
 Overseers, until at last the prayer of his loving class- 
 mates was granted, and the name of this hero, who died 
 that others might live, graces the College Catalogue. 
 One of the classmates most zealous in this effort was 
 the amiable, modest, pious pastor wlio has just now 
 passed away. Such, brethren, are some of the pictures 
 which flit before my mind's eye, of the Class of 1834, 
 more interesting perhaps to them and to me than to you. 
 
 "Mr. President, this is a case of mistaken identity, 
 which recalls an incident in my travels some forty years 
 ago. I was walking through Berkshire with two repu- 
 table comrades, one a clergyman in good standing ; we 
 had reached Pittsfield and I was sunning myself in 
 front of the hotel, when one of the natives, sidling up to 
 me, presently inquired in a confidential tone, — ' When 
 will the circus be here ? ' Gratified as I was to be mis- 
 taken for the dignified Ring Master or the facetious 
 Clown, I was constrained to disabuse my rustic admirer, 
 and to confess then as now, 'I don't belong to tiie 
 circus.' " 
 
 Prejudice against college graduates from time to 
 time finds expression in the suggestion that they are 
 less fitted for active life and business affairs than are 
 persons not handicapped by so much education. This 
 talk happened to be making itself heard more than usual 
 some twenty years ago, and it stirred Colonel Lee to a 
 response which he sent to The Nation : 
 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 141 
 
 " For fifteen years I kept an old-fashioned store on 
 the wharf, and traded with the East Indies and South 
 America. I was myself a college graduate, and at that 
 time, — over fifty years ago, — the merchants were 
 averse to receiving graduates, preferring to take youths 
 in their early teens, and insisting upon more or less 
 menial work, such as opening and sweeping out the 
 counting-room, trimming lamps, and frequently blacking 
 boots, tasks imposed upon these unpaid apprentices 
 partly from economy, partly to supple the boy and take 
 the nonsense out of him. We adopted a porter to per- 
 form aU these chores ; and, partly to give them a chance, 
 preferred college graduates to boys a few years younger 
 fresh from school. There was never an instance of 
 bumptiousness or effeminacy; their duties within and 
 without doors were performed more efficiently and more 
 intelligently than by their associates whose minds had 
 not been educed in college ; they did not need so long 
 an apprenticeship. 
 
 " If you will look into the counting-houses of bankers 
 and brokers nowadays, you will find principals and 
 clerks mostly college bred; you will find most of the 
 factory treasurers, many of their selling agents, many of 
 the railroad presidents, college bred. 
 
 " Some years ago you informed your readers that in 
 Germany the boys educated in the gymnasiums for 
 college, while surpassed at first in mathematics by boys 
 educated in what we should call ' technical ' schools, 
 eventually outstripped them. So it is in any sort of 
 business, — - the general training must tell in proportion 
 as one rises to greater responsibilities and is called upon 
 
142 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 to solve more abstruse problems. Were I in search of a 
 partner, I would choose not only a college graduate, but 
 also a trained lawj'er, because of his training, which pre- 
 pares him to understand any subject presented better 
 than any layman can. Among my friends now past 
 threescore, those who for any reason went from school 
 to counting-room have never ceased to regret it, because 
 of their fewer resources outside of business, their real or 
 fancied disabilities, as well as for the loss of comrade:- 
 ship, which becomes more and more sad as years roll 
 on." 
 
 The graduates repaid Colonel Lee's loyalty to them 
 by an abundant loyalty to him, manifested in many 
 ways. His rank for scholarship, at the time of gradu- 
 ation, did not entitle him to a place in the Phi Beta 
 Kappa Society ; but many years later he was elected to 
 honorary membership, which was fully as gratifying. 
 In 1867 he was chosen upon the Board of Overseers 
 and was re-elected at the close of his first six years; 
 then, in accordance with the statute, he passed a year 
 out of office, and was thereafter immediately re-elected 
 in 1880, and again re-elected at the close of that term, 
 so that his service extended from 1867 to 1892, inclu- 
 sive, with the break only of the statutory year of recess. 
 It is unfortunate that no record remains of the many 
 services rendered and the many speeches made by him 
 during this prolonged term of office. He was always 
 in his place at the meetings, he was always interested 
 in whatever business was in hand, and he constantly 
 interjected the remarks and short speeches which are 
 customary in that body. These sagacious, trenchant 
 
HAEVARD UNIVEESITY 143 
 
 and humorous contributions to the debates never failed 
 to delight the Board and often to influence opinion. 
 But the memory of such fleeting remarks is evanescent, 
 and those who recall them in a general way cannot 
 recall them in particular. The writer happens to re- 
 member a single one. The debate was upon the ques- 
 tion of compulsory morning prayers. The persons who 
 did not desire compulsion had been quite eloquent upon 
 the point that it was very disagreeable for the students 
 to feel under a rigid obligation to get up in the morning 
 and attend a species of roll call. Colonel Lee at last 
 rose and said, substantially : — "I am very pleased to 
 hear that this duty is disagreeable for the students. 
 This new notion of making everything perfectly easy 
 for them and letting them do, and not do, just as they 
 choose has been carried too far. I am very glad indeed 
 to find some one act which is disagreeable to them, and 
 I should Hke to compel every one of them to perform it 
 once every day." He was probably right ; there was at 
 the time a relaxation, or rather an abandonment, of 
 discipline which was working havoc in the undergrad- 
 uate department, and which soon had to be drastically 
 corrected. 
 
 In 1892, at the time of the organization of the Harvard 
 Graduates' Magazine, Colonel Lee's services were natu- 
 rally sought in the honorable capacity of president. He 
 accepted the post and continued to hold it for several 
 years. 
 
 A more active literary effort than this honorary office 
 was his contribution to the " Harvard Book." In 1875 
 that pretentious publication appeared in two enormous 
 
144 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 tomes, with pictures but without an index, and was 
 sold at a price which probably most purchasers after- 
 wards regretted that they had paid. The list of con- 
 tributors contains many who would be less well known 
 than they are, had their other literary work been as 
 perfunctory as that which they furnished to those 
 volumes. Colonel Lee, however, buried in this stately 
 mausoleum a really admirable paper upon University 
 Hall. Covering twenty-five spacious pages, it is one 
 of the longest contributions, and one of the few read- 
 able ones. It must have cost him much serious and con- 
 scientious labor ; it is, of course, thorough and written 
 with a fine, sympathetic feeling; it is also sparkhng 
 with humor and wit, and is full of reminiscences pic- 
 turesque, vivid and amusing; the delineation of some 
 of the professors and instructors is such a bit of dra- 
 matic drawing of character and of personal appearance 
 as is rarely met with. It is a pity that such a piece of 
 work should be put away, practically out of sight. 
 
 Colonel Lee's numerous and useful services to the 
 University at last received a weU-deserved recognition 
 from the Corporation, when that body proposed to confer 
 upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Everyone was 
 heartily glad that this should be done, and the distinc- 
 tion has never been offered with the more universal 
 good win of the graduate body. But Colonel Lee him- 
 self, after much consideration, determined not to accept 
 it. He said that he was not a scholar, that the degree 
 should not be made common by being conferred upon 
 any persons except those of high scholarship or of some 
 very marked distinction in other walks of life. His 
 
HAKVAUD UNIVERSITY 145 
 
 friends insisted with him that his modesty was quixotic, 
 that his services to the College were only imperfectly 
 rewarded by this honor, that his own personal qualifica- 
 tions were abundant ; and they begged him to accept it. 
 The temptation must have been very great, for he pre- 
 pared a speech for the occasion ; yet his firm belief that 
 it was better for the College not to establish the pre- 
 cedent of giving a degree to a private citizen not note- 
 worthy for scholarly attainments controlled his final 
 decision. He resolutely declined. His action, however, 
 could not do away with the fact that practically he had 
 had the honor of the degree, and that in addition thereto 
 he had the much higher honor of definitively setting it 
 aside on the ground of principle, — casting Caesar on the 
 Lupercal quite into the shade I The speech which was 
 not spoken may be printed: 
 
 " Thanks for your kind words and to you, brethren, 
 for your cordial reception, but this is not a day of exul- 
 tation to me, but of meditation, and, I must say, of 
 humiliation. 
 
 " Fifty-nine years ago, on Commencement Day, in the 
 old meeting-house which few of you can remember, (it 
 stood between Wadsworth House and Dane Hall), I 
 heard an orator, speaking for the Master's Degree, say : 
 ♦ Master of Arts ! master of no art under the sun,' The 
 speaker's words have lodged in my memory these aU but 
 sixty years. And now at the end of that long period, 
 near the close of life, when hope of achievement and 
 progress hes far behind, these words ring in my ears, 
 as, dazed, I hear myself hailed by the highest title 
 the University can bestow. This is the only mode the 
 
 10 
 
146 MEMOIK OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 College has of conferring honor; it has extended the 
 degree from the scholar, for whom it was primarily 
 intended, to high of&cials, to distinguished guests and 
 to heroes. I was present in the College Chapel that 
 same year (1833) when the LL.D. was conferred on 
 Andrew Jackson, and a pretty scandal it made. But 
 Andrew Jackson was President, and so, by precedent, 
 entitled to the compliment. Of late years the endeavor 
 has been^ as it should be, to confine the degree to 
 scholars of distinction, and I regret to see the College 
 retrograde, and bestow the degree inappropriately. 
 
 'T will be recorded for a precedent, 
 And many an error, by the same example, 
 Will rush into the state. 
 
 " There are two circumstances in my life which have 
 given me much pride and pleasure, — my relations with 
 the Alumni, and my relations with the men who went 
 to the war, especially those who went from Harvard. 
 So, year by year, as I come up a pilgrim to my Mecca 
 and roam the old College grounds, I am made happy 
 by these ties of brotherhood, and I doubt if among all 
 the sons of our Akaa Mater there is one who gets more 
 cheer and comfort from these anniversaries. I have 
 received so many marks of friendship and esteem from 
 these brethren that I am inclined to attribute this dis- 
 traction to their blind partiality, working openly or 
 covertly to that end. 
 
 " ' Blessings brighten as they take their flight,' and 
 it may be that, considering our cordial relations, my 
 brethren wished to give me a good send-off. But let 
 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 147 
 
 them be undeceived ; I come from a long-lived family, 
 and one upon the list of graduates of my race, Judge 
 Joseph Lee, of the Class of 1729, lived seventy-three 
 years after receiving his degree, having been for years 
 the oldest living graduate. 
 
 " Whatever my fitness, my sense of obligation is pro- 
 found, it is the last and greatest of many honors which 
 I have received from my fond mother and my affec- 
 tionate brethren, strengthening and lengthening the tie 
 between us. 
 
 There 's that betwixt us been -which men remember 
 Till they forget themselves, till all 's forgot, 
 Till the deep sleep falls on them in that bed 
 From which no morrow's mischief knocks them up." 
 
 At the opening of the Harvard Medical School on 
 Boylston Street (already about to be superseded as in- 
 sufficient after so few years !) it was natural that Colonel 
 Lee should be cast for the task of representing the con- 
 tributors to the fund, on whose behalf he spoke as foUows : 
 
 "Me. Peesident: — 
 
 " Thanks for your invitation to be present on this 
 interesting occasion, — the hundredth anniversary of 
 your Medical School, and the dedication of a new build- 
 ing, of fair proportions, well adapted to your wants, as 
 far as a non-professional can judge. 
 
 "You have assigned to me the honorable task of 
 speaking for the contributors to the building fund. 
 
 " I Httle thought, as I used to gaze with awe at that 
 prim, solitary, impenetrable little building in Mason 
 
148 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Street, and, with the aid of imaginative companions, con- 
 jured up the mysteries within, that I should ever dare to 
 enter and explore its interior ; nor have I yet acquired 
 that relish for morbid specimens that characterized my 
 lamented kinsman,^ who devoted so many years to accu- 
 mulating and illustrating your pathological collection. 
 
 " It is an ordeal for a la.jm.aa, Mr. President, especially 
 for one who has reached the sixth age, to be so forcibly 
 reminded, as one is here, of the 
 
 last scene of all, 
 When ends this strange, eventful history, 
 Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything, 
 
 and it is a further ordeal to assume to speak for others, 
 whose motives for aiding you I may not adequately set 
 forth. 
 
 " This I can say, that we are citizens of no mean city, 
 that private frugality and public liberality have char- 
 acterized the inhabitants of this ' Old Town of Boston,' 
 from the days of the good and wise John Winthrop, 
 whose own substance was consumed in founding his 
 colony, to the present time. Down through these two 
 centuries and a half the multiform and ever-increasing 
 needs of the community have been discovered and sup- 
 plied, not by government, but by patriotic citizens, who 
 have given of their time and substance to promote the 
 common weal, remembering «that the body is not one 
 member, but many,' and that the members should have 
 the same care, one for another. It is this public spirit, 
 
 1 John Barnard Swett Jackson, of the class of 1825, M.D. 1829, Pro- 
 fessor of Pathological Anatomy and Shattuck Professor of Morbid 
 Anatomy; also Dean of the Medical Society. 
 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 149 
 
 manifested in its heroic form in our Civil War, that has 
 made this dear old Commonwealth what we all know it 
 to be, despite full many slanders. Far distant be the 
 day when this sense of brotherhood shall be lost! 
 
 " Purple and fine linen are well, if one can afford 
 them; but let not Dives forget Lazarus at his gate. 
 
 Ill fares the laud, to hastening ills a prey, 
 Where wealth accumulates and men decay. 
 
 " Whatever doubts may arise as to some of our benevo- 
 lent schemes, our safety and progi-ess rest upon the pro- 
 motion of sound learning, and we feel assured that the 
 increased facilities furnished by this ample building 
 for acquiring and disseminating knowledge of our fear- 
 ful and wonderful frame, will be improved by your 
 brethren. 
 
 " Some of the papers read before the International 
 Medical Congress in London, two years ago, impressed 
 me deeply with the many wants of the profession. And 
 who are more likely to have their wants supplied ? For 
 the physician is not regarded, as in some countries, as 
 the successor to the barber surgeon, and his fees slipped 
 into his upturned palm as if he were a mendicant or a 
 menial 
 
 " Dining with two Englishmen, one an Oxford pro- 
 fessor, the other the brother of a lord, a few years since, 
 I was surprised to hear their views of the social stand- 
 ing of the medical profession, and could not help con- 
 trasting their position here, where, if not all aristocrats, 
 they are all constitutional, and some of them hereditary, 
 monarchs, accompanied by honor, love, obedience, troops 
 
150 MEMOIK OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 of friends. But however ranked, physicians have the 
 
 same attributes the worid over. I have had occasion to 
 
 see a good deal of Enghsh, French, German and Italian 
 
 physicians under very trying circumstances, and have 
 
 been touched by their affectionate devotion to their 
 
 patients, 
 
 "The good physician is our earliest and our latest 
 
 friend ; he listens for our first and our last breath j in 
 
 aU times of bodily distress and danger we look to him 
 
 to relieve us. Neither ' the pestilence that walketh in 
 
 darkness' nor 'the sickness that wasteth at noonday' 
 
 deter him. 
 
 Alike to him is time or tide, 
 December's snow, or July's pride; 
 Alike to him is tide or time, 
 Moonless midnight, or matin prime. 
 
 "The faithful pursuit of every profession involves 
 sacrifice of self, but the man who calls no hour his own, 
 who consecrates his days and nights to suffering hu- 
 manity, treads close in the footsteps of his Master. 
 
 " No wonder, then, that the bond between them and 
 their patients is so strong, no wonder that we respond 
 cheerfully to their call, in gratitude for what they have, 
 and in sorrow for what thev have not, feeen able to do to 
 preserve the lives and to promote the health of those 
 dear to us. And how could money be spent more eco- 
 nomically than to promote the further enlightenment of 
 the medical profession? What better legacy can we 
 leave our children, and our children's children, than an 
 illumined Medical Faculty?" 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 
 
 If the foregoing pages, narrating the public activity 
 of Colonel Lee, have duly fulfilled their purpose, they 
 have shown him as standing out against the background 
 of Boston. When he was in his prime Boston was at her 
 best, a great town, not yet developed into a provincial 
 city ; she was in the period of her moral and intellectual 
 efflorescence. Edinburgh, Florence and a few other 
 large towns and small cities have had like periods when 
 their citizens can be "local" without being narrow, 
 because for a while the locality is the scene of strenu- 
 ous moral and intellectnal activities. 
 
 Colonel Lee, then, was distinctively Bostonian. Colo- 
 . nel T. Wentworth Higginson says : " He was as typical 
 a Bostonian as could be found since the death of Colonel 
 Perkins." He could have been at home amid no other 
 surroundings, nor in any other society ; he would have 
 sickened and wasted away of unfitness in any other place 
 than eastern Massachusetts. Sir Walter Scott said that 
 if in any year he could not set his foot upon the heather, 
 he should die; Mr. Lee might not have been quite 
 willing to say that if he could not very regularly see the 
 dome of the State House, he should die, but those who 
 knew him would have said it for him. He knew all the 
 
152 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 old annals of New England, and was saturated with the 
 spirit of the bygone generations ; he knew, with much 
 accuracy, the histories of all the old families, not after 
 the dry and accurate fashion of the genealogist, but with 
 a vivid appreciation of the individuals. He knew where 
 still ran the streams of the good blood of the old-time 
 worthies as a sportsman knows the trout streams of the 
 country. He could point out among his fellow-citizens 
 all the descendants of the governors, the divines, the 
 Indian fighters, the soldiers in the Canadian invasions, 
 the ship-captains and privateersmen, the merchants and 
 supercargoes of colonial and revolutionary days, and 
 could teU just what traits ought to be looked for in the 
 offspring, if heredity is a trustworthy science. All the 
 traditions were at his tongue's end. AU the old houses 
 and streets and byways were as familiar to his mind's 
 eye as were the newest buildings and the latest avenues 
 about him. He was in ready, natural touch with people 
 of New England lineage, and could drop in a moment 
 into familiar and intimate chat with anyone, citizen, 
 villager or farmer, who was a son of the soil of Massa- 
 chusetts. This, however, is by no means to say that he 
 always agreed with them ; far from it ; New Englanders 
 are not apt to be of notably accordant dispositions, and 
 Colonel Lee was true to the blood in this particular. 
 But a moral kinship was easily established, and a fair 
 field was opened for agreement or disagreement, as it 
 might happen. A close diagnosis might show that in 
 points of feeling, of human sympathy, of the emotions, 
 he was broadly in touch with mankind, but that intel- 
 lectually he often found it hard, sometimes impossible, 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 153 
 
 to understand an attitude or opinions widely different 
 from his own. His breadth was of the heart, his limita- 
 tions lay in his opinions. The story of his life is in 
 spirit as much as by geography the story of a Massa- 
 chusetts worthy. But, though his career brought him 
 thus chiefly into contact with his lifelong neighbors, he 
 was not thereby rendered narrowly local. English lit- 
 erature and history he knew well, of course ; more than 
 a little of that of France, and something of that of 
 Italy. On several occasions he travelled in Europe 
 where Italy especially charmed him, and the antiquities 
 of London gave him much pleasure; but beyond all 
 other things, naturally, he revelled in the Parisian and 
 Italian theatres; he spoke French with some fluency, 
 and gathered a good knowledge of Italian ; and the rec- 
 ollection of the actors and actresses whom he saw 
 abroad constituted one of his great pleasures at home. 
 Colonel Lee did not contemplate with that indif- 
 ference which is called philosophy the infusion of 
 strange bloods into the pure old stock of New Eng- 
 land. " There was a time," he said, " and that within 
 my memory, when all the inhabitants of New England, 
 and especially of the old town of Boston, were descend- 
 ants of those brave, pious men, who quitted pleasant 
 homes in their native land to encounter the dangers of 
 the seas, of savage beasts and still more savage men, 
 to endure the pangs of homesickness, the hardships of 
 wilderness life, the rigors of the climate, for conscience's 
 sake. But now that we have become the asylum of all 
 those afflicted or distressed in mind, body or estate, the 
 dumping ground of the world, it is getting to be diffi- 
 
154 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 cvilt to distinguish between the descendants of those 
 hardy pioneers, . . . the rightful heirs of this goodly 
 heritage, and the new-comers, driven by starvation or 
 by justice hither, luxuriating in the abundance and 
 freedom created by the unceasing toil of head and hand 
 of eight generations of our ancestors. I feel the more 
 sensitive on this point inasmuch as the prevalence of 
 my name among the Mongolian immigrants will prob- 
 ably lead to confusion between my descendants and those 
 of Wang or Ching Lee." 
 
 No remarkable achievement has been related of 
 Colonel Lee ; he could not sway the crowd of citizens 
 in Fanetiil Hall or in the old Music Hall as Wendell 
 Philhps could ; he neither sought public office nor per- 
 mitted it to be forced upon him ; he was no politician, 
 nor ever assumed the r6le of the "power behind the 
 throne ; " yet, though he did none of these things, his 
 fellow-citizens gave weighty consideration to his opin- 
 ions. It was chiefly among his own acquaintance that 
 his words were respectfully listened to, and his aid 
 and co-operation often urgently demanded. His friends 
 were the men who led and controlled the community 
 and furnished it with its ideas and its arguments. Thus 
 his direct influence upon the mass of the populace was 
 never great, but he influenced those who influenced 
 others. During the third quarter of his life Boston was 
 still of such size and of such social homogeneity that it 
 it was quite possible for one of her people to fiU the 
 peculiar rSle of the leading citizen. To this distinction 
 Colonel Lee could for many years have laid just claim, 
 not an undisputed claim, doubtless, for some other 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 155 
 
 persons would have had their own favorites to present 
 for the position. As in the case of Miltiades, many in- 
 dividuals (or their friends for them) might have put 
 their own names first, but each would have put Colonel 
 Lee's name second. 
 
 The writer asked a gentleman who was as intimate 
 with Colonel Lee as anyone now living, what was his 
 distinguishing trait, which might be supposed to have 
 gained for him his high place in the community. The 
 reply was : " His integrity, — his extraordinary integrity ; 
 I have seen nothing like it in any other man." In our 
 business community mere honesty is necessarily a com- 
 mon quality; if most business men did not play their 
 hands with fair regard for the statutes of the State and 
 the rules of the game, the game could not go on. It 
 was not, however, of such merchantable honesty as this 
 that the gentleman spoke, but of something greatly 
 higher, something which may not be described in words, 
 but which everyone must understand. If a man has it, 
 it has come to him in his nature, not as the outcome of 
 his intelligence or his good sense, or even of his respect 
 for the ordinary rules of morality. So, also, if forced 
 in any emergency of affairs to impale oneself upon a 
 direct he or an inconvenient truth, most Americans 
 and Englishmen will take courage for the truth. But 
 Colonel Lee was bom with a terrible propensity for 
 truth, a propensity to which he yielded until it became 
 a passion that completely mastered him. It was so 
 natural to him that perhaps he really deserved no credit 
 for it I It got him into trouble at times, inevitably. 
 For, after all, it is our virtues which we have most 
 
156 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 reason to fear. Our evil tendencies we know, and we 
 may, if we choose, combat and control them ; but our 
 virtues, unsuspected of evil, steal upon us unawares 
 and treacherously entice us into snares and difficulties. 
 Colonel Lee was never upon his guard against his good 
 qualities. Had he been so, it woxild have been effort 
 wasted, for he could never have become what by polite- 
 ness is called "diplomatic." He found it hard even 
 to conceal his feelings, and impossible to dissemble 
 them. It must have been a dull man indeed who 
 could talk with him long without finding out what he 
 really felt. 
 
 Of course, having such dangerous traits. Colonel Lee 
 gave offense and made enemies. It was to his credit 
 that he did so ; a man who is really good for anything 
 and who is active in public affairs and in business, and 
 constantly touching the community at many points, 
 ought to stir resentments occasionally. What is really 
 astonishing is that one so outspoken and so uncompro- 
 mising should have brought upon himself so little ill 
 will. But he seemed to claim, and to be accorded, the 
 privilege of free speech, like a prerogative ; he was for- 
 given till seventy times seven, and indeed very much 
 oftener, and enjoyed general popularity and the warm 
 affection of a much larger circle of friends than most 
 persons acquire in the difficult passage through a not 
 always amiable world. This was due to two causes. 
 The lesser was that he never spoke in malice or from 
 any unworthy motive ; he never had a secret or selfish 
 purpose to serve ; he never sought to depress another 
 in order that he might be exalted by comparison. His 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 157 
 
 honest assault undoubtedly often wounded deeply, yet did 
 not excite vindictive animosity. The way in which his 
 attacks were taken was in some measure indicative of the 
 character of the man attacked. Thus he was often very 
 severe upon his kinsman, Senator Lodge, to whom he 
 wrote things which the senator must have felt to be 
 unjust and perhaps personally unkind. But Mr. Lodge, 
 while responding with abundant force and spirit, had 
 the magnanimity to stifle personal hostility. The second 
 and more important cause was Colonel Lee's broad and 
 genuine kindliness of nature. His letters could not be 
 illumined by his countenance, but any sting in his spoken 
 words was almost always alleviated by the expression of 
 underlying goodness of heart, and oftentimes the indi- 
 vidual who winced under his satire would have felt sure 
 enough of receiving an act of personal friendship from 
 him, had occasion called for it. Moreover, he was well 
 known to have somewhat the April day temperament ; 
 shadows drove across the scene ; and there were days 
 when he was irritable, — wherein he was not peculiar ! 
 Withal he was impulsive, and did not mitigate his feel- 
 ings in the utterance of them ; on the contrary, by his 
 facihty in the use of expressive language, he was tempted 
 sometimes to let his words overpaint his opinion. Alto- 
 gether, the world was very fond of Colonel Lee, and 
 gave him leave to say what he thought, — which it does 
 not do to many of us. Col. T. Wentworth Higginson, 
 in appreciative words, said : " He had his own way many 
 years. He was a unique personage in Boston. Every- 
 body liked him and would stand more independence from 
 him than from anybody else." 
 
158 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 It is an easy, pleasant and virtuous action for A to 
 give away the money of B ; but if B fails to ratify the 
 gift by his cheque, A is apt to be annoyed, and sometimes 
 utters depreciatory remarks concerning B's liberality. 
 Colonel Lee occasionally vexed our excellent friend A in 
 this manner, for he chose always to exercise his habitual 
 independence alike in giving and in refusing, but at the 
 end of any twelvemonth he had usually parted with a 
 considerable total sum. In fact, his giving was some- 
 times upon such a scale that it entailed economy in 
 personal luxuries, which he might justly enough have 
 allowed to himself before he began paying for others. 
 As a rule, his benefactions were not such as to be heard 
 of far outside of the persons concerned. It was, indeed, 
 general knowledge that his contributions to Harvard 
 College were large, but it was not equally well known 
 that he paid the expenses of many students. Also those 
 who carry round subscription papers were well aware 
 that he gave freely in those political campaigns where 
 questions of principle were at stake, always, however, 
 accompanying the payment with the emphatic stipula- 
 tion that no part of it should be spent in any corrupt 
 manner, and never afterward exacting any direct or in- 
 direct advantage, in political influence for himself. In- 
 dividuals were his beneficiaries rather than institutions. 
 Thus, one of his relatives had experienced more iU than 
 good fortune in his affairs, and as years advanced upon 
 him he was doing only a moderately lucrative business 
 as a cotton broker. " I cannot bear," said Colonel Lee, 
 
 " to see running about the streets with a bundle 
 
 of cotton under his arm trying to get an order from a 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 159 
 
 mill treasurer I It must not go on so." Accordingly he 
 went to the gentleman and said : " How much are you 
 making per annum, and is it enough ? " Receiving the 
 reply, he said : " Well, if you will retire and live com- 
 fortably, I will pay you that sum annually during your 
 life." The offer was accepted in the same spirit in 
 which it was made. After the death of Judge Charles 
 Jackson, whose sister was Colonel Lee's mother, some 
 unforeseen complications rendered it necessary to sell 
 the handsome old house and garden of the judge, on 
 Chauncy Place, — one of the beautiful town houses of 
 the old days. Mr. Lee bought the property for joint 
 account of himself and his brother, and after holding it 
 a very short time, he sold it at a handsome profit. He 
 said, however, that he did not like to make money out 
 of his Jackson cousins, and he distributed between the 
 surviving daughters of the judge his share of the gain. 
 Their notes of thanks for so rare an act of cousinly good 
 feeling are among the papers of Mr. Lee's estate. No 
 one knows much of acts thus privately done, but there 
 is no question that the list was long of those who at one 
 time or another owed comfort and relief from mental 
 anxiety to Colonel Lee. " Humanity, thy name is Lee," 
 said one of his friends to him one day, in weU-deserved 
 praise. It was not alone financial generosity that the 
 words signified, — rather it was the observant thought- 
 fulness which suggested and guided the action, the spirit 
 of friendliness which induced the giving. "His sub- 
 scriptions," says Col. T. W. Higginson, " were always 
 on a large scale. He would say: 'It is a great deal 
 easier to raise this money in a few large sums than in 
 
160 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 many small ones, I will be one of ten to give |1,000.' 
 He had found that an enterprise was much more likely 
 to be carried through in that way." 
 
 In conversation Colonel Lee was charming, but un- 
 fortunately, as is apt to be the case, the charm can only 
 be brought back as a delightful memory by those who 
 used to hear him ; in fact, to-day there are hardly half- 
 a-dozen survivors who can recall it in its best estate, for 
 no man (barring the avowed conversationalist) can talk 
 to others so well as he talks to his friends and contem- 
 poraries. Like most men who talk well, he was very 
 fond of talking. Colonel Higginson laments that his 
 long Sunday talks with Mr. Waldo Higginson have left 
 no trace. Not less is it to be regretted that no echo can 
 bring back any words from the long chats which he used 
 to have at Beverly Farms with Dr. O. W. Holmes. 
 " For seventeen summers," he said, " we have been 
 neighboiB . . . holding stated meetings every Sunday 
 after church. ... At these weekly sessions discussion 
 ranged far and wide. . . . There was on each side an 
 eagerness to talk which had to be regulated, after par- 
 liamentary usage, by the mistress of the house." At 
 Beverly Farms also he used to chat, in the leisure hours 
 of the vacation months, with Mrs. Parkman, with Mrs. 
 Bell, the brilliant daughter of Rufus Choate, and vrith 
 Mrs. Whitman, all his neighbors. Such people put him 
 at his best ; but he talked well with everyone, and was 
 as neighborly with old " Uncle " John Larcom as with 
 anyone else. He was one of those men whom one would 
 cross a muddy street to exchange a word with, and go 
 away surprised and disappointed if by a rare chance 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 161 
 
 something keen or picturesque or entertaining had not 
 been said by the colonel. Sometimes such an ill chance 
 occurred, of course ; Homer is the precedent, and Colo- 
 nel Lee was not always in the mood ; but, as a rule, it 
 was a wise speculation to cross the street. People used 
 to repeat what '^ Harry Lee said this morning," and pass 
 from mouth to mouth his " good things," as is the habit 
 concerning witty sayings. One comes later expecting to 
 glean much where there has been such luxuriance ; but 
 he gathers hardly anything ; he finds a general reminis- 
 cence with no memory of particulars; what was said passed 
 with the passing of the incident which called it forth. 
 
 Colonel Lee's talk was often of contemporaneous 
 events, and then it was sure to be fresh and breezy, and 
 not unfrequently the breeze was keen from the east. 
 Often it was of the old times and the old places, the 
 people long ago dead, the stories and gossip of begone 
 days ; upon these topics he was rambling, discursive, and 
 would run on as long as his hearer had leisure to listen, 
 while his face expressed the infinite pleasure which he 
 found in such converse. With him perished not only an 
 infinite wealth of knowledge about old Boston and the 
 old families and odd characters of the tOAvn and its 
 neighborhood, but also the chance of having this knowt 
 edge displayed in a singularly fascinating shape. For 
 there was nothing of the Dr. Dryasdust about Colonel 
 Lee. He may have known a little less, — probably id 
 most cases a great deal more, — than such learned men, 
 and known it perhaps a little more or a little less accu- 
 rately. The beauty was that he knew it abundantly, in 
 a very picturesque way, and that he had the power of 
 
 11 
 
162 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Tivid description to a yery remarkable degree. His 
 knowledge was not merely biographical ; he seemed to 
 know how our ancestors dressed and walked, how they 
 talked, how they fared in their business ventures, what 
 were their friendships and alliances, their heartburnings 
 and their quarrels among themselves. Few of us see 
 our contemporaries in such lively colors, or can describe 
 them in such gossipy phrase, as he could bring to bear 
 upon these ancient worthies, — or unworthies, as the 
 case might be. 
 
 Not less happy was he in his capacity to rebuild the 
 demolished houses, to restore the old ways and byways, 
 to replace the old gardens and trees and fences. Such 
 was his gift of word painting that he seemed to have 
 been a caller in the antique rooms, to have clanged the 
 brazen knockers on the colonial front doors and tasted 
 the sea-tossed Madeira or the native rum, liberally dis- 
 pensed at all hours of the day at the mahogany side- 
 boards. It was really quite wonderful to listen to him 
 for an hour, — he would let you have two or three hours, 
 if you could, — when he got talking of these things. 
 Every adjective between the covers of the dictionary 
 seemed his servant, and in each instance precisely that 
 one which he needed came at his call. Often it was some 
 rare and ancient word, which came creaking up, dusty 
 with age, as though it had been laid away for generations 
 in order to perform a perfect duty in this especial case. 
 This was a natural gift which also undoubtedly he had 
 carefully cultivated and brought to great excellence. 
 
 With like accuracy and picturesqueness he observed 
 and described the contemporaries whom he saw about 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 163 
 
 him. " His judgments," says Colonel T. W. Higginson^ 
 " were often whimsical and often unreasonable, but 
 pungent and telling. ... I would say in connection 
 with his descriptions of character that he was a man too 
 impetuous and of too strong prejudices to be strictly 
 just, but he was ready to be generous even to oppo- 
 nents." It was rarely a minute analysis of character 
 that he made, he did not delve into the obscure recesses 
 of men's minds and trace subtle influences ; but the out* 
 ward man, with his visible and controlling characteri*' 
 tics, impressed himself dramatically upon Colonel Lee, 
 and what he saw dramatically he described dramatically. 
 To-day he stigmatized the " saponaceous speeches " of 
 Governor Long, to-morrow he spoke of a certain person 
 as "a retired drunkard;" the house of Governor 
 Hancock was for him "the mellow, time-worn, sunny- 
 faced old Hancock house." A lady who, with New 
 England ambition for the good and the intellectual, 
 had somewhat over-trained and over-educated her chil- 
 dren, said to him one day : " My son says that he was at 
 your house to-day, Colonel Lee ; I hope he behaved 
 weU ? " " Excellently, my dear madam, excellently ; " he 
 replied, "but I thought that I could see the mark of 
 the collar." Of another person he said: "How hesi- 
 tatingly old, or rather young, T. B. walks I Tall, stal- 
 wart fellow, graceful as when he played Gessler, — 
 what a thin film comes between him and society ! " 
 Again: "A frozen looking couple! His figure is 
 meagre, his arms hang out stifBy, his nose is red this 
 chilly morning. . . . The two together hardly measure 
 three feet in breadth." And stiU again : " There goes a 
 
164 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 husband nicely, fashionably, dressed ; but his recent ad- 
 vancement is betrayed by the tired stoop of generations 
 of heavily burdened laborers." 
 
 Concerning a character once well known and much 
 ridiculed in Boston Mr. Lee wrote : 
 
 " George Jones (Count Joannes) may have been bom 
 in New York, but when I first remember him on the 
 Tremont stage in the late twenties or early thirties, he 
 
 was son of Jones, constable, a stout man (Enghsh, 
 
 1 think) with a red wig, who went to King's Chapel; 
 had another son who dragged a hand-cart. He played 
 fops, etc., was a fair actor, but an inordinate thirst for 
 applause led him into all sorts of follies and falsities. 
 He degenerated into a mouldy, shabby-genteel, melodra- 
 matic pomposity in perpetual litigation about something 
 or other. He might be characterized as ' spurious '." 
 
 Once when one of his young friends was engaged to 
 be married, Colonel Lee said : " Get on your horse to- 
 morrow morning and ride with me, and I will tell you 
 all about the ancestors of your intended ; you ought to 
 know such things, and no one else can tell you so well 
 as I can." He was as good as his word ; there was a 
 long ride, during which the young man saw all the 
 busts on pedestals as well as all the skeletons in closets, 
 pertaining to the lady's family during some generations. 
 
 In this connection, however, justice demands that it 
 should be said that Mr. Lee was no lover of gossip. He 
 liked to observe traits, to study character and to know 
 real facts which were contributory to such observation 
 and study. But idle tales were so distasteful to^m that 
 it was a tactless man who offered them for his entertain- 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 165 
 
 ment; and malicious, uncharitable whisperings found 
 him not only deaf, but hostile. 
 
 Colonel T. Wentworth Higginson says that when he 
 undertook to edit the " Harvard Memorial Biographies," 
 Colonel Lee was very efficient in helping him to choose 
 the writers, " often summing up the man's character in 
 advance. ... I should add that in that hour's talk with 
 me about the ' Memorial Biographies,' in speaking of men 
 I did not know, he would often jump up and say : ' This 
 is the way he would walk down State Street,' and after 
 each imitation I would feel acquainted with the man." 
 He had also an equally vivid power of facial imitation. 
 An instance of his strong habit of speech occurred at 
 one of these interviews with Colonel Higginson : " Put 
 it down," said Colonel Lee, " that it will always remain 
 an uncertainty whether it was the insane vanity of the 
 elder brother, or the drunken insanity of the younger, 
 which utterly ruined the finest regiment that ever left 
 Massachusetts." Thus he said what others knew and 
 liked to have said by some one, though themselves 
 shirking the responsibility. On the occasion of the 
 choice of a new member to fill a vacancy in the Corpora- 
 tion of Harvard University, much preliminary discus- 
 sion occurred, and many names were suggested. Col- 
 onel Lee made a list of these names, and in a few words 
 gave the measure of each man. It was considered at the 
 time a remarkable piece of work, and was handed, about 
 with some caution. All the persons named' are now 
 dead save one, and that one is highly praised ; further, 
 there is really little of severity in any of the remarks; 
 therefore it may be permissible to reprint the paper : 
 
166 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 "1827 Edmund Quincy 
 
 Spoiled a horn, but never made a spoon. 
 1829 James Freeman Clarke 
 
 Scholarly, interested in the College, known 
 through the state; but a Unitarian clergy- 
 man, as is Dr. Putnam. 
 1829 William Gray 
 
 Conscientious, public-spirited, bountiful, clear- 
 headed ; but works balkily in double harness, 
 especially with the present Fellows. 
 
 1835 E. Rookwood Hoar 
 
 Hereditarily fond of the College; strong-minded; 
 but too much like the present Fellows ; would 
 swear that black was white, if contraried. 
 
 1836 William Mmot 
 
 An old-fashioned man of excellent judgment 
 and the loftiest character. 
 
 1837 Richard H. Dana, Jr. 
 
 Sincerely attached to the College, and widely 
 known ; not marked by common sense. One 
 of my comrades adds : A happy faculty at 
 making enemies. 
 
 1839 Samuel Eliot 
 
 A scholar, experienced educator, disinterested, 
 devoted worker, known as a churchman, — 
 but a cousin of the president. 
 
 1840 J. Elliot Cabot 
 
 The most accomplished scholar among the 
 graduates not connected with the College; 
 a man of very judicial mind and noble char- 
 acteristics. 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 167 
 
 William G. Russell 
 
 ' Mens Sana ia corpore sano,' interested in the 
 College, sagacious, judicious. 
 1841 Francis E. Parker 
 
 Scholarly, shrewd, friendly to the College ; but 
 as his peculiarities are cultivated, his nature 
 dies out. 
 
 1843 John Lowell 
 
 Very eligible — if an orphan. 
 William A. Richardson 
 
 With a reputation "strictly national;" might 
 be had if wanted. 
 
 1844 Francis Parkman 
 
 Interested in the CoUege, of extensive literary 
 reputation, of uncertain judgment, but abun- 
 dant firmness. 
 1849 Martin Brimmer 
 
 No want save that of scholarship. 
 1855 Theodore Lyman 
 
 Spirited, lively, but light-headed at times, and 
 a cousin of one of the FeUows. 
 Phillips Brooks 
 
 A liberal churchman, an affectionate son of 
 Harvard ; fancy that his talent lies chiefly in 
 preaching. 
 Alexander Agassiz 
 
 A scholar, level-headed, disinterested, wise man. 
 1859 Francis V. Balch 
 
 Not widely known yet outside his profession ; 
 but highly respected where known for his 
 wisdom and perfect integrity." 
 
168 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Other instances of this descriptive faculty are to be 
 fotmd in his account of the Harvard Washington Corps, 
 and his paper on the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, 
 and indeed in many places scattered through his writings. 
 There is no " f ortemque Gyan, f ortemque Cloanthum " 
 in his lists of heroes; each one of them has his own 
 proper distinguishment, done with a quick, clever touch, 
 — half a dozen lively words often making a portrait. 
 In his article on " University Hall " ia the " Hai-vard 
 Book," his somewhat more elaborate sketches of pro- 
 fessors and tutors of his day are pen pictures such aa 
 many a famous novelist would be thankful to emulate. 
 
 His sketch of the members of the Boston Brigade 
 Band, "in the forties," even going back in his "loose 
 reminiscences to the twenties," is as clever a gallery of 
 lively portraiture as one can read anywhere : 
 
 "The oldest musician I recollect, never perhaps of 
 the Brigade Band, but leader at one time of a green- 
 coated band, got up to accompany the Rifle Rangers in 
 their new green uniforms under Sidney Bartlett, was 
 Sam Wetherbee, a tall, sturdy man with very big calves 
 which he sometimes dressed in leather gaiters, knee-high. 
 He played the fife, and in the band the French horn, 
 and he had the most wrinkled face I ever saw. 
 
 " One of the members of the Brigade Band was Mann, 
 a hooked-nose, cadaverous-faced man, who played the 
 serpent, I think, and at parties the violin, Jim Kendall 
 was the first leader of the band, a muscular, well-formed 
 man, a famous clarinet player and very quarrelsome. I 
 remember at a concert given at Masonic Temple, for 
 some eminent comet player, KendaU packed up his 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 169 
 
 instrument and started to flounce away because this 
 cornetist had held up his hand to enjoin more softness. 
 Upon Tom Comer's remonstrance, Kendall made a jingo 
 speech about his rights, etc., but was at last coaxed into 
 submission. He left the band in a huff, I understood, 
 and was succeeded by Fillebrown, a clarinet player and 
 many years leader. Ned Kendall, the fifer and unri- 
 valled bugler, never joined the Brigade to my knowl- 
 edge, but played in the Cadet Band, formed by Jim 
 when he quitted the Brigade Band. He was a tall, 
 rather fine-looking man, and got haggard from late 
 hours or some other cause. 
 
 " In the Cadet Band also was Downes, a dark-haired, 
 handsome Englishman, who played the octave flute or 
 piccolo. He was in the Tremont Theatre orchestra, as 
 was Warren, stark, straight, deacon-looking, who played 
 the violin and belonged also, I think, to one of the bands. 
 
 " Another orchestra musician who belonged to one of 
 the bands was Pierce, an oldish man with rounded back 
 and good face. He played the bassoon or bass horn, I 
 forget which. His son was well known as a dealer in 
 East India silk handkerchiefs, prominent in the old 
 Mercantile Library Association. 
 
 " In the Brigade Band was another straight, well set- 
 up, soldier-like man, who played the trombone, also 
 Niebuhr, a flat, broad-faced German ; and by the side of 
 big-bellied Azel White marched Lem Clark with his 
 French horn. Lem was a crusty customer, and became 
 drum major, the first time in September 1830, on Cen- 
 tennial Day, and afterwards with the Cadets. He wore 
 a scarlet coat, flat cocked hat, and carried a red baton, 
 
170 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 which he never knew how to swing, saying * he was n't 
 going to play any of them monkey tricks.' 
 
 " There was a Ijass drummer, a very straight, showy 
 man, named Stanley, who in his old age, as a fifer, lost 
 all his style, and generally wore a two days' beard ; he 
 was a cobbler. 
 
 " This unkempt look characterized musicians then as 
 it does now. The drummers and fifers were seldom 
 dressed alike, except that the Cadets, New England 
 Guards and City Guards had them uniformed, the first 
 in scarlet and white, the reverse of their white and 
 scarlet, the others in white with red trimmings." 
 
 The chatty, somewhat garrulous, discursive quality of 
 Mr. Lee's talk and of his newspaper writing marked 
 also the speeches and addresses of which he delivered a 
 great number on occasions political and social The 
 style was not quite so well fitted for formal use, but 
 with his usual shrewd and just appreciation he knew 
 that in a moderate quantity it would be eminently 
 agreeable, and he therefore rarely spoke at great length, 
 and always took pains to illumine his remarks with 
 some of the apt and often humorous quotations and 
 literary allusions of which, as has already been said, he 
 had an endless store. Upon grave public occasions he 
 scarcely endeavored to make weighty speeches, but 
 he was happily able to lighten the tedium of the more 
 stupendous oratory. At gatherings of a more social 
 character he had no rival as a presiding officer or as a 
 speaker. 
 
 During his long life he wrote a great deal in the same 
 vein in which he talked and spoke. As he talked better 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 171 
 
 than he spoke, so he spoke better than he wrote. In 
 his writing there seemed a certain fragmentary char- 
 acter; his thoughts succeeded each other too rapidly; 
 not infrequently a single sentence held too many sug- 
 gestions and allusions, and so became complex, and had 
 to be re-read. Such was his animation that he never 
 had his pen long in his hand before he found an imagi- 
 nary auditor before him, and he instinctively allowed 
 himself those liberties which one can properly take in 
 speaking, when aided by facial expression, emphasis and 
 inflection, but which are apt seriously to disfigure 
 writing. He was conscious of these defects and avoided 
 them only by the exercise of some labor. Perhaps it 
 was for this reason that he rarely made any sustained 
 effort in literature. The article in the "Atlantic 
 Monthly" on Mrs. Kemble, the contribution to the 
 " Harvard Book," a couple of lectures on John Win- 
 throp, never published, and perhaps one or two more 
 papers are aU which can be called elaborate. Most of 
 his newspaper writing on political and other contem^ 
 porary matters was of an excellence rare in those days, 
 always with "snap" and "go" in abundance. But 
 such work has to be served hot, read at the time that it 
 is written; it seems but a cold dish when the event 
 which it concerned is recalled with difficulty. 
 
 The following, by " Senex," on Labor Day, is a good 
 specimen of his racy style : 
 
 " To THE Editor of the Tbansceipt : — 
 
 " The spirit evinced by the men on Labor Day and 
 their mottoes confirmed my prejudices against this insti- 
 
172 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 tution. You may celebrate a Carpenter's Day, a Law- 
 yer's Day, a Merchant's Day, but it is invidious to 
 appoint a Good Man's Day, or a Rich Man's Day, or a 
 Laborer's Day. 
 
 " Who is a laborer? Surely you do not confine that 
 universal attribute to the men who come slouching into 
 your house, at say 8 A. M. and depart at 4 P. M., sent 
 hither by the plumber, the mason, the carpenter. By 
 such limitations you set up a distinction without a 
 difference, and the so-called laborers seemed to resent 
 the distinction; the mottoes on their banners evinced 
 not honest pride and satisfaction, but savage discon- 
 tent. Here were men, many of them translated from 
 starvation to plenty, from a land of restriction to a 
 land of liberty, men well paid for short hours of 
 labor, dwelling in a city provided with schools, parks, 
 play-grounds, churches, hospitals, societies for the dis- 
 tressed in mind, body or estate, supplemented by 
 individual efforts to succor the unfortunate, as the 
 columns of your paper manifest every day of the year; 
 here were men of various callings, showing by their 
 dress and by their banners that they were not proud, 
 but ashamed, of their labors, discontented with their 
 lot; that so fer from recognizing the evidences of 
 interest and co-operation upon the part of their em- 
 ployers and fellow-citizens and of the government in 
 provision for their health, comfort, advancement, re- 
 creation, and responding in a friendly spirit, they 
 sought to emphasize their bitterness by anarchical mot- 
 toes of the French Revolution order, ending with this 
 doggerel : 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 173 
 
 The downfall of classes 
 Together with gold 
 Means the uprise of masses 
 With blessings untold. 
 
 " "We wish that the governor or mayor addressing these 
 paraders had denounced severely this baseless talk about 
 masses and classes in a country of equality before the 
 law, and condemned its malign spirit. How would the 
 downfall of gold affect the 1416,000,000 deposits in our 
 Massachusetts savings banks, some of which I hope 
 belong to these dissatisfied laborers? and how would 
 the downfall of classes, who manage these institutions 
 faithfully and judiciously, with no reward save that of 
 doing good, affect these swaggerers? 
 
 " Parades I I wish we might abolish parades ; they en- 
 tail unwarrantable expense, they promote vanity, poverty 
 and shams. Sham soldiers (I do not include our well- 
 drilled, well-disciplined militia), sham brethren, sham 
 knights, sham patriarchs, sham red men, sham gentlemen, 
 sham noblemen, and why not sham dollars I The shop is 
 a store, the store an office, the apprentice of yesterday 
 is ' connected with the firm,' the returning expressman 
 is tendered a reception by his family, everybody is some- 
 body else, euphony and humbug flourish. The newly 
 rich son of a money-making father, honest or dishonest, 
 has a butler (we used to call him, when he came from 
 New Hampshire, the hired man), a valet, a taUy-ho 
 coach and guard who toots humble wayfarers off the 
 road; he talks of his father's old Madeira (which I 
 know his father bought of the grocer round the comer), 
 and speaks of his family so as to make the aged smile ; 
 in short, he is a nobleman. 
 
174 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 "There are more cocked hats and regalia, a greater 
 profusion of titles in the state of Massachusetts than in 
 all Europe; there are more medals upon the breast of 
 one of our militiamen than upon that of an Austrian 
 field marshal. The papers say that the laborers were 
 all neatly attired, many of the organizations uniformed 
 — all in keeping with their dissatisfaction with their 
 actual condition, out of keeping with their resources. 
 It matters not whether it is a laborer masquerading as 
 a gentleman in broadcloth, or a hoodlum gotten up in 
 a make-believe livery, or the son of old Gradgrind dis- 
 guised as a sporting nobleman on the box of his tally-ho 
 coach, — they are all equally shams, all tarred with the 
 same stick; reality disappears, distinctions are con- 
 founded, pretension quairels with pretension, the com- 
 mune is in the distance. 
 
 " The men who founded and developed this country 
 were the farmers, traders and mariners of New England; 
 they were, indeed, laborers, diligent in their business; 
 each and every day, from dawn to dusk, was labor 
 day for them; they were industrious, serious, frugal; 
 they indulged in no pretensions, no extravagances, no 
 disguises. 
 
 " In all our conversation let us call things by their 
 lowest terms and so keep on the firm earth; in all 
 public arrangements let us seek to compact, not to dis- 
 rupt, society by wanton distinctions. „ Sbnex " 
 
 When Lord Campbell's " Lives of the Lords Chancel- 
 lors " appeared, the living Lords Chancellors remarked 
 that it added to the terrors of death to think that their 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 175 
 
 biographies might be ■written by his Lordship. It might 
 almost have been said in Boston, e converao, that it 
 diminished the terrors of death to think that one's 
 obituary might be written by Colonel Lee. This func- 
 tion of an " Old Mortality " toiling in the newspapers 
 may not seem altogether attractive, but it really became 
 so when the writing was done with such a feeling and 
 gracious charm as Colonel Lee was able to give to it. 
 He held a picturesque memory of each old acquaint- 
 ance; he had a very kindly appreciation of his quali- 
 ties, and he was animated by sympathy for those who 
 would wish the departed one to be pleasantly remem- 
 bered. Accordingly he always succeeded in drawing a 
 striking portrait, in uttering praise which seemed just 
 and sincere, and in warming the whole with genuine 
 sentiment. For men and women, for the lowly as well 
 as for the highly placed, Colonel Lee loyally used his 
 rare faculty. For example: there was "old Logan," 
 as he was called, a negro who grew aged in service as a 
 waiter in Boston; he wore his woolly locks standing 
 out at each side of his head in a sort of ailes-de-pigeon 
 style, and as these became gray and almost white, old 
 Logan grew into a striking personality ; he was a good, 
 kindly, respectable man, and since not many families 
 had " indoor men servants," as they were called in those 
 days, Logan was an aide at nearly every dinner-party 
 at all beyond the ordinary. An English gentleman, 
 well introduced, passed several days in Boston, and one 
 of the things which he observed as noteworthy in the 
 city was that every family seemed to have a negro 
 butler, and that it was surprising to see how closely all 
 
176 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 these servants resembled each other in their somewhat 
 odd appearance. At last Logan died, full of years and of 
 humble honors, and Colonel Lee wrote a pleasant, kindly 
 tribute to him which would almost have compensated the 
 old man for the pain of departing, if he had only been 
 able to read such words from such a gentleman. A 
 collection of these writings is gathered further on ia 
 this volume, and they will be invaluable in many 
 Boston families. 
 
 One of the most caustic bits of writing which came 
 from Colonel Lee's pen was called forth by a matter 
 already referred to, but unfortunately was not given out 
 in the form in which he wrote it When Dr. Hale's 
 " Story of Massachusetts " was published, the haphazard 
 work stirred Colonel Lee, who resented ahke the count- 
 less en'ors and the flagrant omissions. He sent to The 
 Nation a criticism of extreme, but just, severity. It so 
 happened that Dr. William Everett, led by a similar 
 feeling, sent to the same newspaper an article of like 
 tenor. The literary editor of The Nation, as it was 
 understood, took both papers, combined them, inserted 
 some remarks of his own, and published the composite 
 article in the issue of March 3, 1892, under the title 
 of " History Made Readable." It was a most damna- 
 tory document, and excited much interest at the time. 
 Neither Colonel Lee nor Dr. Everett, whose names were, 
 by conjecture, associated with the critique, were over- 
 much pleased, for the interpolations of the editor were not 
 considered by everybody to be altogether in good taste. 
 The first half of Colonel Lee's original paper is devoted 
 to exposing a long list of errors of every possible van- 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 177 
 
 ety, so that one hardly knows whether to be more aston- 
 ished at the ignorance of the reverend author or at 
 the minute knowledge of the critic. Passing over this 
 portion, we find more to interest us in the latter part 
 of the review, dealing with events within, the personal 
 memory of both parties: 
 
 " ' General Butler called upon Governor Andrew io say 
 to Mm that he was sure that it was the intention of the 
 Southern leaders to bring the matter to the arbitrament of 
 war, . , . Northern states should not be unprovided for 
 such an emergency. Acting upon his advice Governor 
 Andrew sent a message to the Legislature, asking that it 
 might be considered in secrecy, etc., etc.^ It would be 
 discreditable to any citizen of Massachusetts, old enough 
 to see and hear what was going on in 1861, to make 
 this statement ; it is positively disgraceful for one who 
 pretends to write history. Early in December Mr. (not 
 yet governor) Andrew visited Washington, and per- 
 sonally acquainted himself with the aspect of national 
 affairs and with the views of representatives, both of 
 North and South, and after that the Honorable Charles 
 Francis Adams kept him acquainted, from day to day, 
 with the progress of events ; a confidential understand- 
 ing was established with General Scott, also with Mont- 
 gomery Blair and Edwin M. Stanton. There was a 
 furious snow storm on January 5, 1861, the day of This 
 inauguration. Without waiting for it to abate, his first 
 official act, immediately after the inaugural ceremonies, 
 was to despatch a confidential messenger to the gov- 
 ernors of Maine and New Hampshire to acquaint them 
 with his determination to prepare the active militia of 
 
 12 
 
178 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Massachusetts for instant service. The order for this 
 mobilization was issued January 16th, the equipments 
 ordered February 6th, — after a consultation with Gen- 
 eral Thayer of the U. S. Engineers and some other 
 ofScers ; a constant communication was kept up with 
 General Scott, who informed the Governor when the 
 troops would probably be sent for^ by what routes they 
 should come and other conditions. 
 
 "Contemporaries attributed these preparatory move- 
 ments to Governor Andrew and blamed and ridiculed 
 him accordingly ; they rightly held him responsible, for 
 it was he, and none but he, who took the wise initiative 
 which placed Massachusetts then in the van. 
 
 " ' On the 9th day of April 1861, Fort Sumter was fired 
 upon. Governor Andrew instantly issued his proclamw' 
 tion ordering into service the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh 
 Regiments.^ It was not on the 9th, but on the 12th of 
 April that Fort Sumter was fired upon. On the 15th 
 Governor Andrew received a telegram and subsequently 
 a formal requisition for troops. He immediately (on 
 the 15th) ordered the commanders of the Third, Fourth, 
 Sixth and Eighth Regiments to muster them forthwith, 
 and the next day he sent the same order to the Fifth 
 Regiment. 
 
 " ' On the 18th of April the Sixth Regimmt was mustered 
 on Boston Common, twenty-four hours after the proclama- 
 tion,^ which according to Mr. Hale was issued on the 9th 
 or 10th, some two hundred hours before. The fact is 
 that not on the 18th, but fearly in the morning of the 
 16th, the Thirdj Fourth, Sixth and Eighth Regiments 
 reached Boston, and because of the howling storm were 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 179 
 
 not mustered on Boston Common but barracked at once. 
 The Third, Fourth, Sixth all left in the afternoon of the 
 17th; the Third and Fourth for Fortress Monroe by 
 transports selected and held in readiness from the last of 
 January. The Eighth was despatched on the 18th ; the 
 Fifth, together with a battalion of rifles and a battery of 
 light artillery, at dawn of the 21st of April. 
 
 " We submit these criticisms in the hope that a second 
 edition may be issued free from these errors, some of 
 which may be called preposterous, none of which are 
 unimportant. 
 
 " The minor mistakes of misspelling names are unfair 
 to the reader, who has paid for a perfect book ; some of 
 the dates might have been omitted, but if they are given 
 they should be given correctly ; the historical mis-state- 
 ments which only vex the reader to-day will be mislead- 
 ing to another generation, who, knowing Mr. Hale to 
 have been an eloquent preacher and zealous philanthro- 
 pist, will presume that he must have been a well-informed 
 and conscientious historian, and will adduce his ' Story 
 of Massachusetts ' as chronicled by one, who from his 
 acknowledged intelligence and uprightness, and because 
 of his familiarity with men and events about his own 
 time, can be more implicitly relied upon than less famous 
 historians whose narratives conflict with his." 
 
 Most characteristic were these closing words. Colonel 
 Lee had meted out justice with rigid accuracy, and it 
 had fallen with crushing effect ; but before taking leave 
 of his subject he bethought him of some pleasant words, 
 true enough to contain a little real balm for the victim, 
 and he wrote them out before laying aside his pen. 
 
180 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 In the prolonged and desperate struggle waged under 
 the able leadership of Miss E. P. Sohier for the salvation 
 of the Old South Church, Colonel Lee naturally played 
 an energetic and conspicuous part. He acted as treas- 
 urer, and undoubtedly helped liberally to fill the treasury 
 of which he had charge. Of course aU the usual 
 machinery for stimulating public interest was resorted 
 to, and there was especially one meeting at which the 
 distinguished attendance had evidently not been left to 
 compose itself at haphazard. On this occasion Mr. Lee 
 read the treasurer's report, and as a sort of postscript 
 thereto this appeal : 
 
 " To subscribers to the fund for the preservation of 
 the ' Old South Meeting-House,' and to the public gen- 
 erally, I submit the following : 
 
 " To avert its immediate downfall, and to give the 
 people, far and near, time to collect and bring in their 
 contributions, a few persons have purchased the meeting- 
 house and the vacant land around it, and have placed it 
 in trust to await for a reasonable time the response of the 
 public. I am able to state that $150,000 have been 
 promised for the preservation of the building, provided 
 that the further sum of 1100,000 is contributed before 
 the first day of April next. 
 
 " It is hardly necessary to remind the inhabitants of 
 the ' old town of Boston,' or those who look back upon it 
 with affection as their birthplace or the home of their 
 ancestors, of the associations which attach to the building 
 •and to the ground upon which it stands. To recount 
 them is to recount the history of the settlement from its 
 beginning. It is the last of the Puritan meeting-houses 
 
PBRSOKAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 181 
 
 upon this peninsula ; and here, over two centuries ago, 
 in Madam Norton's pasture. Captain Thomas Savage 
 and his associates built the meeting-house of ' the Third 
 Church.' It was in this building that Chief Justice 
 Sewall, with great Christian magnanimity, supplicated 
 for mercy, on the Lord's day, in open congregation, for 
 having under the popular delusion condemned to death 
 the innocent Salem witches ; it was here that Franklin 
 was baptized on the day of his birth, and it was here 
 he worshipped with his parents. 
 
 " The present meeting-house is associated with stormy 
 town-meetings of patriots, wrought to indignation by 
 the massacre of their townsmen, or driven by the ex- 
 acting tyraimy of their blind rulers to revolutionary 
 deeds. At its door the band of Mohawks sounded the 
 war-whoop as they rushed to the wharf where lay the tea- 
 ships. Here Hancock and "Warren, undaunted, rehearsed 
 ' the horrors of that dreadful night ' of the 7th of March, 
 1770, and here for a hundred years eloquent orators and 
 reverend divines have addressed the dignitaries of town 
 and state, moving hither in stately procession upon the 
 day of the annual election and the day of our national 
 independence. The very ground is historical, the oldest 
 historical spot upon our peninsula, for it formed a part 
 of the homestead of our patriarch, our first governor, 
 the wise and patient and disinterested Winthrop. If, as 
 John Adams has said, the Old State House is the birth- 
 place of American independence, surely this is tlie birth- 
 place of the Puritan Commonwealth. And in its tower, 
 which we gaze at as we pass to mark the passage of 
 time, were collected the annals of those early days, until 
 
182 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Burgoyne turned the meeting-house into a riding-school 
 for his dragoons, and these precious records were stolen 
 or wantonly destroyed by the ignorant soldiers. It is an 
 ancient landmark, one of our last and most historic. 
 Remove it not ; its presence dignifies our city and lends 
 to it a touch of that old-world charm which we New 
 Englanders so admire elsewhere. Its absence would 
 reproach us, and disgust the stranger who comes within 
 our gates. There are sermons in stones ; heed them." 
 
 Later on, the same evening, he made the following 
 speech : 
 
 " In the report just read I have merely glanced at the 
 chief events which have lent historic interest to the Old 
 South Meeting-House, and I think they are as many as 
 are associated with any building. In parting with many 
 of our historic buildings we have met Mrith not only a 
 sentimental, but an historical, loss. The Province House, 
 at the time the state parted with it, was worth, with its 
 half acre of land, about $20,000 ; and we can easily see 
 that it would have been a wise economy on the part of 
 the state or city to have secured and retained it for their 
 own purpose rather than to have built the expensive 
 building since erected. The Hancock House, which 
 was offered a few years ago to the public, was sold 
 for $125,000, with the large tract of land which still 
 remained around it. Within a year of that time the 
 state expended between $200,000 and $300,000 in tor- 
 turing the State House, — a most respectable, stately 
 building, — into one of the most intricate nests of ugly 
 confectioners' cells that I have ever seen. The Han- 
 cock House, and buildings which could have been 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 183 
 
 cheaply put up on vacant land around it, would have 
 afforded more room, and at the same time its vener- 
 able associations would have been preserved. And so 
 it has been with the other buildings which have passed 
 away. There still remain to us two of the most ancient 
 of our historic buildings, — the Old State House and 
 the Old South, both memorable as buildings can be, 
 marking events all along our brief history. If the 
 Old State House may be fairly called ' the place where 
 our national independence was bom,' where James Otis 
 pleaded against the writs of assistance, we can certainly 
 say, without exaggeration, that the homestead of John 
 Winthrop, who was the Alfred of our colony, was the 
 home where the Puritan Commonwealth was bom. 
 There is a curious inconsistency in our people. They 
 are very liberal in building new monuments, and do 
 not object to using the state's money or the town's 
 money for that purpose. But they have the idea that 
 the old monument, which has got shabby, is no longer 
 to be preserved. I don't see that trait in our people 
 when they travel abroad. They do not stop in Liver- 
 pool to see the new docks or the new buildings. They 
 go up to Chester to see the old buildings. They don't 
 go to look at the recently erected palaces of Belgravia in 
 London ; they go to the Tower, which I think is equally 
 shabby with the Old South. Even in Edinburgh, hand- 
 some as modern Edinburgh is with its classic architec- 
 ture, they do not spend time there ; they go over to the 
 historical localities of the place to pass their time, — the 
 old wynds and closes, with all their attendant repulsive- 
 ness and dangers. It is a curious thing that they don't 
 
184 MEMOIK OF COLOITEL HENRY LEE 
 
 find shabbiness there, and do not confound homeliness 
 witb ugliness. Here they seem to have a different stand- 
 ard. But they say : ' This is a very different thing. The 
 Old South has no such history as those localities have.' 
 I don't know when we shall have history if we keep pull- 
 ing down our historical buildings as we go along. It 
 wiU be rather difficult to establish any history without 
 any reminder. It seems to me we should hardly like 
 to resolve ourselves into Communists and destroy our 
 Hotel de Ville or Sainte Chapelle. (Perhaps the lat- 
 ter name would not be appropriate to the buildings we 
 are now speaking of, as no religious services can now be 
 held there.) We don't want to destroy any of our his- 
 toric buildings ; and if we do, we in reality incur the 
 reproach of communism. I, for one, believe it would be 
 an economic matter to-morrow for Boston to tax every 
 citizen for the sake of preserving these two old buildings. 
 I think the interest which they lend to the city, and the 
 value which they possess in various aesthetic and other 
 ways, would quite compensate for any tax which should 
 be imposed for their preservation. 
 
 "I cannot, ladies and gentlemen, expatiate on these 
 matters as some others might do. Fortunately, we have 
 upon our committee both poets and historians. It has 
 been said that Robert Burns and Walter Scott bmlt the 
 roads through Scotland, and it is not too much to expect 
 of our poets and our historians to save the Old South. 
 We have here to-day a gentleman who is identified with 
 the earliest generation of Puritans. I read in Governor 
 Winthrop's narrative of ' John Eliot, member of the 
 Boston congregation, and one whom the congregation 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 185 
 
 intended to call to the office of teacher, but who was 
 called to be a teacher to the church at Roxbury; and 
 though Boston labored all they could, both with the 
 congregation at Roxbury, and with Eliot himself, alleg- 
 ing their want of him, and the covenant between them, 
 yet he could not be diverted from accepting the call of 
 Roxbury; so he was dismissed.' Now we have a de- 
 scendant of the Eliot family here, and I should like 
 to inquire whether there is an aristocracy of teachers in 
 this country, — whether all the Eliots are called upon 
 to be ' teachers.' If so, I wish he would teach us how 
 to save the Old South. I don't know of any man more 
 able to do it." 
 
 Upon occasions of this sort many persons allow them- 
 selves to be urged into uttering "a few appropriate 
 words," without much caring about the matter in hand ; 
 but this was far from being the case with Colonel Lee ; 
 his whole heart was enlisted in every cause of this kind ; 
 he would have held every monument of old Boston as 
 sacred as an altar. The genuineness of his feeling gave 
 to his speeches an unwonted charm and influence, though 
 it may sometimes have lent to his arguments a quality 
 more specious than practical. But the ardor which led 
 a sound-headed man of affairs to speak thus supplied 
 the force which the arguments lacked. His impromptu 
 speech on behalf of the State House, as Mr. Bulfinch 
 designed it, was one of those rare addresses which have 
 exerted practical influence on the preconceived opinions 
 of men. Though uttered without premeditation, it was 
 more often referred to and with more praise than any 
 other thing of the like kind which he did. Apart from 
 
186 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 the preservation of the Old South, so far as this was pro- 
 moted hy him, it is true that we see no definite results 
 of his conservative efforts. Monument after monument 
 has gone to destruction, in spite of him. Yet no one 
 knows how much worse the havoc might have been had 
 he held his peace ; for such interest as he felt is conta- 
 gious, and his talk down town and with his friends 
 unquestionably stimulated a reverence for the ancient 
 things of the city. When he wrote or spoke of 
 them, he was listened to with interest, for aU knew 
 that his words were poured forth not only from ful- 
 ness of knowledge, but from fulness of the heart 
 also. 
 
 A letter to Miss Jewett, written not many years before 
 his death, is tinged a little with the not altogether reason- 
 able regrets of old age over vanishing days, but it ex- 
 presses well his pleasing sentiment, his gracious reverence 
 for the past times : 
 
 " My dbab Miss Jbwbtt : — 
 
 ^Moving and a slight illness have delayed my ac- 
 knowledging the receipt of the New England Magazine 
 for July, 1894, containing your pretty history of Berwick, 
 which came back to me as I re-read it. 
 
 " When locomotion was limited to the possibilities of 
 the stagecoach or the one-horse chaise, and society radi- 
 ated no farther, people made themselves busy and happy 
 within this circle; and nothing now corresponds to it 
 in cosiness or heartiness, when the alternative is to go 
 to a concert in Boston or Denver. In Boston in my 
 boyhood the houses were for the most part detached 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 187 
 
 garden houses; there was no quarter for the rich, they 
 and the poor, successful and unsuccessful members of 
 the same family, perhaps, — at least of the same stock, 
 — dwelt in the same quarter ; there were only enough 
 foreigners to exercise benevolence on, not to intrude; 
 families and friends built courts (no thoroughfares) to 
 dwell in together, and there was a personal recognition 
 and co-operation in aU affairs, — social, municipal, eccle- 
 siastical, educational, — which was wholesome. We all 
 lived in this little world ; all our work and all our play 
 were there. 
 
 "We have lost two classes which gave flavor to our 
 society then, which built up this country, — farmers 
 and sailors, — by our stupid Chinese tariff, the men 
 who had seen the wonders of the deep and those 
 who had subdued the forests ; and both had seen God. 
 They were the backbone of our society and we have 
 lost them wantonly. It makes me cynical to hear what 
 a beautiful city we have made Boston, what beautiful 
 parks, what a handsome quarter is Back Bay. I shut 
 my eyes and see the lovely old Boston Emerson 
 pictures, — 
 
 The rocky nook -with hill-tops three 
 Looked eastward from the farms, 
 And twice each day the flowing sea 
 Took Boston in its arms, 
 
 a proud little historic town, peopled by homogeneous 
 folks of a marine or rustic flavor, when the town melted 
 into the country insensibly, the old natural country, 
 not the chromo-boulevard-parklike country, which is 
 better than nothing, but which is as like the old as 
 
188 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 the wig is to the natural hair. (I have been a Park 
 Commissioner myself.) 
 
 "I wanted to say to you how Mrs. Lee and I have 
 enjoyed your stories as they have come out, — none 
 more than the ' Country of the Pointed Firs,' the 
 buxom, hearty, hospitable herb-collector, her relations 
 with her mother and shy, sensitive brother over at the 
 island, a gentlemanly, shy old man who has been a 
 traveler, alasl 
 
 " When you are eighty years, my dear Miss Jewett, 
 you will fail to remember what you read only some 
 months since and felt sure of recollecting. I only know 
 that I was so delighted with your story that I was 
 tempted to break through privacy and dwell upon its 
 subtle charms ; it seemed as if you must have been the 
 boarder and brought away photographs of some of the 
 scenes so graphically drawn." 
 
 When the West End Street Railway Company made 
 its villainous raid to capture Boston Common, Colonel 
 Lee uttered his angry denunciation against a "greedy 
 corporation which, backed by clamorous, unscrupulous 
 suburbans, who desire to combine the advantage of 
 cheap land in the country with cheap conveyance 
 through the city at the expense of those who pay the 
 city taxes, proposes to invade the Common. 
 
 "One suburban proprietor states that immediate 
 relief is imperative, and that a line of electric cars must 
 he run across the Common for their accommodation; 
 and Mr. Hyde, counsel for the West End Railway, sees 
 no objection, meaning, we suppose, that the railway sees 
 no objection. 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 189 
 
 " One legal gentlemen, paid or unpaid, elicited great 
 applause by stating the question to be : ' Is the Common 
 made for Boston, or is Boston made for the Common ? ' 
 This was very smart, and calculated to make the un- 
 skilful laugh and the judicious grieve. This astute 
 lawyer and his brother Hyde seek to obscure the real 
 question : Is the Common made for untaxed suburbans 
 and a brazen-faced railroad company, or is it intended 
 for the breathing space, the resting-place of tired 
 mothers, pent up children, weary workmen, who have 
 neither time nor strength nor money to travel to Frank- 
 lin Park or any of the distant pleasure-grounds availed 
 of by the wealthy citizens ? 
 
 " Is the city government at liberty to alienate this old 
 historic Common field, or does the city charter still 
 except this and Faneuil Hall from the property of the 
 city which they are allowed to lease or sell ? 
 
 " Mr. Matthews states that while 3,000 antiquarians 
 in Boston would object to using the Common for rapid 
 transit, 500,000 people would vote for it. It seems as if 
 there must be more than 3,000 descendants of the brave 
 founders of Boston and of the patriotic generations who 
 have made its proud history, who would resist the 
 tearing down of the ' Old State House,' or the ' Old 
 South,' or who would forbid the City Council to violate 
 the charter by selling Faneuil HaU, or encroaching upon 
 the Common, or cutting down Bunker Hill, in order to 
 convey some impatient suburbans gratuitously through 
 the breadth and length of the ' Old Town of Boston.' " 
 
 Colonel Lee had much liking for the country, but was 
 -of course too much concerned in active and social life to 
 
190 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 bury himself in remote rural regions; nor was his taste 
 so much for wild and un;tamed nature as it was for estates 
 which had felt the civilizing hand of man, such as in his 
 day lay within a dozen miles of Boston. He had an 
 extensive knowledge concerning them, especially con- 
 cerning all which had any claim to what passes for 
 antiquity with us. For a few years, from 1873 to 1885, 
 he occupied a house in Boston during the winter ; but 
 most of his life was passed in Brookline, where he first 
 built and occupied a brick house on an estate which had 
 been bought by himself and his father. These grounds 
 lay beautifully on the southerly slope of a hill, with 
 abundance of fine trees and an antique garden. The 
 first reservoir, which was built when Cochituate water 
 was introduced into Boston, lay directly in front of them, 
 at the foot of the hill. The history of the place, in addi- 
 tion to its own charm, was a source of pleasure to Colonel 
 Lee, for it had belonged to one of the old and well-known 
 families. He wrote concerning it to Colonel Marshal P. 
 Wilder, when that gentleman was compiling his book : 
 
 " My dear Colonel Wilder : — 
 
 • ••■•• 
 
 " In the year 1850 my father and I purchased a portion 
 of the old Boylston place opposite the Brookline Reser- 
 voir. The old mansion house in wliich was born Susan- 
 nah Boylston, the mother of President Adams, was taken 
 down and the present house built in 1738, and is a fine 
 specimen of the country houses of the provincial era, 
 with its ample fire-places, well-wrought panelling, arched 
 and pilastered alcoves, wide and easy staircase, carved 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS} LITERARY LABORS 191 
 
 balustrades, etc. The present house was the house of 
 the famous Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, who was first mobbed 
 and nearly killed, and afterwards honored in this country 
 and England, for introducing inoculation for small pox ; 
 he was the uncle of old John Adams. Some of the great 
 elms under which John Adams played as a boy still 
 cluster about the old house, and I have a letter from him 
 to his ' Cousin Boylston,' written when he was about 
 ninely years old, expatiating upon the beauty of the old 
 place, its extended views, etc., and begging Boylston to 
 buy it back from Mr. Hyslop, who then owned it. 
 
 " My father lived here half the year from 1850 till his 
 death in 1867, gathering and distributing his crops of 
 cherries, pears and apples, keeping off the canker worms, 
 nursing his plantations of deciduous and evergreen trees 
 with as much interest as if his livelihood depended on 
 his success. It is a most attractive old country seat 
 sloping to the south; the trees were always in blossom a 
 week earlier than elsewhere ; a large old-fashioned gar- 
 den with fruit and flowers lay east of the house, the lawn 
 sloped gently down to the road. The rest of the grounds 
 were covered with apple trees, some of which were 
 gradually cleared away to make room for ornamental 
 planting. My brick house stands upon the site of the 
 old barnyard, with two broad terraces connecting it with 
 the rapidly sloping ground in front. 
 
 "The hill-side above and below my house is quite 
 densely planted with evergreens intermingled with 
 shrubberies, as I lived here only during the winter 
 months, spending my summer at my sea-side house at 
 Beverly Farms. My trees grew so rapidly that I have 
 
192 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 been obliged to thin out constantly, and to shear my 
 evergreens into masses, as I do my evergreen hedges. 
 
 " ' Old Thomas Lee,' to whom you refer, was my 
 father's brother, who for forty or fifty years spent his 
 summers at his place near Jamaica Pond, which, in my 
 opinion, was the best piece of landscape gardening near 
 Boston. The park-like wood, the well grouped planta- 
 tions of shrubs of every variety with their constant suc- 
 cession of flowers, the vistas, the lawn for many long 
 years unrivalled,- the footpaths winding about natur- 
 ally, as dictated by obstacles or the undulations of the 
 ground, the insertion of native or foreign shrubs and 
 plants in their appropriate places, as if springing up 
 spontaneously, — in short, the art of concealing art has 
 never been carried so far by any of his contemporaries. 
 
 " It seemed an act of ingratitude to allow this place, 
 upon which he had bestowed so much thought and love, 
 to be sold, — but every one of my uncle's six nephews 
 and nieces had country seats of their own to which they 
 were attached ; so this rare bit of landscape was sold to 
 Mr. D wight, and by him to Mr. Sargent, who has united 
 it with his grounds and changed it altogether." 
 
 After the death of his wife's mother Colonel Lee occu- 
 pied her house, about half a mile from his former place. 
 This property was already well cared for ; but he so 
 improved it that it became one of the most attractive 
 suburban estates in the neighborhood. At Beverly 
 Farms, also, on the North Shore of Massachusetts Bay, 
 he had a fine headland which he bought in 1845. Colo- 
 nel Lee used to tell, with his amused smile, how the 
 native owner thought that the city greenhorn who came 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 193 
 
 to him to buy that gravel bank and parcel of rooks had 
 been sent, as it were, by the thoughtfulness of a good 
 God, and how he joyously delivered the deeds in exchange 
 for a small sum of the colonel's money. The fisherman- 
 farmer lived to change his mind when Mr. Lee, by his 
 skill and patience, by his loaming and planting, in the 
 lapse of time made these barren acres one of the most 
 beautiful points in the whole length of that famous 
 coast. 
 
 He had a natural aptitude for landscape gardening, 
 with a good knowledge of trees and of horticulture. He 
 knew and loved the native wild flowers, and always 
 noted them in his wanderings. When he travelled 
 abroad his diaries indicate that proper interest in the 
 pictures and the churches, which, of course, always in- 
 spires a cultivated gentleman making the " grand tour," 
 but in every trip from one town to another he notes, 
 unprompted by the guide book of Mr. Baedeker, every 
 variety of flower blooming by the wayside. So when he 
 went to New Berne during the Civil War, amid all the 
 excitement and novelty of the panorama of a real cam- 
 paign, having his brother, his relatives and his friends as 
 active dramatis personse, he yet mentions in nearly every 
 letter to his wife the flowers and shrubs and trees which 
 he finds there. Only once, and not for a very long time, 
 his taste and knowledge were utilized for the public 
 service. He was one of the three or four fit men who 
 have ever been appointed upon our various Park Com- 
 missions. It was quite a matter of course that a new 
 Mayor, " fulfiMing the purpose for which the ring nomi- 
 nated and elected him," set aside Colonel Lee and Mr. 
 
 13 
 
194 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Gray, and in their places appointed "two Democratic 
 politicians, whose knowledge of parks was not of the 
 greatest." 
 
 In 1893 Colonel Lee thought that the enthusiasm for 
 parks had been somewhat overdone. In the course of 
 an article in which he strenuously opposed the scheme 
 for the Charles River Embankment, he said : 
 
 " The benefit of parks has been demonstrated, and a 
 certain acreage, well selected and distributed and suffi- 
 ciently opened up with walks and frugally embellished 
 with trees, shrubs and vines, should be provided. 
 
 " But we have gone mad upon the subject. We have 
 laid out too many parks, and have tormented the grounds 
 out of their pristine beauty, and on these superfluous 
 earthworks and on imported and rare plants have lav- 
 ished money until the maintenance of these parks and 
 parkways will impose an annual tax of millions. 
 
 " Setting aside the problem of expense, these parka 
 are all beautiful, beneficial; but this new project of a 
 prolonged Charles River Embankment is the maddest 
 of all ; it would not only not be beneficial, but destruc- 
 tive of one of the most precious relics of the old town 
 of Boston." 
 
 The disastrous advent of Mr. Doogue into the Public 
 Garden aroused Colonel Lee's ire. He hastened into 
 print, as usual : 
 
 " I am glad to see a sensible protest against the vul- 
 gar bedizening of the Public Garden, many thousands of 
 dollars spent every year to lessen instead of to increase 
 its charm. The French have an expressive phrase for 
 overdoing in architecture, which applies to Mr. Doogue's 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 195 
 
 injudicious elaborations, tro'p tourmenti, and while the 
 public purse would be repleted, the public eye would be 
 rested by the substitution of well-shorn, well-wet, weU- 
 fed sod for ribbon gardening, or misplaced, profuse beds 
 of briUiant flowers. Grass, trees, flowering shrubs and 
 sparse perennials are the proper ornaments of a public 
 garden; these, arranged with reference to habits of 
 growth, time of flowering, harmony of color, would 
 gratify the eye more than this crude gorgeousness. 
 
 " We regret to say that Mr. Olmsted sins as well as 
 Mr. Doogue ; he spends vast sums in too much interven- 
 tion, too much fussing, too extravagant planting." 
 
 The next day he condemned " the crowded, bedizened 
 beds of discordant-colored tulips," complaining that 
 "such an excess of gorgeousness begets satiety." 
 
 These protests, however, seemed to act, as such pro- 
 tests so often do, rather as stimulants than as deterrents 
 in respect of the evil complained of. 
 
 In Brookline he conducted a desperate and prolonged 
 defence against the widening of Boylston Street for the 
 accommodation of the electric cars. The counsel for the 
 destroyers said with beautiful eloquence that " the tide 
 of humanity which is advancing over Brookline " re- 
 quired the widening, but Colonel Lee was successful in 
 staying the project for a time. It is only since his death 
 that modem civilization has won its usual fatal success, 
 and that the once beautiful road has become a hideous 
 " boulevard." " The word boulevard," said Colonel Lee, 
 "like all unintelligible words, supposed to stand for some- 
 thing magnificent, has misled our people into building 
 most unreasonably wide roads with expanses of gravel 
 
196 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 never driven over ; costly to make, more costly to keep,' 
 and an eyesore to the lover of landscape." Apart from 
 the special mischief plotted against Boylston Street, and 
 incidentally against his beautiful place thereon, he always 
 held electric cars in especial odium, as many another 
 worthy citizen has done and still does ; and frequent 
 were the hostile screeds which the detestable machines 
 called forth from him. In the course of this struggle 
 in Brookline Colonel Lee made an appeal to sentiment 
 which, though it seemed a feeble pellet with which to 
 bombard an electric railway corporation, yet had an 
 effect which quite astonished the opposing counsel: 
 
 " Mr. Chandler says that my opposition is sentimental. 
 It is partly so. My affection for my place and its value 
 to the town are enhanced by the antiquity and history of 
 the old Boylston House, as I have endeavored to show. 
 It is sentiment that has moved me to plead for the 
 preservation of the Old State House, though its removal 
 would replenish my purse. It is sentiment which has 
 kept me for sixteen years treasurer of the fund for the 
 preservation of the Old South, which induced me to work 
 hard eleven years as treasurer of the Harvard Memorial 
 Fund, and it is sentiment which makes me cherish the 
 old trees and historic house which has passed into my 
 possession." 
 
 An amusing story is told of him in connection with 
 the extension of Commonwealth Avenue beyond Massa- 
 chusetts Avenue. When that highway was still a 
 mere expanse of freshly dumped gravel, Mr. Olmsted 
 was engaged to furnish a scheme for rendering it beau- 
 tiful. After duly pondering the problem he produced a 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS; LITERARY LABORS 197 
 
 plan in the usual style of landscape garden work, 
 streaked with meandering dabs of green paint indicative 
 of anticipated foliage. Colonel Lee, who had his rea- 
 sons for being interested in the matter, possessed him- 
 self of one of these expansive documents with its dreams 
 of umbrageous forest trees, glades and dells and general 
 boskiness. It was impressive, yet it failed to commend 
 itself to his skilled eye. Thereupon he had recourse to 
 his favorite game, played with bits of pasteboard cut 
 upon a scale and representing trees, groves and shrubs 
 of the average size ; these he laid upon Mr. Olmsted's 
 plan, with the result that they so overlapped each other, 
 and so encroached upon walks and roadway, that it was 
 . obvious that the park must be at least two stories high 
 to accommodate such a sylvan display. The conse- 
 quence of this demonstration was the abandonment of 
 the romantic scheme and the adoption of the present 
 system. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION — SUNDAY OCCUPA- 
 TIONS—DEATH 
 
 In his amusing and extravagant way Colonel Lee used 
 occasionally to allege that any New Englander who 
 was not a Unitarian must have some defect in his intel- 
 lectual make-up. Of course he himself was of that 
 creed; indeed, how could he have, been otherwise amid 
 the entourage of all those Lees, Jacksons, Cabots and 
 Higginsons, pillars of that faith, absorbing with rever- 
 ence every word spoken by the apostolic William Ellery 
 Channing, and most ingenuously bigoted in their revolt 
 against bigotry. He was puzzled and indignant that 
 anyone should still accept the stern and hateful doc- 
 trines which the old-time divines had bequeathed to 
 New England. On the other hand he was not at all 
 disturbed that one should cast aside all creeds and 
 almost all beliefs. It was the only instance in his life 
 when he seemed careless of dramatic proprieties, for 
 a man of his personal appearance ought to have been 
 seen regularly every Sunday performing all the obei- 
 sances and genuflections demanded by the Anglican 
 ritual; he would have been a fine and striking figure 
 in a congregation of High Church Episcopalians; the 
 only excuse for him is that in his early days the churches 
 of this creed were in a very embryonic stage in Boston, 
 
ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION 199 
 
 having not yet been taken up by the fashionable set. In 
 his way, however, he was really devout, at least as de- 
 votion goes among Unitarians; he was a church-goer, 
 and often of a Sunday, when kept at home by some 
 cause, he would read a sermon to the family circle, and 
 read it so well, too, that they listened with some pleas- 
 ure. Obviously he would have emphatically denied 
 any assertion that he was not as believing a Christian 
 as the most strict of his orthodox neighbors. At a 
 dinner given to his friend, Frederick H. Hedge, D.D., 
 December 12, 1885, he said: 
 
 " Timidity and disingenuousness are not the charac- 
 teristics of Unitarian divines, rather of those who are 
 unfortunately hampered by a creed. But something 
 more than freedom from disingenuousness; a bluff, 
 downright utterance of the truth, the whole truth, 
 and nothing but the truth, characterized Dr. Hedge's 
 preaching. 
 
 "The sight of a huge, soft-wooded, open-grained, 
 rapid-growthed silver poplar with its pale bark, its 
 sprawling grandeur, asserting its place among the slow- 
 growthed, close-grained, hard-wooded hickories and 
 beeches and oaks, — irritates me and I long to have it 
 felled. So, when I am constrained to listen to the well- 
 turned sentences of a comely, flabby, sonorous utterer of 
 commonplaces or of borrowed thoughts, I am tempted, 
 as was a humorous friend of mine, impatient of the pre- 
 ternaturally soft and solemn talk of her minister, to say 
 'devil! devil! devil!' But when a man who has read 
 and thought and felt much pours out for me the lesson 
 of his sweet and bitter experience, in words which burn 
 
200 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 that lesson into my mind and heart, then I am instructed 
 and refreshed." 
 
 It Avas largely through the efforts of Mr. Lee that 
 the use of the Music Hall was secured for Theodore 
 Parker, when that quasi-divine was preaching on Sun^ 
 days a sort of secular sermon which shocked the good 
 Unitarians about as much as they themselves shocked 
 the good orthodox. The story cannot now be recov- 
 ered in exact form, but the purport was that a majority 
 of the proprietors of the hall, then newly constructed, 
 were strongly opposed to permitting it to be- used in 
 this manner. Prominent in this majority was Mr. 
 Lee's own caustic and formidable uncle, Mr. Thomas 
 Lee. But Mr. Lee, who owned only one share, by a 
 speech in which he ridiculed the idea of managing a hall 
 on sentimental grounds, routed the majority, and there- 
 after the people of the " new light," the " come outers," 
 gathered regularly on the sacred day to listen to the 
 profane addresses of a very good and a very eloquent 
 man. 
 
 So also in the early days, when Ralph Waldo Emer- 
 son was still anathema for all Christians save the most 
 advanced Unitarians, Mr. Lee had anticipated the feel- 
 ing of later years towards him. He once delivered at 
 Divinity Hall an address on " The Ministry as Viewed 
 by a Layman," in which he said: 
 
 " The gradual transition from liberalism to conserva- 
 tism is as natural, as inevitable, as the gradual transi- 
 tion from spring to fall, from the strength and freshness 
 of youth to the feebleness and dryness of age. The 
 Unitarian clergymen, who a few years before had been 
 
ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION 201 
 
 denounced by their Calvinistic brethren as radicals and 
 skeptics, were now presiding over parishes filled with 
 the wealthiest and most eminent citizens. 
 
 " The attitude of the church on slavery, temperance 
 and other social and political questions, was more cal- 
 culated to win the approval of their prosperous and 
 pi^udent parishioners than to raise it in the esteem of 
 sincere and enlightened Christians. They had moved 
 the old fences further along, so as to include their own 
 followers among accepted Christians, and were now, as 
 boundary commissioners, resting from their labors and 
 contemplating with serene self-satisfaction the excellent 
 worldly and spiritual condition of the community en- 
 folded within their liberal domain. 
 
 "Suddenly roused from their placid, not to say 
 drowsy, condition by the attempts of some young pre- 
 sumptuous persons to move or climb the fences so care- 
 fully fixed by themselves, they assumed the old position 
 of their Calvinistic brethren, and became rebukers in- 
 stead of defenders of freedom of thought, confident that 
 they had established the scientific boundary between 
 liberty and license, between well-considered and ill- 
 considered reform. This movement forward would have 
 taken place had Emerson never lived. It was as irre- 
 sistible as the movement of the glacier. But Emer- 
 son's influence in promoting and regulating it was very 
 great. 
 
 " Combining hereditary piety with openness of mind 
 and rare common sense, his outlook was that of a poet, 
 and at the same time of an acute, practical New Eng- 
 lander, steering with unerring instinct between stupid 
 
202 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 conservatism and impracticable reform. And his brief, 
 pregnant sentences, his modest serenity amid ridicule 
 and adulation, his sweet charity to those who followed 
 and those who turned away from him, gave him an as- 
 cendency over his fellow-men. 
 
 "He was our Moses. Early had he heard and an- 
 swered the voice of the Lord from out the burning 
 bush. It was he who, guided by the pillar of cloud by 
 day and fire by night, for forty years led the people 
 through the wilderness. It was he who, when they 
 were famishing, fed them with manna from heaven; 
 who, when they were dying of thirst, ' smote the rook 
 twice, and the water came out abundantly, and the con- 
 gregation drank.' Stigmatized as a skeptic, he rallied 
 the fugitives from pew and pulpit, driven off by that 
 worst form of materialism, that unpardonable sin against 
 the Holy Ghost, — the worship of forms and dogmas, — 
 and brought them to see God face to face. 
 
 '"And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he 
 did to the poeple, he said, "What is this thing that 
 thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself 
 alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning 
 until even?" And Moses said unto his father-in-law, 
 " Because the people come unto me to inquire of God." ' 
 
 "Which of the Beatitudes did he not exemplify? 
 Poor in spirit, meek, merciful, pure in heart, a peace- 
 maker, reviled and persecuted and falsely accused, this 
 child of God, the heir of earth and heaven, the light of 
 the world, passed to his great reward. 'And Enoch 
 walked with God, and he was not; for God took 
 him.' " 
 
ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION 203 
 
 There is also another paper of his which, on March 15, 
 1886, was "Spoken at a Social Meeting of our Brook- 
 line Church," and which in his copy is entitled: "Why' 
 we go to Church." The introductory paragraphs con- 
 tain not unfamiliar history ; after these, he continues : 
 
 "John Adams, in a letter to a French abb^, who 
 desired material for a history of the American Revolu- 
 tion, writes that there are four institutions which he 
 hopes will be preserved as the foundation of the liberty, 
 happiness and prosperity of the people. These four in- 
 stitutions are, — first, the towns ; second, the churches ; 
 third, the schools ; fourth, the militia. He might have 
 added that in the beginning there was but one institu- 
 tion, for our government was at first a theocracy, — the 
 church dominated the town, the school and the militia. 
 No man who was not a member of the church could 
 hold office or even vote; none save members of the 
 church could be freemen; the schools and colleges 
 were founded and directed chiefly by the clergy ; and 
 as to the militia, the heretical followers of Mrs. Anne 
 Hutchinson and the Reverend Mr. Wheelwright were 
 disarmed because of their heresies. The laws, and the 
 penalties for their violation, were drawn up by the 
 clergy from the cruel code of the Old Testament. How 
 little they were imbued with the spirit of the New 
 Testament, — these autocratic clergymen, — may be 
 judged by their treatment of Roger Williams, Mrs. 
 Anne Hutchinson and others, and their scourging and 
 hanging of the Quakers. Think of a married woman 
 of excellent repute compelled to stand on her feefc for 
 two whole days, and this, too, when in a condition to 
 
204 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 be harmed by fatigue or excitement, to be badgered 
 and cross-examined and insulted by a dozen or more 
 magistrates and clergymen because, forsooth, she had 
 dared to differ from said worthies on points of theology, 
 and to hold meetings of women at her house to discuss 
 these points and to criticise some of the clergy. And 
 this ordeal was followed by a prolonged inquisition and 
 then by banishment to the wilds where the pagan In- 
 dians, no more cruel than the Christian clergy, massa- 
 cred her and her children. Yet these men had the 
 heroism of the early martyrs, — tearing themselves away 
 from pleasant homes, they had endured the pang of 
 parting, the homesickness of exile, and ventured across 
 the seas to settle in a cold and barren wilderness full 
 of savage beasts and still more savage men, that they 
 might worship God in spirit and in truth; — ' thus saith 
 the Lord ' was their watchword, but they were more 
 saturated with theology than with charity; and fear 
 of schism, together with spiritual pride and the re- 
 membrance of their past sacrifices, had hardened their 
 hearts against dissenters. They magnified their ofiice, 
 they confounded the things which be Caesar's and the 
 things which be God's. They were, little by little, 
 stripped of their temporal power, as has been the Pope 
 of Rome in our day, and the schools emerged from 
 their thraldom. 
 
 " If, in the early years of this century, the temporal 
 power of the clergy was well nigh gone, the cruel 
 creed of Calvin still prevailed. Dr. Channing relates 
 the awful impression made upon him when a boy by 
 one of these gloomy discourses, so that he sat anxiously 
 
ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION 205 
 
 watching his father on their drive home, unable to utter 
 a syllable, until at last his father's whistling and his 
 subsequent serenity convinced the poor, terrified boy 
 that he did not believe the preacher. But while a 
 sturdy, clear-headed lawyer might reason himself free 
 from this hideous creed of man's devising, many sensi- 
 tive, devout women were crushed by morbid anxieties. 
 
 " I am asked why I go to church. I cannot conceive 
 what pleasure or profit could have been derived from 
 attending church up to this period in our history. At 
 the best it was unprofitable, at the worst it was . mad- 
 dening. Fortunately for me I was born after the Uni- 
 tarian movement had taken place, when the men most 
 capable of reasoning and of enduring the disapproba- 
 tion of their brethren filled the pulpits of the new sect. 
 Thacher and Buckminster were dead. They and Chan- 
 ning had, according to Dr. Kirkland, ' introduced a 
 new era in preaching.' It was a new era, a return to 
 the preaching of our Saviour, subordinating or reject- 
 ing theological dogma as a superstructure of ques- 
 tionable truth or unquestionable untruth ; substituting a 
 conviction of man's possible elevation for a belief in 
 his total depravity, representing God as a just and 
 merciful and ever-present Father instead of a distant 
 and offended Deity only to be reconciled by the blood 
 of the Lamb; rejoicing in the beauty and goodness of 
 this world pervaded by sweetness and light, instead of 
 moaning over it as a vale of tears shrouded by gloom ; 
 picturing the world to come as the sequence of this 
 with its record of good and evil, and not as the heaven 
 and hell to which erring mortals were capriciously con- 
 
206 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 signed to endure everlasting torment or to enjoy never- 
 ending felicity. Whoever reads the biographies of the 
 founders of Unitarianism will think better of the human 
 race, — so brave, so patient, so strong-minded, so disin- 
 terested, so true to their convictions were these men. 
 The correspondence of the Buckminsters, — father and 
 son, — reveals the distress caused by these divergences 
 of belief between persons closely bound together by love 
 and kinship. Born into a family on friendly relations 
 with most of these clergymen, I naturally regarded them 
 with respect and interest, within and without the pulpit. 
 President Kirkland's sententious sagacity and benignity, 
 Dr. Lowell's fervor and brevity, Dr. Walker's logic 
 and weighty matter, Mr. Greenwood's poetical strain, 
 his look like John the Evangelist, his solemn musical 
 reading of the liturgy, and last and greatest of all, the 
 eye and voice of Dr. Channing, his atmosphere of holi- 
 ness as, burdened with the gravity of his mission, he 
 struck awe into the hearts of his hearers ; — all these 
 and many more among the younger clergy, each with 
 his own peculiar angle of incidence, impressed and in- 
 terested me. Then the music, the hymns, had great 
 power over me. There were some that I could hardly 
 bear to hear sung, so affecting were they to a boy de- 
 pendent for his happiness on his parents and near rela- 
 tives, and inconsolable at the thought of their possible 
 loss. One great delight to me was, and always has 
 been, the ritual of the church, with its prayers for all 
 conditions of men, its chants, and above all, its re- 
 sponses, — all beautiful and hallowed by the use of 
 generations; and much as I have enjoyed the services 
 
ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION 207 
 
 in our Brookline church for thirty-four years, I still 
 long for the Chapel liturgy. 
 
 " It seems to me that when we assemble together to 
 worship God in the bond of love and in unity of spirit, 
 we should all take part in the hymns and in the read- 
 ing of the Psalms and in the prayers, and not devolve 
 the duty upon the minister alone. Lastly, the church, 
 or more properly the meeting-house, in which I wor- 
 shipped, the first Episcopal and the first Unitarian 
 church in Massachusetts, — the old King's Chapel, — 
 was to me irom my earliest years an object of affection. I 
 remember the impressions it made on me, a boy three 
 years old carried into the venerable building in the 
 arms of my father's hired man. How far it is well to 
 burn the lamp of sacrifice in building our churches, I 
 am not prepared to say. The old Puritan meeting- 
 houses were bare, but they were dignified and character- 
 istic ; but there were, and are, temples most pretentious 
 and inappropriate for worship. Truth compels me to 
 admit that there were, in my youthful days, some dry 
 and to me wearisome preachers, some whom I dreaded 
 to see mount the pulpit stairs. I remember one poor 
 country clergyman who boarded in a house with me, 
 one room serving for study as well as for chamber for 
 him, his sweet, delicate wife and perpetually crying 
 baby. Emerson says that where there is cinder in the 
 iron, there is cinder in the pay ; and so, inversely, where 
 there was weariness in the study, there was weariness 
 in the sermon. There were in those days more predes- 
 tined clergymen, predestined by their earthly father, and 
 hence more indifferent, incapable preachers than now. 
 
208 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " I went to church when a boy as everybody, young 
 and old, went, as a matter of course. Such was the 
 universal custom, and it was an age of authority, of 
 conformity to custom, few questions asked, — none 
 of the young. It would not be fair, however, to infer 
 that the community was more interested in religion be- 
 cause the attendance on church was more universal. 
 We lived then in walled towns ; the walls were not very 
 near, nor were they any more visible than the horizon. 
 The radius of the circuit of the walls was the accom- 
 plishment of a one-horse shay; society was restricted 
 by this primitive locomotion; within this compass they 
 must find their resources. Hence an interest in local 
 occasions ; — Commencement Day, Election Day, Inde- 
 pendence Day, Fast Day, Thanksgiving Day, were the 
 regular holidays; their ceremonies and exercises were 
 attended, and college and school exhibitions and minis- 
 ters' ordinations were included. One has only td go 
 back a few generations further to find that Judge 
 Sewall found great refreshment in funerals. There 
 might have been meagreness and provincialism in 
 such a limited circle of existence, but there was also 
 much heartiness, much co-operation, much warmth. 
 To me those days of familiar intercourse with every- 
 body, of identification with and interest in every mem- 
 ber of a homogeneous native population, of knowledge 
 of and participation in every event, — private and 
 public, — seem in retrospect far pleasanter than life 
 under the present amorphous, alien and inverted 
 conditions. 
 
ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGIOJT 209 
 
 "But in comparing the past with the present I am 
 sure that among the preachers of to-day is a more 
 manly, thoughtful and independent tone than then pre- 
 vailed. I say prevailed, for no preacher of to-day has 
 surpassed the leaders, some of whom I have enumerated. 
 The change in the position of the clergyman since the 
 day of our Puritan ancestors marks the steady progress 
 of humanity. No longer an autocrat, no longer a law- 
 giver, no longer disputing endlessly about a covenant 
 of faith and a covenant of works, about justification by 
 sanctification, no longer hanging witches or denounc- 
 ing heretics, his mission now is, according to Phillips 
 Brooks, to bring spiritual influence to struggling human- 
 ity, — filled with reverence for God and love for man, 
 to be a mediator between God and man, devoting him- 
 self to matters of vital importance, to charity, tem- 
 perance, political reform rather than to theology, and 
 working in concert with men of other creeds, but with 
 the same end in view. The glacier seems to lie as 
 motionless as the rocky walls which enclose it; never- 
 theless it moves, and the Puritan of the first generation 
 has been slowly evolved into the Unitarian of the pres- 
 ent generation. The churches of Boston and of the 
 old towns, with hardly an exception, have become Uni- 
 tarian. It has been alleged that Unitarianism has not 
 spread, for it has not compassed sea and land to make 
 one proselyte. This is true nominally and false vir- 
 tually; it has modified all creeds, liberalized all sects; 
 it has enjoined and fostered practical Christianity. If 
 questioned as to their work, the Unitarian pastors 
 might well reply, in the words of their Master: 'The 
 
 U 
 
210 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers 
 are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the poor have the 
 Gospel preached to them.' 
 
 " I have endeavored to explain why I go to church : 
 
 *'l. I was brought up in the days of the Jewish 
 Sabbath, when attendance was enjoined on all, sick and 
 well, old and young. 
 
 "2. Eleven Puritan clergymen among my direct an- 
 cestors infused into me the habit and the enjoyment. 
 
 " 3. I happened to grow up at an interesting period, 
 when the churches were very much alive, and I have 
 since been very fortunate in my pastors. 
 
 "4. I believe, with John Adams, that it is one of 
 four institutions to be preserved as the foundation of 
 our liberty, happiness and prosperity, and that it is the 
 part of a good citizen to support them all. 
 
 "Why young people do not attend church as their 
 fathers did is partly explained by larger libertj' of action 
 and locomotion, by greater weariness after the work of 
 the week, by the increased resources of books, etc., 
 etc. ; and I can only further account for it by remem- 
 bering that every generation is born and bred under new 
 influences not easily analyzed ; that the books in which 
 we delighted bore our children, that their habits of 
 thought, their views of life, differ from ours, and that 
 among these differences is this of church attendance. 
 But notwithstanding this apparent indifference to reli- 
 gion, as at times we complain of an apparent indifference 
 to politics, what generation could manifest a greater 
 reverence for and attachment to the four institutions 
 John Adams hoped would be preserved than did this 
 
SUNDRY OCCUPATIONS 211 
 
 generation, when our militia, true to the teachings of 
 the church and the school, rallied in every town in our 
 Commonwealth, marched to the defense of their coun- 
 try and for four long years battled for freedom and 
 humanity ? 
 
 Their fathers' God before them moved 
 An awful Guide, in smoke and flame. 
 
 If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother 
 and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own 
 life, also, he cannot be my disciple. 
 
 Greater love hath uo man than this, that a man lay down his 
 life for his friend." 
 
 What with business and the Safety Vaults, Harvard 
 College and public affairs, as serious occupations ; with 
 studies genealogical and antiquarian, matters dramatic 
 and matters military, and the care of his country seats, 
 as pursuits more purely pleasurable, the list of Colonel 
 Lee's occupations seems longer than that of most of us. 
 Yet he found time for many other tastes. When he 
 was in College the Med. Fao. made him professor of 
 " Miscellaneousness and Gout." The "gout" symbol- 
 ized his aristocratic tendencies, which in later years 
 remained quite visible, though always in tranquil sub- 
 jection to his sound sense and good taste ; the " miscel- 
 laneousness" abode with him, in luxuriant development, 
 all his days. 
 
 He was very fond of music, and had a fair knowledge 
 of it. When a young man he played upon the flute; 
 he also had a good voice and sang very well. His 
 strong feeling for hymns, as sung in the churches, to 
 which he alludes as affecting him in his boyhood, 
 
212 MEMOIR OF COLOJfEL HENRY LEE 
 
 stayed with, him all his life. During his earlier days, 
 in every parlor of the United States or the United 
 Kingdom, the graceful versicles of Tom Moore were 
 warbled or sung, according to the capacity of the young 
 lady performer; while the songs of Bums fascinated a 
 smaller but more discriminating circle. For many years 
 after these had passed out of fashion the Italian Opera 
 continued in possession of the stage. To all these 
 melodious forms of music, entwined with the delight- 
 ful memories of youth. Colonel Lee remained warmly 
 loyal all his life ; and indeed he was very fond of sing- 
 ing these airs. La,ter the innovation of the noisy and 
 clangorous German school he received with sarcastic 
 hostility, and used derisively to pronounce the name 
 of Wagner in the broadest English fashion, as an in- 
 genious indication of his crushing contempt for that 
 composer. Military music naturally pleased him, and 
 at one time, when some reminiscences of the old Boston 
 Brigade Band were called up in the newspapers, 
 " Senex " wrote : " I remember some of the tunes they 
 used to play. In those days there was slow time, com- 
 mon time, and quick time, and all escorts marched at 
 slow time in keeping with the dignity or solemnity of 
 the occasion. 
 
 "There were the Nahant March and the Cadets' 
 March, much played, and of quick-steps there was 
 Otis' Quick-Step (named for William F. Otis, captain 
 of the New England Guards after William H. Gar- 
 diner), also Willis' Kentbugle March and his Quick- 
 step, then Russell Sturgis' Quick-Step by Rieff. 
 Russell Sturgis was captain of the Boston Light Infan- 
 
SUNDRY OCCUPATIONS 213 
 
 try, the handsomest man in uniform I ever saw. There 
 was a very popular quick-step called pas redouble. 
 
 "All these tunes, and others not known to me by 
 name, I can whistle to-day, so firmly are they imprinted 
 on my memory ; in fact I induced Burditt to play the 
 Russell Sturgis Quick-Step, long ago laid aside, by 
 whistling it again and again. These marches expired 
 in the thirties and were followed by Wood-Up, and many 
 more marches that I never knew, or have forgotten. 
 
 " There was a charm in the wood and reed and bugle 
 music not conveyed by the brass bands, in my 
 opinion." 
 
 He had also a fancy for amusing his leisure hours 
 with domestic architecture, and often worked quite 
 hard in drawing designs. Some of these were never 
 used; but many others took actual shape, for in the 
 course of his long and busy life he several times had 
 occasion to build or to remodel houses. But whether 
 he was practising this art with a view to actual use, 
 or simply as a pastime, he was more thorough than 
 architects for hire are wont to be in their work. He 
 used to cut out the pieces of furniture for the several 
 rooms, in cardboard, upon a scale, and try them in 
 their places upon his plans, so that the real or imagined 
 occupants should not find that they had paid their 
 money for a house wherein there was a dining-room 
 with no possibility of a sideboard, or a bedroom with 
 no place for a bed. A further illustration of his skill 
 in the building art was furnished when his brother-in- 
 law, Edward C. Cabot, was chosen as the architect for 
 the Boston Theatre. Mr. Lee was abroad, and he 
 
214 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 visited many theatres, and studied carefully their plans 
 and all the details of equipment. The knowledge which 
 he brought home proved highly useful, but by no means 
 exclusively as furnishing models for imitation ; for the 
 Boston Theatre was long admitted to be far in advance 
 of European standards, alike in construction, in general 
 plan and in details. 
 
 In drawing, otherwise than architectural, he was 
 not without facility; he found much amusement occa- 
 sionally in sketching faces and figures of persons 
 about him. But this was a mere amusement, not to 
 be taken too seriously. It may, however, be safely 
 believed that there were other and more worldly rea- 
 sons than his skill with the pencil which led to his 
 being made one of the trustees of the Museum of 
 Fine Arts. 
 
 Still another resource for leisure hours lay in his 
 fondness for literature. His conversation, his writings, 
 his speeches all show how wide was his field of reading 
 and especially how marked were his tastes ; for in attain- 
 ing such familiarity with his favorite authors, he must 
 have re-read them many times. Foremost should be 
 named Shakespeare, or rather some of the plays of Shake- 
 speare, for he had decided favorites and there were some 
 for which he cared little. For Scott also he had that 
 fondness which is felt by every gentleman sturdy of body 
 and mind. Emerson he regarded with reverence, as 
 most New Englanders have done for several years past, 
 though they did not all gain light so early as Colonel 
 Lee did. He liked to read aloud ; and his family and 
 friends were as glad to give him opportunities as he 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 215 
 
 was to avail of them. For he read very well; if he 
 had not versatility for the presentation of all parts, he 
 at least gave intelligence and feeling to all, and ren- 
 dered many to admiration; his voice was flexible and 
 agreeable, and his manner and intonation were those of 
 a cultivated gentleman, never disfigured by the slightest 
 touch of that terrible rhetoric which makes most read- 
 ing aloud a thing to shudder at; so his reading gave 
 pleasure, not pain, which is rare praise indeed. He 
 was further a careful student of the history of the 
 United States, and had in his mind's eye not less vivid 
 pictures of the national statesmen than he had of the 
 old New England worthies. 
 
 Biographers often find it wise to forget to mention 
 the personal appearance and the manners of those whose 
 career they are recording. But no such embarrassment 
 attends the memoirist of Colonel Lee. In his famous 
 review of Rev. Dr. Hale's " Story of Massachusetts " he 
 cited, among that gentleman's unfortunate errors, this 
 sentence: "Very remarkable personal beauty has, for 
 at least a century, been evident in the immediate de- 
 scendants of her [Anne Hutchinson's] blood ; " as to 
 which he wrote: "A large number of her direct de- 
 scendants (including the present writer) have not been 
 co-heirs of this comeliness; but as she is only one of 
 two hundred and fifty-six ancestors, they do not hold 
 her responsible, as it may have been some other of the 
 crowd tpii n'etait pas si lien." He had, however, no 
 need to disparage himself. He was a very fine-look- 
 ing man, — tall, of vigorous form and carrying himself 
 well. If he fortunately escaped too great regularity of 
 
216 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 feature, and if the statuary would not have selected 
 him to be perpetuated in marble, the painter certainly 
 would have desired no better subject for his canvas. 
 His features were strong and manly, and his face was 
 full of expression, varying in sympathy with the mood 
 of the moment; sometimes he was thoughtful, but more 
 often in conversation humor enlivened his face ; nearly 
 always one saw plainly a mingling of shrewdness which 
 might not easily be deceived, with kindliness which 
 ■would be readily moved; yet he was quite capable of 
 sterner aspect under provocation. His bearing was 
 simple, but very distinguished. No one ever looked 
 more fully the gentleman, and his manners were those 
 of the born aristocrat, — unaffected, but of a certain 
 courtliness, — what is commonly described as of the 
 "old school." He looked as the best type of English 
 gentleman ought to look, according to the ideal cher- 
 ished by readers of Addison, Walter Scott, Thackeray 
 and Washington Irving ; — "an English gentleman in 
 America," as used also to be said of George Washing- 
 ton, — without prejudice to the entire Americanism of 
 either General Washington or Colonel Lee. His cousin, 
 Colonel T. Wentworth Higginson, said: "His manner 
 and bearing were exceedingly English, without the 
 slightest effort to be so. When I was in England last 
 year I saw a half-dozen persons who had Colonel Lee's 
 air and bearing." 
 
 The ways of little children pleased his kindly sense 
 of humor, and he liked to read or to sing to them, to 
 joke with them and lead them to be saucy to him, when 
 he would pretend to be shocked. Even when he was 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS 217 
 
 a young man, "he liked to play with babies; and in 
 later life, however tired and worried he was, he was 
 always happy with the baby in his arms." 
 
 He had also the English love of horses, and always 
 had good ones in his stable for riding and driving. He 
 rode well; and when in the saddle, upon one of his 
 mettlesome animals, he looked more English than ever. 
 One of the family warns that Colonel Lee would not 
 forgive one who should write of him without a word 
 also for his horse, "Tom Tug," and preserves this 
 tribute: — "The name, taken from the play of 'The 
 Waterman,' described Tom's way of going; for he 
 pulled up hill and down, especially up ; whirled round 
 corners ; and stood like a lion-rampant at the door. He 
 had great courage, which never failed ; though after the 
 age of twenty-five or thirty he was often too feeble to be 
 gay. The Colonel talked to him a great deal, and de- 
 clared that Tom liked to be praised, and that he enjoyed 
 terrifying timid people. Tom never hurt anyone, and 
 on some important occasions was as sedate as a hearse- 
 horse. He was older than any of the Colonel's chil- 
 dren, who felt much respect for him as well as affection ; 
 indeed, one little boy had a way of standing in the stall 
 and embracing Tom's hind leg, while the animal stood 
 perfectly still watching him." 
 
 A word should be said as to the colonel's habits of dress, 
 even at the risk of the charge of triviality; indeed he him- 
 self would have been very indignant if an unappreciative 
 silence should leave him without a compliment in this 
 matter. " He was a great dandy, " said one of his inti- 
 mate relatives ; but " dandy " is hardly the word which 
 
218 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 is wanted : rather, he was a very well-dressed man and 
 punctiliously neat, for he was not one of those who con- 
 ceive that the descendant of a line of gentlemen takes 
 thereby the privilege of being a sloven. Moreover, 
 he had the good sense to know that to be "well 
 set-up " conveys a practical advantage in one's rela- 
 tions with others. But the interesting fact, which 
 makes it proper to mention such lowly things as frieze 
 and broadcloth, is that his costume was always re- 
 markably well conceived; it evinced his dramatic skill; 
 he appreciated his own appearance, manners and char- 
 acter, and happily adapted his clothes to them; he 
 dressed his part in the world to perfection, and it is 
 a noteworthy and characteristic fact which should be 
 recorded. 
 
 The last subject upon which he evinced his interest 
 in public affairs was the recent "war," so called, with 
 Spain. There is among his papers what seems to be a 
 rough copy, in pencil, of a note as follows : 
 
 " I am lying ill, not allowed to use my pen, — my 
 illness being partly caused by my extreme distress at 
 our precipitation into an inexcusable war. Why should 
 we attempt the solution of an impracticable problem? 
 Spain offers a cessation of hostilities and to have the 
 question of the Maine left to an impartial tribunal. 
 What more could we ask at the end of a successful 
 war? 
 
 " Ought we not to meet and protest in a most solemn 
 manner against this armed intervention, a measure 
 contrary to justice, contrary to our best traditions and 
 directly opposed to the fervent wishes of a majority of 
 
SPANISH WAR; DEATH 219 
 
 our people? Might not such meetings here and in 
 New York bring Congressmen to their senses, even at 
 this hour? 
 
 " Yours anxiously, 
 
 "Hbney Lee." 
 
 His son-in-law, Dr. Frederick C. Shattuck, was call- 
 ing upon him at this time, and Colonel Lee said to him: 
 "So you are an Imperialist! Pray, how does that hap- 
 pen ? " and then continued, answering his own question : 
 " I remember that when I was a Free Soiler in the days 
 before the Civil War, my uncle, Dr. Jackson, then an 
 aged man, an old-time Whig and conservative of 
 course, said to me one day: 'Harry, how, under the 
 sun, can it be that you are a Free Soiler?' and I re- 
 plied to him: 'Well, sir, you see I am a young man 
 and you are an old one.' " 
 
 In December, 1897, Colonel Lee severed his con- 
 nection with the firm of Lee, Higginson & Co., hav- 
 ing the good sense to apply the quotation which he 
 had prematurely made to the Tavern Club: — that it 
 was 
 
 — time to be old 
 To take in sail. 
 
 In fact, it was evident that he was breaking. He 
 had, however, the happy fortune to escape the physical 
 and mental distress of senility. His mind retained its 
 force, and while his bodily strength waned, he suffered 
 no prolonged illness of body. He died at his house 
 in Brookline, November 24, 1898. Naturally, at his 
 funeral in the stone church on the hill there were few 
 
220 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 contemporaries, but there was a more impressive gather- 
 ing of personal friends and of eminent citizens than 
 often comes together at the burial of one who has led 
 the life of a private individual, and who dies at the 
 age of eighty-one years. 
 
 After Colonel Lee's death Major Henry L. Higgin- 
 son wrote, in his memory, the following admirable and 
 eminently just and discriminating pages: 
 
 "Aif AMERICAN GENTLEMAN" 
 
 " We perhaps too often say of a valued friend that he 
 is a man apart from the rest of men, yet of Henry Lee 
 it was true. 
 
 " His father, a man of large intelligence and enterprise, 
 was absorbed in political-economical ideas and forgetful 
 of ordinary rules and cares ; so from early youth the son, 
 while admiring his father's good points, was forced to 
 supplement the weak points by taking up cares and re- 
 sponsibilities unusual for so young a man. 
 
 " Perhaps from early memories he hated business in 
 the ordinary sense, that is, buying and selling, borrow- 
 ing and lending, and always declared himself a wretched 
 business man. Yet he well understood the great laws 
 of trade and enterprise, and when he determined to 
 build his safety-deposit vaults he prepared himself for 
 the task with the utmost care, and therefore he suc- 
 ceeded. This venture was quite in keeping with the 
 workings of his mind, which did not permit the con- 
 stant change of attitude, the presentation of only one 
 
AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 221 
 
 side to himself or to others, that a purchase first and 
 then a sale of an article or an investment requires. He 
 saw the entire propriety of the transaction, but did not 
 like it. 
 
 " He gladly acquired money in the regular fashion, but 
 under no pretext could he be induced to accept one 
 penny that he had not fully earned — either by work or 
 by venture of capital. He gladly spent money for gen- 
 erous and healthy living, for friends, for education, art 
 or benevolence. Yet here he also asked full value for 
 his expenditure, while insisting that it should not be 
 immoderate, for he asked measure and fitness in all 
 things. 
 
 "He liked place and honors such as in his opinion 
 were due to him ; but he flatly refused the degree of 
 LL.D. from Harvard University, although he admired 
 and trusted the men who offered this distinction only 
 less than he loved and venerated the University. His 
 sense of justice and of fitness told him that it was not 
 his due, and no matter who else of lesser merit had 
 received the honor he would none of it. 
 
 " This sense of justice, of truth, was strong and abid- 
 ing and showed itself in other ways. "With a keen 
 sense of humor and great insight into character, united 
 with this love of justice, he felt the good and bad 
 points of men and women, and often mentioned them, — 
 sometimes with a caustic tongue. No man treated his 
 true friends more liberally to criticism and praise, to 
 reproof and love, than he. 
 
 " The life in which he delighted and of which he had 
 a full share was in the woods and garden, which he 
 
222 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 with Ms own hands tended; in his library or in his 
 dining-room, surrounded by his family and friends, 
 whom he entertained with his humorous stories and 
 remarks. Wherever he might be, there was society in 
 a high sense. 
 
 "Of books he read the best and highest and knew 
 them well — history, genealogy, essays, poetry. Shak- 
 speare and the Bible he revelled in. Not a scholar 
 himself, he was good company for scholars, or at least 
 for men of ripe culture, and he highly prized education 
 of a simple, healthy nature. With his death the old 
 town shrinks and dwindles for us. We lose the pic- 
 ture which he could call up of its sober dignity, its 
 " sunny-faced " old houses set in terraced gardens, its 
 colonial traditions. To-day nobody can tell so many 
 curious and characteristic traits and tales of by-gone 
 days and generations as he. His accurate and power- 
 ful memory could recall the Boston of three-quarters 
 of a century ago, and it retained in its proper sequence 
 and in its due place each event of public moment since 
 then, each change for gain or loss in the rapidly grow- 
 ing town. 
 
 Love thou thy land with love far-brought 
 
 From out the storied Past and used within the Present. 
 
 Nobody will replace him. 
 
 " In affairs of the nation he always from his youth took 
 a deep interest and a vigorous, independent, thoughtful 
 part — being a respecter of true morals and laws rather 
 than of men, for these last must meet his standard of 
 life or sink in his estimation. He criticised unsparingly 
 
AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 223 
 
 wrong or low public acts of public men without regard 
 to personal relations, past or present. Few men have 
 oftener irritated their near friends, few men have held 
 them faster. 
 
 " Of his own strong and weak points he spoke frankly, 
 but he never thought to change them, for he was con- 
 tent to live his own life in the sight of all men, freely, 
 kindly, consciously, — to make his comments, do his 
 deeds and take the consequences. It was a life ani- 
 mated with a clear, humane, noble purpose and guided 
 by courage and high ideals without asceticism. 
 
 " In fact, he seemed not to be a man of great parts, 
 but of a singular quality springing from unusual purity 
 and nobility of character, — from high aims, high think- 
 ing and living. The truth held for him a foremost 
 place in the universe, because it was the truth and be- 
 cause it was simple and beautiful. 
 
 "One would not say of him that he was heavenly 
 minded, for he liked the world well ; but lofty-minded, 
 pure-toned, he certainly was. 
 
 " These qualities and these aims, purposely cultivated 
 with care, gave us a true gentleman of charming man- 
 ners and thoughts, a delightful companion, a trusty, 
 loyal friend, always ready to stand up in church and 
 testify to his beliefs, — possessed with a full sense of his 
 duty to his country, to man, to God. 
 
 " Men and women of all degrees trusted, respected, 
 enjoyed, loved him in unusual measure; for he had 
 words and thoughts of service and of affection toward 
 them all, — the boys and girls, the old men and women, 
 — the unfortunate and the prosperous. 
 
224 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " We could always count on his coolness and courage 
 in a storm, but when the sun came out once more, he 
 chided us and bade us make ready our sails for another 
 storm, which was sure to come, — another instance of 
 his balance and judgment. 
 
 " It was a true, humane, warm nature, which bore the 
 great troubles of life well and made much of the simple 
 
 joys. 
 
 " Lastly, as he grew older, like a noble, healthy fruit, 
 he ripened and grew mellow year by year. Was not 
 this a proof of true quality? 
 
 '"Tis well that he died quietly (as he had for some 
 years foretold), and at the end of this changing cen- 
 tury, for of late he was not always in touch with the 
 eager, modern world, and he might have suffered from 
 the virtues and the sins of the next century. 
 
 " There has passed to another world a rare gentleman 
 and friend, — a public citizen without reproach. 
 
 " His figure and his life tell us that, if we choose the 
 noble path which he has trod, we also may live in his 
 high, pure atmosphere, may meet our fellows on the 
 same frank, kindly footing, and may brighten their 
 lives as he has done. 
 
 "Let us try." 
 
SELECTIONS FEOM THE WRITINGS 
 
 AND SPEECHES OF COLONEL 
 
 HENRY LEE 
 
PERSONAL EEMINISCENCES OF 
 GOVERNOR ANDREW 
 
 I HAVE been requested to draw a sketch of Governor 
 Andrew, and as thirty-seven years have passed since my 
 service to him began, and absorption in private affairs 
 has dimmed my remembrance of the events of the war, 
 I avail myself of some reminiscences written years ago 
 at the request of Mr. Whipple, who was then engaged 
 upon his biography. I avail of these, as a foundation 
 for my sketch, in spite of their necessarily egotistic 
 character, because of their superior vividness. 
 
 Although I was in daily attendance on Governor 
 Andrew several years, I do not believe I can throw any 
 light upon a character at first so generally misappre- 
 hended, at last so universally understood. 
 
 Meeting the Governor just after his election at a 
 pohtical levee I refrained from joining in the congratu- 
 lations generally expressed, because I distrusted his fit- 
 ness for the office at such a critical period. . . . 
 
 I had known the Governor for some years as secre- 
 tary of the Boston Port Society, of which I was a 
 director. I had noted what was said of him and by him 
 as a legislator and public speaker. I believed him to 
 be zealous, disinterested, — a fearless advocate of liberty 
 for men of all shades and races, but I was afraid he 
 
228 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 might be one-sided and indiscreet, deficient in common 
 sense and practical abUity. So when, in the first days 
 of January, 1861, I unexpectedly received a summons to 
 a position upon his staff, I was agitated by my desire 
 to perform some little service for my country in the 
 approaching crisis and by my reluctance to attach my- 
 self to a leader whose judgment I distrusted. After a 
 frank explanation of my embarrassment, finding that 
 the Governor still desired my aid, I reluctantly ac- 
 cepted the appointment 
 
 If I, a Radical, regarded Governor Andrew with dis- 
 trust, what was the horror and indignation excited in 
 the hearts of Conservatives at his accession to office? 
 You remember their waitings and lamentations. . . . 
 I recall the personal expression of surprise and regret 
 from friends and -acquaintances at my connection with 
 this supposed foolish fanatic. The whole community 
 was dismayed at the imminent conflict. Conservatives 
 did not believe it would have been irrepressible but for 
 the fenaticism of leaders like Andrew and they hated 
 and reviled him accordingly. They were right, and 
 stiU more right were the Republicans who elected him 
 Governor, If the vox populi was ever the vox Dei, it 
 was then. Governor Andrew was one of the very few 
 who saw clearly through this day's business, who antici- 
 pated the awful duration and dimensions of the conflict, 
 and yet dared to go forward and encounter the certain 
 perils, privations and anguish involved, rather than en- 
 dure peace and prosperity purchased at the cost of 
 self-respect. The conflict would not have been irre- 
 pressible but for Andrew and such as he, the sober, 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 229 
 
 steady, country-loving, God-fearing Puritans of New 
 England. 
 
 A peace man, his first charge was to prepare for war. 
 South Carolina had seceded, other Southern States had 
 called conventions to consider similar action. He had 
 visited Washington the previous December to gather 
 information, and convinced by what he had observed 
 there and by his conferences and subsequent corre- 
 spondence with General Scott, Mr. Adams, and others, 
 that war was inevitable and imminent, he sent trusty 
 messengers the very day of his inauguration to the 
 Governors of the other New England states to lay 
 before them the information he possessed and to counsel 
 them to follow his example of putting the militia on a 
 war' footing, ready to go to the defence of Washington 
 at a day's notice ; for the War Department had been for 
 eight years under the control of Jefferson Davis and of 
 Floyd successively, arms and equipments had been 
 transferred to Southern arsenals, the bulk of our little 
 army was at the Southwest under the traitor, Twiggs ; 
 Toucey had scattered our navy over distant seas, and 
 our treasury was depleted. Buchanan, the abject crea- 
 ture of the South, feared to act with decision ; indeed, 
 so far as he was capable of feeling, he sympathized with 
 the South. 
 
 The Governor at once sifted the militia, ordering the 
 discharge of every man unable or unwilling to go into 
 immediate active service ; he visited armories and in- 
 spected companies; he applied to the federal govern- 
 ment to repair and arm the forts in the harbor of Boston 
 and elsewhere. At Fort Winthrop there were no guns ; 
 
230 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 at Fort Warren one gun ; at Fort Independence twenty 
 guns. He despatched Colonel Sargent to visit the 
 President elect and confer with him. On the 2d 
 February by my suggestion he summoned the venerable 
 General Thayer (for many years superintendent, and 
 practically re-creator of West Point), Lieutenants (now 
 Generals) Gordon and Andrews (both graduates of that 
 Academy and officers in the Mexican War), to advise 
 him as to preparations. A memorandum of clothing 
 and equipments needed was submitted to and approved 
 by them and the articles were at once ordered by the 
 Governor without the advice or knowledge of General 
 Butler, to whom Mr. Parton attributes this provision. 
 This erroneous assertion having been called to my 
 attention by the editor of the Daily Advertiser, I in- 
 serted in that paper the following contribution: [See 
 ante, p. 58]. 
 
 Colonel Ritchie was then sent to Washington to con- 
 sult as to the probable date of the call for troops, the 
 routes they should take, the equipment they would 
 need. To all these inquiries Colonel Ritchie brought 
 definite replies and much information besides from 
 General Scott and other soldiers and lawmakers to 
 whom he was accredited, confirming their advice to the 
 Governor during his own visit to Washington in the 
 previous December. 
 
 Through me, a quondam merchant, the Governor 
 ascertained the names, capacities, whereabouts and 
 ownerships of the steamers plying to and from Boston, 
 which might be used for transports, and it would mortify 
 
REMINISCENCES OP GOVEKNOR ANDREW 231 
 
 some of their owners if I should expose their reluctance 
 to impart information or furnish transportation. In 
 this work Mr. John M. Forbes was the agent; from 
 this early date until the close of the war his devotion to 
 the State was absolute, and "his purse, his person, 
 his extremest means lay all unlocked to her occasions. " 
 
 By the second week in February all these inquiries 
 and preparations had been made and the Governor sat 
 awaiting the summons he knew must soon come from 
 the beleaguered capital, enduring with apparent in- 
 difference the daily jeers in the Conservative and Demo- 
 cratic journals at the " two thousand overcoats." You 
 had only to mention the word overcoat or speak of 
 " kissing the musket " (you remember, of course, the 
 presentation of the old Lexington King's Arm to the 
 State), to excite the risibles or call down the objurga- 
 tions of any of the scoffers, to whom these timely acts 
 seemed the height of folly or wickedness. 
 
 In the eyes of the scoffer the " kissing the musket " 
 especially looked ridiculous, almost hysterical, and was 
 made much fun of by the newspapers, among others by the 
 Boston Post. At this exciting time of dread expecta- 
 tion, those who were by their position obliged to act 
 were subjected to ridicule or censure, and I availed of 
 an editorial in the Post to plead for more considerate 
 treatment in that journal. The editorial was a rebuke 
 to the Eepublican papers for their abuse of President 
 Buchanan, reminding them of the respect due to the 
 dignity of position, and I applied the reasoning in be- 
 half of the Governor. I remember as if it were yester- 
 day that I scratched this hasty note to Colonel Greene 
 
232 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 just as I was going up to the Governor with a supposi- 
 titious list of clothing and equipments needed for the 
 militia to be sent to the front. Upon my return from 
 the State House I found this reply : 
 
 " Boston, Feb. 4, '6L 
 " Henkt Lee, Esq. : 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I thank you kindly for your friendly 
 note and shall endeavor to be governed by its advice. 
 " Your obliged and obdt. Servant, 
 
 "C. G. Gebenb." 
 
 I have often expatiated upon this courteous and 
 magnanimous acceptance of my remonstrance by an 
 editor whose satire was very effective, and lately I had 
 begun to think that I must have invented the whole 
 transaction when upon an old file I pounced upon this 
 note. I desire to record this act and to add that it was 
 only one of many of the same tenor during the war, as 
 I shall have occasion to show. 
 
 Old acquaintances ceased to bow to the Governor, or, 
 what was more cutting, conveyed disapproval by 
 austerity of manner. At Salem, whither the staff 
 accompanied him for the first visit of ceremony to 
 witness an exhibition drill of the Salem Light Infantiy, 
 their old aristocratic company, the past oificers and 
 members, leaders of society, though proud of their 
 corps and eager to figure in the few festivities of the 
 decaying town, sternly fasted, absented themselves, to 
 express their extreme disapprobation of the Governor 
 and all his ways. It was characteristic of the old town 
 as it would have been of Little Pedlington. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 233 
 
 At last, after six weeks of sickening suspense, on 
 Monday, the 15th April, came the appalling summons in 
 a despatch from Senator Wilson, for twenty companies of 
 infantry, followed on Tuesday by a formal requisition. 
 Before noon of Monday the Governor had agreed with 
 the adjutant general what regiments should be ordered, 
 halls had been engaged, and all necessary preparations 
 made for lodging and feeding the troops, and early 
 Tuesday morning four regiments reported, marching 
 through Boston in a driving storm of sleet and rain. I 
 should not dare to say what regiment, what company, 
 first reported, what man first enlisted ; there are so many 
 conflicting claims. From that hour till the dawn of 
 Sunday, the 21st April, we all had to work night and 
 day, and, assuming the roles of armorers, quartermasters, 
 commissaries, to obtain from raw officers the lists of arms, 
 clothing, equipments and rations required, to collect and 
 distribute or pack and forward and invoice these, to 
 organize a Medical Board, to examine surgeons and pro- 
 vide them with their instruments and supplies, to engage 
 steamers and railroads to transport the troops, and finally 
 to accompany the Governor as he presented to them the 
 standards under which they were sent forth and spoke 
 words of encouragement and thanks. In looking back I 
 wonder that these preparations were so complete, con- 
 sidering the rawness of those who made them ; but what 
 you can get out of a man depends only on the pressure 
 you subject him to ; and the weight of responsibility on 
 the Governor and, to a less degree, on those who were 
 striving to assist, heavy indeed, developed vigilance and 
 circumspection. 
 
234 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENEY LEE 
 
 About a week after the despatch of the three months' 
 troops, when I was in the Governor's office writing for 
 him, a distinguished Senator burst into the chamber, 
 fraught with advice, and began catechising the Governor 
 as to this and that measure of preparation, surprised 
 that they had been already adopted. At last the enu- 
 meration was exhausted and the Senator took leave, but 
 striding in again, — " Oh, by the bye, Andrew, you wiU 
 need to organize a Medical Board to examine surgeons 
 and provide them with their instruments and suppUes." 
 While I was musing the fire burned. I could stand it 
 no longer and, regardless of propriety, I tartly informed 
 the statesman that this matter had been fully attended 
 to a fortnight before. He gave a snort of surprise and 
 again departed. As he closed the door I could not help 
 exclaiming, " Teach your granny to lap ashes," and the 
 Governor and I had a good laugh at this well-meant 
 super-serviceable visit. 
 
 In the midst of this unceasing work and turmoil came 
 the news of the attack upon the 6th Regiment in Balti- 
 more, maddening to fury the whole community, already 
 excited by the unwonted scenes of that memorable week. 
 The war had begun, and Massachusetts, that denounced 
 State, which was to have been left out in the cold, had 
 despatched within one week five Regiments of Infantry, 
 one Battalion of Riflemen, and one Battery of Artillery, 
 armed, clothed and equipped. Behind every great move- 
 ment stands the man, and that man behind this movement 
 was the ridiculed, despised fanatic, John A. Andrew. 
 As the least backwardness on the part of Massachusetts, 
 whose sons had done more than all others to promote the 
 
REMINISCENCES OP GOVERNOK ANDREW 236 
 
 "irrepressible conflict," would have endangered the 
 Union and exposed us to the plottings and concessions 
 of the Conservatives and " Copperheads," so her prompt 
 response in consequence of the corn-age and foresight of 
 her Governor strengthened the timid, rebuked the dis- 
 affected, cemented the Union, fused the whole country 
 into one glow of patriotism. Saint Paul was not more 
 suddenly or more thoroughly converted than were many 
 of those who had up to that week been loudest in their 
 lamentations or denunciations of the Governor. Rich 
 men poured in their gifts, which were placed in the 
 keeping of some good bankers for a "Massachusetts 
 Soldiers' Fund." Conservatives and Democrats rushed 
 to pay their respects and to applaud the very acts which 
 they had so deplored and ridiculed ; men of all ages and 
 occupations and opinions proffered their services in 
 various capacities; companies were organized in every 
 town, funds were lavishly contributed for the formation 
 of new regiments. The whole community from that time 
 forth, with occasional relapses, owned Governor Andrew 
 for their leader. 
 
 Still there were a few exceptions to this loyalty : aged 
 men remembering the trying times of 1812 and the tra- 
 ditions of the Revolution ; old Whigs who looked proudly 
 back to the days when " sixteen aristocrats from Beacon 
 Street in cowhide boots " marched in a good old Whig 
 procession, and who loathed the obscure, base-born lead- 
 ers of Free Soil and Republicanism ; perverse men, who, 
 cultivating perversity in lack of other distinction, sneered 
 at this fuss about the " damned niggers ; " kindly men, 
 loyal to old friends at the South, who accepted their 
 
236 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 version of the issue ; sordid men, exasperated at the in- 
 terruption of their business ; fashionable people, annoyed 
 at the interruption of their festivities and priding them- 
 selves on their indifference. " We are not a war family," 
 she said, with a toss of her head, and yet the only claim 
 the family had to social distinction it derived from a 
 Revolutionary martyr. 
 
 It was amusing, sometimes exciting, to follow the 
 Governor, after he became a lion, into certain circles, 
 knowing that their invitation was due to curiosity more 
 than to admiration, and to see him tarrying not in the 
 ante-chamber of ceremony, but blissfully unconscious of 
 the condescension implied and honor conferred, march 
 briskly and salute cordially and heartily his hostess, 
 routing her from her preconcerted formalities. This 
 apparent or real (I never could tell which) uncon- 
 sciousness, this frankness and heartiness of manner, this 
 evident sincerity, won him real regard among men of 
 very antagonistic opinions. " Your Governor is a good 
 little fellow, though I don't agree with him," was an 
 observation constantly made. One gentleman of aristo- 
 cratic feeling, but thoroughly appreciative of character 
 and intellect, was so captivated by the Governor and so 
 desirous to introduce him to some brother Conservatives, 
 that he invited him to meet the two most irreclaimable 
 Copperheads in the town, and he reported to me " that 
 they plied the Governor with questions and arguments, 
 to all of which he replied so frankly and fuUy that they 
 parted with prejudices dissipated and esteem inspired." 
 That this sincerity and earnestness attracted those who 
 from afar had known him only through his speeches and 
 
REMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 237 
 
 writings was attested by the following interesting and 
 unexpected visit: 
 
 " Colonel, who do you think has been here this after- 
 noon ? " asked the Governor, as I entered his office one 
 day some months after the beginning of the war. 
 
 "You have such a number and variety of guests I 
 could not hazard a conjecture." 
 
 " Well, as I was writing, a knock at the door and in 
 came a gentleman, a stranger to me. 'Governor,' he 
 said, * I am Mr. Horatio Seymour. We are Governors 
 of contiguous States. I have read everything you have 
 said or written ; I don't agree with you about anything, 
 but I like you because you have convictions. I can't 
 get along with Seward because he has no convictions.' " 
 
 Then followed a long interview, during which these 
 two Governors, Democrat and Republican, exchanged 
 views on the burning questions freely, and at parting 
 Governor Seymour said: 
 
 " Well, Governor, you are going to and fro a good 
 deal ; the next trip take me on the way and let us con- 
 tinue our talk." 
 
 " I hardly kno\y what to make of Governor Seymour," 
 said the Governor, " he seemed very sincere. I think 
 he is carried away by his own subtlety, perhaps." 
 
 The want of arms, owing to Secretary Floyd's treach- 
 ery, was anticipated, and Mr. Crowninshield, offering, 
 was at once despatched to England, with an armorer 
 from Springfield, to procure them. The Governor pro- 
 vided arms not only for Massachusetts, but aided Maine 
 to get three thousand* New Hampshire two thousand ; 
 he also procured for Maine three thousand more from 
 
238 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Springfield, and furnished West Virginia with two 
 thousand. 
 
 The Governor wrote, telegraphed, to everyone from 
 the President down, sent successively Governors CUf- 
 ford and Boutwell, Judge Hoar, Atty. Gen. Foster, 
 Mr. Blair (senior), and went himself to Washington to 
 implore the government to accept three years' regiments, 
 but it was not until the 22nd May that permission was 
 reluctantly given for recruiting six regiments, rather less 
 than more. 
 
 The Governor called attention again to forts along 
 the coast, urging the President and General Wool to 
 furnish guns and teachers of gunnery, we to garrison 
 them with 2,000 militia. He ordered the State school- 
 ship armed. He bought for the State and for under- 
 writers two steamers to be used as armed transports. 
 He appointed an examining board for officers, which sat 
 from AprU 25th to May 24th, examined 641 applicants, 
 rejected 39. He asked the banks to loan the United 
 States f5,000,000, and the banks took that amount. He 
 appointed Charles R. Lowell, Jr., Massachusetts agent 
 to look after our three months' militia. 
 
 The contrast between the Governor's prescience and 
 activity and the supineness and optimism (or idiocy) of 
 the War Department was most marked. The Governor's 
 incessant appeals were ignored or rejected ; arms were 
 refused ; guns for the forts refused ; volunteers refused. 
 Baffled in his endeavors and alarmed at the supineness 
 of the Secretary of War, Cameron, an extra session of 
 the Legislature was called and leave obtained from it to 
 organize and place five more regiments in a camp of 
 
REMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 239 
 
 preparation. At that date one hundred and ninety-two 
 companies, equal to nineteen regiments, had reported, 
 their representatives besieging the State House for ac- 
 ceptance. Only one hundred and ten companies, or 
 eleven regiments, had been authorized by the State 
 and Federal Governments, It took Colonels Ritchie 
 and WethereU three -weeks to coUect the statistics of 
 these one hundred and ninety-two companies, compare 
 their claims and merits and resolve them into the num- 
 ber allowed. Just as this tedious work was completed 
 and every town, every company, every man was disaf- 
 fected by the rejections and combinations, came a press- 
 ing request from the Secretary of War for aU the troops 
 we could raise, and from that time the cry was for more 
 and more. Four companies had already left the State 
 tired and disheartened by these delays, to join regiments 
 forming in New York, and hence a long, vexatious, fruit- 
 less negotiation by letters and ambassadors to restore 
 them to our service and secure for them the privileges 
 of Massachusetts soldiers. 
 
 Nor was this the only fruitless, wearisome task im- 
 posed upon the good Governor by the vacillation and 
 incompetency of the Federal Government. From the 
 departure of three months' regiments to the close of 
 the war, the work at the State House was overwhelm- 
 ing. An army was to be created, organized, provided 
 with arms, accoutrements, clothing, camp equipage of 
 every sort, officers to be selected, not so much for what 
 they knew (as the Governor said), as for what they were 
 capable of learning, with a due deference to local claims 
 and partialities ; graduates of West Point to be looked 
 
240 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 up, inquired about, negotiated for, and in most instances 
 refused ; the country to be explored for large and healthy 
 camping grounds, these to be bargained for and prepared. 
 For West Point graduates and old army officers the 
 country was scoured and some twenty procured, most 
 of them of great use, knowing, as they did, not only 
 how to teach the drill, but also how to care for the men 
 in camp and on the march, and how to steady them and 
 spare them in the field, and, what was difficult to learn 
 and essential to know, how to fill out papers and comply 
 with Army Regulations. As to the rest, the Governor 
 selected from the never-ending files of applicants ; and, 
 as a general rule, their capability, their leadership, their 
 intelligent care of their men, as well as their conduct in 
 the field and their fortitude under wounds and imprison- 
 ment and trials innumerable, were air in proportion to 
 their social and moral elevation. Clerks from counting- 
 rooms, young merchants and lawyers, boys from college, 
 the sons of the wealthy, fresh from comfortable or lux- 
 urious homes, marched away through the rain or snow, 
 bore the exposure of camp or bivouac and the weariness 
 of the march better than the stalwart lumbermen of 
 Maine. The " shoulder-hitter," as a rule, did not go to 
 war, and the rough, loud, lusty fellows, " spoiling for a 
 fight," were soon satisfied and retired. I remember two 
 lieutenants of artillery of this valiant outside, full of 
 " war's fierce delight," waiting impatiently for conflict, 
 and in the meantime sneering at a delicate young Har- 
 vard graduate of 1860, a lieutenant in the same battery, 
 whom they nicknamed " Pussy." The longed-for occa- 
 sion came, the Peninsular campaign tested the newly 
 
REMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 241 
 
 trained soldiers, and at its close " Pussy " and a mafily 
 whaleman from New Bedford were quietly discharging 
 their duties, as they continued to do so long as the war 
 lasted, but these boastful swaggerers had incontinently 
 disappeared.^ 
 
 Many excellent officers were culled from the militia, 
 spirited young men in the ranks, or company officers, 
 who were natural soldiers, but as a rule those high in 
 rank were imposingly absurd. A bit of uniform, an 
 unnaturally stiff carriage and rectangular movements 
 when off duty, were deemed soldierly characteristics, and 
 supposed by many to denote a commander, especially 
 if further emphasized by a hoarse voice and peremp- 
 tory speech. We had one regiment officered chiefly by 
 men of this class, famous train-band captains, from whom 
 much was expected. Seven companies had been organ- 
 ized, and after waiting, the Governor decided to com- 
 plete the regiment by adding three companies recruited 
 in the country and making their commandant, a whole- 
 
 1 The enrolled militia of Massachusetts, " liable to be called into 
 service by the President, the Commander-in-Chief, to execute the laws 
 of the Union, to suppress insurrection and repel invasions," consisting 
 of all able-bodied white male citizens between 18 and 45, with a few 
 exceptions, numbered in 1860, 155,389; of which number the active or 
 volunteer militia, who, by the State law, were first to be ordered into 
 service, numbered 5,593, arranged into three divisions, six brigades . 
 each, composed of 
 
 9 regiments 
 3 battalions 
 3 battalions 
 
 ) regiments i 
 
 3battaUons ^Infantry. 
 
 a Dattaiions , j 
 
 8 unattached companies | ' ^ 
 
 1 battalion i 
 
 5 unattached companies J ^^''^^"'y- 
 
 2 batteries Artillery. 
 
 16 
 
242 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 some, sturdy, patriotic citizen, major. At once the dyed- 
 bearded captains and subalterns of crack companies of 
 city modes came successively to the State House to warn 
 the Governor of his mistake. 
 
 "Oh! yes, Major was all very well, but not of 
 
 their sort, had n't the snap (this was the quality deemed 
 essential); he might suit some country regiment, but, 
 etc." 
 
 The Governor was obdurate, fortunately for the regi- 
 ment and the service. The suappy colonel had the rheu- 
 matism, the lieutenant colonel was drunk, and the only 
 leader was the rustic major who had n't the snap, but 
 who at last lost his leg and eventually his life on the 
 battle-field, while the colonel, cured of his rheumatism 
 at the close of the war, became a Massachusetts brigadier, 
 and some of his invalid officers prominent in the Grand 
 Army. The only brigadier who entered the service 
 drove all his best officers out of the regiment which he 
 mismanaged. One of the three major generals, after 
 bustling about aimlessly, sought a command, but soon 
 sickened of his colonelcy and retired to the more con- 
 genial position of sutler. 
 
 John Hancock was disgusted when he. Colonel of the 
 Independent Cadets, was not elected General of the 
 Army of the Revolution ; and our militia chiefs displayed 
 similar indignation, as the Governor, oblivious of their 
 experience as men-at-arms, pommissioned youths fresh 
 from college or the shop. "Had not they trained at 
 many a muster, did not they know all from the ' School 
 of the Soldier ' to a dress parade, and behold these mere 
 boys, who never even donned a uniform, are preferred ! " 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 243 
 
 The Governor had to contend, first with the fatuity of 
 self-satisfied veterans who when taken had to unlearn 
 their old lessons and be taught to distinguish between 
 the essential and the unessential ; then with the over- 
 weening estimate of parents ; last with the mendacious 
 endorsement of aspirants. A lady whom I had known 
 all my life, reviving a somewhat faded friendship, sum- 
 moned me to inquire why her son had not been promoted, 
 expatiated upon his qualifications, his drilling under 
 Salignac, etc., etc., and informed me that his father was 
 surprised and felt HI treated, and that he never would 
 have allowed Benjamin to join the regiment but for 
 the assurance of his early promotion. I told her that the 
 Governor had left the arrangement of his roster to the 
 colonel, an accomplished army officer, and would not 
 interfere, and so left her unappeased. 
 
 A father kept complaining that his son, a most admi- 
 rable youth, remained a lieutenant. I explained that the 
 Governor recognized his son's worth and had offered him 
 promotion in one of our new regiments ; his own had 
 not been much exposed and promotion there was impos- 
 sible. This the son had declined, his attachment to his 
 own regiment being stronger than his ambition. He 
 was killed, while only a captain, at the second attack on 
 Fort Wagner, and his poor bereaved father could never 
 accept the explanation. 
 
 What constituted fitness was not clear to some appli- 
 cants ; what constituted a fraud not clear to their men- 
 dacious endorsers. A man presented himself, wished to 
 be appointed quartermaster of a regiment then organiz- 
 ing. Upon being asked his qualifications, he said, (1) 
 
244 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 he had. trained " some " as a member of the band, (2) 
 no one had been commissioned in their town, (3) he 
 had a paper recommending his appointment signed by 
 their State Senator, etc. As he spoke in walked the 
 Senator. 
 
 " There *s my friend," said the petitioner. " Yes !. I 
 am his friend," responded the Senator, expatiating some- 
 what ; and then he and the applicant retired. I carried 
 the papers to the Governor, remarking that neither his 
 having played in the band nor his town having been 
 passed over constituted a recommendation; there re- 
 mained the references. I had hardly returned to our 
 room when in crept the stalwart Senator, who, finding 
 himself alone with us, said : " That fellow is what we call 
 
 in a poor devil" and then narrated his chequered, 
 
 discreditable history. " But you announced yourself his 
 friend; you signed his recommendation." "Yes! he 
 came to me with his paper and I said, ' Well I if you 
 want my name, there it is.' " The applicant did not re- 
 appear ; the Senator figured subsequently as the presi- 
 dent of a failed bank. 
 
 The men who steadfastly endured to the end were the 
 sober, discreet, responsible citizens, and the alumni of 
 our colleges — they to whom much had been given ; they 
 fulfilled all and more than all expectation. Throughout 
 the colleges the number was in proportion to the number 
 of alumni, and the moral quality was uniform. 
 
 In time men developed more or less talent as officers, 
 some who had never found their vocation in civil life 
 were in their element; some curiously changed places 
 with each other and at the close of the war changed back 
 
REMINISCENCES OP GOVERNOR ANDREW 245 
 
 again, the civil superior becoming the military inferior 
 and vice versa. Of course, "we saw in part and we 
 prophesied in part," and some of our prophesies were 
 not fulfilled. Appearances are deceitful. I recollect 
 several delicate youths who were sent to regiment after 
 regiment to be rejected, but who, commissioned at last, 
 proved themselves real heroes. Foreigners with military 
 credentials were generally failures. One Prussian of 
 undoubted experience and instruction was a sorehead, 
 never contented; one of his countrymen studied his 
 music instead of his battalion ; one Italian was neglect- 
 ful of his command, another proved dishonest ; one Ger- 
 man was a brave soldier, wounded badly at Ball's Bluff, 
 eventually killed in battle, but was always jealous 
 of his better-bred, better-educated brother officers, ab- 
 surdly suspicious. But these were striking excep- 
 tions; men who by merit rose from the ranks earned 
 their promotion and the warm regard of their com- 
 rades. 
 
 The officers of the three months' men were elected, as 
 are all militia officers; the officers of the volunteers 
 for the war were appointed by the Governor. On the 
 return of the three months' regiments the Secretary 
 of War gave some of the officers (presumed by this 
 time to have acquired a military education) authority 
 to recruit a regiment; but in September, 1861, the 
 Governors of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania recalled 
 the Secretary to his senses and obtained an order from 
 the War Department putting the organization or re- 
 organization of aU regiments under the authority of the 
 Governor of the State where they were recruiting. 
 
246 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Senator Wilson, chairman of the military committee 
 of the Senate, proposed that the President of the United 
 States should fill vacancies, but the protest of Goremor 
 Andrew prevailed against this foolish and uncon- 
 stitutional proposal. General Butler's importunity 
 wrested from the President a commission as General 
 of the Department of New England, with "liberty to 
 raise six regiments, and as many more as he sees fit, 
 and to equip and uniform them," an order extorted by 
 fear or fatigue, very costly and derogatory to the United 
 States, very insulting to Governor Andrew. We had at 
 the time in process of formation six regiments of infan- 
 try, one regiment of cavalry, four batteries of artillery, 
 one company of sharpshooters, all assigned by the 
 Secretary of War, except two regiments of infantry, 
 which the Governor offered to Butler. But, not satis- 
 fied, he established two camps in the State, where, 
 like Absalom, he promised to right the wrongs which 
 any man had suffered from the Governor, and he 
 forthwith agreed to commission several men who had 
 been already refused commissions. After five months, 
 during which he put a stop to recruiting, these dis- 
 tracted volunteers wandering from camp to camp unable 
 to decide among so many, after he had ransacked the 
 language for terms of abuse and vituperation of the 
 Governor, to whom he had a few months gone professed 
 boundless gratitude, after exhausting his men and the 
 treasury of the United States by his preposterous delays 
 and corrupt management, Butler misconducted these 
 poor devils, already rejected at the State House, down to 
 Ship Island, whence, imcommissioned, they had to find 
 
EEMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 247 
 
 their way back, and all his bluster and pompous pro- 
 nunciamentoes went for naught. 
 
 One charge has been brought against Governor 
 Andrew, viz : that he kept forming new regiments 
 while the old regiments with their strength of frame 
 and experienced officers and well-earned credit were 
 left decimated. That new regiments were organized 
 while old one's dwindled is painfully true, but whoever 
 reads Governor Andrew's correspondence will learn how 
 hard-he labored in a contrary direction, and how his 
 efforts were countervailed by town magnates, selectmen 
 and others, who desired to give commissions to the men 
 who would bring the most recruits. There was, too, an 
 invincible repugnance to entering old regiments, partly 
 owing to the rough reception of recruits by these old 
 soldiers, hazing and ridiculing the recruits who had 
 entered the service from patriotic motives and did not 
 relish such treatment. Compelled as the Governor was 
 to hasten enlistments, and very desirous of avoiding a 
 draft, he had to get his recruits on the terms imposed by 
 the towns which raised them. Statesmanship is limited 
 to accomplishing the best practicable, not the best ideal, 
 results. 
 
 The State has been charged with enlisting foreigners 
 and freed slaves from slave States, and getting credit on 
 paper for men who never appeared. The United States 
 Provost Marshals fixed the number of men that each 
 should furnish and the town selectmen were sometimes 
 imposed upon by knavish brokers and paid bounties for 
 recruits who never reported, or who deserted soon after 
 enlisting. The whole number of men contributed by 
 
248 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Massachusetts to prosecute the war by sea and land was 
 159,165.1 
 
 One flagrant act of injustice to Massachusetts was the 
 refusal to consider the enlistments in the navy, which 
 entailed great hardship upon maritime towns which had 
 been depleted of their young, serviceable men by this 
 enlistment. It was not until July, 1864, near the close 
 of the war that the Federal Government credited us 
 with 22,360 in the navy, equal to 16,181 three years' 
 
 1 3 months' service . 4 Eegts. Infantry 
 1 Battln. Riflemen 
 
 1 Battery (Liglit) 3,736 
 
 3 years' serrioe . . 40 Regts. Infantry 
 5 " Cavalry 
 3 " Artillery (Heavy) 
 16 Batteries (Light) 
 
 2 Cos. Sharpshooters . . 54,187 
 He-enlistments .... 6,202 
 Drafted Recruits . . . 26,091 
 Regulars, etc.. etc. . . 9,790 96,270 
 
 1 year's service . . 2 Regts. Infantry 
 
 2 Cos. " 
 
 1 Regt. Artillery (Heavy) 
 
 8 Cos. 
 
 7 Cos. Cavalry 4,728 
 
 9 months' service . 17 Regts. Infantry 16,685 
 
 100 days' service . 5 Regts. Infantry 
 
 9 Cos. « 5,461 
 
 90 days' service . . 13 Cos. Infantry 1,209 
 
 128,089 
 Men in Navy. 
 3 years' service 13,929 
 
 2 years' service 3,204 
 
 1 year's service 8,074 
 
 956 26,163 
 
 Enlisted from Deo. 1864 to Aug. 1865 4,913 
 
 Total 169,166 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 249 
 
 men. Our contributions to the army and navy com- 
 pleted the contingent of every town in Massachusetts, 
 and left a surplus over all calls of 7,813, of which 1,214 
 were colored recruits from slave States, 907 were foreign- 
 ers, leaving a surplus of native recruits of 5,692. To 
 this should be added 600 men who, vexed with the 
 refusal of the Federal Government to accept them, 
 went to New York in 1861 ; also recruits for the 99th 
 N. Y. Regt. in 1861 — in aU nearly 1,000 men ; and this 
 from a State where the proportion of men of arms- 
 bearing age bears a very much smaller proportion to 
 the population than in the Western States, to which 
 our youths have emigrated. 
 
 Of the whole number who enlisted in the military 
 service of the State during the war, there were killed or 
 died during the service : 442 officers, 12,534 men — just 
 over ten per cent., besides a much larger number 
 wounded. 
 
 It would be an interesting and sad inquiry as to how 
 many of these 13,000 men were sacrificed in consequence 
 of our criminal refusal to keep a sufficient army or well- 
 trained militia in time of peace, how many sacrificed by 
 political generals, and how many by drunken generals 
 and colonels. 
 
 To recapitulate the impediments encountered by Gov- 
 ernor Andrew : 
 
 The fatuity of the Federal authorities at the beginning 
 of the war, their persistent refusal to accept the volun- 
 teers urged upon them by Massachusetts, through every 
 channel, disaffected and cooled the ardor of many. This 
 confidence in the speedy termination of the war was fol- 
 
250 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 lowed by an hysterical appeal for help faster than it could 
 be furnished, and, against the judgment of the Governor, 
 regiments were sent forward imperfectly equipped, at the 
 urgent entreaty of the War Department, which straight- 
 way neglected to supply the deficiencies. 
 
 There was a plentiful lack of United States mustering 
 officers, in spite of prayer and of exposition of their 
 indispensableness ; then no company could be mustered 
 in until the last man had been secured, consequently 
 there were many delays and desertions. The United 
 States officers detailed to transact business with the 
 State were the fossils of the army, and their rigidity, 
 timidity and idiocy obstructed and exasperated our 
 officers, — accustomed to Yankee gumption and co- 
 operation. Secretary Stanton's crankiness not only 
 maddened the Governor, but seriously disaffected 
 patriotic citizens. 
 
 We had sixteen batteries of light artillery, one of 
 which had been in the field since April 19, 1861; a 
 majority of all the other batteries had entered near 
 the beginning of the war. They had served every- 
 where with honor, their officers had been used to 
 command brigades of artillery, to act as chiefs of 
 artillery, but were superseded by officers from nine 
 other States privileged to appoint artillery field officers, 
 — States, some of them, with fewer batteries and those 
 of more recent date than ours. It was an outrageous 
 act of injustice, as outrageous as Stanton's injustice 
 to our colored troops, and as Unaccountable. 
 
 Although favoring colored enlistments, he refused 
 for eighteen months to pay the colored soldiers more 
 
KEMINISCENCES OP GOVERNOR ANDREW 251 
 
 than $7 per month, while the regular pay for white 
 soldiers was $13 ; and it was only when forced by the 
 decision of the United States Attorney General that he 
 discharged the debt to these spirited men, who decided 
 to suffer rather than receiTe pay provisionally from 
 the State. 
 
 These are specimens of a crankiness and arbitrariness 
 which was manifested in many other matters: the 
 thoughtless grant of authority to importunate applicants 
 to recruit regiments in the State, instead of leaving 
 that power with the Governor, to whom it had been 
 conceded ; and what was far more inexcusable, the un- 
 limited authority given at a later period to Butler, 
 authority already lodged with the Governor and there- 
 fore not divisible or transferable, inflicted an insult upon 
 the Governor, caused a delay of several months in 
 recruiting, and reflected upon the good faith and good 
 sense of Secretary Stanton and the President. 
 
 The coast of Massachusetts, especially of Boston, 
 was in imminent danger of an attack, and an appreciable 
 fraction of the Governor's time and of the State's money 
 was spent in repeated and fruitless endeavors to provide 
 an armament. 
 
 An immense throng of people crowded the Governor's 
 chamber from morning till night, with petitions, applica- 
 tions, schemes, — personal, political, military, some of 
 public importance, many more frivolous or impracticable ; 
 all to be listened to, discussed and disposed of ; a huge 
 pile of letters received each day to be answered with 
 deliberation ; besides these replies a constant corre- 
 
252 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 spondence to be kept up with the President, Secretaries, 
 Members of Congress, in addition to the official com- 
 munications to and from the War Department. 
 
 The work at the State House, which at first devolved 
 upon the Adjutant General and his clerks and the four 
 Aides, was now distributed and systematized, — a 
 Quartermaster General, a Commissarj' General, a Master 
 of Ordnance, a Surgeon General, all constantly occupied 
 with raising, officering, arming, clothing and equipping 
 a large army. Colonel Reed was appointed Quarter- 
 master General, and under the order of the Governor 
 and Council, set to work energetically to procure cloth- 
 ing and camp equipage. Colonel Brigham made a most 
 efficient and honest Commissary General. Colonel 
 Charles Amory, appointed Master of Ordnance, distrib- 
 uted arms and accoutrements. Surgeon General Dale 
 devoted himself to the Surgical Department. The 
 Adjutant General and Colonel Ritchie conducted the 
 correspondence with the War Department and organized 
 the regiments.^ Colonel Wetherell and I were chiefly 
 occupied with receiving, recording and arranging appli- 
 cations for commissions, investigating and reporting the 
 
 1 Before the 25th July we had drilled and despatched six (three 
 years) regiments, fully manned, uniformed and equipped, organized like 
 the United States regiments. 
 
 1,000 men in ten companies, 1 Captain, 2 Lieutenants each company. 
 
 Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Major, Adjutant, Quartermaster, 
 Assistant Surgeon. 
 
 Sergeant Major, Quartermaster Sergeant, Commissary Sergeant, 
 Hospital Steward. 
 
 2 Principal Musicians — 24 in band. 
 
 Before the year 1861 closed we had sent forward — 
 24 regiments Infantry, 6 light batteries, 2 companies of Sharpshoot- 
 ers, of three year troops in addition to our three months militia. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 253 
 
 qualifications of the applicants. Colonel Browne, the 
 Governor's Secretary, bore the weight of the correspond- 
 ence, in which labor we all assisted with much less 
 ability. 
 
 The ignorance of all, high and low, in this matter of 
 OTganizing, arming, equipping, drilling and disciplining 
 troops for service, was, of course, very great and was 
 frequently veiled, not concealed, behind a great display 
 of military knowledge. 
 
 The Governor's gayety of heart helped to sustain him ; 
 he was easily provoked to mirth, sometimes at the ex- 
 pense of his assistants. Some of the letters written by 
 me for him were complained of; others (I remember one 
 in particular where I had written to the Major of a Regi- 
 ment: " Your Colonel insults the Governor and oppresses 
 his officers ; he thinks that he wields a two-edged sword, 
 whereas in fact it is a boomerang," etc.) were returned 
 as not acceptable. The Governor dubbed me the " un- 
 fortunate correspondent," and enjoyed my discomfiture 
 heartily, as he did the idiosyncrasies and misadventures 
 of all his numerous subordinates. Like many able men 
 he could more easily perform the task than lay out the 
 work for others. His levee lasted from morning to night, 
 and for want of abstracting one half -hour daily in which 
 to assign our work, we were left alternately overworked 
 and under-worked, and the long hours offered to him 
 were more or less wasted. And all this office work of 
 the Governor's was frequently interrupted by journeys to 
 Washington, official visits to camps, and to public insti- 
 tutions : colleges, prisons, schools of reform, the railroad 
 tunnel, almshouses, hospitals, asylums, etc., over which 
 
254 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 he watched with as much vigilance as if no war existed ; 
 and upon most of these expeditions some members of his 
 staff necessarily accompanied him. 
 
 Whatever the Governor's success with city society, 
 he was country bred ; he loved the plain people and their 
 ways, and knew just how to appeal to them, however his 
 language and actions might strike the more fastidious. 
 A lady once told me " that the reason I didn't get along 
 better with Governor Andrew was that he was a poet 
 while I had n't an atom of poetry in me." The Gover- 
 nor was a mute poet of the Whittier type, a New 
 Englander with all the instincts and tastes and attach- 
 ments of a New Englander. So while he grew daily 
 and his sway over all increased, he was peculiarly the 
 idol of the plain people. On his various tours to col- 
 lege commencements and public institutions he would 
 sit and chat and tell stories, and shake himself free 
 when dull men called on him from sheer curiosity or 
 self-importance. 
 
 "How can you shake hands with those men? They 
 never saw you before ; they will never see you again ; 
 they care nothing about you. The moreT see of them, 
 the colder I grow. ' There is where I buried my first 
 wife,' pointing to a white headstone. This was almost 
 the only remark made by my guide of yesterday. It is 
 a waste of life to tarry among such people." But the 
 Governor was interested and interesting. Now and then 
 he was well entertained. One country host availed of a 
 stop of an hour between trains when the Governor passed 
 his way, to invite us to a " spread eagle," cooked by his 
 wife herself as only a New England housewife can broil 
 
KEMTNISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 255 
 
 a chicken, and with it a comforting glass of milk from 
 his favorite cow, which tasted for all the world like the 
 best milk punch. But in the almshouse not far off, 
 where the Governor and some of his staff lodged one 
 night, one of the party had cause of complaint. 
 
 I believe that he was the first governor to attend the 
 commencement of the Catholic college at "Worcester. 
 At Williams College the exercises were prolonged after 
 dinner, and one year when we had travelled the previous 
 day and night, two of us, tired to death, in spite of our 
 efforts to resist, sunk into blissful repose, looking, as a 
 brother officer remarked, like two owls guarding the 
 stage. But, worse than that, at Harvard, in 1863, 
 the Governor himself, wearied by preparations to put 
 down the Draft Riot just broken out, began to doze 
 and nod as the Salutatory Orator was turning to ad- 
 dress him, which Ritchie seeing pinched his arm, when 
 he awoke with such a start that the poor orator was 
 startled in his turn and faltered and stumbled in his 
 compliments. 
 
 I have no means of knowing how much prompting 
 and assistance the Federal Government received from 
 the Chief Magistrates of other States, but I can testify 
 to the many important measures suggested and urged by 
 Governor Andrew by letters, deputies and in person, 
 which the government adopted, whether in consequence 
 of his advocacy I know not. President Lincoln is re- 
 ported to have exclaimed, upon Governor Andrew's 
 leaving his room after one of his many visits : " There 
 goes the Governor who gives me the most help and 
 the most trouble." 
 
256 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 If the work which could be trusted to us subordinates 
 absorbed all our time as it did for years, if the endless 
 rivalries and jealousies of ofBcers and regiments, the 
 complaints of soldiers, the disappointment of rejected 
 applicants, the indignation of their friends — and as 
 time went on, the inevitable hardships, imprisonments, 
 wounds and deaths suffered by these men who had 
 eagerly sought service, — worried and afOicted us,^ if 
 the long-deferred hopes made our hearts sick, what 
 must have been the load of labor and anxiety and sor- 
 row and responsibility upon our chief, whose words and 
 acts might influence the fate of the whole country. Yet, 
 while we were often moody and vexed and dejected, he 
 always seemed cheery and confident. The wise but mad- 
 dening slowness of the President, the apathy or arbi- 
 trariness of officials at Washington, the lukewarmness 
 or negligence of our Massachusetts delegation to sup- 
 ply his needs or further his views, the incapacity of 
 generals, the consequent losses and defeats where he 
 looked for victories, in addition to the annoyance and 
 calamities before enumerated — all fretted and enraged 
 and distressed, but did not dishearten, the good Gov- 
 ernor. The Lord helped his unbelief; he maintained 
 
 1 The agitation was sometimes increased by exaggerated, preposter- 
 ous reports made by credulous or dissatisfied men who purported to 
 have had exceptional opportunities for learning the facts concealed 
 from the public. I remember such an one reporting in the Council 
 
 Chamber the drunkenness and treachery of General , abused and 
 
 mistrusted by the " On to Richmond " brawlers. At the second battle 
 of Bull Run he was very drunk and around one arm he wore a hand- 
 kerchief, a sign to the Rebels of his co-operation with them. Knowing 
 the man to be an exasperated Ishmaelite, I listened incredulously. 
 How his positive assertions affected others I know not. 
 
KEMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 267 
 
 his own hope and faith and encouraged his weaker 
 brethren. 
 
 That this prolonged strain upon heart and head even- 
 tually killed him, I feel as sure as if I had seen him fall 
 from visible wounds. This hopefulness extended to per- 
 sons as well as events. His belief in the redemption of 
 the fallen was not deferred to another life. His optimism 
 was wonderful. His craving for championship caused 
 his occasional injustice ; when he was unjust, he was 
 persistent in the defence of his proteges against the 
 weight of evidence, and impugned the character of 
 the adverse witnesses. There were, in my opinion, 
 several flagrant instances of this partiality during the 
 war, which were only palliated by the disinterested 
 motives of the Governor. He was so eager to mani- 
 fest his confidence in men who had betrayed their trusts 
 before that he seemed sometimes to have no place in his 
 heart for the firm and upright. 
 
 " Colonel, what do you say to my appointing Z quar- 
 termaster of the Regiment?" he asked on one 
 
 occasion. " I say you shan't do it. Governor." " Well, 
 why not ? " " You know why not as well as I." " We 
 are none of us perfect." " No, I suppose not, but some 
 more so than others. That man is a damned thief and 
 you have no business to put him in charge of Uncle 
 Sam's property." He yielded as to the quartermaster- 
 ship, but appointed him lieutenant. The fellow's dislike 
 to gunpowder, however, prompted an early resignation, 
 so that the harm was confined to the discredit of the 
 Governor's judgment and the brief affront to the gaUant 
 officers of the regiment. 
 
 17 
 
258 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 Some of these probationers were employed at the State 
 House to our annoyance and sometimes injury. During 
 one of my absences in Virginia I had a coat and a sword 
 abstracted, and I regret to say that his Excellency was 
 not especially moved by the circumstance. Once a 
 friendly editor sent for me to say that the Governor 
 had asked him to promote the appointment of Mr. X. to 
 the coUectorship or postmastership (I forget which), and 
 he wanted to know my opinion of him. My answer was : 
 " A few days ago, Mr. Greene, I said to the Governor : 
 ' My time is yours ; my character is my own, and unless 
 you drive off some of these scallywags, I shall leave 
 you. You are so concerned about the wicked, you 
 have no heart for an honest man.' I do not know 
 anything about this candidate, but I mistrust him and 
 wouldn't vote for him if twenty Governor Andrews 
 asked me." 
 
 Although the Governor's sagacity as to men was 
 sometimes questioned by us, unless he was carried away 
 by his merciful impulses or captivated by some brilliant 
 act of gallantry, he gauged them very weU. 
 
 As to his political sagacity, it seemed to me maivel- 
 lous. He had a passionate love of his country and of its 
 people ; he had but to look into his own heart to read 
 theirs ; his eye was single, his whole body full of light ; 
 he scouted all schemes of party, all passing popular 
 impulses, and boldly advocated measures which would 
 receive the ultimate and permanent approval of the 
 people ; hence his death was a great relief to scheming 
 and petty politicians and a great grief to unpartisan, 
 patriotic citizens. 
 
REMINISCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 259 
 
 The Governor's pecuniary generosity, not to call it 
 recklessness (for it was a deliberate subordination of 
 a lesser to a greater duty and interest), was admirable ; 
 he was wearing out his life fast, he was liable to be 
 suddenly called away, as he well knew before he sub- 
 jected himself to these extraordinary toils, and yet 
 he went forward gaily, apparently without a thought 
 for the morrow. Intent upon the salvation of the 
 Republic, he trusted his family to the justice and grati- 
 tude of his fellow citizens. 
 
 His farewell address to the Legislature surprised even 
 his friends by its breadth of view and its boldness ; he 
 laid down the conditions, the only conditions, upon 
 which peace and good will could be established, the 
 conditions which, after ten years' floundering and theo- 
 rizing, were finally adopted. He had that touch of 
 nature which makes the whole world kin; his cordial 
 frankness disarmed prejudice and inspired confidence 
 and friendship, so that when he died, among the men 
 who first came forward to the relief of his family were 
 some who had regarded his accession to office with 
 dismay and contempt. The most pathetic and heartfelt 
 obituary of him was in the columns of the Post on the 
 day of his funeral : 
 
 " Post, Nov. 2, 186T. 
 (Editorial.) 
 
 "The mortal remains of the late John A. Andrew 
 will this day be consigned to kindred dust. The grief 
 at his untimely death is universal. Not an insincere 
 tear has been shed for his memory. He dies, as indeed 
 
260 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 all men of noble aspirations would wish to die, his 
 name embalmed in the affections of a grateful, admiring, 
 and sorrowing people. There is no human heart in this 
 Commonwealth to-day but feels the strong pressure of 
 the common affliction. It is a melancholy reflection 
 that death loves to snatch such men from us in the 
 midst of their usefulness, and at the height of their 
 promise, but the reflection is tempered by the grateful 
 recollection of their resplendent lives. At the grave of 
 the deceased patriot, statesman, ex-magistrate, and citi- 
 zen, the Commonwealth stands a mourner. His public 
 life is incorporated with her history. His services she 
 will never cease to recall with gratitude, and publish 
 with praise. As a patriot, no man ever thought to 
 question his whole-souled sincerity ; as a statesman, ha 
 had manifested large abilities ; as chief magistrate, he 
 possessed an executive force that continually surprised 
 by its development; and as a citizen, a man, and a 
 Christian, he was faithful in all his relations, conscien- 
 tiously observant of his duties, and an example for all 
 men around him. He leaves what is better than great 
 riches, — a name which will never be spoken save with 
 admiration, gratitude and honor." 
 
 He was in the habit of visiting New York and 
 conferring with Southerners at the New York Hotel; 
 had he lived, his mediation would have been impor- 
 tant. 
 
 The grave closes over most men as the waves close 
 over the wake of a passing ship ; the places that knew 
 them know them no more, but Governor Andrew has 
 
KEMmiSCENCES OF GOVERNOR ANDREW 261 
 
 been and will continue to be sorely missed. He 
 would have comprehended our situation, he would have 
 divined the measures needed and he would have so 
 set forth their necessity as to have secured their adop- 
 tion by the people. He was not only wise and disinter- 
 ested, but he was felt to be so, and we still await his 
 
 successor. 
 
 Hekry Leb. 
 
 Late A. D. C. to Governor Andrew. 
 
SPEECH ON THE STATE HOUSE: 1895 
 
 THE VALUE OF SENTIMENT 
 
 [From the American Architect of March 9, 1895] 
 
 [Colonel Lee would have protested against this title ; 
 he would have thought it hardly just to him to dignify 
 with the name of "Speech" remarks which he made 
 with little, or no, premeditation, in addressing on short 
 notice a legislative committee. He spoke, however, 
 though practically impromptu, with such abundance of 
 knowledge and such depth of feeling that no other effort 
 of his, however labored, ever produced greater effect, 
 was oftener recalled or more praised. Everyone has 
 always called it a " Speech " and the word is therefore 
 retained, with this explanation.] 
 
 Mr. Fay. — I have great pleasure to introduce one 
 of our most eminent and able fellow-citizens, Col. 
 Henry Lee. 
 
 Colonel Zee. — The adjectives might have been left 
 out. I am sorry Governor Rice does n't know how to 
 speak. I heard it said when the first library was dedi- 
 cated on Boylston Street: "What a good speaker that 
 young Mayor Rice is." He stood between Mr. Everett 
 and Mr. "Winthrop, and he held his own ; made as good 
 a speech as either of them. He must have degenerated 
 
SPEECH ON THE STATE HOUSE 263 
 
 since then. That is a good while ago. I "rather regret 
 the adjectives which were applied to me. I can say 
 nothing to fulfil them. 
 
 This is a matter of sentiment, as Governor Rice said. 
 He who does not value sentiment ought not to be here. 
 John Winthrop valued sentiment, or he would not have 
 come here ; so did his companions. They had nothing 
 but sentiment and piety to preserve them and keep 
 their courage up, as had the Plymouth Fathers. It 
 seems to be rather late in the day for us of Massachu- 
 setts to abandon sentiment. It has money value as well 
 as its moral value. When I first remember Boston, it 
 was filled with sentiment. The buildings, which stood 
 mostly apart vsdth their gardens, were Provincial, some 
 of them going back to Colonial times. As the city grew 
 — as the town grew, for it was not a city then — as the 
 town grew and room was wanted for the pot)ulation, 
 these old buildings came down gradually and gave way 
 to blocks of buildings ; but many of them might have 
 been preserved, and in looking back, we see that if the 
 sentiment of the time had inspired people to their pres- 
 ervation, there would have been money value in it. 
 There stood the old Province House, a proud old build- 
 ing, one of the remains of Colonial magnificence, built 
 in 1679 by Peter Sargent, — for many years the vice- 
 regal court of this Province, the abode of nine Provin- 
 cial governors, one after another, from a testy old 
 colonel of Marlborough's army down to Sir William 
 Howe, who left it at the time of the evacuation of Bos- 
 ton. That might have stood behind its oak trees on its 
 terraces, a grand, stately old building, and would have 
 
264 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 been much handsomer in my opinion, than our new 
 City-hall — I suppose Mr. Cook would have preferred 
 the new City-hall; I don't. There was the house of Sir 
 William Phipps, that old buccaneer, to fulfil the dreams 
 of his boyhood ; and when I was a boy, it was used as 
 the Boys' Asylum ; that stood down on Charter Street, 
 a grand old building. There was the house of Governor 
 Hutchinson and his father, which house was so fine that 
 after Hutchinson was made governor he said he did n't 
 want to go and live in the Province House, because he 
 had a better one down at the North End ; that and the 
 house of Sir Harry Frankland stood side by side in 
 Garden Court Street. That house I have seen in my 
 boyhood, and am one of the few now living who ever 
 saw it — a most remarkable specimen of Provincial 
 architecture; but pulled down ruthlessly. It would 
 have been well to have preserved it. There was the 
 beautiful Hancock House, well remembered ; and Gov- 
 ernor Andrew did all that he could to preserve it. It 
 would have been most appropriate for the official resi- 
 dence of the Governor of Massachusetts, and could 
 have been bought for less than you paid for an ordinary 
 house on the other side of the way a few years after- 
 wards; and there sentiment, if it had ruled the hour, 
 would have been found in the end to have been profit- 
 able. There were long lines of houses ; all Pemberton 
 Hill was covered with them; Peter Faneuil's house, 
 the giver of the hall ; there was the house of Sir Harry 
 Vane, afterwards Rev. John Cotton's house ; there was 
 Governor Bellingham's house; and these with their 
 grounds would have made a beautiful park for the city, 
 
SPEECH ON THE STATE HOUSE 265 
 
 and we should not have had to go out five or six miles 
 to find our park. It would have been well to have 
 preserved them. 
 
 There were fortifications. Some one — ex-Senator 
 Blanchard — spoke here as if there had never been any 
 associations in this country, no other associations but the 
 Revolutionary associations. I think there have been 
 a great many associations, but if you come to Revolu- 
 tionary associations, there was the fortification on the 
 Common — that was levelled when I was in College ; 
 there were the fortifications at the South End; there 
 were the fortifications on Mystic River, where after- 
 wards the convent was built, and a cordon of earthworks 
 from Mystic River through Somerville, Cambridge, 
 Brookline, Roxbury, ending with Dorchester Heights; 
 memorials of the Siege of Boston and of Washington's 
 trials. And I think a beautiful parkway could have^, 
 been made and these fortifications preserved for a very 
 small amount of money, and sentiment would have been 
 found to have been economy in the end. But those 
 were the interesting monuments of my boyhood and 
 youth. 
 
 A monument — what is a monument ? There were 
 some rich men who thought a monument ought to be 
 something new; they had Mr. Cook's idea about it, 
 that it ought to be something new, something in the 
 present style. — I don't know whether the dome of St. 
 Peter's has been changed to the modern style to attract 
 people, or not. They thought this monument ought to 
 be something new, something pretty fine — finer than 
 the earthworks which were there. When my father 
 
266 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 took me over to see Bunker Hill, there were the earth- 
 works; one could see the redoubt in which Prescott 
 stood; see the breastwork; see where the rail fence 
 ran. One could see all the way down to the Navy 
 Yard, to Moulton's Point, where the British landed. 
 That was something like a monument; it was not a 
 mere record which the monument afterwards was; it 
 was a reminder of the scene, and that is what a monu- 
 ment should be. You stood there, and all the senti- 
 ment of the battle came to you. Now you go there, 
 and you stand upon a hill, nicely graded and all the 
 redoubt and breastwork filled up and erased and you 
 have the pleasure of seeing an Egyptian obelisk ! "Well, 
 it is a matter of taste ; to me the old earthworks would 
 have been more inspiring, more suggestive, without the 
 Egyptian obelisk. Mr. Cook has a different mind. It 
 is a free country; we all have a right to our opinion. 
 
 If you want to save the State House, you want to 
 save it as a matter of sentiment: it is easier now that 
 they have built that remarkably exaggerated building 
 behind. 
 
 During the war, when Governor Andrew worked 
 night and day, when war as well as peace were carried 
 on, the State House was sufficiently large. What they 
 want a building seven times as large for, I don't know, 
 unless every legislator is seven times as big as he was in 
 those days. I was today guided through it; I went to 
 the further end. I was told you were to be in No. 29. 
 Then I came to No. 8. I could not come without a 
 guide. What you want such a building for, I don't 
 know; but it is built — I suppose you want it, as Mr. 
 
SPEECH ON THE STATE HOUSE 267 
 
 Cook says, to advertise the State; or it was wanted 
 for some other purpose. Well, I think it is a great 
 pity. 
 
 A great many years ago, my father bought a house in 
 Brookline. It was an historic house ; it was, part of it, 
 two hundred and thirty years old. In that house had 
 been born Susannah Boylston, the mother of John 
 Adams — the first John Adams. I have a letter of 
 John Adams, saying that he has not been there since 
 he was a youth and brought his mother on horseback 
 on a pillion behind him. The carpenter told me when 
 I wanted him to make some repairs for my father: "I 
 tell you, Mr. Lee, the cheapest thing you can do is to 
 pull that house right down." He found that there 
 was some dry-rot in it, that there were some of the 
 studs worn off at the bottom, and some other things; 
 and that carpenter was of Mr. Cook's opinion, that a 
 new house was wanted; that it would advertise my 
 father better than the old house. And I did not do 
 it; I kept the old house in spite of its being powder- 
 posted; I have kept it, it is now forty years, and I 
 can say that I never go to that house, for I don't live 
 in it — one of my sons lives in it — I never go to that 
 house without an active sensation of pleasure. Why ? 
 Well, when you go abroad, what do you go to see? 
 Do you go to see the new houses in London ? Do you 
 go to see the new Law Courts ? Do you go to see that 
 griffin that they put up where Temple Bar stood ? No, 
 you go at once, the minute you can dust your clothes, 
 out you go to see Westminster Abbey. I have no doubt 
 there is rot in Westminster Abbey. I have no doubt 
 
268 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 some stones have crumbled, and I think it would adver- 
 tise London if they built a new one. But what should 
 you think when you came to London and asked for 
 Westminster Abbey, if they should say, "Well, you 
 can't see the Abbey, but you can see a model of the 
 Abbey ; it was thought in the way and that we ought to 
 have something new, something to advertise London, 
 and we have taken down the Abbey." 
 
 Now, is it healthy ? Perhaps that is one reason they 
 took it down ; took it down because it was too old and 
 too much dry-rot in it, and they wanted something 
 new, something up to the times, Mr. Cook. Audi the 
 Tower, — " Well, yes, you can see the Tower, but who 
 wants to go and see the Tower?" Why, you do, the 
 American, who is going to pull down the State House. 
 You go abroad on purpose to see the Temple, the 
 Tower, and the Abbey, and all the antiquities that you 
 can find in London, not looking at anything else. 
 
 Then some say this State House is only a hundred 
 years old. Governor Long found that out last year; 
 only a hundred years old! Well, I have seen the 
 Abbey and 1 have seen the Temples of Paestum, and 
 Augustus Caesar stood and looked at them and knew 
 no more about who built them than I do ; but his feel- 
 ing of antiquity and association was just the same as 
 mine when looking at the Abbey. 
 
 The first visit I made to Plymouth I asked to see 
 Plymouth Rock. I walked around and could not see 
 anything. I asked a maritime man: "Where is Ply- 
 mouth Rock ? " He brought me to the end of Hedge's 
 wharf; I saw a stone, a pebble about as large as a 
 
SPEECH ON THE STATE HOUSE 269 
 
 paving-stone. Spitting on it, he said: "Why, this was 
 Plymouth Rock; that is what they tell me." Well, 
 this was Plymouth Rock, sunk in the dirt. Above it 
 was Cole's Hill. There were buried in the graves that 
 were made smooth over the dead lest the Indians should 
 discover their losses, those who perished the first winter, 
 half the little shivering band of Pilgrims. Had they 
 preserved them? Not at all. The field was full of 
 burdocks and thistles and dead cats, and other articles 
 of that kind. Had not been preserved, no ! They went« 
 — two or three miles — out of Plymouth and put up a 
 monument; thought they were doing the right thing. 
 The rock they had blown up — blown up the rock and 
 carried it up to Pilgrim Hill! Why? Well, to have 
 it "more convenient." And that was their sentiment. 
 My sentiment was to leave the rock where it was ; and it 
 is so now. They have put it back ; they have thought 
 better of it. They have got over Mr. Cook's state of 
 mind and gone back to the old, the more antique. And 
 I suppose they have repented of their far-off monument 
 by this time ; — I don't know. 
 
 You want a reminder, if you come to the State 
 House. You don't want a new building to recall that 
 there was the old State House once, built by Bulfinch, 
 and which had witnessed the first hundred years of the 
 history of the State. It is all the history there is. 
 Governor Long does n't seem to think there is any 
 history. Now he has been one of the Governors : — 
 there have been thirty-five governors since this build- 
 ing was built, and they have all been good governors, 
 and it is hardly to be supposed that there is no record, 
 
270 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 that we have had no history all these hundred years. 
 There have been many interesting events. He said 
 there had been no war, excepting the War of the Re- 
 bellion. That was rather a mistake ; we had the War 
 of 1812, which was a very distressing war, too; it 
 robbed us of most of our property and was one that we 
 were averse to. We had the victories of 1812. Up 
 through the streets marched Commodore Hull and Cap- 
 tain Dacres. They lived together in the Exchange 
 Coffee House, and came to the State House to pay their 
 respects to the Governor. There was the fight between 
 the "Chesapeake " and "Shannon," — the women were 
 witnessing from the dome with anxious eyes that ter- 
 rible defeat. 
 
 There were many events I remember: the coming of 
 Lafayette in 1824, who was received here as he was the 
 next year when he came to the laying of the corner- 
 stone of the Bunker Hill Monument; that was something 
 of an event. President Monroe came here in 1817 ; that 
 was something of an event. There have been four or 
 five presidents here since then. 
 
 We come down to the Civil War. Why, he said. 
 Governor Andrew ? — Yes, he believed there was a war 
 — but he thought Governor Andrew was on the steps ; 
 it was not in the State House; he was on the steps; 
 he gave the flags and he took the flags on the steps. 
 Well, if you should be inclined to save your father's 
 house and somebody should say to you, " Why, I saw 
 your father bid you good-bye in the stage-coach on the 
 steps." Yes, but I saw my father in the house, too. 
 There was something done in the State House in those 
 
SPEECH ON THE STATE HOUSE 271 
 
 long, tearful years of agony and weariness, heart-break- 
 ing disappointment and losses ; the procession of young 
 men coming to offer themselves for service, saluting 
 the governor, as the gladiators did the emperor, " We, 
 who are about to die, salute you." 
 
 Do you suppose there is no feeling connected with 
 the rooms where the governor sat for those four years ? 
 — a man of peace called upon suddenly to prepare this 
 State for a fearful war, and preparing it in spite of 
 ridicule, in spite of denunciation, and preparing it so 
 promptly that Massachusetts was the first State — the 
 first men who were sent properly equipped and armed 
 for the war were the men of Massachusetts. The whole 
 world wept for Lincoln's death; are there no tears for 
 Andrew, who fell, after the war, as much as Lincoln ? 
 Lincoln was killed by an assassin, but if he had not 
 been, he would soon have died from head and heart- 
 weariness. Do you suppose Governor Andrew could 
 have sat here those four years, night and day — for he 
 was here much of the time night and day — working 
 and enduring, and feeling that he had been, more or 
 less, instrumental in bringing about the deaths of all 
 the flower of Massachusetts, without any emotions? 
 Was there no association? You have the association 
 with Bunker Hill — for what ? A battle of four hours. 
 Has a battle of four years no association for this build- 
 ing? The agony of those four years I Men haggard 
 with anxiety and grief, and the mourners going about 
 the streets from every house: Rachel weeping for her 
 children and would not be comforted because they were 
 not. Is there no association for this building, where 
 
272 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 the headquarters of the whole government of the time 
 were? It seems to me absurd. 
 
 I should like to read a small sentence from William 
 Morris on this subject: "No man who consents to the 
 destruction of an ancient building has any right to 
 pretend that he cares about art; or has any excuse to 
 plead in defence of his crime against ciTilization and 
 progress save sheer brutal ignorance." 
 
 Now I have only one word more to say. In 1870 the 
 Commune in Paris pulled down the Tuileries. I was 
 there the next year; I saw the destruction. They 
 pulled down the column on the Place VeadSme, of 
 which they had been so proud. Now the whole of 
 France is all alive with admiration for Napoleon. 
 They destroyed the Hotel de Ville with its priceless 
 treasures. What was it? The work of brutes. Now 
 we are proposing to destroy not our H6tel de Ville, 
 but our State House, and to do it deliberately in cold 
 blood. If any of you should be haled up for killing 
 a person, the judge will make a distinction whether 
 you did it in hot blood, whether you did it under pro- 
 vocation, or whether you did it in cold blood. If you 
 did it in cold blood, he will hang you ; if you did it in 
 hot blood, he will let you off with imprisonment for 
 life. So, we are to be more brutal, more culpable than 
 those brutish Parisians who destroyed their monu- 
 ments ? We do it in cold blood. In this case there is 
 no excuse; you are doing it in cold blood. 
 
THE OLD NORTH END 
 
 FiFTT years ago the "Old North End," as it was 
 affectionately called, was a most attractive quarter of 
 the town, — quaint, historical, romantic, — a region of 
 old shops, old taverns, old dwellings, old meetingr 
 houses, old ship-yards, old traditions, its antique flavor 
 preserved by its isolation. The narrow streets and 
 narrow alleys followed the tortuous shore or twisted 
 about the former boundaries of marsh and headland, 
 lined with old shops and houses, some of colonial date, 
 with their many gables, their overhanging upper stories, 
 their huge panelled chimneys, interspersed with aristo- 
 cratic mansions of greater height and pretensions flanked 
 with out-buildings and surrounded by gardens. The 
 ancient Ship Tavern, or "Noah's Ark," with its walls 
 seamed by the earthquake of 1663, where Sir Robert 
 Carr, Charles II. 's commissioner, beat the constable 
 and replied cavalierly to Governor Leverett's summons, 
 carried one back to the colonial days. The mansion of 
 Sir William Phips, " the fair brick house in the Green 
 Lane of North Boston," of which he had dreamed while 
 he tended sheep, recalled the romantic story of that 
 stout-hearted, irascible adventurer, the first governor 
 under the new charter. The " Two Palaverers," rendez- 
 vous of the North End Caucus, where John Hancock 
 made his grandiloquent annunciation, " Burn Boston and 
 
 18 
 
274 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 make John Hancock a beggar " ; the more famous Green 
 Dragon, with its emblematic sign, — "Headquarters 
 of the Revolution," as Daniel Webster named it, and 
 early home of the Free-Masons, where treason was 
 hatched, and the "Tea Party" planned by Otis and 
 Molineux, Adams and Hancock, "Warren and Revere^ 
 and the treacherous Dr. Church, and where the North 
 End mechanics declared in favor of the Federal Consti- 
 tution, — these, with the homes of the youthful Frank- 
 lin and Warren and Revere, and of many more, patriots 
 and refugees, still stood to remind one of the actors in 
 our Revolutionary struggle. 
 
 The " Old North " of the Mathers had been pulled 
 down for firewood by the British soldiers, but the 
 adopted Old North peered up with its revengeful cock- 
 erel, a visible monument of the piety or the malignity of 
 the " aggrieved brethren " of the New North (a mooted 
 point with North Enders); and in Salem Street, upon 
 the eastern slope of Copp's HiU, stood Christ Church, 
 with its graceful steeple, where hung Paul Revere's lan- 
 tern, and whose tuneful chimes were wafted through 
 the Sabbath stillness of the sparsely built town, — 
 
 Chasing all thoughts unholy 
 
 With sounds most musical, most melancholy. 
 
 Copp's Hill, the burial-place of the Mathers, and of 
 all the generations of North Enders, high and low, still 
 faced Bunker Hill, though the battery from behind 
 which Clinton and Burgoyne had beheld with conster- 
 nation the slaughter of British troops had been levelled. 
 Clustered around the base of the hill were the old ship- 
 
THE OLD NORTH END 276 
 
 yards, associated with the invincible "Old Ironsides," 
 and a series of "argosies of portly sail," of earlier and 
 later date, that had ploughed every sea on peaceful or 
 warlike errand for two hundred years. The sound of 
 the mallets and of the broad-axes was still to be heard ; 
 the smell of tar regaled the senses ; you could chat with 
 caulkers, riggers, and spar-makers, and other web- 
 footed brethren who had worked upon these " pageants 
 of the sea " ; and you could upon occasion witness the 
 launch of one of these graceful, wonderful masterpieces 
 of human skill. One of the most interesting localities 
 was North Square, or, of old, Clark Square, with its 
 ancient overhanging houses, in one of which had been 
 quartered the gallant and genial Major Pitcaim, of 
 Lexington memory; in another dwelt the family of 
 Commodore Downes, and by its side Paul Revere had 
 lived, and in his windows exhibited his patriotic trans- 
 parencies. Here was the narrow alley through which 
 Governor Hutchinson reached the " Revenge Church " 
 by a private door opening into his pew. At the head of 
 the Square had stood the Old North, and in its place 
 stood the parsonage of Dr. Lathrop, the last of the big- 
 wig clergy. In Moon Street, just off the Square, was 
 an ancient house, once the habitation of the Reverend 
 Samuel Mather, in which his brother-in-law, Governor 
 Hutchinson, had taken refuge the night of his house- 
 sacking ; and here in parallel Garden Court Street still 
 stood the unfortunate governor's mansion, from which 
 he had been driven. 
 
 As a boy the instinct of heredity had drawn me to 
 the North End, as the home of an ancestor, one of 
 
276 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 the, founders and long a ruling elder of the "Revenge 
 Church," whose tomb on Copp's Hill and sundry estates 
 scattered about that neighborhood were stations in my 
 pilgrimage, more especially his ample mansion in North 
 Bennett Street, from which the " aggrieved brethren " 
 rushed into the New North on learning that the Rev. 
 Peter Thacher and his friends had stolen a march and 
 were proceeding with his ordination, notwithstanding 
 their protest. This old house I haunted so persistently 
 as to awaken the suspicion of the then proprietor, 
 who, after my profuse explanations, remained doubtful 
 whether to consider me a burglar or an imbecile. 
 
 It was in one of our rambles through this fascinat- 
 ing region in the pleasant days of spring that some of 
 us schoolboys found our way into a deserted house, 
 whose pictorial and architectural splendor so captivated 
 us as to induce repeated visits, interrupted only by our 
 summer's rustication. Returning in the fall, what was 
 our dismay to find our enchanted castle gone, and upon 
 its site and over its garden a block of modem brick 
 houses. An anxious visit of inquiry to "honest Foster," 
 the silversmith, who, in his long coat, knee-breeches, 
 and silver buckles, dwelt with his spinster sister in an 
 impracticably low-jettied house in Ann Street, one step 
 below the narrow sidewalk, and, as old-fashioned house- 
 keepers believed, beat his silver to a superior whiteness, 
 while he regaled us schoolboys with traditions of a past 
 age, confirmed the evidence of our senses with the added 
 information that the paintings and other decorations had 
 been destroyed or hopelessly dispersed. 
 
 Thirty years went by and I had almost come to the 
 
THE OLD NORTH END 2TT 
 
 conclusion that I had been indebted to my imagination 
 for the seeming facts of its sumptuousness and heraldic 
 effulgence, when, upon the purchase of the Winslow 
 Lewis estate, I came across two of the painted and em- 
 blazoned panels, so far corroborating my recollections ; 
 which, after another twenty years' interval, have been 
 again revived, and this unique mansion of provincial 
 Boston, with its improbable inhabitants, remanded from 
 the realms of romance and dreams by the unexpected 
 apparition of its last owner in the flesh, and the inspec- 
 tion of various relics he has preserved, 
 
 The Clark house (the deserted mansion) and Hutch- 
 inson house formed the west side of prettily named 
 Garden Court Street, a short thoroughfare running 
 from the north end of North Square to Fleet Street. 
 There they stood, these rival mansions, festooned with 
 Virginia creeper, behind their green court-yards, placidly 
 as if their inmates had never been disturbed by French 
 wars, Boston mobs, or Lisbon earthquakes. 
 
 The Hutchinson house was built by Colonel Thomas 
 Hutchinson, a descendant of William Hutchinson and 
 his famous wife, "that woman of ready wit and bold 
 spirit," more than a match for her reverend and magis- 
 terial inquisitors. He was a wealthy merchant and 
 councillor, who made his native town a sharer in his 
 prosperity by founding the North End Grammar School. 
 His son, the future governor, was bom in this house, 
 which, upon the death of his father in 1739, became 
 his, and here he remained while in office, the only one 
 of the provincial governors who did not inhabit the 
 Province House, alleging that he had a better house of 
 
278 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 his own, an assertion amply justified if we can believe 
 Mrs. Child's account of its interior. Here he sur- 
 rounded himself with his books and works of artj here 
 he collected precious manuscripts and compiled his 
 interesting History; and here, on the night of the 
 26th August, 1765, he was sought by an infuriated 
 mob, and would have been assassinated but for his 
 daughter's devotion; his house was sacked, his rich 
 furniture of all sorts destroyed, and his priceless manu- 
 scripts scattered to the winds, some of them picked up 
 and restored by his neighbor, the Rev. Dr. Eliot. 
 
 A few years more of contention, and this courtly 
 representative of an ancient and honorable family, this 
 sincere lover of his country, this patient student of 
 her history, this skilful man of affairs, this persuasive 
 speaker, this upright and merciful judge, once so be- 
 loved, unable to discern or unwilling to adopt the 
 course of a wise patriot, hindered perhaps by his great 
 possessions, fled from his native land and died a broken- 
 hearted exile, moralizing possibly like Wolsey upon the 
 consequences of ambition, and looking back fondly to 
 his birthplace in sunny Garden Court Street. 
 
 After Hutchinson's departure, the estate was confis- 
 cated, and purchased for a song by Mr. William Little, 
 a respectable merchant, whose family remained there 
 till its downfall. General John P. Boyd, a brother 
 of Mrs. Little's, was a member of the family for some 
 years, a soldier of fortune who early in life had served 
 the native East Indian princes with a force raised by 
 himself, and brought home his pay in the concrete form 
 of a cargo of saltpetre, as tradition reported, and later 
 
THE OLD NORTH END 279 
 
 distinguished himself in the War of 1812. A tall, 
 showy, handsome man, with his war-paint on, his red 
 wig, and face of the same color artificially heightened, 
 who strutted through the streets with a military swagger, 
 and slightly military costume, and performed the duties 
 of naval officer to the satisfaction of President Jackson. 
 
 The Clark house was erected by the Hon. William 
 Clark, — like his neighbor, a wealthy merchant and a 
 councillor, — to outshine the house built by Colonel 
 Hutchinson. It was a well-proportioned house, built 
 of brick, of three stories in height, looking down upon 
 its two-storied neighbor, an intentional oversight, with 
 a gambrel roof crowned by a balustrade. The front 
 was relieved by a row of dormer windows, by a modil- 
 lioned cornice, by string courses between each story, 
 and by the richly carved pediment and pilasters of the 
 doorway. 
 
 Passing through the door you entered a hall of hos- 
 pitable width, running from front to rear, spanned by 
 an arch midway. The front hall, lighted by windows 
 on either side of the door, gave access to the front 
 parlors; the real hall, leading to the sitting-room and 
 kitchen, was lighted by a tall, arched window over 
 the stairs, up and down whose gentle grades his pony 
 scrambled with the gouty Sir Harry Frankland. The 
 hall with its balustraded staircase, the parlors and cham- 
 bers with their panelled walls, their deep window-seats, 
 their chimney-pieces flanked by arched and pilastered 
 alcoves, — all were in the just proportion and with the 
 classic details handed down from the days of good 
 Queen Anne or Dutch William. So far, the house. 
 
280 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 within and wittout, was only a fine specimen of the 
 mansions of wealthy citizens of the provincial period in 
 and around Boston. The feature which distinguished 
 it from its neighbors was the rich, elaborate, and pecu- 
 liar decoration of the north parlor on the right of the 
 entrance hall. 
 
 Opposite the door was the ample fireplace with its 
 classic mantel-piece, a basket of flowers and scroll-work 
 in relief upon its frieze. On the right of the chimney- 
 piece was an arched alcove lighted by a narrow window; 
 on the left an arched buffet with a vaulted ceiling. The 
 other three walls were divided into compartments by 
 fluted pilasters of the Corinthian order, which sup- 
 ported the entablature with its dentilled cornice. The 
 flutings and capitals of the pilasters, the dentils of the 
 cornice, the vault and shelves of the buffet, were all 
 heavily gilded. So far, as I said before, it was only 
 a rich example of the prevalent style. The peculiar 
 decoration consisted of a series of raised panels fill- 
 ing these compartments, reaching from the surbase to 
 the frieze, eleven in all, each embellished with a ro- 
 mantic landscape painted in oil colors, the four panels 
 opposite the windows being further enriched by the 
 emblazoned escutcheons of the Clarks, the Salton- 
 stalls, and other allied families. Beneath the surbase, 
 the panels, as also those of the door, were covered with 
 arabesques. The twelfth painting was a view of the 
 house upon a horizontal panel over the mantel, and be- 
 neath this panel, inscribed in an oval, was the mono- 
 gram of the builder, W. C. At the base of the gilded 
 and fluted vault of the buffet was a painted dove. The 
 
THE OLD NORTH END 281 
 
 floor was inlaid with divers woods in multiform pat- 
 terns ; in the centre, surrounded by a border, emblazoned 
 in proper colors, was the escutcheon of the Clarks, with 
 its three white swans. 
 
 The mere enumeration of the details fails to give an 
 idea of the impression made by this painted and gilded 
 parlor, not an inch of whose surface but had been elabo- 
 rated by painter, gilder, carver, or artist, to which the 
 blazoner had added heraldic emblems; so that as you 
 looked round these walls, the romantic ruins and castles 
 seemed placed there to suggest, if not to portray, the 
 old homes of a long line of ancestors, and the escutch- 
 eons above to confirm the suggestion, thereby enhanc- 
 ing the splendor of the present by the feudal dignity of 
 an august past. 
 
 The Hutchinson house is said to date from 1710. 
 The,Clark house may have been built three years later, 
 as the land was purchased 10 December, 1711, of Ann 
 Hobby, widow, and several others, daughters and co- 
 heirs of John Winsley, deceased, of Boston, for 725 pounds 
 current money. If so. Councillor Clark lived for many 
 years to enjoy the sumptuousness of his new house 
 and the envy of his neighbors. His death in 1742, 
 attributed by some to the loss of forty sail of vessels in 
 the French wars, may more naturally be accounted for 
 by his having reached the ripe age of seventy-two 
 years. He was one of the original worshippers at 
 Christ Church, although his sister Elizabeth was mar- 
 ried to Cotton Mather. He was buried in his tomb 
 at Copp's Hill, marked by a tablet bearing the family 
 arms. 
 
282 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 He was seemingly a consequential man, vain of his 
 wealth and of his ancestry, more anxious to rival his 
 neighbor's magnificence than his public spirit. His 
 family pride would have been wounded had he foreseen 
 that a granddaughter should die in the almshouse, and 
 more than healed had he known that among his many 
 highly respectable descendants he could have reckoned 
 the Duke of Argyle, and his heir, the present Marquis 
 of Lome, the husband of the Princess Louise, his lineal 
 descendant in the sixth generation, through his daughter 
 Sarah, wife of the wealthy and enterprising Christopher 
 Kilby, for a long time agent of the Province of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay and generous benefactor to his native 
 town. 
 
 Soon after the death of Mr. Clark, his estate was con- 
 veyed to his son-in-law. Deacon Thomas Greenough, 
 for 1,400 pounds, old tenor, and was by him sold in 1756 
 to Sir Charles Henry Frankland, Bart., for 1,200 pounds 
 sterling. 
 
 Sir Harry Frankland, as he was familiarly called, 
 heir to an ample fortune, and, what adds to his interest 
 here, a descendant, in the fourth generation, of Oliver 
 Cromwell, came to this country in 1741, as Collector 
 of the port of Boston, preferring that office to the Gov- 
 ernorship of Massachusetts, the alternative offered him 
 by George IL The story of his life and that of the lovely 
 Agnes Surriage has been told in prose and verse, and 
 hardly needs repeating. Upon an official visit to Marble- 
 head, he was struck by the radiant beauty of a yoimg 
 girl of sixteen, maid-of-all-work at the village inn, bare- 
 legged, scrubbing the floor; he inquired her name, and 
 
THE OLD NORTH END 283 
 
 upon a subsequent visit, with the consent of her parents, 
 conveyed her to Boston and placed her at the best school. 
 Ten years later, the connection between this high official 
 and his fair prot^^e causing scandal, Frankland pur- 
 chased some five hundred acres of land in Hopkinton, 
 which he laid out and cultivated with taste, built a stately 
 country-house and extensive farm buildings, and there 
 entertained all the gay companions he could collect with 
 deer and fox hunts without doors, with music and feasting 
 within doors, duly attending the church of his neighbor, 
 the Rev. Roger Price, late of King's Chapel, Boston, of 
 which Frankland had been, from his arrival, a member. 
 Called to England by the death of his uncle, whose title 
 he inherited as fourth baronet, he journeyed to Lisbon, 
 and there, upon AU Saints' Day, 1755, on his way to 
 high mass, he was enguKed by the earthquake, his horses 
 killed, and he would have perished miserably but for his 
 discovery and rescue by the devoted Agnes. Grateful 
 and penitent, he led her to the altar, and poor Agnes 
 Surriage, the barefooted maid-of-all-work of the inn at 
 Marblehead, was translated into Lady Agnes Frankland. 
 It was upon Sir Harry Frankland's return from Europe 
 in 1756 that he became the owner of the Clark house, 
 lived in it one short year, entertaining continually with 
 the assistance of Thomas, his French cook, as appears by 
 frequent entries in his journal; was then transferred to 
 Lisbon as Consul General, and so, with the exception of 
 brief visits to this country in 1759 and 1763, disappeared 
 from our horizon. After his death at Bath, England, in 
 1768, his widow returned here with Henry Cromwell, 
 but not until she had recorded her husband's virtues 
 
284 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENEY LEE 
 
 upon a monument " erected by his affectionate widow, 
 Agnes, Lady Frankland," — dividing Ler year between 
 Boston and Hopkinton, exchanging civilities with those 
 who had once rejected her, till the contest with England 
 rendered all loyalists and officials unpopular. Defended 
 from molestation by a guard of six soldiers. Lady Frank- 
 land entered Boston about the first of June, 1775, wit- 
 nessed from her window in Garden Court Street the 
 battle of Bunker Hill, took her part in relieving the 
 sufferings of the wounded officers, and then in her turn 
 disappeared with Henry Cromwell, leaving her estates in 
 the hands of members of her family. She lived a few 
 years with the Frankland family in England, married a 
 second time in 1782, and died in 1783. 
 
 She is described as altogether a very lovely creature, 
 with a majestic gait, dark lustrous eyes, clear melodious 
 voice, and a sweet smile, graceful and dignified manners, 
 readily adapting herself to her rapid change of position, 
 winning the affection of her husband's well -bom rela- 
 tives, while she never forgot nor forsook her own humble 
 kindred. 
 
 One gets a very favorable impression of Sir Henry 
 Frankland from his journal and from the transmitted 
 facts of his life. He was a liberal giver, as the records 
 of the King's Chapel attest, a lover of hospitality, a warm 
 friend, constantly remitting to a large circle at home 
 tokens of his affectionate remembrance, living in friendly 
 relations with his more Puritan neighbors in town, help- 
 ful to those in the country, courteous and considerate to 
 all, independent in judgment, as his comments upon the 
 policy of the government manifest. The errors of his 
 
THE OLD NORTH END 285 
 
 youth, for he came here as Collector at the age of twenty- 
 five, he sought to repair. His natural son, Henry Crom- 
 well, he brought home to be cherished by his wife, had 
 him educated, and provided for him handsomely in his 
 will.^ Penitent for his betrayal of the young girl who 
 had trusted in him, he made her his wife, welcomed all 
 her family, sailor brother included, to his hospitable 
 home, treating as his own two of her sister's children j ^ 
 was a considerate, loving husband while living, and at 
 his death divided his fortune between her and Henry 
 Cromwell. 
 
 A strange, eventful history, facts too improbable for 
 fiction, to be told only by a poet, who should conjure up 
 the thoughts that entered the mind, the feelings that 
 agitated the heart, of this fair, sweet Agnes, as she sat 
 at the window of her painted parlor in Garden Court 
 Street, gazing by turns at the Old North Meeting- House 
 and into the great buttonwood by its side, while the dio- 
 rama of her life passed before her mind's eye. 
 
 Upon Lady Frankland's death the town mansion, 
 which had escaped confiscation, passed by her will to her 
 family, and was by them sold in 1811 for $8,000 to Mr. 
 Joshua Ellis, a retired North End merchant, who resided 
 there until his death. 
 
 Upon the widening of Bell Alley in 1832, these two 
 
 1 Henry Cromwell became an ofScer in the British navy, had a 
 creditable record, and finally left it rather than fight against his native 
 couSitry. 
 
 ^ Among the interesting relics in possession of Mr. Bowland Ellis is 
 a well-painted picture of two children left in a panel over the mantel 
 of one of the chambers when the house was sold by Isaac Surriage to 
 Mr. Ellis. Circumstances tend to the belief that these are portraits of 
 John and Sally M'Clester, the two children here mentioned. 
 
286 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 proud mansions, long since deserted by the families 
 whose importance they were erected to illustrate and 
 perpetuate, objects of interest to the poet, the artist, and 
 the historian, alike for their association with a seemingly 
 remote past, their antique splendor, and for the series of 
 strange, romantic incidents in the lives of their suecesBive 
 occupants, were ruthlessly swept away. 
 
BROAD STREET RIOT 
 
 The extracts from the "Boston Almanac," given by 
 Scituate in your paper of the 21st, recall many events, 
 among others the great riot in Broad Street, June 11, 
 1837. It was Sunday. I was at Dr. Channing's church, 
 Federal Street, that afternoon, when the fire bells rang. 
 Brooks No. 11 came clattering and jingling down Frank- 
 lin Street and by the church. I concluded it was one 
 of the false alarms firemen were in the habit of giving 
 Sunday afternoon for the amusement of getting out the 
 engine. After church I walked out to Brookline to 
 tea at my uncle's, and on my return, at nine o'clock, 
 found a notification to appear at the armory of the 
 Cadets, which I obeyed; but no one was there. The 
 next morning I learned that one of the fire engines 
 sluing round the corner on East Street had broken into 
 an Irish funeral procession with or without malice pre- 
 pense; a running fight had ensued, which culminated 
 where Sea Street became Broad Street, near the head 
 of India Wharf. Here some of the Irish houses had 
 been despoiled because of missiles from windows, and 
 the broken glass and wrecked furniture strewn in all 
 directions indicated a prolonged fight. 
 
 Mayor Eliot had been apprised of this combat, and 
 with surprising promptness arrived upon the scene on 
 horseback, accompanied by Colonel Henderson Inches 
 
288 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 of the Cadets, and other gentlemen, and supported hy 
 troops hastily summoned. The Lancers, just organized, 
 made their first appearance and led the force, the New 
 England Guards, Captain (afterward Chief Justice) Big- 
 elow, with charged bayonets, and other companies of 
 the Boston Eegiment following. The riot was sup- 
 pressed ; the Volunteer Fire Department, organized by 
 Mayor Quincy some ten years before, and now infected 
 with rowdyism and bumptiousness, was broken up ; the 
 engines manned for the time by respectable loyal citi- 
 zens, who rallied round the mayor, and whose some- 
 what senile efforts were jeered at by the lusty^ profane, 
 irreverent ex-firemen. A new force of men who could 
 be paid, as volunteers never can, was soon organized 
 by the brave mayor. Thirst for blood instigated the for- 
 mation of an Irish company, the Montgomery Guards, 
 whose captain was one Baxter, a swarthy, bow-legged 
 man, once member of the City Guards, then sergeant- 
 major of the regiment. On muster day, September 12, 
 as this inopportune company in Irish green wheeled 
 into line about opposite to Mason Street, every other 
 company in the regiment, save the New England Guards, 
 the Boston Light Infantry, and Rifle Rangers, the most 
 select companies, wheeled out and marched away under 
 sergeants. Some of the old citizens, with a liberal creed, 
 deprecated this insult, and spoke encouraging words 
 to the Irishmen. I recollect seeing Mr. Harrison Gray 
 Otis, one of the old Federal leaders, addressing them; 
 but the company, as it left the ground in the afternoon, 
 was hooted and stoned by a mob composed chiefly of 
 the members of the mutinous companies, and the Mont- 
 
BROAD STREET RIOT 289 
 
 gomery Guards were intimidated from parading again. 
 For two years the regiment was reduced to a battalion. 
 In 1839 the offending companies, under somewhat 
 altered names, but with the same uniforms and officers, 
 were allowed to reappear by the too lenient Governor 
 Everett, and the regiment was reorganized with a new 
 field and staff, Charles Russell Lowell colonel. 
 
 Two more events helped to make this year memo- 
 rable in the military annals of the State : June 14, the 
 National Lancers, whose soldier-like conduct in the 
 riot had commended them to the community, made 
 their first parade. I can see them now, mustering and 
 forming line on the Common, parallel and close to the 
 mall, opposite Walnut Street. Their coming had been 
 hailed, as the Light Horse, the only cavalry company 
 for some years, had so dwindled that the governor's 
 escort on Commencement Day consisted at last of Cap- 
 tain Cambridge, two buglers and two troopers. The 
 Lancers appeared with full ranks, under Captain 
 Thomas Davis, who in the ward company days had 
 commanded the First, or NorJ;h End, Regiment. He 
 was a florid-faced man with well-cut features, short 
 body and long legs. The helmet and green uniform, 
 with red facings, and the avoirdupois of the members 
 of the company would have suggested heavj' dragoons, 
 but they had adopted the name and weapon of jaunty, 
 wasp-waisted lancers. Louis Dennis, who had figured 
 on the regimental staff and at the head of several com- 
 panies ; Peter Dunbar, handsome, burly head-truckman, 
 once line officer of the First regiment; Forristall, 
 another heavy, handsome, head-truckman; Samuel K. 
 
 19 
 
290 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Bayley, horse auctioneer, equally stout and tall ; Gard- 
 ner Greenleaf, mason; Cummings, blacksmith; Heath, 
 carriage-builder; Guild, dentist, with Punchinello face ; 
 Braman of the Swimming School; Jepson, once hand- 
 some coachman of Governor Gore, and many more 
 whom I cannot name, would have turned the scale at 
 not less than two hundred pounds. They spent the 
 day riding through the town, being reviewed by Gov- 
 ernor Everett near the great elm, and there was issued 
 a lithograph depicting the scene. 
 
 The last parade was October 30, the occasion the 
 reception of Black Hawk, Keokuk, the Prophet, and 
 thirty or forty chiefs of the Sioux and the Sacs and 
 Foxes. The governor received them in the State House 
 and bestowed on them his eloquence and presents to 
 suit their tastes. We Cadets guarded the entrance to 
 the State House, and in the afternoon escorted the 
 governor and his guests to a comer of the Common 
 near Park Street and the Brewer fountain, guarded by 
 the Lancers. The savages danced a war dance, and 
 we were obliged to lie down that the people might see 
 the antics of the Indians, an unwelcome attitude on 
 a cold October afternoon. Sbnex 
 
THE SHAW MEMORIAL 
 
 [In the autumn of 1865 Colonel Lee was one of those 
 who started the movement for erecting, in memory of 
 Colonel Robert G. Shaw, that monument which now 
 stands opposite to the State House in Boston. The 
 sculptor stipulated for two years, and took twelve. 
 When at last, after this weary and anxious waiting, 
 the day for the unveiling and presentation came. 
 Colonel Lee, whose feelings had been deeply engaged 
 in the business, had the gratification of finding the 
 ceremonial to be " perfect." His own part therein, 
 which fell to him as Chairman of the Committee, con- 
 sisted in a brief address^ to the Governor at the 
 moment of the unveiling, and later in the reading of 
 the following Report:] 
 
 You are too partial in calling me chairman of the 
 committee. I wish the chairman, John M. Forbes, 
 were here, — a man identified with Governor Andrew 
 from the cold, chilly morning of preparation to the last 
 review of the army in Washington. I say deliberately 
 that there was no citizen of the Commonwealth who 
 rendered more varied, more continuous, more valuable 
 service during the war than John M. Forbes. To the 
 State " his purse, his person, his extremest means lay 
 
 1 Not preserved. 
 
292 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 all unlocked to her occasions." Unfortunately, old age 
 has arrested him and prevented him from taking his 
 place as chairman this morning. 
 
 Friends, more than twenty years ago the subscribers 
 appointed a committee with full powers to procure 
 a fitting testimonial to Col. Robert G. Shaw and his 
 brave black soldiers. That committee has completed 
 its task. It has invited the subscribers, the family 
 and friends of the hero, with the remnant of his 
 followers, some of his old comrades in arms, and aU 
 others interested, to listen to its final report, to look 
 upon the memorial they have procured, to discharge 
 the committee from further labors, and, if so minded, 
 to crown them with approbation. 
 
 We ask your Excellency to preside on this occasion as 
 the chief magistrate of the Commonwealth, and espe- 
 cially as the successor to our great " war governor," — 
 the governor who was the first to prepare for war, 
 •the first to prepare for peace, the first to urge the 
 policy of emancipation as a war measure, the first to 
 insist upon the right and duty of the colored men to 
 bear arms, feeling that not only the liberties of the 
 colored men, but the destinies of the country itself were 
 involved in this question. When, after two years' de- 
 lay, the official sanction was granted he hastened to 
 organize regiments, to watch over them and contend 
 for their rights, — promised and withheld. 
 
 " The monument," said Governor Andrew in his call for 
 subscriptions, " is intended not only to mark the public 
 gratitude to the fallen hero, who at a critical moment 
 assumed a perilous responsibility, but also to commemo- 
 
THE SHAW MEMORIAL 293 
 
 rate that gi-eat event wherein he was a leader, by which 
 the title of colored men as citizen soldiers was fixed 
 beyond recall." 
 
 Time is wanting to detail the labors, anxieties, and 
 disappointments, the weary delays encountered, the an- 
 tipathy and incredulity of the army and the public at 
 the employment of colored men as soldiers even after 
 the bloody assault on Fort Wagner; and the final 
 triumph of the governor only after a long legal 
 struggle, and after he and his colored soldiers had 
 passed through great anxiety and misery. 
 
 " I was opposed on nearly every side when I first, 
 favored the raising of colored regiments," said President 
 Lincoln to General Grant ; and no one can appreciate 
 the heroism of Colonel Shaw and his officers and soldiers 
 without adding to the savage threats of the enemy the 
 disapprobation of friends, the antipathy of the army, 
 the sneers of the multitude here, without reckoning the 
 fire in the rear as well as the fire in front. One 
 must have the highest form of courage not to shrink 
 from such dismaying solitude. 
 
 As to the fallen hero who " had put on the crown of 
 martyrdom," the governor had selected him, after delib- 
 eration, from a family consecrated to patriotism; had 
 admired his heroism and was heartsick at his loss. 
 
 To express the universal grief at that loss and the ap- 
 preciation of the great event in which he was a leader, 
 this monument has been erected. 
 
 The State, through Governor Long, generously offered 
 to the committee an admirable site for the monument, 
 but upon examination this was declined lest the State 
 
294 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 House grounds should be disfigured. In this emer- 
 gency the city came to our rescue, and not only fur- 
 nished the ground, but made a liberal contribution of the 
 terrace and framework of the monument. We there- 
 fore must turn to you, Mr. Mayor, and transfer to your 
 Honor this precious memorial. 
 
 A generation has passed since this great work was 
 contemplated. It is over twenty years since it was en- 
 trusted to the committee which I represent, and twelve 
 years since it was confided to the sculptor, Mr. St. 
 Gaudens. Two years was the time allotted for its com- 
 pletion. These two years have lengthened into twelve, 
 a period of great anxiety for the committee lest they 
 should not survive to accomplish their task, or, what was 
 more important, lest the sculptor should be taken away, 
 with his work unfinished. Those twelve years have 
 been improved by the artist, whose inexorable conscience 
 compelled him to prolong his labors at all hazards until 
 his ideal should be realized. 
 
 Your Honor has witnessed the unveiling of the monu- 
 ment, and will, I am sure, congratulate us that, thanks 
 to the sculptor, we have builded better than we knew. 
 
 No sweeter praise could be craved by any artist than 
 the eulogy pronounced upon his work by the mother of 
 the hero : 
 
 "You have immortalized my native city, you have 
 immortalized my dear son, you have immortaUzed. 
 yourself." 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 
 
 BORN IN LONDON, NOVEMBER 27, 1809; DIED IN 
 LONDON, JANUARY 16, 1893 
 
 [Reprinted by kind permission of the proprietors of the " Atlantic 
 Monthly "] 
 
 Mrs. Kemblb, whose death in London has been lately 
 announced, had many friends of long standing in Boston, 
 one of whom offers this memorial. 
 
 Ever since Fanny Kemble burst upon the world, at 
 the age of twenty, she has been an object of interest to 
 the English race in both hemispheres. After a child- 
 hood of varied freedom and discipline, tending rather to 
 develop than to regulate her capacities, this young girl 
 was suddenly stunmoned to the stage, to rescue her 
 father from impending ruin. It was a hazardous ven- 
 ture. The success was immediate and marvelous. A 
 succh cTestime naturally awaited the advent of another 
 Kemble; but the public, drawn to Covent Garden by 
 mingled motives of curiosity to see a fresh dSbutante, of 
 regard for the family, and of sympathy for their ship- 
 wrecked fortunes, were taken by storm, and continued 
 to crowd the theatre for one hundred and twenty nights 
 to weep over the woes of Juliet. 
 
 Mrs. Kemble lacked the stature and perfect symmetry 
 of Mrs. Siddons, but she had the noble head, the efful- 
 gent eyes, the sensitive mouth and flexible nostrils, the 
 musical voice, the dignified and graceful gestures, which 
 
296 MEMOIE OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 distinguished her aunt; and, in addition, the sense of 
 humor, the mobile temperament quick as flame, the 
 poetic sensibility, which characterized her mother. 
 Three weeks was the ostensible term of preparation, the 
 interval between her sununons and her appearance ; as to 
 the rest, the poetry to feel and the dramatic faculty to 
 represent, she had imbibed or inherited. So endowed, 
 she soared at once to heights reached by others only 
 after years of toil, substituting feeling for simulation, 
 spontaneous action for studied gesture and movements, 
 the intuition of poetic and dramatic genius for the train- 
 ing of talent ; and this abandonment of herself to inspira^ 
 tion, " letting her heart go, while she kept her head," 
 gave a vividness and pathos to her personations never 
 equaled on the English stage in our day. 
 
 Mrs. Kemble, in her Records, dwells much upon her 
 ignorance of the details of her profession, and quotes 
 with glee Mr. Macready's remark that she did not know 
 the elements of it ; but the readers of the life of that 
 irritable actor will remember that he praises no con- 
 temporary, and her own criticisms must be taken with 
 aEowance for her extreme frankness and her exalted stan- 
 dard. That she fully comprehended the requirements 
 of her calling, and devoted herself to it industriously, 
 her letters manifest. That she might have arrived at 
 greater perfection and uniformity, that she would have 
 become more independent of her passing moods, of her 
 fondness or aversion for her part, had she liked and pur- 
 sued her profession, no one familiar with the art of act- 
 ing as perfected on the French stage can doubt. But, 
 as a critic truly says, " the greatest artist is she who is 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 297 
 
 greatest in the highest reaches of her art, even although 
 she may lack the qualities necessary for the adequate 
 execution of some minor details ; " and no one who 
 witnessed Mrs. Kemble's personations of Mrs. Beverley, 
 Belvidera, Bianca, Julia, Portia, Katharine, Ophelia, 
 Juliet, has ever had her image effaced from his mind's 
 eye, or has ever enjoyed a glimpse of her successor. 
 
 That she exercised this fascination, that she electrified 
 audiences in the Old and New World by her acting, 
 rests not upon the assertion of any one admirer ; it is 
 recorded in the annals of the time. That she numbered 
 among her admirers not only the thoughtless many, but 
 the judicious few, — Sir Walter Scott, Sir Thomas Law- 
 rence, Eogers, Campbell, Sterling, Chiistopher North, 
 Barry Cornwall, and their kindred on this side of the 
 Atlantic ; that she achieved two fortunes, winning inde- 
 pendence for herself and for those she loved, are histor- 
 ical facts. Sterling, who saw her when she first appeared, 
 says : " She was never taught to act at all; and though 
 there are many faults in her performance of Juliet, there 
 is more power than in any female playing I ever saw, ex- 
 cept Pasta's Medea." Sir Walter Scott said that she 
 had great energy mingled with and chastened by correct 
 taste, and that, for his part, he had seen nothing so good 
 since Mrs. Siddons. Charles Greville, skeptical at first, 
 is converted. " ' The Hunchback,' very good and a great 
 success. Miss Fanny Kemble acted really well ; for the 
 first time, in my opinion, great acting. I have never 
 seen anything since Mrs. Siddons (and perhaps Miss 
 O'Neill) so good." Christopher North is most enthusi- 
 astic : " Her attitudes, her whole personal demeanor, are 
 
298 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 beautiful. They are uniformly appropriate to the char- 
 acter and the situation, and in exquisite appropriateness 
 lies beauty. But not only are Miss Kemble's attitudes, 
 her appearance, her apparition, beautiful ; they are also 
 classical. Miss Kemble is a girl of genius." Of her first 
 night the " New Monthly Magazine" writes : " The looks 
 of every spectator conveyed that he was electrified by 
 the influence of new-tried genius, and was collecting 
 emotions in silence, as he watched its development, to 
 swell its triumph with fresh acclamations. For our 
 part, the illusion that she was Shakespeare's own JuUet 
 came so speedily upon us as to suspend the power of 
 specific criticism." 
 
 It is sixty years the 16th April, 1893, since Fanny 
 Kemble made her d^but at the Tremont Theatre, in 
 Boston, and the glamor of her apparition has not yet 
 vanished. The ecstasy of that season comes back at the 
 sound of her name. I scarcely ever go by the Tremont 
 House without gazing once more at the windows of 
 her room, in the superstitious hope that her radiant face 
 may shine forth. It seems but yesterday that we were 
 all, youths and maidens, hanging round Tremont Place to 
 see her mount Niagara, — a horse I rode thenceforth, on 
 holidays and in vacations, because she had been upon his 
 back, — or scouring the country to catch a glimpse of 
 her as she galloped past. Every young girl, who could, 
 sported Fanny Kemble curls. To be thought to look like 
 Fanny Kemble was their aspiration. I remember mak- 
 ing a long pilgrimage on horseback to gaze upon a 
 young lady whose attraction was a fancied resemblance 
 to Fanny Kemble ; and only a few years ago I visited a 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 299 
 
 matron, living near the Hudson Eiver, who, in her youth, 
 had been the more admired because she resembled Fanny 
 Kemble ; and she had not forgotten it. One young girl, 
 more fortunate and more venturesome than her fellows, 
 while hanging her daily offering of flowers upon the 
 handle of the actress's door, was heard, captured and 
 caressed, and accepted as a friend from that bright day. 
 
 As for \is Harvard students, we all went mad. As 
 long as funds held out, there was a procession of us 
 hastening breathless over the road to Boston, as the 
 evening shades came on; then a waiting in the narrow 
 entrance alley, packed like sardines in a box, until at 
 last we were borne along, with peril to flesh and rai- 
 ment, into the pit, where we sat on the unbacked 
 benches, absorbed, scarce knowing when and where we 
 were, and regardless of our sometimes sans-oulotte 
 condition. 
 
 Charles Kemble opened with Hamlet, Ophelia being 
 played by Mrs. Barrett, whom Mrs. Kemble pronounced 
 " perfectly beautiful, with eyes and brow of an angel, a 
 mouth chiseled like a Grecian piece of sculpture, with an 
 expression of infinite refinement ; fair round arms and 
 hands, a beautifully moulded foot, and a figure that 
 seemed to me perfectly proportioned. Altogether, I 
 never saw a fairer woman ; it was delightful to look at 
 her." The next night Miss Kemble made her d^but in 
 Bianca ; and we went out, transfixed with horror and 
 fascination, into uttermost darkness, as when one passes 
 an arc light on the road. We were all stricken, and 
 only counted the hours and the cash which would bring 
 us back again. 
 
300 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENEY LEE 
 
 I remember one night when, as Belvidera, shriekingj 
 stares at her husband's ghost, I was sitting in front, in 
 her line of vision, and I cowered and shrank from her 
 terrible gaze. How we all wept with her as Mrs. 
 Beverley over the frenzied despair of her gamester hus- 
 band ! — with this difference, that her tears were staining 
 her silk dress, while ours were mopped by our handker- 
 chiefs. How we all enjoyed her shrewish outbursts and 
 humble penitence as Katharine, and her father's assumed 
 violence and real good breeding as Petruchio! — a de- 
 lightful performance, vainly essayed by actors since, in 
 the fond belief of my friend John Gilbert and myself. 
 Who has played Portia with such sweet dignity; who 
 has so filled out the part of the whole-hearted Bea- 
 trice, with her pride of maidenhood, until surprised 
 into love by the sincere warmth of Benedick's confes- 
 sion ; and who ever personated that brave gallant as did 
 Charles Kemble? 
 
 " Oh for something of the fire, the undying youthful- 
 ness of spirit, now so rare, the fine courtesy of bearing, 
 which made the acting, with actors of this type, so 
 delightful I " Helen Faucit thus eulogizes Charles 
 Kemble, and his masterpiece, Mercutio, and Fanny 
 Kemble's Juliet, which held Covent Garden for one 
 hundred and twenty nights, and made lovers of all the 
 youth of London 1 "We were all of us in love with 
 you, and had your portrait by Lawrence in our rooms." 
 So said Thackeray to Fanny Kemble twenty years after- 
 wards. \ 
 
 Of all her parts, Julia, written for her by Sheridan 
 Knowles, was the most perfect; and the scene with 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 301 
 
 Clifford, when, love and fortune lost, he comes, as 
 secretary to Lord Rochdale, bearing a message, was 
 so afiPecting as to call forth from Rachel, " O'est bien, 
 fort bien ; " and we certainly shed abundant tears over 
 her desperate misery. In a conversation with Mrs. 
 Kemble one day, when each enumerated the great act- 
 ors we had seen here and abroad, I said: " There is one 
 you have omitted." " Myself, I presume. I never was 
 a good actress." "Weren't you? Didn't you play 
 Julia well?" "I did." 
 
 Upon the authority of her mother, who was her most 
 solicitous and most competent critic, it seems that the 
 lack of preparation for the stage caused Mrs. Kemble's 
 acting to be unequal, though, so far as my observation 
 went, it was, as an Irishman might say, never worse, but 
 sometimes better, actually inspired. As the painter 
 who was asked with what he mixed his paints answered, 
 " With brains," so could Fanny Kemble have accounted 
 for her unrivaled power by saying that she threw her 
 whole soul into her work. 
 
 Fanny Kemble's career as an actress came to a sudden 
 close in June, 1834, by her marriage to Mr. Pierce But- 
 ler, of Philadelphia. 
 
 She has expressed her thankfulness that she was 
 removed from the stage before its excitement became 
 necessary to her. The vacuity of Mrs. Siddons's last 
 years, her apparent deadness and indifference to every- 
 thing, she attributed to the withering and drying influ- 
 ence of the over-stimulating atmosphere of emotion, 
 excitement and admiration in which her aunt had 
 passed her life; and she believed that her own power 
 
302 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 of endurance of the sorrow of her later life was 
 lessened by the early excitement and the prolonged 
 exercise of the capacity for superficial emotion upon 
 the stage. 
 
 There can be no doubt that in Mrs. Kemble's case, 
 where the emotion excited was more than superficial, 
 the nerves were weakened, the atmosphere was too 
 stimulating ; but what alternative would have protected 
 her from the rash nature which her mother gave her, 
 and which the home education had developed? And 
 as to the vacuity and indifference in the lives of Mrs. 
 Siddons and of Mrs. Kemble's father, they had neither her 
 brains, her temperament, nor her education. Moreover, 
 I feel quite sure that, had she turned governess, or had 
 she remained in her father's house, the dramatic and 
 theatrical instinct derived from her progenitors, and 
 which impelled her sister Adelaide upon the stage, 
 would have drawn her thither, or, if suppressed, would 
 have left her dissatisfied as not having fulfilled her 
 mission. Mrs. Kemble's objections to the profession 
 would hardly apply to the actors of comedy, whose work 
 is rather intellectual than emotional ; nor would she ex- 
 tend them to French or Italian actors, whose demonstra- 
 tions, on and off the stage, are not acted, dramatic as 
 they are, but perfectly natural. 
 
 In connection with this subject, I must give an in- 
 stance of her prompt rejection of undeserved praise, and 
 hearty championship of her humbler professional asso- 
 ciates. Hearing a sermon which condemned the pro- 
 fession of actors, and reflected upon their moral character 
 as a body, with the notable exception of the Kemble 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 303 
 
 family, she wrote a spirited reply, disclaiming any 
 moral superiority of her own family over the ayerage, 
 and testifying to the respectability and worth of many 
 humble members of her profession who never had been 
 and never would be cheered by public notice, while her 
 family were distinguished from those faithful unre- 
 warded laborers only by the favor of the pubho ; adding 
 that her objections to the profession were based upon its 
 unwholesomeness, not upon its looseness of morals. 
 
 After a few years of married life, passed partly in 
 America, and partly, to her great relief, in England, 
 Mrs. Kemble returned to her native land, and, after 
 a refreshing year in Italy as guest of her sister, resumed 
 her profession. 
 
 It would be impossible to exaggerate the forlornness 
 of her situation at this time. Separated from her 
 children by the ocean, wider then than now, her com- 
 munication with them infrequent and indirect, heart- 
 sick with sorrow and anxiety, no longer young, her 
 bloom gone, her prestige gone, incompetent to bargain 
 with shrewd provincial managers, often sick from the 
 exposure incident to this nomad life, she toiled on for 
 a scant pittance, earned by the abhorred simulation of 
 griefs akin to those gnawing at her heart. 
 
 "The step I am about to take," she writes, "is so 
 painful to me that all petty annoyances and minor vexa- 
 tions lose their poignancy in the contemplation of it. 
 My strength is much impaired, my nerves terribly 
 shattered. I am now so little able to resist the shght- 
 est appeal to my feelings that, at the play, the mere 
 sound of human voices simulating distress has shaken 
 
304 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 and affected me to a strange degree. Judge how ill 
 prepared I am to fulfill the task I am about to under- 
 take. But it is an immense thing for me to be still able 
 to work at all, and to keep myself from helpless depend- 
 ence upon any one." " The whole value and meaning 
 of life, to me, lies in the single sense of conscience," — 
 duty." True to her principles, rather than request or 
 accept a share of the fortune bestowed, in her days 
 of prosperity, upon her father, she struggled on in this 
 dismal drudgery; buoyed up by her faith, cultivating 
 an interest in passing events in society, politics, and 
 literature, communing with nature, and cheered by the 
 loyalty of old friends. 
 
 This pilgrimage lasted for a year and a half, when at 
 last, her father retiring from the field, she felt at liberty 
 to give readings, which were less distasteful to her than 
 acting; in fact, such was her enthusiasm for Shake- 
 speare, they were sometimes enjoyed by her as well 
 as by her audience. WhUe the remnant who witnessed 
 Fanny Kemble's acting in Boston might be packed into 
 a box, a pitful of those who enjoyed her readings here 
 survive. Whatever criticisms have been made upon her 
 acting, there has been but one verdict as to her read- 
 ings. In these were made manifest not only her dra- 
 matic inheritance, the range and quality of her voice, 
 the grace of her gestures, the mobility and eloquence of 
 her face, but also the underlying foundation of her 
 power as an actress and reader, her comprehensive in- 
 telligence and her deep feeling. She approached her 
 work with humble reverence for and appreciation of her 
 divinity, Shakespeare, whose priestess she was; and 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 305 
 
 thus dedicated, she was transfigured in her imagination 
 and to the eyes of the spectators. 
 
 As her friend, jealous of her -welcome, I have often 
 looked around as she entered and announced her read- 
 ing, knowing that some present were gazing skeptically 
 at the stout, middle-aged woman who was to present 
 to them the lovelorn Juliet, the crazed Ophelia, the 
 innocent Miranda. My fears were soon dissipated, for, 
 as the play proceeded, not only were the voices clearly 
 and finely distinguished, but the expression of each was 
 miraculously infused, so that she really looked, suc- 
 cessively, like Prospero, Miranda, or Ariel. I must 
 make an exception of Caliban, Bottom, Falstaff, Sir 
 Toby, and Dogberry; her attempts to personate these 
 were, naturally enough, disagreeable and unsuccessful. 
 
 While her readings, for which she made thorough 
 preparation, were uniformly excellent, I remember one 
 remarkable instance of inspiration. It was near the 
 close of her last season in Boston — about 1867, perhaps 
 — that I went with two companions to hear her read 
 Richard III. From her entrance-soliloquy to the shriek- 
 ing of the ghosts over the sleeping Richard, her read- 
 ing was so inspired that we were aU. electrified ; and 
 the next morning I wrote : " What was the matter with 
 you last night ? You never read so in your life. Com- 
 pared with your usual readings, it was flying instead of 
 walking. I don't know what, but something extraordi- 
 nary must have happened." In reply, she said : " I 
 waive your compliments, but you must have noticed 
 that I tripped twice in my dialogue, — a rare occur- 
 rence ; but the fact was that I was beside myself, for 
 
 20 
 
306 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 just as I was going to my reading I received a note 
 from the executor of my cousin, Mrs. George Combe 
 (Cecilia Siddons), announcing that she had left me by 
 her will five family pictures, — - one of my grandmother, 
 a venerable lady, whom I am said to resemble; and 
 what was more, a pair of gloves that once were Shake- 
 speare's." This unexpected revelation confirmed my 
 belief in the justice of my observation, I had seen the 
 flame ; now I had discovered the fuel. 
 
 The great success of the readings, especially in 
 America, placed Mrs. Kemble in comfort, — save when, 
 in behalf of herself, or more frequently of her children, 
 she was guilty of extravagance, — and enabled her 
 thenceforth to spend her time alternately in England- 
 and America, with a summer visit to Switzerland. 
 
 Emerson has said that poets put all their poetry into 
 their verses, and leave none in their lives. Actors as 
 well as authors are apt to disappoint one who is led by 
 the art to interest himself in the artist. Nine times out 
 of ten one finds a commonplace person who has this one 
 talent, and there an end ; that his delineations are mere 
 surface work, divined from the outside, with no pene- 
 tration into or conception of the full scope of the char- 
 acter he is representing; sunflower costumes, artistic 
 scenery, calcium lights, do the rest. Mrs. Kemble says : 
 " Few things have ever puzzled me more than the 
 fact of people liking me because I pretended to be a 
 pack of Juliets and Belvideras, and creatures who were 
 not me." Still she recognizes the fact that the popular 
 theatrical heroine of the day always is the realization of 
 their ideal to the youth, male and female, of her time. 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE SOT 
 
 She certainly was so, and in her case her admirers were 
 not disappointed. 
 
 Her great nature was manifested in her acting and 
 reading as in her writing, and still more in her being. 
 "She has far more ability than she can display on 
 the stage," said Sterling. " The Kembles are really a 
 wonderful race. Who that has ever seen Fanny on the 
 stage, or heard her read, or perused her plays and poems 
 and journals^ or her philosophical analyses of Shake- 
 speare's characters, can deny her genius ? " says JuUan 
 Young, a lifelong friend, only child of her old friend, 
 the eminent actor Charles Young. " Finished the read- 
 ing of Mrs. Butler's play, — full of power, poetry, and 
 pathos. She is one of the most remarkable women 
 of the present day." So spoke the jealous, irritable, but 
 really high-minded Macready, who tickled or stung Mrs. 
 Kemble by affirming that she was ignorant of the rudi- 
 ments of her profession. 
 
 Fanny Kemble had doubted whether she ought to 
 marry, and perhaps she was correct. I cannot picture 
 to myself a union mutually satisfactory. An experi- 
 enced gardener experiments upon foreign plants with 
 watchful distrust, for he has learned that their acclima- 
 tion is not a simple question of heat or cold, of wet 
 or dry, but an intricate problem; nor is he beguiled 
 by seeming success until time has been given to exhaust 
 their imported vitality, any more than the experienced 
 physician is encouraged by his patient's seeming im- 
 provement until the fever has run its course. So an 
 experienced social philosopher looks with misgivings 
 upon the future of the young girl who has linked her 
 
308 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 fortunes to a foreigner, unaware how much married 
 happiness is buttressed by the support of family and 
 friends, and by the environment of familiar scenes 
 and associations. Fanny Kemble was peculiarly un- 
 fitted for a transatlantic alliance. She was intensely 
 attached to her own soil, with its history and its 
 poetry, as also with its social structure and customs. 
 She had been brought up from childhood among bright 
 artistic and literary people. Besides her own family 
 circle, her brother John's classmates and cronies, who 
 frequented her father's house, included Arthur Hallam, 
 Alfred Tennyson and his brother, Frederick Maurice, 
 John Sterling, Richard Trench, William Donne, the 
 Romillys, the Malkins, Edward Fitzgerald, William 
 Thackeray, Richard Monckton Milnes ; and after her 
 brilliant d^but she came into famihar intercourse with 
 all that English society could offer for her entertain- 
 ment. 
 
 While she rather eschewed general society, unless 
 there was dancing, to which she was addicted, she 
 was very dependent upon this social and hterary re- 
 freshment. She had been from childhood a great reader 
 and a great thinker. She had been in the habit of 
 writing poetry and prose from early girlhood. One 
 of her plays, written when she was seventeen, was 
 brought out with success, even Macready declaring 
 , it " full of power, poetry, and pathos." " A very 
 noble creature indeed. Somewhat inelastic, unpliant 
 to the age, attached to the old modes of thought and 
 conventions, but noble in qualities and defects." So 
 comments Mrs. Browning upon Mrs. Kemble ; and 
 
FKANCES ANNE KEMBLE 309 
 
 this inelasticity made it impossible for her to abandon 
 old, and adopt new and, to her, strange conventions. 
 
 Just fancy the hunger and thirst of a human being 
 so constituted and so habituated, in an American city, 
 in the former half of this century, where the best 
 substitutes for her lost companions, the clergymen 
 g,nd other professional men, were too busy and too 
 tired to circulate ; the few men of leisure and business 
 men were too uneducated to furnish any nourishment ; 
 and the women, unlike her regretted British sisters, 
 were disabled by poor health, engrossed in home cares 
 and local interests, and incapacitated by want of educa- 
 tion. " You can form no idea," she writes, " of the 
 intellectual dearth and drought in which I am existing 
 at present." " All the persons whom I should like 
 to cultivate are professionally engaged without inter- 
 mission, and they have no time, and, it seems, but 
 little taste, for social enjoyment." " No one that I 
 belong to takes the slightest interest in literary pur- 
 suits." This dearth, or utter solitude in her country 
 home, were the possible alternatives. Then there was 
 the climate, which debilitated her in summer and dis- 
 mayed her in winter, and which throughout the year 
 combined with the dust and mud to deprive her of 
 that exercise on foot and in the saddle which she 
 could not do without. 
 
 She gives a laughable account of her kindly but 
 abortive attempts, as the lady of Butler Place, to school 
 the children who were already schooled, to fete the 
 laborers on the Fourth of July with wine and beer 
 which they would not touch, to visit the poor who did 
 
310 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 not exist; and we can see her bustling about with 
 her keys, measuring out supplies for the household, 
 tormenting herself with details, disaffecting her servants 
 with foreign customs, and crusading generally, with 
 great fatigue and little or no avail. 
 
 When she learned that her husband's inheritance 
 consisted chiefly of slaves and plantations, her heart 
 was deeply touched with pity and a sense of responsi- 
 bility to the enslaved laborers, and she wrote a "long 
 and vehement treatise against negro slavery," which she 
 was deterred from publishing for fear of public in- 
 dignation. Looking back upon her life at this time, 
 Mrs. Kemble says : " The ideas and expectations 
 with which I then entered upon my Northern country 
 life, near Philadelphia, were impossible of fulfillment, 
 and simply ridiculous under the circumstances." 
 "Those with which I contemplated an existence on 
 our Southern estate were not only ridiculously im- 
 possible, but would speedily have found their only result 
 in the ruin, danger, and very probably death of all con- 
 cerned. I am now able to understand and appreciate 
 what I had then not the remotest suspicion of, — the 
 amazement and dismay, the terror and disgust, with 
 which such theories must have filled every member 
 of the American family with which my marriage had 
 connected me j I must have appeared to them nothing 
 but a mischievous madwoman." " It is a strange coun- 
 try and a strange people ; and though I have dear and 
 good friends among them, I still feel a stranger here, 
 and fear I sliall continue to do so until I die, which God 
 grant I may do at home J — that is, in England." 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 311 
 
 I have often heard Mrs. Kemble lament that Ameri- 
 cans and English should continue to regard themselves 
 as one people, despite the essential differences wrought 
 by the influence of two hundred years' separation. She 
 thought that this mistaken notion of identity led to 
 unreasonable expectations, and consequent misunder- 
 standings and disappointments ; and her position was, I 
 think, well taken, — that we should better our relations 
 by respecting one another's strangeness. In her case, 
 the incompatibilities were both generic and individual ; 
 her marriage was entered upon rashly and unwisely. 
 And, paradoxical as it may seem, this marriage to 
 an American, while it did give her, as it were, two 
 homes, and friends in both hemispheres, ended by ren- 
 dering her homeless ; for, on whichever side of the ocean 
 she sojourned, she was homesick for the other. If in 
 England, she yearned for her children, and, next to 
 them, for the Sedgwicks ; if in America, she was anxious 
 about her family, longed for the sight of the friends of 
 her youth, and felt herself an exile from her beloved 
 native land. 
 
 " Oh, vainest quest of that torment, the love for the 
 absent I " she writes. " This being linked by invisible 
 chains to the remote ends of the earth, and constantly 
 feeling the strain of the distance upon one's heart ; this 
 sort of death in life, for you are aU. so far away that you 
 are almost as had as dead to me. I really feel sometimes 
 as if I could make up my mind to turn my thoughts 
 once and for all away from you, as from the very dead, 
 and never more, by this disjointed communion, revive, in 
 all its acuteness, the bitter sense of loss and separation." 
 
312 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 "While she did not feel at home in America, and while 
 this lack of complete sympathy increased as she grew 
 older and youthful associations dearer, yet she cherished 
 a warm affection for her adopted country, especially for 
 New England, which she believed would be "the no- 
 blest country in the world in a little while ; " and this 
 opinion she has reiterated in her letters to me, especially 
 since the war, which wrung her heart as if she had a 
 brother or a son whose death she dreaded to see gazetted. 
 An attempt she made to read Barbara Frietchie and her 
 daughter's touching Boat of Grass, the last time she 
 read in Boston, came to an end through her uncontrol- 
 lable emotion. I must quote her Sonnets on the Amer- 
 ican War as expressing in noble Terse the hopes of our 
 enemies, the despondency of our timid friends, and, 
 finally, the assurance of our ultimate triumph and its 
 solemnity. 
 
 SONNETS ON THE AMERICAN WAR 
 
 She has gone down ! They shout it from afar, — 
 
 Kings, nobles, priests, all men of every race 
 
 Whose lagging clogs time's swift, relentless pace. 
 
 She has gone down, — our evil-boding star; 
 
 Rebellion smitten with rebellion's sword, 
 
 Anarchy done to death by slavery, 
 
 Of ancient right, insolvent enemy ; 
 
 Beneath a hideous cloud of civil war. 
 
 Strife such as heathen slaughterers had abhorred, 
 
 The lawless land where no man was called lord, 
 
 Spurning all wholesome curb, and dreaming free, 
 
 Her rabble rules licentious tyranny. 
 
 In the fierce splendor of her arrogant morn 
 
 She has gone down, the world's eternal scorn. 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 313 
 
 II. 
 
 She has gone down 1 Woe for the -world and all 
 
 The -weary workers, gazing from afar 
 
 At the clear rising of that hopeful star, — 
 
 Star of redemption to each weeping thrall 
 
 Of power decrepit, and of rule outworn ; 
 
 Beautiful shining of that blessed morn 
 
 Which was to bring leave for the poor to live, 
 
 To work and rest, to labor and to thrive, 
 
 And righteous room for all who nobly strive. 
 
 She has gone down ! Woe for the struggling world. 
 
 Back on its path of progress sternly hurled I 
 
 Land of sufficient harvests for all dearth, 
 
 Home of far-seeing hope, time's latest birth ; 
 
 Woe for the promised land of the whole earth 1 
 
 III. 
 
 Triumph not, fools, and weep not, ye faint-hearted I 
 
 Have ye believed that the supreme decree 
 
 Of Heaven had given this people o'er to perish ? 
 
 Have ye believed that God had ceased to cherish 
 
 This great, new world of Christian liberty ? 
 
 Nay, by the precious blood shed to redeem 
 
 The nation from its selfishness and sin ; 
 
 By each brave heart that bends in holy 'strife, 
 
 Leaving its kindred hearts to break through life ; 
 
 By all the bitter tears, whose source must stream 
 
 Forever every desolate home -within. 
 
 We will return to our appointed place. 
 
 First in the vanguard of the human race. 
 
 When -we review Fanny Kemble's achievements, her 
 acting, her reading, her writing, her personal influence, 
 we must accord her genius. As to her -writings, her 
 Journal is sometimes saucy, as written by a young girl 
 who had gone forth from home for the first time ; but 
 how graphic her pictures of places and people, how 
 sparkhng -vvith wit and full of feeling, with a sad under- 
 
314 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 tone, for an early disappointment had already shaded 
 her young days ; her Poems, written for the most part 
 after joy and hope had vanished, so charged with an- 
 guish; her Year of Consolation, breathing the atmos- 
 phere of Italy, and imparting the refreshment and fitful 
 happiness she enjoyed; her Residence on a Georgian 
 Plantation, as pathetic and cruel as Uncle Tom's Cabin, 
 and fateful to her, haunted by the sin of such possession ; 
 her Notes upon some of Shakespeare's plays and upon 
 the stage, so discriminating, especially her remarks upon 
 the Dramatic and the Theatrical. 
 
 But the most valuable of all her writings are the 
 Records of her Girlhood ^ and of her Later Life; for 
 these, beginning with a reminiscence of her earliest 
 years, are soon succeeded by what is much more reliable, 
 a record, not reverting to, but running along with, her 
 life from day to day, incidentally revealed by letters to 
 her dearest friend, communicating events and outpouring 
 her inmost thoughts and feelings.^ And this life was 
 like the course of a mountain brook. 
 
 The current, that with gentle murmur glides, 
 
 Thou knowest, being stopp'd impatiently doth rage ; 
 
 But, when his fair course is not hindered, 
 
 He makes sweet music with the enamel'd stones, 
 
 Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge 
 
 He overtaketh in his pilgrimage ; 
 
 And so by many winding nooks he strays, 
 
 With willing sport, to the wild ocean. 
 
 1 First published in The Atlantic, 1875-77, under the title "Old 
 Woman's Gossip." 
 
 2 The third series, " Further Kecords," cannot be spoken of in the 
 same breath with the previous volumes. It was published in 1890, 
 when Mrs. Kemble was too old to scrutinize the proofs, and abounds 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 315 
 
 Like the Banished Duke, she felt her life more sweet 
 
 Under the shade of melancholy boughs, 
 Than that of painted pomp ; 
 
 and in her sad and solitary pilgrimage she lifted her 
 eyes unto the hills, year after year, so long as she 
 could travel. She there found restoration. Perhaps it 
 was an inheritance from her mother's mother, who 
 was Swiss. 
 
 There was in her personality a sweetness and fullness 
 of feeling in every direction, something akin to the 
 nature of her great master, Shakespeare; a worship of 
 God and of nature in all its phases, love of and sym- 
 pathy with all creatures, exuberant spirits, need of 
 motion, need of love, resistance to all authority, a 
 sweet-tempered, cheerful indifference to all punishment. 
 From her childhood days, whether she was hoping that 
 her little sister, of whom she was jealous, would poison 
 herself with privet berries ; or suffering anguish over 
 her lost little brother ; or running away in resentment 
 for some punishment; or defiantly singing during her 
 term of expiation ; or walking upon the roof of her 
 Boulogne schoolhouse as a release from confinement, 
 " eette diahle de Kemhle ; " or writing abstracts of 
 sermons for her less gifted school companions; or 
 devouring the poetry of Scott and Byron ; or acting 
 Andromaque at her Paris boarding-school; or fishing 
 all day with her mother at their rural retreat; or 
 strolling about Heath Farm with her new-found, life- 
 
 in details fit for the ear of a friend, but not of the public, and ill-con- 
 sidered opinions which she did not permanently hold ; and I know 
 that, when too late, she was much troubled about it. 
 
316 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 long friend, Miss St. Leger, making hawthorn wreaths ; 
 or wading into the river, accoutred as she was; or 
 listening to the music of " Der Freischiitz ; " or scrutiniz- 
 ing the peculiarities of some of her relatives, aunt 
 Whitelock in particular ; or writing verses ; or grieving 
 over her brother John's course at the university and her 
 parents' disappointment, she was always the same 
 bright, intense, exultant human creature. In her com- 
 position, humor, that safeguard, that salt of humanity, 
 was an element, — a healthy, hearty humor, excited by 
 her own as well as by her neighbors' absurdities, and 
 derived from her quick-vidtted mother, her father's 
 family being somewhat deficient in that endowment. 
 Like President Lincoln, she might have died but for 
 this occasional relief. 
 
 Before she was eighteen she had written the play of 
 Francis I., and had been offered two hundred pounds for 
 it. About this time she went to Edinburgh to stay with 
 Mrs. Harry Siddons, a very self-restrained and lovely 
 woman, under whose powerful influence this young girl's 
 mind became much affected by religious considerations, 
 and a strong devotional element developed which char- 
 acterized her ever afterwards. All through her Hfe her 
 thoughts were more on religion than on any other sub- 
 ject. On her first visit to Boston, when the general 
 adulation was calculated to turn her head, her great 
 pleasure was to make and cherish the acquaintance of 
 Dr. Channing, — an acquaintance which ripened" into a 
 lifelong friendship. In Philadelphia, Dr. Furness was 
 her most cherished friend. She it was who first made 
 Robertson known to many of us ; indeed, it was through 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 317 
 
 her advice that his sermons were republished in this 
 country. She delighted in the society and the minis- 
 trations of Phillips Brooks, who once said to me, "I 
 tliink she is the best woman I have ever known." Her 
 letters to her bosom friend and her journals were filled 
 with religious reflections; on the day of her London 
 d^but she spent the morning reading Blunt's " Scripture 
 Characters." 
 
 When, from being an insignificant schoolgirl, she had 
 suddenly become " a little lion in society," with approba- 
 tion, admiration and adulation showered upon her, and 
 social courtesies poured in upon her from every side ; 
 when she was petted and caressed by persons of real and 
 conventional distinction, she writes to her friend: 
 " When I reflect that admiration and applause, and the 
 excitement springing therefrom, may become necessary 
 to me, I resolve not only to watch, but to pray, against 
 such a result. I have no desire to sell my soul for 
 anything, least of all for sham fame, mere notoriety." 
 Her prayers were answered, for while her nerves were 
 affected on the stage, and while she lost her sleep for 
 some time and suffered from headache and sideache from 
 the same cause, she was able to discuss her merits and 
 demerits coolly ; her mind and heart were disengaged ; 
 she longed to flee with her friend to Heath Farm, to 
 renew their pleasant walks and talks ; she was solici- 
 tous as ever about the health and happiness of all her 
 friends. Steadiness under circumstances so calculated 
 to elate, to intoxicate, seems to me phenomenal; it 
 speaks for the nobility and depth of her nature, to turn 
 from what her good aunt Dall called " mere frivolous, 
 
318 MEMOIR OF COLONEL H^NRY LEE 
 
 fashionable popularity," and to decide that this was mere 
 vanity. 
 
 I believe that if Fanny Kemble had been a man she 
 Would have been a minister of religion, as her brother 
 John intended to be ; her letters and journals are full 
 of aspiration and inspiration. The prayer which she 
 breathed in behalf of a young debutante, "that she 
 might be able to see the truth of all things in the 
 midst of all things false," was for her fulfilled ; in 
 the days of her youth and her triumphs, as well as in 
 her sad and solitary after life, she realized that " things 
 seen are temporal, things not seen are eternal." 
 
 " The purpose of life alone," she writes, " time wherein 
 to do God's will, makes it sacred. I do not think it 
 pleasant enough to wish to keep it for a single instant 
 without the idea of the duty of living, since God has 
 bid us live. After all, life is a heavy burden on a weary 
 way, and I never saw the human being whose existence 
 was what I should call happy. I have seen some whose 
 lives were so good that they justified their own exist- 
 ence, and one could conceive both why they lived and 
 that they found it good to live." 
 
 She was one who felt it was more blessed to give than 
 to receive. She was chary of taking, but her bounty 
 was not strdined ; it fell, like the rain, on the just and 
 on the unjust ; she seemed never so happy as when she 
 could confer some favor or perform some service, so keen 
 was her fellow-feeling. It is a received saying that it is 
 more diiBcult to be just than to be generous. Fanny 
 Kemble had both virtues ; throughout her " Records " 
 her notices of persons and of their works are most kindly, 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 319 
 
 and in the case of Charles Greville, whose declared 
 friendship did not prevent him from inserting ill-natured 
 remarks in his memoirs, — still more in the case of Miss 
 Martineau, who, professedly cordial, had made most ab- 
 surd and injurious libels, and to whom Mrs. Kemble has 
 many allusions, — most magnanimous. And there are 
 other instances of her magnanimity scattered through 
 these delightful books ; not mere omissions to notice or 
 to resent injustice and ingratitude, for she was frank- 
 ness itself, but greatness of mind not biased by personal 
 relations, — a forgiveness and seeming forgetfulness of 
 injuries. 
 
 Emerson says the alternatives offered to each of us 
 are " peace or truth." Fanny Kemble certainly did not 
 hesitate to choose the latter ; or perhaps she derived it 
 unconsciously from her mother. Her statements regard- 
 ing herself, her family, her friends, her views of life, 
 and her opinions on matters light and grave, extorted 
 from her by her exacting friend Miss St. Leger, or given 
 spontaneously, are what a clergyman of my acquaintance 
 would have called " central truths," undeflected by silli- 
 ness or selfishness, and uninfluenced by mere authority. 
 She aspired to independence of mind and body, and she 
 realized her aspirations. While she had her prejudices, 
 was indeed somewhat insular, she shows few biased judg- 
 ments, no morbid sentiments. Her eye was single, and 
 her whole body full of light. 
 
 Notwithstanding her plot to poison her little sister 
 with privet berries, her attempted running away, her 
 contemplated suicide, her defiant joyousness under re- 
 proof, there is no trait in her character more lovable 
 
320 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 than her absolute filial and family devotion. It was 
 her mother's tears and her father's thickening anxieties 
 that thrust her upon the stage, absolutely unprepared 
 save by her birth and breeding. " My life was rather 
 sad at this time," she writes ; " my brother's failure at 
 college was a source of disappointment and distress to 
 my parents, while the darkening prospects of the theatre 
 threw a gloom over us all. My mother, coming in from 
 walking one day, threw herself into a chair and burst 
 into tears. 'Oh, it has come at last!' she said; 'our 
 property is to be sold.' Seized with a sort of terror, like 
 the Lady of Shalott, that ' the cui'se had come upon me,' 
 I wrote a most urgent entreaty to my father that he 
 would allow me to act for myself, so as to relieve him 
 at once from the burden of my maintenance." Her fre- 
 quent alarms over her father's infatuation for Covent 
 Garden Theatre, in which he sank successively eighty 
 thousand pounds of his brother's investment, his own 
 and his two daughters' earnings, her anxiety over his 
 consequent illnesses, and her sympathy with her mother's 
 deep distress evince the strength of the filial tie ; and 
 her grief over her brother John's failures and meander- 
 ings, a bitter disappointment to his father and mother ; 
 her affection for him, and for her handsome young 
 brother Henry ; her tender solicitude for her sister Ade- 
 laide ; and her delight in being able from her earn- 
 ings to aid them all, — giving a horse to her father, 
 buying a commission in the army for her brother Henry, 
 assuring comfort, even luxury, to her father by giving 
 him for life her earnings in England and America, upon 
 her marriage, granting assistance to the otherwise unpro- 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 321 
 
 vided-for children of her two brothers, and other despoil- 
 ing of herself for those she loved, even while she was 
 toiling for her own support, — these things attest her 
 affection for aU her kin. 
 
 Her loyalty to her friends was as enduring, her affec- 
 tion as unreserved, as to her family. The interesting 
 Records were made possible by the return of forty years' 
 constant correspondence with the friend of her girlhood, 
 Miss St. Leger ; her relations with Miss Sedgwick and 
 family were as continuous ; the young schoolgirl whom 
 she captured hanging flowers upon the knob of her door 
 in the Tremont House, upon her first visit to Boston, 
 became her lifelong intimate, and compels this inade- 
 quate sketch; and, as the book reveals, other friends, 
 whose adoption she had tried, she grappled to her soul 
 with hooks of steel which never rusted. " God knows 
 how devoutly I thank him for the treasure of love that 
 has been bestowed on me out of so many hearts, in 
 a measure so far above my deserts that my gratitude 
 is mingled with surprise and a sense of my own un- 
 worthiness which enhances my appreciation of my great 
 good fortune in this respect." To her sorrow, her life 
 was so prolonged that she outlived not only her brothers 
 and sister, but most of her friends likewise ; the sur- 
 vivors reciprocated her love, and feel that the world 
 is more sad and dreary by loss of the light and warmth 
 of her great presence. 
 
 Consistency is said to be a jewel. Fanny Kemble 
 neither inherited nor acquired it: she had curiously 
 inconsistent moods and traits; she had a collection 
 rather than a combination of qualities. And no wonder, 
 
322 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 when we refer to her birth and her bringing-up. The 
 twisting of foreign strands, the weaving of different 
 materials, the forging of different metals, by combining 
 compensating qualities, . add to the strength and yalue 
 of the compound; so the crossing of races sometimes 
 results in a harmonious completeness possessed by 
 neither race singly, but at other times it results in the 
 coexistence of discordant extremes. Such was the case 
 in the Kemble household, the mother inheriting from 
 her French father and Swiss mother " the peculiar, or- 
 ganization of genius. To the fine senses of a savage 
 rather than a civilized nature she joined an acute instinct 
 of ciiticism in all matters of art, and a general quick- 
 ness and accuracy of perception, and brilliant vividness 
 of expression," As her poor father, like other French 
 emigres, was sickening from starvation and the influence 
 of the climate, this bright, graceful, and beautiful child, 
 enrolled in a troupe of little actors, and admired and 
 petted by the great, from the "first gentleman of 
 Europe " down, thereby developing precocious feehng 
 and imagination, was saddened by the ghastly contrast 
 between the comforts and luxuries of the rich, with 
 which she was made familiar, and her own poor home, 
 where sickness -and sorrow were becoming abiding in- 
 mates, and poverty and privation the customary condi- 
 tions of life. " Of course, the pleasure and beauty 
 loving, artistic temperament, which is the one most 
 likely to be exposed to such an ordeal as that of my 
 mother's childhood, is also the one liable to be most 
 injured by it. How much the passionate, vehement, 
 susceptible, and most suffering nature was thus bane- 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 323 
 
 fully fostered I can better judge from the sad vantage- 
 ground of my own experience." Linked to this fiery, 
 loving, suffering, acute-minded woman was an affec- 
 tionate, dignified, heavy-moulded husband, with his 
 share of the theatrical traits of his family, to whom she 
 and their children were warmly attached, but who 
 neither shared nor comprehended the finer senses or 
 higher standard of his wife, and for that reason proba- 
 bly wounded all the more her sensibilities. 
 
 Fanny Kemble inherited her full share of her mother's 
 susceptibilities, vehemence, and suffering nature: her 
 pulse thrUled, her heart beat, her tears gushed forth 
 upon every occasion, painful or pleasurable ; her im- 
 petuosity burst the bounds of self-control, making her 
 deaf to assurances or remonstrances ; as she herself said, 
 " My suddenness is the curse of my nature." Speaking 
 of her home, she says : " The defect of our home educa- 
 tion is that, from the mental tendencies of all of us, no 
 less than from our whole mode of life, the more imagina- 
 tive and refined intellectual qualities are fostered in us 
 in preference to our reasoning power. We have all 
 excitable natures ; and whether in head or heart, that 
 is a disadvantage. The unrestrained indulgence of 
 feeling is as injurious to moral strength as the undue 
 excess of fancy is to mental vigor." 
 
 To brace herseK against her temperament, Fanny 
 Kemble cultivated unusually systematic pursuits and 
 monotonous habits, from an instinct of self-preserva- 
 tion, persuaded, as she says, "that religion and reason 
 alike justify such a strong instinctive action in natures 
 which derive a constant mental support from the sooth- 
 
324 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 iug and restraining influence of systematic habits of 
 monotonous regularity." An observant friend of Mrs, 
 Kemble said to me, as much as forty years ago: "If 
 Fanny Kemble did not read her Bible at such an hour, 
 visit at such an hour, exercise at such an hour, and gird 
 herself with set habits, she would go mad." But this 
 is not the whole explanation; for while she did un- 
 doubtedly thus seek support, she had inherited from 
 her very English father a worship of law and order, 
 of church and state, of ancient customs, which con- 
 trasted violently with her usual impulsiveness and as- 
 sertion of individuality. The upholder of form and 
 etiquette, the asserter of dignity to-day, would to-morrow 
 defy conventionality, mortify friends, and scandalize 
 strangers by walking in full dress into a river, up to 
 her arms, and then go dripping home through a crowd 
 of beholders. And this metamorphosis was as swift 
 as the flow in a spirit thermometer, as sudden as the 
 transformation scene in a pantomime, and as absolute ; 
 the passing was instantaneous and unconscious. 
 
 During the life of Gouvemeur Kemble, — a delightful 
 gentleman, crony of Washington Irving, remote kins- 
 man of Fanny Kemble, to whom he played the host at 
 his pleasant place on the Hudson River, opposite West 
 Point, — Saturday was called at the Military Academy 
 " Kemble day," because the professors and officers went 
 in turn to dine with their neighbor. When Fanny 
 Kemble took on her magisterial style, it might well 
 have been called " Kemble day," for it was an inheri- 
 tance from her theatrical ancestors, and recalled anec- 
 dotes of John Philip Kemble and Mrs. Siddons. 
 
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE 325 
 
 I was impelled one day to say to Mrs. Kemble that I 
 had found out what was the matter with her: there 
 were too many of her, — she must have been intended 
 for twins ; and I cannot better define the superabundant, 
 tumultuous, dual nature, partaking of the extreme 
 antipodal characteristics of her parents. 
 
 Her feelings rose and fell like the tide in the British 
 Channel, and every few hours, when the tide was turn- 
 ing, she was in a state of agitation, tossed like a 
 cockle boat on a cross sea, I doubt if any friend of 
 Fanny Kemble thinks of her in a composed state, but 
 rather as moved by joy or sorrow; and this agitation 
 led her to shrink from general society as too exciting 
 and too embarrassing to one so easily discomposed, and 
 to long for a communion with nature and familiar 
 friends, — a feeling fully reciprocated by those friends 
 who enjoyed her most under such conditions. One 
 cannot read her books without laughing and grieving 
 over the series of scrapes and collisions caused by her 
 suddenness, rashness, and subsequent fears, her assertion 
 of independence, her acute sympathies, her mission as a 
 crusader. Some of Mrs. Kemble's collisions, which 
 are reported with exaggeration, reduced to bare facts, 
 can be referred to these peculiarities, some to her 
 theatrical inheritance, some to her self-imposed duty as 
 a crusader, some to a sudden freak, some to her em- 
 barrassment and consequent clutching at safety, or 
 passing along the mortification at her own discom- 
 posure. She says somewhere, " I am always remarkably 
 cross when I am frightened," — a natural concatena- 
 tion. From whatever cause she occasionally wounded 
 
326 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 the feelings of others, her repentance was swift and 
 sincere; her sense of justice, her warmth of heart, 
 brought remorse and repentance. 
 
 Such as she was, brimming over with reverence 
 and gratitude to God, with love to man, with sensibihty 
 to all the problems of life, to nature, with interest in art, 
 in literature, in politics ; generous, magnanimous, truth- 
 ful, full of hope ; crowned and worshipped, then struck 
 down, doomed to bear thenceforth her heavy cross alone, 
 — she has been to her family a guardian angel, to her 
 friends a mighty fortress and shelter, to the world a 
 delight and refreshment. 
 
 Mrs. Kemble's wish to die at home was fulfilled; Old 
 age crept upon her in her own country, in the home 
 of her younger daughter, wife of an English clergyman, 
 and there she passed instantaneously from life to death. 
 
 Green ivy risen from out the cheerful earth 
 
 Will fringe the lettered stone, and herbs spring forth, 
 
 Whose fragrance, by soft dews and rain unbound, 
 
 Shall penetrate the heart without a wound ; 
 
 While truth and love their purposes fulfill, 
 
 Commemorating genius, talent, skill, 
 
 That could not lie concealed where thou wast known ; 
 
 Thy virtues He must judge, and He alone, 
 
 The God upon whose mercy they are thrown. 
 
OBITUAEIES 
 
MAJOR CHARLES J. MILLS 
 
 I would the friends we miss were safe arrived. 
 
 Some must go ofl ; and yet, by these I see, 
 So great a day as this is cheaply bought. 
 
 Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt ; 
 He only liv'd but till he was a man ; 
 The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd. 
 In the unshrinking station where he fought, 
 But like a man he died. 
 
 The telegraph, which has borne the tidings of great 
 victories during the past week, has not yet perhaps 
 doled out our full list of losses. A few names have 
 reached us, and among them that of Major Charles 
 J. Mills, killed almost on the day of his return to 
 his post, not yet recovered from long and enfeebling 
 illness. 
 
 One of the heroic class of 1860, a kinsman of Wilder 
 and Howard Dwight, he early prepared himself for 
 service by drill and study, and sought it most per- 
 sistently. But his almost feminine delicacy of appear- 
 ance inspired distrust and deterred one commander after 
 another from accepting one whose slender frame seemed 
 so unfitted for the hardships of a compaign. Still 
 he persevered, was made Second Lieutenant in the 
 Second Regiment, August 14, 1862, promoted to a first 
 lieutenancy three days later, took part in the retreat 
 
330 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 after Cedar Mountain, acted as adjutant at Antietam, 
 was fearfully wounded and lay two nights on the battle 
 field. 
 
 This wound crippled him so hopelessly that, after 
 months of suffering borne with fortitude, he was com- 
 pelled to resign. Determined to serve his country in 
 one way if not in another, he obtained a situation in the 
 bureau of Admiral Davis at Washington, and labored 
 faithfully till he -flattered himself his health was re- 
 stored. In the autumn of 1863, he dragged himself 
 back into the army, became the Adjutant of the Fifty- 
 sixth Regiment, and was soon transfen-ed to the staff of 
 Brigadier-General Stevenson, whom he served devotedly 
 till the lamented death of that officer. Then, after a 
 brief service on the staffs of several brigadiers, he was 
 made Assistant Adjutant-General by Major-General 
 Hancock, and passed from him to his successor. General 
 Humphreys, having been promoted to the rank of 
 Captain and Major. He served through the long bloody 
 campaign from the battles of the Wilderness down 
 to this date, interrupted occasionally by illness. 
 
 A modest, sensitive, conscientious, intelligent, brave 
 officer, a loving, dutiful son, an affectionate friend, 
 he died with the love and respect of all who knew him, 
 — family, friends, classmates, comrades of the camp. 
 
BRIGADIER-GENERAL THOMAS G. 
 
 STEVENSON 
 
 The hand of the reaper 
 Takes the ears that are hoary, 
 But the voice of the weeper 
 Wails manhood in glory. 
 
 Fleet foot on the correi, 
 Sage counsel in cumber, 
 Ked hand in the foray, 
 How sound is thy slumber ! 
 
 While brave men are falling by thousands, while 
 the wires that flash the joyful news of victories vibrate 
 with tidings of the wounded and dying, while so many 
 homes are made desolate, and the mourners go about the 
 street, while so many more are feverish with anxiety, 
 dreading lest the next long list shall include the looked- 
 for name, it seems almost invidious to challenge public 
 sympathy for the loss of any one soldier, however high 
 his rank. 
 
 But those who have watched the course of Brigadier- 
 General Stevenson are aware that one of the most 
 promising officers of the army has fallen; those who 
 have served under him will feel that one of the bravest, 
 wisest, kindest commanders has been taken away from 
 them; those who came within the wide circle of his 
 friendship, who have been warmed by his cordial smile, 
 have felt his hearty grasp, know that they have lost a 
 
332 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 faithful friend ; those who have entered his happy home 
 realize the peculiar poignancy of this bereavement, that 
 in that darkened house the silver cord is loosed indeed. 
 As a soldier, his imperturbable coolness, quick insight, 
 unerring judgment, and thorough mastery of his art, 
 attracted at once the attention of his superiors, and 
 rapidly won their enthusiastic admiration. 
 
 As an officer, his abilities commanded confidence, 
 his almost stern dignity inspired fear, his friendly 
 counsel, given with feminine tact, awakened gratitude, 
 his postponement of his own comfort to that of his men, 
 his disregard of self, his tender care of those committed 
 to his charge, created a passionate attachment. 
 
 Off duty, he was the bosom friend of the youngest 
 lieutenant; on duty, he was the commander; and this 
 transformation was complete, the boundary line was 
 distinct. 
 
 It was difficult to say whether fear or love predomi- 
 nated in the hearts of those who followed him and 
 idolized him. 
 
 The list of Massachusetts officers comprises many 
 men of brilliant intellects and heroic hearts, but we 
 have never known one who had such a happy combi- 
 nation of aU the qualities of head and heart that go to 
 make a perfect soldier and a successful commander, 
 as Thomas G. Stevenson, 
 
G. ROWLAND SHAW 
 
 On his young promise Beauty smiled, 
 Drew his free homage unbeguiled, 
 And Prosperous Age held out his hand, 
 And richly his large future planned, 
 And troops of friends enjoyed the tide — 
 All, all was given, and only health denied. 
 
 Sad is the news from the battlefield of the yotmg and 
 strong slain fighting for their country, but sadder 
 still the story of a struggle between a strong, ardent 
 spirit, and a frail body ; every generous impulse, every 
 noble ambition frustrated, every important undertaking 
 interrupted by the importunate claims of the perishing 
 flesh, till a life which would have been cheerfully spent 
 for friends and country is reduced to only waiting. 
 Such was the history of my friend whose name I here 
 record. 
 
 Endowed with remarkable executive ability, which 
 he desired to devote to his family, his friends, or his 
 country ; possessed of wealth, which he held as a steward 
 for all private or public needs j fired with patriotism, 
 which he longed to have tasked, his disinterested labor 
 would have been invaluable, however indirect. 
 
 The same spirit which supported his brother as a self- 
 denying Catholic priest, which prompted his nephew 
 to lead the forlorn hope on Fort Wagner, inspired him ; 
 but the flesh was weak. But while sickness defeated 
 
334 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 his plans and death, shortened his career, he will be 
 remembered by a large circle as a man of exalted 
 character, great energy and ability, refined tastes, and 
 charming manners ; a most affectionate friend, a cheerful 
 and bountiful benefactor, an ardent patriot. 
 
 Fell the bolt on the branching oak, 
 The rainbow of his hope was broke, 
 No craven cry, no secret tear — 
 He told no pang, he knew no fear ; 
 Its peace sublime his aspect kept ; 
 His purpose woke, his features slept. 
 
SARAH ALDEN [MRS. SAMUEL] RIPLEY 
 
 Weep not ; she is not dead, but sleepeth. 
 
 And surely she needeth sleep ; for if time is measured 
 by sensations, her life has been prolonged beyond the 
 mortal span ; if we consider the work accomplished, 
 who has achieved so much, for herself or for others? 
 Or if we meditate upon the Christian graces, the beati- 
 tudes of meekness, purity of heart, the charity which 
 suffereth long and is kind, vaunteth not itself, seeketh 
 not her own, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth in the truth, 
 whose character was more complete, whose spirit more 
 ready for its flight, than hers ? 
 
 The wife of the minister of a large country parish 
 whose parochial labor she shared, the mother of a large 
 family, the mistress of a household increased by board- 
 ing scholars, neither the heavy exactions of parishioners, 
 nor importunate maternal pains and anxieties, nor house- 
 hold economies faithfully attended to, exhausted her; 
 she stiU found time and strength to devote to two 
 or three school-boys preparing for college, or more 
 advanced students rusticated for idleness or academic 
 misdemeanors. And what a wealth of learning and 
 thought and feeling she poured out for these pupils! 
 Illumined by her clear intellect, the knottiest problem 
 was disentangled ; embellished by such a lover of learn- 
 ing, the driest subject was made interesting. The 
 
336 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 veriest scapegrace was reduced to thoughtfulness, the 
 most hopeless dullard caught a gleam of light; her 
 faith in their intuitions and capabilities lifted them 
 and shamed or encouraged them to efforts impossible 
 under another instructor ; for she did not merely impart 
 instruction, she educated all the powers of the mind 
 and heart. Many scholars now eminent can date their 
 first glimpse of the region above, their first venture 
 upon the steep path, to the loving enthusiasm, the 
 cheering assurances, of this inspired teacher and friend ; 
 and they who fainted or strayed without fulfilling her 
 confident predictions must look back with astonishment 
 at this brilliant period of their lives, and regret that her 
 influence could not have been extended over a longer 
 period. 
 
 A mind alive to aU the beauties of art and science 
 and nature, a heart which warmed to the most un- 
 promising pupil and kindled at the faintest ray of hope, 
 naturally craved the company of kindred men and 
 women of learning and thought, as they delighted in 
 hers ; this was Mrs. Ripley's true recreation after 
 the toil and trouble of the day. And what pleasant 
 parties used to gather round her hospitable fireside! 
 What ambrosial nights, fondly remembered by the 
 privileged persons who enjoyed them as actors or 
 spectators ! There were, probably, books she had not 
 read, languages and sciences she had not learned, 
 but she seemed to have explored every region and 
 to have intuitive ideas on every subject of interest. 
 And over all these gifts and acquirements was thrown a 
 veil of modesty so close that only by an impulse of 
 
SAKAH ALDEN [MRS. SAMUEL] RIPLEY 337 
 
 sympathy or enthusiasm was it ever withdrawn; with 
 a simplicity equally amusing and touching, she im- 
 pressed you so little with her own wonderful powers, 
 and referred so much to your sayings and doings, 
 that you really went away wondering at your own 
 brilliancy and doubting how much you had given, how 
 much received. 
 
 The eloquent lips are silent, the flashing eye is 
 dull, the blush of modesty has faded from the cheek, 
 the cordial smile will never again on this earth welcome 
 the friends, old or young, humble or famous, neighbors 
 or strangers, who sought this inspired presence. But 
 the puzzled brain is clear again, the heavy heart joyful, 
 immortal youth returned. "With those she loved on 
 earth she is seeing face to face what she here saw 
 darkly. 
 
 Leara the mystery of progression duly ; 
 
 Do not call each glorious change decay ; 
 But know we only hold our treasures truly 
 
 When it seems as if they passed away. 
 
 22 
 
WILLIAM H. LOGAN 
 
 [May 10, 1870] 
 
 O, good old man I how well in thee appears 
 The constant service of the antique world. 
 
 Logan, old Logan, as he was familiarly called — has 
 passed away, at the prescribed age of three score years 
 and ten. He spent his days in what we deem the 
 meanest, but what our Master pronounced the noblest 
 employment, — serving his fellow-men. Standing be- 
 hind the chair at all feasts and festivities, how many 
 changes, personal, social and political he must have 
 recorded in his memory, — a whole generation passed 
 along, the vanishing of some families from light to 
 darkness, the emerging of others from obscurity to 
 conspicuousness, the utter extinction of names once 
 famous, the introduction of names once unknown I To 
 how many incautious utterances he must have closed 
 his ears, to how many contemptuous flings at his 
 despised race he must have indignantly listened 1 Born 
 a slave he lived to be a respected freeman, and to see 
 his whole race emancipated, their social and political 
 rights granted, and some of his brethren advanced to 
 high office. 
 
 He was a faithful husband, an affectionate father, 
 a good citizen, a sincere Christian. We shall miss 
 
WILLIAM H. LOGAN 339 
 
 his veinerable grey head, his grave dignified face, his 
 kindly, solicitous manner, marked by consideration for 
 others and respect for self, his presence associated for 
 so many, many years with all our gaieties. We made 
 his acquaintance in the house of feasting ; we shall part 
 with him regretfully in the house of mourning. 
 
FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL 
 
 He could not frame a word unfit, 
 An act unworthy to be done ; 
 Honor prompted every glance — 
 Honor came and sat beside him. 
 
 The bare fact of Mr. Lowell's death at the limit set 
 down in Scripture was published by you, and they who 
 had seen his increasing paleness and slowness, as he 
 walked our streets, only wondered that his departure 
 had been so long delayed. 
 
 Though a month has passed away, no one of those 
 who felt cheered or admonished by his presence has 
 ventured to express what his absence means to them. 
 
 But now that the ear is duU which would have been 
 wounded by our words, we have a right to pay him this 
 tribute of our respect and affection. 
 
 He was happily bom, descended from two families 
 linked together by long intimacy and strictest friend- 
 ship; families distinguished for generations by their 
 integrity and public spirit, many members of them 
 eminent in their various professions. 
 
 His father, Mr. Francis Cabot Lowell, was a man 
 of philosophic mind, always studying out some scheme 
 of development to benefit his fellow-men; and, among 
 other enterprises, he and his brother-in-law, Mr. Patrick 
 Tracy Jackson, risking their fortunes and their credit, 
 
FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL 341 
 
 succeeded at last in establishing the cotton manufacture 
 in our State. 
 
 His brother, Mr. John Lowell, Jr., created the Lowell 
 Institute. It was not in Mr. Lowell's power to bequeath 
 a great legacy to the public, like this elder brother ; it 
 did not fall to his lot to help to found a new branch of 
 industry, which should bmld up cities and give employ- 
 ment to thousands upon thousands ; but he had the same 
 scope and look into the future, the same care for the 
 public weal, the same willingness to sow that others 
 might reap. He had not the health to devote himself 
 to a profession, and so serve his fellow-men, as did his 
 uncles, the good Doctor and the wise Judge Jackson, 
 but he had many of the qualities which made them so 
 respected and beloved. 
 
 Heir to a moderate fortune, which he increased by 
 enterprises wisely planned and boldly executed, he was 
 never subdued by his means. 
 
 Neither elated by prosperity nor cast down by ad- 
 versity, calm and magnanimous, he chose always to live 
 modestly and give grandly. 
 
 It was with his services as with his fortune; his 
 modesty restrained him from seeking responsibilities, 
 his conscience compelled him to accept and discharge 
 them when they came to him. 
 
 He was bom a counsellor, never so happy as when 
 aiding by advice or assistance, but his benevolence was 
 guided by tact, he knew when and how to give and to 
 withhold with equal delicacy. 
 
 He had the high, unerring wisdom vouchsafed only to 
 the pure in heart, his eye was single and his whole body 
 full of light. 
 
342 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 He had an uncompromising love of truth, a sincerity 
 which limited his speech on occasion to yea, yea, — nay, 
 nay, or bound him to silence when a weaker man must 
 have spoken. 
 
 And all this truthfulness and wisdom and calmness 
 and magnanimity and tender consideration for others 
 who stood in need of help was blazoned in his face and 
 in his serene dignity of manner. 
 
 To come into his presence was to be summoned before 
 an august tribunal, a merciful but just judge ; he was 
 formidable without intention ; his tranquil mind abashed 
 the noisy and vulgar, his eye searched through disguises 
 and the wearers felt themselves exposed, his dignified 
 silence or brief words of truth foiled the flatterer, the 
 current coin of society did not ring clear on the table of 
 this assay master. 
 
 " I believe I have never expressed to any one more 
 than I felt," he once musingly remarked, and this noble 
 forbearance embarrassed the man of the world with his 
 half insincere effusiveness. 
 
 This conscientious brevity or silence was sometimes 
 mistaken for severity, sometimes for pride. 
 
 But he neither censured nor looked down on his 
 fellow-men, he judged as he would be judged; the 
 smile which lighted up his face and the gentle courtesy 
 of his address were outward signs of a charity which 
 characterized his thoughts and words and acts, taking 
 every form but that of publicity. 
 
 In losing him, many have lost their wisest counsellor, 
 their most bountiful benefactor, their truest friend, 
 their surest guide ; and we revere his memory not only 
 
FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL 843 
 
 for what he said, for what he did, but above all, for the 
 spirit which prompted all his words and acts — for what 
 he was. 
 
 " The wisdom that is from above is first true, then 
 peaceable, then gentle, full of mercy and good fruits, 
 without partiality and without hypocrisy." 
 
 H. L. 
 
MARTIN L. WHITCHER 
 
 ISeptember 6, 1875] 
 
 How happy is he born or taught 
 Who serveth not another's ■will ; 
 Whose armor is his honest thought 
 And simple truth his utmost skill. 
 
 This name will recall, to aU who ever knew him, a 
 singularly frank and handsome countenance, a mellifluous 
 Toice, a deliberate speech, a friendly, refined manner, — 
 aU indicative of the man. A modest, thoughtful, inde- 
 pendent man, calmly following his calling, unmoved by 
 glittering generalities of any sort, slow to undertake, 
 swift to execute ; chary of promise, fastidious of per- 
 formance ; proud of his craft, devoted to his work, he 
 sought no adventitious distinctions, contenting himself 
 with the scrupulous discharge of every duty as husband, 
 father, workman, and citizen. 
 
 We have never known one to whom would apply the 
 welcome of "Well done, good and faithful servant," 
 more justly than to the subject of this imperfect tribute, 
 offered by one who for thirty years has depended upon 
 him for faithful work and friendly counsel. 
 
MRS. GEORGE TICKNOR 
 
 One generation passeth away, and another generation 
 Cometh. The smell of Parma violets, the sight of a 
 quaint old morocco work-box, bring back the image of 
 a lovely old lady dressed in black with a widow's cap, 
 knitting in her arm-chair in a sunny parlor of one of the 
 complete habitations of Boston sixty years since. The 
 lady was Katharine Atkins, vndow of Samuel Eliot, 
 a pubhc-spirited, wealthy merchant, patron of clergymen 
 and scholars ; — the handsome old house stood where 
 now the Albion stands, and the garden and greenhouse, 
 where grew the violets, stretched up Beacon Street in 
 the rear of the house. 
 
 The dainty work-box was bequeathed to one of my 
 family by this venerable lady, as a token of motherly 
 affection. 
 
 I have known all the sons and daughters of this 
 house, and a more friendly, loyal, conscientious set of 
 men and women, anxious to fulfil their duties to God 
 and to their neighbor, never lived in their generation. 
 
 Charles Eliot died a promising young clergyman, 
 to the intense grief of his family and a large circle 
 of friends ; — some persons now living recollect Mr. 
 .William Eliot, cut off just as he had been elected 
 Mayor, but not until he had endeared himself to his 
 fellow-citizens by his personal traits, and had enriched 
 
346 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 and embellished his native town by his far-seeing enter- 
 prise. Mr. Samuel Eliot's brave career as Mayor, 
 as well as his service in Congress and his labors as 
 founder of the Academy of Music, are recalled by 
 many; some of us remember him also as leader for 
 years of the choir of the King's Chapel. 
 
 A broken circle of friends cherish the memory of 
 hospitable homes presided over by the daughters of this 
 family, as distinguished for their cha.rities and public 
 spirit as were their brothers ; and none more hospitable 
 to friends within, or to the stranger without the gates 
 than the house of the last and youngest of the family, 
 Mrs. Anna Ticknor, whose death has just been an- 
 nounced. There was not a house in Boston where, 
 year after year, so many guests, old and young, kinsfolk 
 and friends and strangers, were so frequently and so 
 fully entertained. A few of those favored with an 
 invitation to the weekly parties still linger to recall 
 their charm. The cordiality of the hostess, the rare 
 gifts and accomplishments of the host, the gathering 
 of all that was best in the social, artistic, and literary 
 world, the frequent presence of interesting guests 
 from abroad, all contributed to distinguish these par- 
 ties. Simplicity and elegance have never been so 
 happily combined as in this stately mansion with 
 its ample parlors and grand ideal library. Many a 
 poor scholar, many a promising youth has been dis- 
 covered and introduced to the great world within 
 those walls. 
 
 We here speak of Mrs. Ticknor only as a hostess, 
 — we might enlarge upon her character as a discrimi- 
 
MRS. GEORGE TICKNOK 347 
 
 nating dispenser of charities, as a loyal friend, as a de- 
 voted kinswoman. 
 
 One cannot reach to three score years and ten without 
 experiencing the loss not only of friends, but of whole 
 friendly clans, the absence of whose alliance and support 
 makes the world desolate. The consciousness that they 
 were around you, even if the cares of the world hindered 
 you from frequent intercourse, imparted a warmth and 
 shelter which every one craves and which cannot be 
 supplied by acquaintances of a younger generation. 
 
GEOEGE HIGGINSON 
 
 1804-1889 
 
 The kindest man, 
 The best-conditioned and unwearied spirit 
 In doing courtesies. 
 
 " The Lady Arbella is dead, and good Mr, Higgin- 
 son." Thus wrote Governor John Winthrop two 
 hundred and sixty years ago, and to-day we thus 
 speak of his descendant in the ninth generation. 
 
 "My meaning in saying he is a good man," says 
 Shylock, "is to have you understand me that he is 
 sufficient ; " and I have often thought, as I listened to 
 or perused the eulogies on members of our different 
 societies, that wealth is, in this manufacturing com- 
 munity, deemed a synonym of goodness, — that a man 
 is good in proportion as he is sufficient. If this be 
 the standard of goodness, then our lost friend during 
 most of his long life did not reach the standard; and 
 candor compels me to declare that the qualities which 
 gave him his pre-eminence did not attract so much 
 attention in his days of adversity as in his days of 
 prosperity. Pre-eminence, I say, for in my opinion Mr. 
 Higginson was pre-eminent in those qualities which 
 entitle a man to love and respect. He had been tried 
 by adversity and prosperity, and subdued by neither; 
 
GEORGE HIGGINSON 349 
 
 he was liberal — nay, prodigal — of his time and his 
 money in the service of all who were "distressed in 
 mind, body, or estate." 
 
 He waited not for wealth, but gave from his penury 
 as afterwards from his abundance. He believed in 
 the payment of debts with interest, no matter how 
 outlawed by time, or how excusably incurred ; and he 
 paid for others who were disabled as for himself. You 
 have heard of men fleeing from their taxes, leaving them 
 to be paid by their poorer neighbors ; but Mr. Higginson, 
 not content with paying as doomed, complained to the 
 assessors, and insisted on their doubling his tax. He 
 took the same generous view of his social as of his 
 pecuniary obligations. His list of duties was most 
 comprehensive; and whether as father, friend, trustee, 
 almoner, citizen, patriot, all were rigidly, unflinchingly, 
 cheerfully discharged. 
 
 At one period of the war, when one of his sons was 
 lying dangerously wounded, another in Libby Prison, 
 while a third was with his regiment in South Carolina ill 
 of malarial fever, he repelled the condolences of a 
 Copperhead friend, whose sons had been harbored at 
 home, saying emphatically that he would not exchange 
 places, and that he stood in no need of pity. Such was 
 his standard of patriotism. 
 
 To enumerate his beneficiaries would be impossible, 
 as no human being stood near enough to him to ascer- 
 tain their names or number ; and some surprising revela- 
 tions have been made by those assisted. 
 
 His habit of living, like his habit of giving, was 
 liberal and unostentatious. An old-fashioned simplicity, 
 
350 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 in which he had been bred, he maintained through life, 
 combined with an unbounded hospitality. 
 
 An uncle of mine, who was at Andover Academy 
 with the father and xmcles of Mr. Higginson, said of 
 them that they were the heartiest laughers and the 
 fiercest fighters, and these traits have come down with 
 the blood. 
 
 I fear that some solemn occasions, like the funerals 
 of distant relatives, have been disturbed or threatened 
 by the outbursts of Mr. Higginson and his cousin 
 Stephen, so akin are tears and laughter in persons of 
 quick sympathy and keen sense of humor. He was 
 also quick to resent an injury, and exploded instantane- 
 ously upon the least hint of imposition or baseness, or of 
 brazen intrusiveness. 
 
 While he was truly humble, his honest pride re- 
 belled against pretension; but to those whose age or 
 character warranted it, he paid willing reverence. To 
 the lowly he was tenderly considerate, and to children 
 and young people he was most gracious and affec- 
 tionate. 
 
 A stranger, meeting him in the street, would con- 
 clude from his downcast look and his drooping gait 
 that he was dejected, and so he was, for his early 
 orphanage, the vicissitudes of his life, the loss of his 
 wife, — of whom he could never speak but with tears, — 
 had left sad memories. But the face of a friend, the 
 sight of a little child, would transform him in an instant. 
 His face would light up with cordiality, and his sighs 
 be followed by words of affection or peals of laughter, 
 for he was very human ; his blood was warm within, 
 
GEORGE HI6GINS0N 351 
 
 and his heart most susceptible of joy or sorrow, of 
 affection or anger. 
 
 This impressibility made him hasty and sometimes 
 unjust ; and his tenaeiousness, or what he laughed over 
 as his obstinacy, tended to stereotype his first impres- 
 sions, but, as a rule, his judgments were to be relied on. 
 Without the power to render his reasons, the habits of a 
 long life of right feeling and good acting gave him 
 an instinctive insight into character, a sense of danger 
 or security which made him a safe guide. 
 
 I have been intimately associated with Mr. Higgin- 
 Bon for near sixty years, and I have never known a 
 more upright, more warm-hearted, more disinterested 
 man. 
 
JOHN GIBBS GILBERT 
 
 1810-1889 
 
 With John Gilbert has gone a part of Boston, not 
 Boston covered with shops and factories, shrivelled into 
 a dry-goods emporium, owned and obstructed by horse- 
 cars, not Boston redolent of Irish and Portuguese, 
 but the clean, orderly, respectable, old town of Boston, 
 with its detached dwellings standing in the midst of 
 sweet-smelling gardens, with its streets sunny in winter 
 and shady in summer ; seagirt, maritime Boston, with 
 its wharves lined with ships, whose hardy navigators 
 formed an important element in its neighbourly popula- 
 tion, proud of their birth, their traditions and their 
 occupations. Into this old town before it was developed 
 into a city, John Gilbert was ushered; he made his 
 d^but upon the stage in the reign of the elder Quincy. 
 The first time I ever saw him was in the part of Bucking- 
 ham in Richard III upon his return to Boston after 
 several years of varied experience in the West. From 
 that time to the present — first at the Tremont Theatre, 
 then at the old Federal, re-opened by Oliver Wyman, 
 afterwards at the Boston, where for eight years I served 
 as director and then treasurer, finally at Wallack's 
 Theatre — I have followed his career and delighted in 
 his personation of the old men of the old comedies. 
 
JOHN GIBBS GILBERT 353 
 
 How his image comes back, as one of the rubicund, 
 peppery, high-flavored, whimsical, strenuous, old gentle- 
 men of the last century, Sir Anthony, Sir Peter, Old 
 Hardcastle, Sir Robert Bramble, Old Dornton, Sir 
 William Dorrillon, Old Rapid, Sir Abel Handy, and 
 Lord Duberly, etc., etc. He had just enough hurly- 
 burly, just enough heartiness ; he presented the coarse, 
 robust squires and country gentlemen, with their code 
 of manners and morals of George the Third's era. In 
 fact, he seemed so much at home, he so revelled in their 
 impersonation, that, while one could by no means say, 
 as Goldsmith of Garriek, " 't was only that when he was 
 off, he was acting," yet I confess he always seemed 
 more unfamiliar as the quiet, dignified gentleman of 
 modern date and dress than in breeches and powder. 
 
 Many of his parts quite outside of these old comedies, 
 his Frederick the Great, Mr. Simpson, Uncle John, his 
 part in "Twenty Minutes with the Tiger," above all 
 others his Dominie Sampson and his Caliban, were ad- 
 mirably conceived and executed. Never have I laughed 
 more uncontrollably than at him as the Dominie, with 
 Miss Cushman as the Meg Merrilies; and his Caliban 
 remains to me the ideal to this time. 
 
 One might go on with many comedies and farces, for 
 he in his time played many parts. He had his limita^ 
 tions, of course, a certain hardness at times; he had 
 personal defects which, striking at first, he very much 
 outgrew. He was not so cosey as his predecessor at the 
 Tremont Theatre, William F. Johnson, not so meUow 
 in Sir Harcourt or Jesse Rural as was Blake. Warren 
 played a greater variety of parts, and made the same 
 
 23 
 
354 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 parts more varied and complete. But while "Warren's 
 Sir Peter, for instance, was more interesting and cap- 
 tured your sympathy, it was rather the Sir Peter of our 
 times — the Sir Peter as we wished him to be — than 
 the Sir Peter Sheridan drew with the manners and feel- 
 ings of his day; this Gilbert portrayed. Mr. Gilbert's 
 delineations were like well-executed line engravings, 
 dry, hard perhaps, but clear-cut with the firm hand of a 
 master, not the faltering hand of a tyro. He came upon 
 the stage armed cap-&rpie with dress and properties and 
 part complete, and, as I have said, seemed more at home 
 thus and there than in the costume and character 
 he claimed as his own. 
 
 I rarely visit New York, but whenever I have been 
 there since Gilbert's exodus from the Boston Theatre, 
 an old comedy at Wallack's has been the attraction, and 
 as I bought my ticket I left my card for Mr. Gilbert to 
 assure him of one old Boston friend among the audience. 
 Friend, I may say, and neighbor on the North Shore for 
 more than forty years, and I grieve to think that I shall 
 never again knock at the door of his pretty, old-fashioned 
 cottage, nor talk and laugh over the plays and players of 
 the past and present. 
 
 Mr. Gilbert like many master-workmen was proud of 
 his craft ; he looked with scorn upon these presumptuous, 
 half-trained journey-men travelling through the country 
 with their one play, like an automaton which can speak 
 out " La, la, la, la." He had served a long apprentice- 
 ship to his art here and in England, had seen all the 
 good English and American actors for the past sixty 
 years, and naturally resented the impertinent pretensions 
 
JOHN GIBBS GILBERT 355 
 
 of some self-styled stars, and deplored the dissolution of 
 the old stock companies. Not only did I sympathize 
 with him in his fond recollections of the actors and 
 singers of our youthful days, but the subtle law of 
 heredity brought us unconsciously together. 
 
 "Where did you get that beautiful old clawfooted 
 table and that chest of drawers, so sharply carved and 
 the wood almost as black as ebony?" 
 
 " Those ? They came from my ancestor, Captain 
 Henry Atkins." 
 
 "Indeed! Well, Captain Henry Atkins and Henry 
 Atkins, Jr., his son, were witnesses to the will of my 
 grandfather's grandfather in 1760. Captain Henry 
 Atkins and my ancestor, Thomas Lee, were among 
 the founders, chief supporters, and ruling elders of 
 what has been known in our day as the Old North, and 
 among other evidences of the respect in which these old 
 men were held by the church, you will find on the 
 records : — 
 
 " ' July 1749 —Voted, That Honorable Thomas Hutch- 
 inson, Joseph White, Esquire, Mr. Thomas Lee, Henry 
 Atkins, Esquire, and Captain Daniel Pecker be desired 
 to sit in the front as long as they think proper, and 
 to take their seat next Sabbath.' " 
 
 John Gilbert, like Charlotte Cushman, was a North 
 Ender, bom in the old Atkins house of several genera- 
 tions in Richmond Street, and bred in that picturesque 
 maritime quarter of the old town. Its inherent attrac- 
 tions, and perhaps the feeling of heredity, used to draw 
 me thither to gaze at my ancestor's house in North 
 Bennett Street and his tomb on Copp's Hill, so that 
 
356 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 when we met we had two topics of never-failing interest 
 — the theatre and the North End. Mr. Gilbert loved to 
 relate, and I to listen to, his reminiscences of the 
 characters and customs of his youthful days, and we 
 felt it an additional bond of friendship that our ancestors 
 had dwelt there as friends and neighbors. 
 
 And he was a typical North Ender, — old-fashioned, 
 frugal, sturdy, independent. Well did he apply to 
 himself the lines he has so often, as Old Adam, recited : 
 
 Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty ; 
 For in my youth I never did apply 
 Hot and rebellious liquors iu my blood ; 
 Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, 
 Frosty, but kindly. 
 
 He has set a life-long example to his brethren, which 
 they would do well to follow, on and off the stage. I 
 shall miss him sorely in both situations ; he was a 
 pleasant neighbor, and the very last of all the long list 
 of actors endeared to me by youthful associations. 
 
 Hbnet Lee. 
 
 I am aware that Mr. Murdoch, who played the lover 
 charmingly to Ellen Tree and Fanny Jarman, etc., more 
 than fifty years ago at the Tremont Theatre, and that Mr. 
 Leman, one of the Tremont Stock, are both living, but 
 they have been absent from these parts, and, I be- 
 lieve, withdrawn from the stage many years. 
 
 H. L. 
 
HENRY J. BIGELOW 
 
 [Spoken at the Memorial Meeting of the Boston Society for Medical 
 Improvement, Nov. 19, 1890] 
 
 If Dr. Bigelow were aliTe, he and I might furnish en- 
 tertainment for you by provoking reminiscences from 
 each other, and dwelling humorously upon each other's 
 peculiarities and misadventures ; but now that his voice 
 is hushed, I am in dangfer of drawing a one-sided sketch 
 when not corrected by his criticisms. Even if I succeed 
 in setting before you fairly the image of my old play- 
 fellow, it will be but the image of the boy, in whom 
 were latent the traits and talents which in mature life 
 "marked him extraordinary, not in the roll of common 
 men." 
 
 When I was just turned of three years, my father 
 moved from a pleasant old garden house, which stood 
 where now frowns the portico of the Tremont House, to 
 one of those cosey little courts which were favorite re- 
 treats for families on intimate terms with each other and 
 a little aloof from the great world. On one side of Bed- 
 ford Place, for so was the court named, was the house 
 and garden of my uncle, Judge Jackson, then august, 
 though only forty-five years old. On the other side all 
 six houses were owned and occupied by our family and 
 near of kin. Close by, in Summer Street, in the houses 
 
 '» 
 
358 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENKY LEE 
 
 belonging to the First Church, dwelt my cousin, George 
 Cabot, and Henry Bigelow. 
 
 From that time until we separated for college, we 
 formed an inseparable trio, to the great complacency of 
 George's mother and aunt ; for he was a very handsome 
 boy — with red cheeks, brown eyes and hair, and a 
 goodly figure — and we two pale, slender, white-haired 
 boys set him off to advantage. We played together not 
 only the usual recurring games, but also a few tricks of 
 our own inventing, the remembrance of which amuses 
 me more than the narrative would entertain you. 
 
 While in our walks into the country for birds or 
 flowers, or at plain carpenter's work, I could beat Bige- 
 low ; on the other hand, swimming, or dancing, or at the 
 gymnasium — wherever agility was needed — he was 
 immeasurably my superior. 
 
 During our college life we roomed off the same entry 
 in HoUis two years, and he inherited my room at my 
 graduation. Circumstances — we were both busily occu- 
 pied ; then he voyaged for health, I for business — sepa- 
 rated us for a few years ; then we came together again 
 in Paris and afterwards, until marriage and business en- 
 grossments parted us. 
 
 You want to know what traits I observed in these 
 years of youth and boyhood. In the first place he had a 
 pleasant temper, or I should not have clung to him all 
 these years. I say clung to him, for, while we clung to 
 each other, I was rather more dependent than he, and 
 that may have been true of all his companionships. 
 Then, he was a most entertaining companion, not only 
 because of his keen observation of men and things, but 
 
HENRY J. BIGELOW 359 
 
 also, as well, because of Ms eccentricities — his inter- 
 mittent activity and repose; his relentless, exhaustive 
 imravelling of some tangled skein ; or eager pursuit and 
 abrupt abandonment of one hobby after another; his 
 absorption in all he was doing, and consequent absent- 
 mindedness; his intense curiosity about matters, some 
 intrinsically interesting, some uninteresting; his secre- 
 tiveness, or, to say the least, excessive wariness. These 
 traits combined to make the doctor, as I early named 
 him, a source of constant amusement to me and all his 
 associates. We two were friends upon the principle of 
 " like likes unlike." We were complementary to each 
 other; I saw the outside, he the inside; I was an ob- 
 server of persons, he of things. He was quite unob- 
 servant of his surroundings ; took little notice of scenery 
 or of wayfarers. While he studied the movements of 
 a clock at a shop window, I, incapable of that achieve- 
 ment, had memorized the passers-by. So we jogged 
 along, each refreshed by the other's differences. 
 
 When I was a young man, aU our physicians were 
 general practitioners ; now, you are all speciaUsts. As 
 I gaze around, I behold the faces of those who have 
 exercised their skUl on my eyes, my nose, my ears, my 
 skin, my stomach. Well ! this is evolution ; you are all 
 by nature, as well as by profession, specialists ; and my 
 old friend and playmate was eminently a specialist — 
 morally and mentally a specialist. He was like a man 
 looking through a spy-glass, who sees all within the field 
 of vision more clearly than his neighbors not so provided, 
 so that he was able to discover and analyze details invis- 
 ible to them ; and the world has profited and will con- 
 
360 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 tinue to profit by his discernment and analysis. He was 
 like a locomotive which surpasses other vehicles in 
 power and speed, but is confined to its track. One 
 cannot look for inconsistent advantages ; you cannot ex- 
 pect a man with a glass to see what is without his field 
 of vision, unless he and his spy-glass are both afflicted 
 with diverging strabismus. The locomotive will haul 
 you and your goods far and fast, but only while it keeps 
 on its track ; it is no respecter of objects thereon, either 
 animate or inanimate ; strollers must heed the warning, 
 " look out for the engine." " Art is long and time is 
 fleeting," and the man who, by concentrating his mind 
 upon some intricate problem, achieves its solution, and 
 thereby saves his fellow men through all time from a 
 suffering hitherto unrelieved, must be ranked high, not 
 only in the list of great discoverers, but also in the ranks 
 of benefactors of mankind. Had he not been so occu- 
 pied, he might have adorned society; he might have 
 taken an active part in public enterprises and charities 
 of the time ; he might have been more mindful of the 
 joys and sorrows of those among whom he had been 
 born and bred ; more surrounded by friends ; and when 
 called away, he might have been missed from more 
 circles, but he could not, in all probability, have invented 
 and transmitted these great alleviations to his fellow men. 
 Connected with this brilliancy of intellect, this shrewd 
 discovery of the one grain of wheat in the bushel of 
 chaff, this successful solution of mechanical difficulties 
 which had baffled all previous essayers — connected 
 with, and no doubt consequent upon these evidences 
 of superiority, and consequent also upon his isolation 
 
HENRY J. BIGELOW 361 
 
 — there came to him a natural enough presumption of 
 superiority in other fields which he had never traversed, 
 and where others had been hard at work, urged by mo- 
 tives which did not appeal to his nature. Here, beyond 
 his rightful domain, he displayed both presumption and 
 incredulity, — an incredulity as to the possibility of 
 mainsprings which were not to be found in his machin- 
 ery; and presumption of superiority, in all directions, 
 based upon his acknowledged superiority in many direc- 
 tions. This was a natural error of judgment ; but it was 
 an error sometimes of great consequence. This is why 
 I said that, vsath all his genius, with all his accom- 
 plishments, he was morally and mentally a specialist. 
 
 There were two lovable traits which endeared Dr. 
 Bigelow to aU his patients, simple and gentle, — his 
 untiring devotion and his reluctance to give pain. On 
 this latter point I can add my testimony to that of more 
 suffering martyrs. 
 
 I accepted this invitation very reluctantly, anticipat- 
 ing what I now realize, how imperfect, and therefore, 
 how unfair, would be my sketch of my old friend. To 
 me, up to our last meeting, he was always the old bosom 
 crony of my boyhood and early manhood, reviving 
 remembrances of the joys and griefs, the work and 
 play, the frolics and rogueries and escapades of those 
 days, which, while we talked, came back to us as vividly 
 as yesterday. 
 
 I close with a few words which, as President of 
 the Association of Alumni, I had put together as a 
 fitting introduction of Dr. Bigelow, who had been made 
 Emeritus Professor of Surgery in the Harvard Medical 
 
362 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 School. As the doctor declined to appear, they were 
 never spoken. 
 
 "Old Dr. James Jackson, long the Nestor of his 
 profession in Massachusetts, speaking of one of his 
 pupils, then risen to eminence as a physician, a botanist 
 and technologist, described him as one who, would find 
 a grain of wheat in a bushel of chaff. 
 
 " While we do not here inherit titles, we do inherit 
 talents from our fathers, and the son of this remarkable 
 father has risen to great eminence as a surgeon and 
 a professor, as might have been safely predicted by any 
 of his schoolboy and college comrades, whatever pro- 
 fession he had selected. This eminence has been recog- 
 nized by his Alma Mater this day. 
 
 " Yet there is reason to fear that our Emeritus Pro- 
 fessor of Surgery has, by his two great operations upon 
 the stone and upon the hip-joint, incurred the anathema 
 of our great Shakespeare, who thus imprecates such 
 meddlers : 
 
 Blest be the man that spares these stones, 
 And cursed be he that moves my bones, " 
 
GEORGE PARTRIDGE BRADFORD 
 
 All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. 
 
 I WAS pleased to find in your columns an appreciative 
 notice of this delightful old friend, the announcement of * 
 whose death gave me a double shock. 
 
 The reflection that I should never again hear that 
 voice with its ripple of cheerfulness, never again behold 
 that face beaming with cordiality, mingled with my 
 wonder that my seemingly unchanged friend had reached 
 his eighty-third year. It was such a short time since 
 he, then a young divinity student, was a welcome 
 evening visitor at my father's house, nor has he since 
 then grown old to my eyes. 
 
 He was a worthy descendant of the good PUgrim 
 Governor, WUliam Bradford, and just as he, in the days 
 of his youth, sought counsel of Elder Brewster in their 
 Sabbath walks from Scrooby to Clifton, so did his 
 descendant walk and seek counsel of his wise elder, 
 Emerson, on life mortal and immortal. As William 
 Bradford found " oaks, pines, walnuts, beech, sassafras, 
 vines," etc., on Clark's Island, where living men have 
 seen only a few red cedars, so did his descendant espy a 
 varied flora and fauna where to the common eye was 
 barrenness and desolation. As he sowed he reaped, 
 whether he had been wayfaring with eyes open to 
 
364 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 every feature of sky and hill and plain, to every humble 
 wayside plant, to every rock that cropped out of the 
 ground, finding 
 
 Tongues in the trees, books in the running brooks. 
 Sermons in stones, and good in everything ; 
 
 or whether he had come refreshed by converse with 
 Emerson, or had just been released from his task as 
 a teacher, he met you as a bearer of good tidings ; the 
 message was never ended, he began as he had left off, 
 for he was one of the meek who inherit the earth, he 
 had lain down in green pastures, he had been led beside 
 the still waters, his cup, which to the eyes of men 
 seemed empty, was running over and he asked you 
 to partake. 
 
 He was as much more refreshing than other men as is 
 the living water gushing from the rock than the same 
 liquid conveyed in a conduit of men's devising. Like 
 Emerson, he was so filled with the Holy Ghost, with 
 love to God and man, that he diffused happiness where- 
 ever he might go. The college anniversaries, no longer 
 illumined by the light of his countenance, have lost 
 part of their charm. 
 
 Like Emerson, he was bred to the pulpit, and like 
 him he quitted it, not because he had no message for 
 his fellow men, for he was a great favorite with Pro- 
 fessor Norton, who had one or two essays written by 
 him while in the Divinity School published in the 
 Christian Examiner; and it was only his manner that 
 the professor criticised, saying to him: "Your great 
 defect seems to be an entire want of all those qualities 
 
GEORGE PARTKIDGE BRADFORD 365 
 
 that go to make a good speaker." This criticism Brad- 
 ford characteristically exaggerated, as if it applied to 
 his matter as ■well as to his manner. The fact was 
 that, like Emerson, he had not played with the boys in 
 the street, but had been kept in the yard or on the shed 
 by his sister, who in after times lamented it, and he was 
 hopelessly shy. This shyness affected his conversation, 
 which was a series of flashes or outbursts of eloquence, 
 brought abruptly to a stop by hearing his own voice. 
 
 From all we think we know of the life hereafter, the 
 change from this world to the other must have been 
 hardly perceptible to one who so dwelt here in the pres- 
 ence of his Maker and in enjoyment of all his works. 
 
 His life 
 Was rounded with a sleep, no more. 
 
CHARLES DEVENS 
 
 I HAVE a word or two to say about Charles Devens, 
 with whom I have stood in friendly, familiar relations 
 ever since my College days, when I was invited occa- 
 sionally to his father's house in Cambridge. I have been 
 wont to speak of him as " Sweet fortune's minion and 
 her pride," and when one recounts the series of high 
 positions, civil and military, to which he has been 
 preferred, with never a break, from his earliest manhood 
 to the day of his death, — my speech seems justified. 
 
 Scarcely was he out of College and had begun his law 
 practice in Franklin County when he was elected Briga- 
 dier General of Militia ; soon afterwards he was chosen 
 State Senator. He could not have been over thirty 
 years old when he was made United States Marshal for 
 the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 In the war, starting out as Major, he became suc- 
 cessively Colonel, Brigadier, then Brevet Major General 
 of Volunteers, and Military Governor of South Carolina, 
 Having returned home, he was appointed Judge of the 
 Superior Court, and then of the Supreme Court; then 
 taken by President Hayes as his Attorney General, and 
 at the close of his administration instantly reappointed 
 Judge of the Supreme Court. 
 
 This opportune vacancy on the bench at the very 
 moment when his time as United States Attorney 
 
CHARLES DEVENS 367 
 
 General ended, did prompt me to remark to his kins- 
 man that cousin Charles came down always upon his 
 feet, and he agreed with me. 
 
 His early promotion over his fellows of equal worth 
 and talents is to be ascribed to his personal attributes, 
 — his stature, his bright eyes, his mellifluous voice, 
 his flowing speech, his genial and dignified deportment, 
 which distinguished him in all companies, but more 
 especially upon the small stage upon which he made his 
 ddbut. While his general symmetry and suavity helped 
 him in certain directions and to a certain extent, it 
 disparaged him with the fastidious and sceptical. The 
 world is impatient and incredulous of perfection, the 
 " totus teres atque rotundus " fades in the eye and 
 provokes criticism rather than admiration. A mezzo- 
 tint makes one long for the biting-in of the etching. 
 Pope's Homer is so smooth that sense is lost in sound ; 
 and so with persons. Dr. Channing's soft speech stung 
 at least one sensitive person to profanity; General 
 Washington, as handed down by pen and pencil, was 
 too smooth, too perfect; it was only the revelation of 
 his outburst of wrath at Monmouth, and of laughter 
 over Old Put, that justified him to his countrymen. 
 Our friend suffered in like manner, — his symmetry and 
 suavity brought him under suspicion, caused him to be 
 underrated intellectually and morally. But it was no 
 padding, no veneering ; if ever a man could be a hero 
 to his valet, General Devens might have been that man ; 
 the nearer one came to him the higher he stood in one's 
 regard. It was his thorough amiability, joined to his 
 conscientious discharge of every duty assumed, which 
 
368 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 won for him the love and respect of those about him ; 
 and secured for him the unbroken continuance of pro- 
 motion first hazarded upon his extrinsic recommendations. 
 
 Although as marshal he rendered up the slave under 
 the cruel fugitive slave law, as a man he sought earnestly 
 to purchase his freedom ; when the war, that touchstone 
 of character, which converted lambs to lions, and some 
 lions to lambs, broke out and the State was called upon 
 for aid, the " suaviter in modo " was found to be com- 
 bined in our friend with the "fortiter in re ; " he went 
 at an hour's notice, filling the place of a recusant oi3&cer 
 and serving faithfully and ably, in spite of repeated 
 wounds, through all these haggard years, and for a 
 year afterwards as Military Governor of South Carolina. 
 When peace returned, he held the sword of justice as 
 firmly as a ruder, blunter man. 
 
 I sometimes rallied him upon his smooth and kindly 
 relations with men whom I felt inclined to denounce, 
 but I became convinced that this uniform courtesy and 
 lenity credited his heart while it did not discredit his 
 head ; it was Christian charity. 
 
 My old friend would not stand so high in my regard 
 but for the unique exhibition of one memorable day 
 when he had been invited to deliver the oration. Sum- 
 moned betimes in the morning and carted about over an 
 endless route for six or seven hours ; then, after tedious 
 marshalling, forced to listen to successive and inordinate 
 speeches by committee-men. Grand Master of Masons, 
 Mayor, everybody but the selected speaker, the sun 
 went down and darkness fell before the orator of the 
 day was allowed to hold forth. For once, even bis 
 
CHARLES DEVENS 369 
 
 patience was exhausted; he gave a few extracts from 
 his oration by torchlight and withdrew. I was refreshed 
 by his undisguised, righteous indignation at this pre- 
 posterous, egotistic disregard of proportions. 
 
 As to eloquence, how many better orations have been 
 given than his on the centennial of the Battle of Bunker 
 Hill, on the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument, 
 on Grant, spoken at Gettysburg, not to mention his 
 speech at the Harvard Commemoration as spokesman 
 of the returned volunteers, his annual addresses while 
 President of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, 
 his series of speeches at the Jubilee of Harvard College ? 
 Upon that occasion he exercised his habit of infinite 
 painstaking, — no other Alumnus would have performed 
 the task of presiding of&cer so perfectly. 
 
 A tender devotion and constancy characterized his 
 domestic relations. A home of his own in the fullest 
 sense of the word he never had; his father's home 
 was broken up upon the death of his mother and sister, 
 when he was a young lawyer in Greenfield, a be- 
 reavement the more poignant that they lost their lives 
 preserving his ; his father lived to a great age and I can 
 bear witness to the son's filial piety; the love which 
 husbands and fathers lavish upon their wives and 
 children he shed upon scattered groups of relatives, a 
 love ardently reciprocated. 
 
 This tenderness of heart extended beyond his family 
 circle. Breakfasting with him during the Grand Army 
 Encampment last summer, he confessed that the sight 
 of these veterans brought back so feelingly the setting 
 forth for the war, that his tears would flow. 
 
 24 
 
3'[0 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 In familiar intercourse he was genial and entertaining j 
 a kindly humor enlivened his chat ; he told a story with 
 the art of an old campaigner. 
 
 A few words spoken by me elsewhere apply to him 
 here: 
 
 "He has been one of our most faithful members; 
 his stately and benign presence graced our meetings. 
 
 " Here, as elsewhere, he diffused a spirit of chivalric 
 courtesy by his dignified and cordial greetings, his 
 temperate and kindly discourse. 
 
 " To the respect inspired by his honorable public ser- 
 vice in peace and war was added the affection begotten 
 of his unsw^erving loyalty to his friends, and his solici- 
 tous consideration of aU, young and old, far and near." 
 
 When I heard of his death, there came to me the 
 sense of the loss of a friend, and of the glory of a well- 
 spent life. 
 
PATRICK TRACY JACKSON 
 
 Here lie the loving husband's dear remains, 
 The tender father, and the gen'rous friend ; 
 The pitying heart that felt for human woe ; 
 The dauntless heart that f ear'd no human pride. 
 
 The death of Mr. Jackson will pass almost unheeded 
 now, so much had this publicnspirited citizen been re- 
 tired from active life during the past few years. But 
 his contemporaries cannot allow him to disappear from 
 among them without recording their sense of his rare 
 worth. 
 
 At the funeral of Hon. Jonathan Jackson, the grand- 
 father of the gentleman, Sir Henry Wotton's hymn, 
 "How happy is he bom or taught," was selected to 
 be sung, as descriptive of his character; and it. might 
 well have been sung at the funeral of his grandson, for 
 every verse, every line is equally applicable. Born to a 
 great inheritance of wealth and reputation, he cheerfully 
 renounced his chosen career, and, to succor those dear to 
 him, prematurely thrust himself into a perilous position, 
 where he shared responsibility but not authority, and 
 wasted his best years, losing all but honor. 
 
 There is nothing more fatal to success than a false 
 start, and this early misdirection subjected Mr. Jackson 
 to much unmerited loss and suffering. He did not reap 
 the harvest usually accorded to the faithful, diligent, 
 
372 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 husbandman; he has not been, in the world's eye, 
 successful. 
 
 Sweet, indeed, are the uses of adversity, when, as in 
 this case, it develops courage, patience, magnanimity; 
 sweet are the uses of prosperity, when it serves only to 
 warm, not bake the heart, and to render it more tender 
 to the unfortunate, when it makes one a more and not 
 less responsible steward of the Giver. 
 
 Tried by prosperity and adversity, this high-spirited, 
 meek-hearted man kept on the even tenor of his way, 
 superior ahke to flattery and slights, equally zealous in 
 the execution of high or humble tasks, prodigal of his 
 services to his friends and the pubhc, giving bountifully 
 of his large or small store to those in need, grateful for 
 kindness, patient of neglect, an example of Christian 
 heroism. 
 
 He has followed to the grave his friends and class- 
 mates, Devens and Lowell. Had he preceded, they, who 
 had witnessed his triumph over circumstance, would 
 have offered their tribute, for they knew, none better 
 than they, that the best poetry and heroism is that inter- 
 woven with daily duties; and they would have made 
 manifest Pat Jackson's title to the love and esteem of 
 all his classmates, as well as of all who had known him 
 through the vicissitudes of a long life. 
 
 H. L. 
 
GEORGE CHEYNE SHATTUCK 
 
 Jesus saitih unto Lira : feed my sheep. 
 
 De. Shattuck, who has just passed away, was the son 
 of his father. The elder doctor was not only the boun- 
 tiful benefactor of Dartmouth and Harvard Colleges, the 
 liberal contributor to many charities, but what is more 
 rare and more admirable, the good Samaritan who, in 
 his daily walks, refreshed his soul and warmed his heart 
 discovering and relieving the thirsty, the naked, or him 
 who had fallen among thieves. He was equally charac- 
 terized by the kindred virtue of hospitality, his door 
 was open, his table spread, for friends from far and near. 
 AUston and Dana and kindred spirits were his constant 
 guests, but the Harvard student from a far-off home, or 
 the passing stranger, were also welcomed to his cheer. 
 His son, who has just gone, inherited and developed the 
 same traits. 
 
 He founded the great school of St. Paul's, endowing it 
 with land and money and aiding it with repeated gifts. 
 For many years he has held a daily dispensary at his 
 own charges, giving his professional advice to the needy ; 
 he has lavished time and money upon the Church, finding 
 his happiness in her daily services, her periodical con- 
 ventions and clubs, and in unstinted hospitality to her 
 clergy in proportion to their needs rather than to other 
 
374 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 considerations. His absorption in his cliurch and school 
 and dispensary begot no bigotry, no sanctimoniousness 
 in him ; while it wafted him out of sight of his old asso- 
 ciates, it never placed him out of touch with them ; his 
 classmates at Bound Hill, at Harvard, his old friends, 
 were dear as ever. His liberality was equal to his 
 loyalty ; he did not seek to proselytize ; religious and 
 political creeds were no barriers to his esteem and affec- 
 tion. Wendell Phillips and the most fanatical South- 
 erner among his classmates clasped hands under his roof. 
 . Dr. ShattUck's hospitable habits and catholic spirit, 
 and his extensive acquaintance at home and abroad, com- 
 bined to make him a citizen of the world ; his social talents 
 were remarkable, he was a good raconteur, had a keen 
 perception of the humorous, and with characteristic 
 friendliness devoted himself, to the entertainment of his 
 company. It is refreshing to behold a man bestowing 
 his time and a large proportion of his substance upon 
 the community, and maintaining a modesiy and sim- 
 plicity of living. This Dr. Shattuck did. ■ We hardly 
 know how any one could have led a more blameless, 
 mpre useful, more amiable life. 
 
 H. L. 
 
WALDO HIGGINSON 
 
 1814-1894 
 
 He could not frame a word unfit, 
 An act unworthy to be done. 
 
 The disappearance of Mr. Higginson from our sight 
 would have attracted more attention but for his virtual 
 disappearance some years ago because of physical in- 
 firmities, which have confined him at home save for 
 locomotion in a Bath chair, or a short drive in a carriage. 
 No one who watched him slowly dragging himself up 
 the aisle, helped by his servant, at the funeral of his 
 friend and classmate, Professor Torrey, could have 
 recognized the manly figure and resolute .stride of the 
 first lieutenant of the Harvard Washington Corps. 
 
 Contrary to promise, Waldo Higginson's active career 
 was brought to an abrupt close forty years ago by a 
 stroke of paralysis, a lightning stroke from a clear sky, 
 which ever after imposed on him mental and physical 
 constraints. " Cast down, but not destroyed," he cour- 
 ageously set himself to such work as was left for him. 
 His life henceforth was- passed in his insurance office 
 or his home, his outgoings and his incomings watched 
 by one who, alarmed by the first unlooked-for collapse, 
 guarded against the least strain. Even his beloved work 
 as Overseer was deemed too agitating, and he reluct- 
 
376 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 antly witMrew after four years' service. Nothing but 
 this -vigilant watchfulness and his manly submission to 
 these restrictions prolonged his life to the present day. 
 Notwithstanding these limitations, and notwithstanding 
 the barrier of reserve, he made himself more felt than 
 many who roamed at large. With his numerous rela- 
 tives, with his old friends, with his fellow-laborers for 
 the College, with those who conferred with him on 
 public affairs, with his associates in business, his word 
 was weighty. When he was compelled to retire as 
 Engineer and Superintendent of the Low^ell Railroad, 
 his associated brethren were moved to present him with 
 a silver service ; they had penetrated the disguise of the 
 modest, taciturn, dignified man, and had conceived for 
 him an affectionate esteem. When after nearly forty 
 years' service he resigned his insurance office, his brother 
 underwriters wrote of "the value they had put upon 
 his wise counsels, and of the profound and beneficent 
 influence which he had unconsciously exerted," "that 
 he had always brought fairness, trust and sincerity 
 into every question, holding the even balance in their 
 council." 
 
 They who worked with him in raising funds and fix- 
 ing upon plans for the Memorial Hall, learned to value 
 his services. For several years he sat on the Board of 
 Overseers of the College ; for a stiU longer term he 
 served as Visitor to the Divinity School, and upon one 
 occasion his minority report upon that institution won 
 every vote, although the majority report was written by 
 a distinguished clergyman, — a proof of his credit with 
 the Board. 
 
WALDO HIGGINSON 3T7 
 
 " There was something finer in the man than anything 
 he said. 
 
 " This is that which we call Character — a reserved 
 force, which acts directly by presence and without 
 means. 
 
 "It works with most energy in the smallest com- 
 panies and in private relations. In all cases it is an 
 extraordinary and incomputable agent. 
 
 " Happy will that house be in which the relations are 
 formed from character ; after the highest, and not after 
 the lowest order ; the house in which character marries, 
 and not confusion and a miscellany of unavoidable 
 motives. Then shall marriage be a covenant to secure 
 to either party the sweetness and honor of being a calm, 
 continuing, inevitable, benefactor to the other. 
 
 "No house, though it were the Tuileries or the 
 Escmal, is good for anything without a master. And 
 yet we are not gratified by this hospitality. Do you see 
 the household obey an idea ? Do you see the man, — 
 his form, genius, and aspiration, — in his economy ? " 
 
 This character, which peered through the mask of re- 
 serve and silence in his intercourse with his fellow men 
 without, diffused a subtle charm within his home. It 
 was the abode of neatness, order, tranquillity, simplicity, 
 elegance, humanity, strict regulations and implicit obedi- 
 ence — "a hall which shone with sincerity, brows ever 
 tranquil, and a demeanor impossible to disconcert, whose 
 inmates knew what they wanted, who did not ask your 
 house how theirs should be kept. " 
 
 The self-complacency of early risers is proverbial; 
 who knows but in this model household where there 
 
378 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 was a place for everything and everything in its place, 
 where tasks were executed, bills paid, letters answered 
 upon the instant, there may have crept in a conscious 
 superiority over their procrastinating, floundering, fluc- 
 tuating fellow creatures, — it would have been human. ' 
 It was difficult to separate master and mistress, to say 
 whether the government was an enlightened despotism, 
 or a unanimous duumvirate ; the machinery was noise- 
 less, the performance perfect, " each had become a calm, 
 continuing, inevitable benefactor to the other," gliding 
 into a more perfect imion day by day. They were both 
 modest, haters of dissimulation, scrupulously conscien- 
 tious, loyal to friends, dutiful even to self-sacrifice, good 
 judges of character, critical to fastidiousness, yet chari- 
 table, benevolent to disinterestedness, romantic, chivalric, • 
 enthusiastic, tender. Each vied with the other in self- 
 sacrifice, — the wife had more natural gaiety and elas- 
 ticity, and raised the drooping spirits of her husband when 
 threatened with helplessness and want; her romance, 
 and what she deemed fidelity to household demands, 
 verged upon quixotism, and while of "a manly mind," 
 and a high spirit, I suspect that in most, if not all cases, 
 she found ultimate relief in following her husband's 
 decision. It was the widower's sad reflection that his 
 wife had died prematurely, exhausted by household and 
 social duties self -exacted ; but while she undoubtedly 
 underwent undue fatigue, it seems more probable that 
 her incessant, tremulous anxiety about her husband, 
 from which none could relieve her, kept her heart over- 
 throbbing until it suddenly ceased. The self -continuance 
 of the household customs and service for eight years 
 
WALDO HIGGINSON 879 
 
 after her death is an evidence of the thorough discipline 
 and of the weight of her character. 
 
 Thq Higginson family history is not obscure, and it is 
 interesting to trace the petmanence or reappearance of 
 some traits. 
 
 The earliest person of the race now known, was the 
 Widow Joane Higginson, mother of Rev. John, Vicar 
 of Claybrooke for fifty-two years, whose old Norman 
 church some of his American descendants have lately 
 helped to restore, and grandmother of Rev. Francis^ the 
 emigrant, who graduated, like his father, at Jesus Col- 
 lege, Cambridge, and, like his father, preached at Clay- 
 brooke as well as at Leicester. It is something over 
 three hundred years since this Widow Joane, dying 
 before 1573, bequeathed £7 a year (equal to nearly 
 £70 now) to the poor of Berkeswell, County Warwick, 
 and this spirit of benevolence has distinguished. many of 
 her descendants of this and previous generations. 
 
 A beautiful painting of "The Man of Ross," left at 
 his door by an unknown friend or friends of Mr. Stephen 
 Higginson (Waldo's father) upon the occasion of a 
 reverse of fortune, was a delicate mode of conveying 
 , to him their grateful, sense of his past beneficence 
 and their sympathy with his present losses. 
 
 Waldo Higginson was quite original; he differed 
 from' his father and family generally in his reserve, 
 his deliberation, his consiste.ncy, his method, — qualities 
 in common with the Storrows, judging by the repre- 
 sentatives of that family ; — neither had he a fortune to 
 distribute; but it may justly be said that benevolence 
 was the keynote of his character, the burden of his, 
 
S80 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 heart. The needs of others appealed to him; he was 
 constantly studying how to aid kinsfolk, near or remote, 
 as well as all others in want, not only with money 
 spared from his modest income, but also by wise 
 counsels and personal endeavors. Very close to his 
 heart was the College, and he made to it several do- 
 nations which might be called extravagant for his 
 circumstances. 
 
 His attachment to old friends was a delightful trait, 
 and so long as Dr. Charles Ware lived, Waldo and 
 John Holmes were each year his guests ; these old life- 
 long cronies were kept in an almost hysterical state by 
 John Holmes's humorous rehearsal of their boyish 
 experiences or description of the old Cambridge 
 worthies. 
 
 Whether because he belonged to an historical family, 
 or because he grew up in an ancient collegiate town, 
 or whether it was an original trait, he was fond of 
 reminiscences, of traditions, of genealogical researches. 
 He and I so haunted the home of my grandfather's 
 grandfather down at the North End, that at last the 
 agitated proprietor issued forth and inquired as to our 
 designs, evidently taking us for burglars ; and a witty 
 cousin of mine, after listening to our intense conver- 
 sation on these topics some fifty years ago, observed 
 that " our talk reminded him of old negroes," so full 
 was it of what Waldo, speaking of a brother antiquarian, 
 called " delightful, good-for-nothing information." 
 
 He was easily entertained, liked to be provoked to 
 laughter, and with him a story rather gained by repeti- 
 tion. We had made a journey together to the White 
 
WALDO HIGGINSON 381 
 
 Mountains sixty years since, and there was no incident 
 of that tour, no traits of travellers we encountered which 
 did not furnish merriment all these years. He was very 
 perceptive, and any foible or adventure of his own or his 
 friends, capable of being turned to ridicule, regaled him. 
 A felicitous contrast between my wife and me, drawn 
 by a shrewd Yankee neighbor of his, he took great 
 delight in repeating, though by no means flattering 
 to me. With still greater malignity he sat chuckling 
 over some sarcastic comments of an old classmate upon 
 my merits and demerits as Chief Marshal while I was in 
 the thick of complications in Memorial Hall on Jubilee 
 Day, and then with relish imparted them to me. Served 
 up by this humorist the criticisms had an agreeable 
 piquancy, but the fun we extracted from our oft-told 
 tales was a Masonic mystery, revealed only to the 
 initiated and not by me transmissible. 
 
 The historian says of his ancestor. Rev. Francis, the 
 emigrant, " Unlabored as is the composition of both his 
 books, we find in them a delicate felicity of expression 
 and a quiet, imaginative pictuxesqueness," and this 
 might be afExmed of the conversation and of the briefest 
 note of Waldo Higginson ; he had a rare " felicity of 
 expression, and a quiet, imaginative picturesqueness." 
 
 One Commencement Day, when a Vice-President of 
 dignified presence, sonorous voice and smooth oratory, 
 had been suddenly substituted for the missing President, 
 he exclaimed, "Thank Godl who always raises up 
 for us figureheads when they are needed." 
 
 It is a matter of regret that circumstances limited the 
 number of listeners to his table talk, and still more that 
 
382 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HEKRY LEE 
 
 " the whole country has not, by , the press, enjoyed 
 some of his compogures" as they did those of his 
 ancestor, Rev. John of Salem, for there were many 
 subjects which he would have illustrated forcibly and 
 felicitously. 
 
 He was an ardent lover of his country ; had he been 
 young and hale, he would, like .others of his name, have 
 felt impelled to active service in the Civil War; but 
 failing of this, he might .have written on matters of 
 public welfare, which so deeply interested him, as 
 incisively as ever did Old Laco. 
 
 He was and had been my mentor for sixty-two years ; 
 from my Freshman year when I roomed in the " L " of 
 his father's house at Cambridge alongside him, he has 
 been my tender friend, my wise counsellor; he has also 
 been my taskmastep^ and has required me to write 
 occasional comments on persons or politics which 
 interested him, and while he was inclined to lenity, 
 he never paltered ■ with the truth. Not long ago I 
 submitted to him three obituary notices, for I never 
 dared to print a line without his criticism. Having 
 heard the fii:st he said, " That is good," — then after 
 listening to the second came the sentence, " That will 
 do," nor would all my remonstrances coax him to 
 any extenuation ; and this was a specimen of his un- 
 deviating frankness, and, if need be, reproof. "We were 
 sitting together at the benefit promoted by me of aii 
 actress in whdnt I felt an interest. ■ During one of the 
 
 waits I said: "Mrs, is a good little woman, and 
 
 she is a good actress ; still, there is something lacking, 
 don't you observe it?" " No ! and if I did, I should not 
 
WALDO HIGGINSON 383 
 
 speak of it." " Oh I " I exclaimed to his wife, " "Waldo 
 is snubbing me," but he was naturally displeased at my 
 unsympathetic criticism. 
 
 Cotton Mather said of Rev. John of Salem, who lived 
 to ninety-two years, that he had been " a rich and long 
 blessing," and every one who had the luxury of inter- 
 course with his descendant would say, Amen. 
 
 The most convincing proof of his incorruptibility is 
 that, although from his birth to his death, — in his 
 father's house, in his own home, by his wife, then by his 
 sister, then by his niece, who successively devoted 
 themselves to him, — he was idolized, and those nearest 
 to him and those under him at home or abroad were his 
 most devout worshippers ; all this deference and solici- 
 tude served but to enhance his dignity and consistency 
 of character, and never to develop caprice or selfishness. 
 They who, during his long invalidism, watched and 
 helped, instead of complaining of weariness, declared 
 themselves refreshed and elevated by contact with him. 
 Nobody knows how much or how Httle he realized 
 and suffered during his long last illness ; that he could 
 not by hand or mouth communicate with those who 
 watched over him was a distress to them and must have 
 been to him. Let \is hope that he dreamed and slept 
 away those slow last hours of his dutiful life. 
 
ROBERT C. WINTHROP 
 
 EiGHTY-PiVB years ago the old town of Boston was 
 not a sojourn, but a dwelling-place, year in and year out, 
 from birth to death, from generation to generation. Its 
 citizens not only lived in, but for, their town; on it 
 were concentrated their affections, they observed all 
 anniversaries, they participated in all solemnities and 
 festivities, they discharged divers duties now delegated 
 to paid substitutes. 
 
 In my school and college days Mr. Winthrop was 
 coming forward, and among the figures of the past none 
 is more distinct than his, because of the part he played 
 in all pageants, and because of his handsome face and 
 figure, which made his part attractive. I admired him 
 marching at the head of the Harvard Washington Corps ; 
 later as captain of the Boston Light Infantry, famed for 
 its spirit and for its series of handsome young officers ; 
 later stiU in perfection as senior aide-de-camp succes- 
 sively to three governors. These positions he owed to 
 his name and to his external graces ; these were but the 
 trappings ; he had that within which passeth show. 
 
 While captain of the Harvard Washington Corps, he 
 was chum of Charles Emerson, the most remarkable 
 of the remarkable brothers, and he had the third oration 
 at his graduation. 
 
 While aide-de-camp, he was elected a member, and 
 before his time Speaker, of the House of Representa- 
 
ROBERT C. WINTHROP 885 
 
 tives; then Member of Congress, where he rapidly came 
 to the front. 
 
 "While on the staff of Governor Everett, he was wont 
 to attend the dinners of the Cadets, and to gratify us 
 not only by his comely presence, but also by his graceful 
 oratory, vying with that of his eloquent chief. A stately 
 figure, a dignified manner, a mellifluous voice, gave 
 effect to his words. 
 
 After Mr. Everett, we have had no orator who has 
 irradiated so many occasions, local and national, with 
 historic research and sage reflections presented in clear 
 and euphonious speech. 
 
 I allude to three of these orations, not because of 
 their relative superiority, but because they serve to 
 illustrate : — his Bunker Hill oration, his power to rein- 
 vest with interest a subject already exhaustively treated ; 
 his oration at Yorktown, his skill in weaving as on a 
 Brussels carpet loom the intricate web so as to assign to 
 the many actors in that siege — French, British, and 
 American — their places, and to set forth their character- 
 istics, and yet not to impede the flow of the narrative ; 
 the address on the Centennial of the Academy of Arts 
 and Sciences, his fulness and readiness. Called upon in 
 an exigency, with but twenty-four hours' notice, he 
 gave an interesting review of the century's record, and 
 discriminating eulogies on its most eminent members. 
 It could not have been more complete, more finished, if 
 he had taken a month instead of a day for preparation. 
 
 But what repeated proofs of these qualities has he not 
 given at the monthly meetings of this Society during 
 the thirty years of his presidency ! A letter received, a 
 
 25 
 
386 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 document unearthed, a lost member to lament, an anni- 
 Yersary to commemorate, — each opportunity, offered or 
 created, was improved by him. 
 
 His learning, his extensive intercourse and correspond- 
 ence with interesting men at home and abroad, stored 
 in a tenacious memory ready for use, enabled him to in- 
 vest the subject, whatever it might be, with interest, and 
 each time to renew our admiration. 
 
 Many of us can claim descent from the magistrates 
 and clergy of the first generation ; but unless we bear 
 their names, our claim is disputed, we are virtually 
 disinherited, we are not identified with them. John 
 Winthrop had many living descendants who had thus 
 lost their inheritance. Those who were heirs of the 
 name, as of the blood, had passed away from this vicinity. 
 Mr. Winthrop had six brothers, whom some can remem- 
 ber as handsome, stalwart men, but he outlived them 
 all. So it came about that he was left the sole repre- 
 sentative in Boston of the family in his generation, and 
 his identity with his great ancestor was, as it were, 
 thrust upon him. 
 
 When he was bom, the contour of the peninsula (for 
 happily it was still a peninsula) had been preserved ; it 
 was the Boston depicted by Emerson : — 
 
 The rocky nook with hill-tops three 
 Looked eastward from the farms, 
 And twice each day the flowing sea 
 Took Boston in its arms, 
 
 a fascinating, semi-rural, sea-girt town, retaining many 
 features of its old colonial days. The houses stood 
 
EOBEKT C. WINTHROP 387 
 
 mostly apart in their gardens, some of them associated 
 with historic names. 
 
 Bom in one of these old homes, the first objects which 
 met his eyes as he was held to the window were the Old 
 South Meeting House and its parsonage standing on the 
 Governor's Green, the home of his ancestor, the wise 
 and beneficent founder of the town and State. The 
 contemplation of this ancestral ground, the sight of old 
 houses which this ancestor had entered, family tradi- 
 tions, the reading of Winthrop's Journal, must have 
 tended to associate the past with the present, and to 
 impress upon him his birthright. 
 
 If, as aide-de-camp, he rode beside the governor as he 
 reviewed the troops on Boston Common, he must have 
 recalled the day when the two regiments in the bay 
 were mustered on that same Common — led, the one by 
 his ancestor. Governor Winthrop, the other by the 
 deputy. Governor Dudley, who was equally his ancestor 
 — to perform their warlike exercises. 
 
 He could not, as an officer of the Ancient and Honor- 
 Elble Artillery, receive or resign his espontoon without 
 remembering that it was his ancestor who had bestowed 
 the charter and who had presided over these annual 
 ceremonies. 
 
 He could hardly attend a meeting of the Massachu- 
 setts Historical Society without hearing our first gov- 
 ernor quoted or referred to. 
 
 What a beautiful manifestation of filial piety was his 
 editing and writing the " Life and Times of John Wiri- 
 throp," at once a romance and a history, giving a fasci- 
 nating picture of the life of the lawyer of the Temple 
 
388 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 and the lord of the Manor of Groton, surrounded by 
 attached friends and kindred ; and of his forsaking all 
 this to " runne an hazard with them of an hard and 
 meane condition," by agreeing " to pass the seas to in- 
 habit and continue in New England;" of the tender 
 parting and happy reunion of the husband and wife, and 
 of the multifarious cares and trials and achievements of 
 the gentle, wise, magnanimous man and magistrate, dur- 
 ing his nineteen years here. 
 
 Mr. Winthrop was " given to hospitality ; " he received 
 his friends, his friendly acquaintances, and his fellow- 
 citizens on appropriate occasions with that nice gradation 
 of manner of which he was master; he entertained 
 strangers of rank and distinction in the f uU sense of that 
 word, and he leaves no successor with the inclination and 
 the ability to take his place. 
 
 The proud little sea-girt town has sprawled out into a 
 disjected city; its picturesque profile and outline are 
 gone ; the waves no more beat against the Neck, — there 
 is no Neck ; the old James Bowdoin house was long ago 
 wiped away, its acre of garden covered with buildings ; 
 the English Puritans are displaced by men of strange 
 speech and customs, and, bowed down by infirmities, 
 the last of the Boston Winthrops of his generation has 
 followed the long line of his ancestors from the first 
 governor, and faded from our sight. 
 
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 
 
 [^Spoken at a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, held 
 October 11, 1894] 
 
 Aftek tlie President's discriminating remarks and 
 Dr. Everett's sympathetic verses, my only excuse for 
 saying a few words is that my point of view is not that 
 of a scholar, but of a friend and kinsman. 
 
 Our common ancestor, Edward Jackson, of Harvard 
 College, 1726, married Dorothy Quincy, whom Dr. 
 Holmes has embalmed. He had two children ; the son 
 was my grandfather, the daughter his grandmother. 
 Always on familiar terms, for seventeen summers we 
 have been neighbors at Beverly Farms, in closer com- 
 munion, holding stated meetings every Sunday after 
 church, — which, by the way, he invariably attended, 
 whatever the creed or whoever the preacher. He will be 
 missed from his accustomed seat in the old King's 
 Chapel, which he has filled for over fifty years. At 
 these weekly sessions discussion ranged far and wide. 
 There was no assumption of superiority on his part, such 
 as I have sometimes encountered from literary men ; but 
 there was, on each side, an eagerness to talk which had 
 to be regulated, after parliamentary usage, by the mis- 
 tress of the house. An old gentleman, speaking of 
 Judge Charles Jackson, the father of Mrs. Holmes, told 
 me that when, as referee, he decided a case, both parties 
 
390 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 were satisfied, such was their confidence in his equity ; 
 and his daughter presided over this court of appeal with 
 like acquiescence. 
 
 In this intimacy I traversed the opinions and con- 
 victions, the sympathies and gentle antipathies, of my 
 brilliant, discursive cousin, the Autocrat; observed his 
 domestic habits and relations, and learned the rewards 
 and penalties of his popularity. 
 
 He was most happy in his marriage. The executive 
 ability and unselfish devotion manifested by his wife, 
 when at the head of the Boston Sanitary Commission 
 during the Civil War, were lavished upon her family ; 
 her delicate perceptions and quick sympathies made her 
 a delightful companion and a competent critic of her 
 husband's prose or poetry. It was pleasant to meet 
 them in their daily walks, gaily chatting with each 
 other or with a neighbor, or stooping to caress a little 
 child. These daily walks have been persevered in to the 
 end, in spite of solitude, partial blindness, and increas- 
 ing infirmities ; and so have his kindly relations with 
 neighbors, his playful and tender intercourse with 
 children. 
 
 I have had two sets of grandchildren dwelling near 
 him, and I will venture to say that he never passed them 
 without a pleasant word ; and he not only saluted them, 
 but he noticed their traits. A neighbor told me that 
 when Dr. Holmes dwelt in Charles Street, and passed 
 daily through Cambridge Street to the Medical School, 
 he was wont to stop on his way to speak to the school- 
 children, to give them words to spell, to laugh over their 
 blunders, and to reward them with pennies. He was 
 
OLIVEK WENDELL HOLMES 391 
 
 blessed with a real gaiety of heart, — a quality too rare 
 among us descendants of Puritans, — inherited, perhaps, 
 from his Dutch ancestors. 
 
 He had much mechanical ingenuity, — made several 
 inventions, besides improving the stereoscope; but in 
 some business ways he was amusingly helpless, and, as I 
 have occasion to know, very grateful for assistance. 
 
 His kindness of heart was exercised, but not ex- 
 hausted, by the bores who besieged him with visits and 
 letters, — who showered upon him their essays to be read, 
 their aspirations to be considered, and often rewarded his 
 patient endurance and merciful judgments with an out- 
 burst of ingratitude. His charity for these and other 
 offences was habitual ; he was quite capable of receiving, 
 but not of inflicting, wounds ; nor did he harbor resent- 
 ments. 
 
 He has been called vain, by himself and others ; but 
 it was vanity of an amiable and childlike kind, — con- 
 fessed, and so apologized for; not denied or disguised or 
 justified. It was not made offensive by superciliousness, 
 nor contemptible by unmanliness, nor malignant by envy. 
 Had he visited Rotten Row, and gazed at the weU-born, 
 well-dressed, well-mounted equestrians, he would have 
 exulted over their bright array, and not have growled 
 out, as Carlyle did, " There is not one of them can do 
 what I can do." He would not, like Moore, have abused 
 his honest and generous publisher ; nor would he, like 
 him, upon the loss of a child, have lain abed to revel in 
 his grief, leaving his " dear Bessie," as Moore called his 
 wife, to perform the last sad offices. He would not, — as 
 did one author with whom I had formerly Uved on terms 
 
392 MEMOIR OP COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 of equality, but who afterwards acquired fame and riches, 
 — have called upon me to mark him extraordinary, not in 
 the roll of common men, by cutting off the coupons from 
 his goodly pile of bonds, — a service not rendered to 
 his four thousand fellow^customers. 
 
 Lowell wrote a witty paper on "A certain Conde- 
 scension in Foreigners ; " he might have followed it by 
 " A certain Condescension in Literary Men." 
 
 When I read the correspondence between Emerson 
 and Carlyle, it struck me how much more and better 
 they would have written had they been bound to some 
 task every morning ; if manual, all the better. Emerson 
 recognizes this in many passages : " The use of manual 
 labor is one which never grows obsolete, and which is 
 inapplicable to no person. . . . We must have a basis for 
 our higher accomplishments, our delicate entertainments 
 of poetry and philosophy, in the work of our hands. Not 
 only health, but enterprise, is in the work." 
 
 Fortunate for Charles Lamb was his enforced drud- 
 gery " at the desk's dead wood." It was this routine that 
 braced him for his congenial labors. After his long- 
 coveted liberation, he ran and frisked about like a colt 
 in a pasture, and then subsided ; the " unchartered free- 
 dom " made him restless, but not productive. 
 
 Fortunate for Dr. Holmes were his practice and his lec- 
 tures for thirty-five years. These gave him promptness, 
 accountability, resolution, touch with the world. It was 
 this commerce with the world that widened his observa- 
 tions and his sympathy ; it was this which inclined him, 
 it was this discipline which enabled him, to respond so 
 constantly and so heartily to the appeal for occasions, — 
 
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 393 
 
 a well-performed service which endeared him to the 
 great public. 
 
 The champagne, the effervescence, will be lacking 
 at many a gathering now that he is gone ; he stands out 
 from all other poets by his cheerful and hearty co-opera- 
 tion. Who now can catch inspiration from the passing 
 event, and express felicitously the feeling agitating every 
 breast, as did our lost friend ? 
 
 One more trait, and that a most amiable one, char- 
 acterized him, — a remarkable magnanimity ; he gave an 
 ungrudging tribute of praise to his brethren, he had " the 
 most catholic receptivity for the genius of others." 
 
 In short, he was very human in weakness and in 
 strength; love and good will he freely bestowed, and 
 love and good will he craved in turn, and he received in 
 full measure. 
 
 " I do not know what special gifts have been granted 
 or denied me, but this I know, — that I am like so many 
 others of my fellow-creatures that when I smile I feel as 
 if they must, when I cry I think their eyes fill ; and it 
 always seems to me that when I am most truly myseK, I 
 come nearest to them, and am surest of being listened to 
 by the brothers and sisters of the larger family into which 
 I was born so long ago." 
 
 He sings no more on earth ; our vain desire 
 Aches for the voice we loved so long to hear. 
 
WILLIAM MINOT 
 
 1894: 
 
 All my life long I have beheld with most respect the man 
 Who knew himself and knew the ways before him, 
 And from amongst them chose considerably, 
 With a clear foresight, not a blindfold courage, 
 And having chosen, with a steadfast mind 
 Pursued his purpose. 
 
 The city must be rich indeed which can afford to lose 
 a man like William Minot. 
 
 To his school and college-mates his lusty manhood 
 while they were yet in the gristle, his prowess in all ath- 
 letic games, his addiction to field sports, marked him for 
 outdoor life, a mighty hunter ; and his sufferings from a 
 sedentary occupation went to confirm their diagnosis 
 and to prove that Nature had been thwarted. 
 
 Guided, not by his tastes, but by conscience, he became 
 a diligent student, — an uphill road, which he travelled so 
 resolutely that soon after quitting college, while he was 
 preparing to follow his hereditary profession of the law, 
 he broke down utterly, and a voyage and travel in Europe 
 were prescribed to save his life. 
 
 His life was saved, but the robust health which he had 
 enjoyed was much impaired, so that from this time forth 
 nothing but a strict adherence to rule, a country life, 
 and periodical withdrawals, cruising in his yacht, or 
 
WILLIAM MINOT 395 
 
 following his natural vocation of sportsman, reinvigor- 
 ated him and enabled him to bear the heavy responsi- 
 bilities of his profession. 
 
 How faithfully, how judiciously, how delicately all 
 these duties have been discharged, how enormously they 
 have been multiplied because of these admirable quali- 
 ties, is in part known. 
 
 In part known, because his time was given to his 
 work ; and this over, he had no strength left for outside 
 engagements, and so remained in comparative seclusion. 
 
 Nor was this seclusion a constraint, for he had neither 
 ambition for public employment, nor taste for general 
 society. 
 
 Like his revered father, he was conservative, indiffer- 
 ent or averse to reforms, as casting a reflection upon the 
 past with which his affections were intertwined. 
 
 He loved old friends, old times, old manners, old books, 
 old wine ; he might have said with the poet : — 
 
 Times change, 
 Years shift us up and down, but something sticks ; 
 And for myself, there 's nothing as a man 
 That I love more than what, a child, I loved. 
 
 No matter how long the interval of separation, it took 
 but an instant to resume the old relations, to nestle into 
 the same place in his heart, to recall the old stories, to 
 laugh over the old jokes. 
 
 Like his father, he had a chivabic loyalty which bound 
 him to his family, far and near, and to all heirs to his 
 friendship, and nothing gave him keener delight than to 
 play the host, or in any way to promote their happiness 
 or to administer to their needs. 
 
396 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 He had that chastity of honor which felt a stain like 
 a wound, and which made the foundation for all the 
 superstructure of gaiety and cordiality with his friends. 
 
 He was absolutely independent, so that he could dwell 
 serenely among those whose opinions and ways were not 
 his ways and opinions, walking unswervingly in his own 
 path, but resenting any intrusion, for he was capable of 
 righteous indignation. 
 
 His courage and cheerfulness maintained under pro- 
 longed anxieties, successive bereavements, his tender de- 
 votion to others, especially to the young, finding his 
 alleviation in their enjoyment, his unfaltering walk 
 through the valley of the shadow of death, closed and 
 crowned his long and beneficent life. 
 
 H. L. 
 
BENJAMIN EDDY MOESE 
 
 [February 3, 1894] 
 
 A GEOUP of relations, a number of old East Indian 
 captains and merchants, a large number of fellow club- 
 men, possibly in the crowd one or two Round Hillers, 
 were drawn to the King's Chapel last week by their 
 affection for an old comrade and kinsman. 
 
 He who had passed away was not a public character ; 
 there were no delegations, social, financial, or political ; 
 it was an affectionate meeting and parting of friends. 
 
 As I sat waiting for the funeral procession, I involun- 
 tarily glanced up at the gallery where for over sixty 
 years we had sat side by side in adjoining pews ; and 
 my memory conjured up a stalwart, handsome boy, 
 kindly to us younger boys, playing in Otis Place, 
 and then the going and coming of a supercargo ; I 
 saw him just welcomed home, embrowned by his voy- 
 age and cordially greeting his many friends, or proudly 
 escorting his mother on the Mall, for we all lived in 
 Boston, summer or winter. 
 
 From those young days till now — as boy, as youth, 
 as man — Ben Morse was the same, an obedient and de- 
 voted son, a guardian brother, a loyal friend, a good 
 Samaritan to those who had fallen among thieves, an 
 honest man. 
 
398 MEMOIR OF COLOKEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Resolute in pursuing his own straightforward course, 
 he turned aside to interfere with no man's affairs, 
 and would suffer no man to interfere with his. 
 
 Following the advice of the Apostle, he " studied to 
 be quiet, and to do his own business." 
 
 Retiring and unobtrusive, he invaded no man's prov- 
 ince, encroached upon no man's rights, detracted from 
 no man's character; his heart was tender, and over 
 his friendly deed, as over the escapades of others, he 
 threw a veil of secrecy, letting not his left hand know 
 what his right hand was doing. 
 
 While his life was emphatically a life of duty, daily, 
 wearing duty, faithfully performed, he had such a cheery 
 way with him that one would infer that he was having 
 a jolly time, and the fact that nobody in speaking of or 
 to him ever got further than the first syllable of his 
 name indicates his kindly, unassuming relation with all, 
 young and old ; and they all gathered together to sig- 
 nify by their presence how much they valued that kind- 
 ness, and how conscious they were of their loss. 
 
 H. L. 
 
EBENEZER R. HOAR 
 
 [Spoken at a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in 
 Boston, on Thursday, February 14, 1895] 
 
 " Behold there come seven years of great plenty 
 throughout all the land of Eg3rpt : and there shall arise 
 after them seven years of famine." 
 
 At our last meeting but one Dr. Ellis was speak- 
 ing words of lament at the loss of Mr. Winthrop; a 
 month later, stunned by the news of his sudden death, 
 we came together to mourn him. This loss upon loss 
 makes us poor indeed. 
 
 A few years ago we had the pleasure of beholding 
 among us Emerson, Deane, Lowell, Parkman, Holmes, 
 Winthrop, and Ellis, — these were our years of great 
 plenty ; now the last of them has gone, and the years of 
 famine have come upon us. When such men are 
 withdrawn, the sadness of personal bereavement is 
 followed by dismay over our deferred intentions, our 
 lost opportunities. We can never know, we cannot 
 estimate, we can only conjecture, what garnered secrets 
 of the past have been buried with them, which might 
 have been revealed had their lives been prolonged, or 
 extorted by us had we been more vigilant. Now we 
 vainly regret that we had not, like Joseph, gathered up 
 the food of the seven years of plenty. For whUe there 
 
400 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 are many untiring scholars flashing their searchlights 
 upon obscure passages in our history and illuminating 
 them for us, they have never seen the unsullied, un- 
 invaded New England pictured by Emerson in his 
 historical discourse at Concord and in his memoir of 
 Dr. Ezra Ripley, by Holmes and Lowell in divers 
 places, and loved and studied and set before us by 
 Winthrop and Deane and Ellis. They were the repre- 
 sentatives of a vanished age ; in their brief lifetime 
 the transformation of centuries has been accomplished; 
 the peaceful, farming, maritime New England has passed 
 away, only to be conjured up by realizing their descrip- 
 tions, and shutting eyes and ears to the unwelcome 
 intrusion of the bustling, heterogeneous present. 
 
 Today we are called upon to grieve over the de- 
 parture of a true Puritan. Leaving to others an es- 
 timate of his rare ability, of his professional eminence, 
 of his patriotic public service, I dwell on certain salient 
 traits which have perhaps masked more fundamental 
 elements of his character. 
 
 Gazing into the grave of an old friend, one may get 
 a blurred image; so I recur, on this occasion, to a 
 portrait drawn by me twenty years ago, when he was 
 candidate for the United States Senate : — 
 
 At the Republican conference Tuesday evening, Mr. 
 Shortle of Provincetown said that no man who could 
 only be approached by those within certain walks of life, 
 who represented not the Republican party, but only 
 a peculiar shade of blood, a few families on Beacon 
 Street, would get his vote. Now, if Mr. Shortle knows 
 Judge Hoar at all, even by hearsay, he must have been 
 
EBENEZER K. HOAR 401 
 
 aware he was talking nonsense. As to Beacon Street, 
 living there is a presumption of wealth, nothing more ; 
 in some cases inherited, in most earned, — by some 
 honestly, by others dishonestly, — and spent wisely 
 or unwisely, frugally or lavishly, according to the disposi- 
 tion of the holder. Of over four hundred householders 
 only five Hve in the house in which they were born. 
 The blood is pretty much what it is throughout Massa- 
 chusetts, — that of the early settlers filtered through 
 several generations of varied fortunes and occupations, 
 of good and evil report. 
 
 But whatever the merits or demerits of the dwellers 
 in Beacon Street, who are only distinguished by that 
 success in money-getting which Mr. Shortle and the 
 majoriiy of men strive for. Judge Hoar will be amused 
 to learn that he is their representative. I have known 
 him well for forty-two years, and I have often quahfied 
 my praise of him by charging him with an undue 
 severity on city men and city ways, an almost aggressive 
 simplicity and disregard of the little graces. 
 
 If one wants to see Puritan principles carried into 
 practice, let him visit Concord and witness the noble 
 frugality and quiet dignity of that small circle of highly 
 endowed and highly educated men and women to which 
 Judge Hoar belongs, and which is characterized by those 
 virtues easy to admire, hard to practise, even by Mr. 
 Shortle. 
 
 After this lapse of time the record stands approved ; 
 his undue severity on city men and city ways, his 
 aggressive simplicity and disregard of the little graces, 
 
 26 
 
402 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENEY LEE 
 
 as well as his plain living and high thinking, have still 
 characterized him. 
 
 I once addressed him as the incarnation of the State 
 of Massachusetts in general, and Middlesex County in 
 particular, and so he was. 
 
 Bom in Concord, the wilderness town, consecrated 
 by the piety and generosity of its well-born founder, 
 Rev. Peter Bulkeley; made picturesque by the 
 brotherly reconciliation of Gen. Winthrop and stern old 
 Dudley; and illustrated, not only by the "shot heard 
 round the world," but also by the character of its people, 
 — by such citizens as the patriotic Chaplain Elnerson ; 
 by good old Dr. Eipley, who ruled so long as parson 
 and autocrat, one of the rearguard of the army of the 
 Puritans; by Emerson and his brothers, and by Mrs. 
 Samuel Ripley, the most learned, brilliant and modest 
 woman of "Our First Centiuy," who made it classic 
 ground; and last, but not least, by his own father, 
 Hon. Samuel Hoar, a modest, dignified, frugal, generous, 
 wise man, whose word was law ; bom and bred in this 
 happy town, which " stints its expense in small matters, 
 that it may spend freely on great duties," and so incul- 
 cates frugality and public spirit; listening year by year 
 to the story of the 19th of April, or better still, to the 
 reminiscences of the survivors of the fight, — no wonder 
 that he imbibed the belief that Concord, not Boston, 
 was the hub of the universe, and that what was not 
 done in Concord was not worth doing. 
 
 His faith in his town, his State, his church, his 
 college, his class, his pohtical party, was absolute; 
 so profound were his convictions, so strong his attach- 
 
EBENEZEK R. HOAR 408 
 
 meiits, that he seemed to mistrast the sanity or sincerity 
 of those who questioned their superiority. 
 
 This claim, and his denunciations, private and public, 
 of all dissenters, were calculated to affront those who 
 were without the pale; the assumption was naturally 
 offensive to those of other nativities, or to those who 
 had conscientiously arrived at other conclusions on 
 matters religious, social, or political, and was taken too 
 literally by those who were devoid of a sense of humor, 
 or not well acquainted with his complexities. For while 
 it was difficult to trace the boundary line between his 
 settled convictions and his cherished illusions, to dis- 
 tinguish between the sallies of his wit and the utterances 
 of his righteous indignation, those who had known him 
 best allowed for the mixture. They smiled at his local 
 claims; they respected his rugged simplicity; they 
 allowed for his excess, or what they deemed his per- 
 version, of loyalty to his political party, for a certain 
 astigmatism in looking at his associates and his oppo- 
 nents ; they pardoned asperities of which he seemed un- 
 conscious, remembering the many tokens he had given of 
 his deep underlying affection. I can give a specimen of 
 this deep undercurrent, of this amiable inconsistency. 
 
 Writing to me, whose political debasement he had 
 often deplored, about two common friends and kinsmen 
 equally debased, he says : — 
 
 " What I knew of G. leads me to think he deserved 
 the eulogy you give. But I was very fond of W., who 
 always was a trump ; and sickness and deprivation made 
 him a hero, and as near a saint as it is good for anybody 
 to be. 
 
404 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 " What a curious study it is to look back upon these 
 finished lives, of men whom we have known from youth 
 to old age, and how hard it is to believe that there can 
 ever be any more like them 1 " 
 
 Again in another letter : — 
 
 " I never expect to find anybody in this world who 
 is always right ; indeed (with the possible exception of 
 one whom modesty forbids me to mention), I have never 
 yet found one. 
 
 " And as I grow old, I am more and more disposed to 
 content myself with the admirable qualities of my nu- 
 merous and excellent friends, and am caring less for 
 their shorlxjomings." 
 
 This was his creed : nobody had ever been so blessed 
 in his home, his friends, his surroundings ; they were in- 
 comparable, and his heart beat with gratitude and love. 
 If he had ever said anything at variance with this senti- 
 ment, why, like his neighbor, Mr. Emerson, he refused 
 to be hampered by consistency. 
 
 Like other descendants of Roger Sherman, his wit 
 flashed as brilliantly and continuously as heat lightning 
 on a summer's evening ; he said as many good things as 
 Abraham Lincoln, and he shared his tenderness as well as 
 his humor, so that the victims of his satire, the subjects 
 of his condemnation, felt that while he condemned the 
 sin, he loved the sinner. 
 
 Following in the footsteps of his Roman father, he, 
 seconded by his devoted wife, became the guide and ben- 
 efactor of his historic birthplace ; his Spartan simplicity, 
 his sage counsels, his witty reproofs, and watchful benevo- 
 lence wUl long be cherished by his bereaved townsfolk. 
 
EBENEZER E. HOAR 405 
 
 He was the guardian, the benefactor of his classmates ; 
 his loyalty and bounty to them were unstinted ; he was 
 the keystone which locked them all together. 
 
 Next to or abreast with his love of Concord was his 
 love of his Alma Mater, manifested by his unvarying at- 
 tendance at her festivities, by his thirty years' service as 
 Fellow or Overseer, by donations on many occasions. 
 While Treasurer of the Fund for Memorial Hall, I was 
 struck with how he sought to express his love to the 
 College as well as his homage to her noble sons, by 
 bringing, first his own subscription, then one for a son, 
 by and by for another son ; and lately his gift to Eadcliffe 
 College in the name of his ancestor, Joanna Hoar, and 
 his legacy to the College proper, are further manifesta- 
 tions of the same yearning. 
 
 I rejoice that some of the alumni, touched by his af- 
 fection for the College and its children, testified their 
 appreciation years ago by requesting a portrait to be 
 hung in some Harvard hall as a token to future genera- 
 tions. 
 
 Writing to him in November last, besides other things 
 I said, — " As I near the precipice, I am getting scared," 
 to which he replied, — 
 
 Fear ends with, death ; beyond 
 I nothing see but God, 
 
 and added these lines of Parnell's, — 
 
 Stretch the glad wing, and soar away 
 To mingle with eternal day I 
 
 and with this feeling in his heart, if not on his lips, he 
 welcomed death. 
 
406 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 I cannot better sum up his excellences than by re- 
 quoting what I said in his lifetime : — 
 
 If one wants to see Puritan principles carried into 
 practice, let him visit Concord and witness the noble 
 frugality and quiet dignity of that small circle of highly 
 endowed and highly educated men and women to which 
 Judge Hoar belongs, and which is characterized by those 
 virtues easy to admire, hard to practise. 
 
WILLIAM STORY BULLARD 
 
 [August, 1897] 
 
 Man's busy generations pass, 
 
 And 'while we gaze their forms are gone. 
 
 As an old man myself, I have had occasion to observe 
 how soon men are forgotten by the public, their persons 
 unrecognized, their names, once significant, known only 
 to a rapidly contracting circle. 
 
 Had WUliam BuUard died twenty years ago, his loss 
 would have been commemorated in bank parlors and by 
 trustees of charitable institutions, and would have been 
 deplored by the community at large. 
 
 Left a penniless orphan at an early age, he was wel-- 
 comed into a hospitable home, placed at school,- and then 
 in the counting-room of an East India merchant, an 
 enviable position in those days. Here he so commended 
 himself to his employer that after a few years' appren- 
 ticeship he was promoted to partnership, and before long 
 left in sole direction of the business. 
 
 An old merchant, a born merchant, was asked why he 
 thought money was going to be tight. " Because I feel 
 it in my bones " ; — and this might have been the speech 
 of William BuUard, whose apprehension of coming con- 
 tingencies was instinctive. This intuition, combined 
 with his ardent pursuit of business, brought him repu- 
 tation and wealth, and the power to assist his three 
 
408 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 brothers, a purpose never remitted. No merchant was 
 more sought for as director of bank or insurance office, 
 or assignee, wherever information was needed or saga- 
 city exercised. 
 
 Unfortunately health was not among the gifts be- 
 stowed. During his apprenticeship he had been sent to 
 a southern climate to ward off a lung attack, and he was 
 in danger of degenerating from a man of nerve to a 
 nervous man. 
 
 It would have been well for him if he had relieved 
 the monotony of his life and diverted his thoughts from 
 business by availing himself of his friends' offers to in- 
 troduce him to a larger circle, — if he had frequented con- 
 certs and theatres, or had sought some other recreation. 
 A constitutional shyness and sensitiveness aggravated 
 by circumstances, and intellectual resources in study of 
 a grave metaphysical character, kept him in too great 
 seclusion. 
 
 A most happy marriage brought him into a large circle 
 of family and friends, opened to him the pleasures of 
 country life, and developed in him a charming hospitality. 
 
 He gradually retired from business, devoted much 
 time to the management of charities, where his benevo- 
 lence as well as his judgment was exercised, and in his 
 summer home sought out and "succored, helped and 
 comforted all who were in danger, necessity and tribu- 
 lation," shunning as far as might be all publicity. 
 
 Long will he be missed here, as elsewhere, by those 
 whose wants he discovered and supplied so bountifully 
 that they were fiUed with gratitude, so secretly that they 
 were spared observation. 
 
WILLIAM STORY BULLARD 409 
 
 One graceful tribute to the two friends and guides of 
 his youth, and with them one revered friend of his later 
 manhood, in the form of Harvard scholarships, could not 
 be concealed. It manifested his loyalty and tender- 
 heartedness. 
 
 For some years his health and strength have been 
 impaired, his life confined to home, but he has lived to a 
 ripe and happy old age. 
 
 H. L. 
 
THEODORE LYMAN 
 
 ISeptember, 1897] 
 
 Fell the bolt on the branohing oak; 
 The rainbow of his hope was broke ; 
 No craven cry, no secret tear — 
 He told no pang, he knew no fear ; 
 His peace sublime his aspect kept, 
 His purpose woke, his features slept ; 
 And yet between the spasms of pain 
 His genius beamed with joy again. 
 
 It ia finished, "the sly, slow hours" of martyrdom 
 have crept along, the sufferer is released. There is thank- 
 fulness for his liberation, gratitude for his example, 
 grief for his loss. In the days of his health Theodore 
 Lyman was sensible of his responsibilities. Proud of 
 his inheritance, he sought to emulate his father's public 
 spirit and benevolence, and served as president or trus- 
 tee of several charities. He was for many years Fish 
 Commissioner. He was loyal to his College. He was a 
 large subscriber to Memorial Hall and worked on the 
 building committee. His service as Overseer was only 
 terminated by his illness. He was a devoted student of 
 natural history, aiding Agassiz in the foundation and 
 work of his museum, and was a member of sundry sci- 
 entific societies. 
 
 A patriot at heart, independent in thought and deed, 
 he served in Congress when seriously handicapped by in- 
 
THEODORE LYMAN 411 
 
 firmities, as long as patriotism was more prized in Ms 
 district than partisanship. 
 
 He belonged to a heroic generation and he was of the 
 band doubly endeared to us by their gallant service ir 
 war and by their modest retirement after victory and 
 peace, losing themselves in their old pursuits and among 
 their old friends. 
 
 In peace or war, Theodore Lyman was the most active 
 and most cheery of men, and one of the most attractive, 
 for nature had been lavish to him. Walking, riding, 
 hunting, presiding at a banquet, partaking of social fes- 
 tivities, he was a leader, the gayest of the gay, mirthful 
 and a promoter of mirth. While thus fuU of health and 
 happiness, he was suddenly warned. So well did he and 
 those around him dissemble that few are aware that this 
 knell sounded twenty-five years ago. 
 
 How he received this awful summons, how he bore uj 
 against his increasing infirmities, is so exactly describee 
 in the following narrative of a similar trial similarly borne 
 that I quote it as better than any attempt of mine : 
 
 " His career, one of high promise, was cut short, and 
 although he survived for a good many years, he became 
 paralyzed, rendered unfit for any active pursuit, and had 
 as we may say, to leave all hope behind him. This un 
 fortunate result was the more vi'S'idly brought before his 
 friends, inasmuch as it was merely a physical result, his 
 fine intellect remaining unimpaired to the last, so that he 
 himself and his admirers were continually reminded oJ 
 all that had been lost. 
 
 " His misfortunes indeed brought out the innate no- 
 bleness of a character which greatly endeared him to his 
 
412 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 friends, inspiring tliem with the deepest sympathy and 
 the most affectionate respect. Flung down as he was 
 from the pinnacle where he had been standing, he faced 
 the melancholy reverses with a courageous cheerfulness 
 and magnanimity which beforehand I should have 
 thought impossible. There was no complaint uttered, 
 no weakness or peevishness shown ; he accepted what 
 was inevitable with manly frankness, and sought by cul- 
 tivating pleasant intercourse with his friends, and fol- 
 lowing up such intellectual pursuits as were still open to 
 him, to ' deceive the burden of life,' and set an example 
 to others of patience and self-control more easily admired 
 than followed." 
 
 Theodore Lyman had an honorable career as a soldier, 
 but what was the noble service of brave men banded to- 
 gether in tedious sieges or bloody encounter, compared 
 to this solitary combat, day and night, week after week, 
 month after month, year after year, with this menacing, 
 creeping monster, coiling itself like the serpent around 
 Laocoon and slowly strangling its victim ? Those friends, 
 ever increasing in number as the pathetic tale was told, 
 who gazed in wonder at the sublime courage and patience 
 and sweetness and even gaiety of heart of the sufferer, 
 where now can they turn in their bereavement for such 
 an ennobling example ? It is a consolation that all 
 through these years he was environed with love, tender, 
 watchful love, administering to every want, maintaining 
 cheerfulness at any cost, bestowing never-failing sym- 
 pathy. 
 
 H. L. 
 
SARAH PAINE CLEVELAND 
 
 "Like shadows gliding o'er the plain," they pass 
 We read the daily list of the departed, but before thi 
 sun is set, we remember only that one of the names wa 
 familiar ; we cannot recall it. StiU we scan the daily lis 
 with anxiety, for sooner or later we are sure to bi 
 startled by the name of one whose life had been so asso 
 ciated with ours, whose company had been so refreshing 
 whose counsel and sympathy had been so indispensabL 
 to us, that we are left destitute indeed. 
 
 How many tears gushed forth, how many hearts achec 
 at the announcement of the loss of Mrs. Cleveland ! I 
 is now six weeks, but weeks will lengthen into months 
 months into years, before her name is forgotten or he: 
 loss supplied. 
 
 To the young, captivated by her cordial hospitaUty 
 
 her ready sympathy, her unremitting interest in them 
 
 present or absent, and to crown all, her rapturous mirtl 
 
 over their adventures and mishaps, who saw her giving 
 
 her life to others and rejoicing in the privilege, sh( 
 
 seemed the incarnation of a Lady Bountiful, happy ii 
 
 health, in personal and pecuniary independence, and ii 
 
 the retrospect of an unclouded life. They who look bad 
 
 upon that life, so full of sorrow and disappointment, car 
 
 only exclaim, 
 
 Happy is one, 
 
 That can translate the stubbornness of fortune 
 
 Into so quiet and so sweet a style. 
 
414 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Among the pleasant memories of my boyhood are two 
 or three afternoon parties at the Perkins's. The kindly, 
 matronly Hannah, who was on the watch, took off and 
 laid aside our wraps, and we were ushered up-stairs, 
 there to be cordially welcomed by Sarah and the boys, 
 and by their lovely mother, whose exquisite nicety and 
 simplicity of costume and coiffure and gentle solicitude 
 of manner likened her in my eyes to a fair Quaker. 
 There were other boys and girls ; we remember only the 
 friendly social Inches, who dwelt in Harris's Folly just 
 over the way. After some hours of sports and games, 
 we assembled around the tea-table to partake of the most 
 delicious, old-fashioned children's feasts ; then, before we 
 bade good-bye, we went through the entry door, which 
 opened into grandmother's house, to see old Moose, 
 who, rescued from cruel bondage in his youth, proved 
 his gratitude by saving the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Per- 
 kins in the slavery insurrection in St. Domingo, and was 
 spending the evening of his days as befitted a servant of 
 tried loyalty. This hospitable home was one of two 
 semi-detached houses built by Mr. Perkins for himself 
 and his son, after he had given his former mansion to the 
 Boston Athenaeum. 
 
 The old recall with fond regret the beautiful semi- 
 rural town of Boston, with its open spaces and shaded 
 streets, one of the most attractive of which was Pearl 
 Street, on the southern slope of Fort Hill, with its stately 
 homes set in the midst of gardens and cooled by the 
 breezes from the sea. I have sat in the rooms of the 
 Athenseum in my summer college vacations and, as I 
 read, heard as many orioles in the grounds of the Phillips 
 
SAEAH PAINE CLEVELAND 41 
 
 mansion opposite as now in Brookline. Small nee 
 had, its inhabitants to quit their homes, but the Perkin 
 family spent their summers at lovely Pine Bank, thei 
 grandfather's place on the borders of Jamaica Pond. 
 
 These happy homes of three generations, full of sui 
 shine and security, were abruptly invaded, for at the ag 
 of ten years Mrs. Cleveland lost her father suddenly 
 and two years afterwards her mother married again an 
 removed to a then remote State, so that, scarcely in he 
 teens, she was left an orphan, mistress of herself an 
 fortune, and burdened with the responsibility of tl 
 education of her three brothers. 
 
 I slept, and dreamed that life was beauty, — 
 I woke, aud found that life was duty^ 
 Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly, 
 And thou shalt find thy dream to be 
 A truth, and noonday light to thee. 
 
 It is perhaps impossible to convey an idea of the tria 
 of her life from this time forth, without invading pr 
 vacy. Premature independence, which led to dange 
 and subsequent unhappiness; premature responsibility 
 varied and at times grievous; sickness, loneliness, b( 
 reavements, inight have soured or sapped her life, bi: 
 they only developed the courage and disinterestednes 
 which underlay the vivacious surface of her charaete 
 
 We aU read about the good Samaritan, the high-pries 
 and the Levite. There are many descendants of the tw 
 last, decorous, well-regarded personages, who feel the 
 they owe it to themselves, when they encounter trouble 
 to pass by on the other side, saying, " This is no concer 
 of mine." Some of us are intermittent Samaritans ; w 
 
416 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 do occasionally have compassion on those in distress, we 
 pour in oil and wine, we leave two pence with the host, 
 and do it hoping that this will suffice and that we shall 
 hear no more of the matter. But our friend whom we 
 have lost not only came again to reimburse the host, but 
 henceforth made the road to Jericho her favorite drive, 
 lavishing upon others the fortune which could have pur- 
 chased for her immunity from care and other indul- 
 gences. Family, relatives, friends, strangers, all partook 
 of her bounty; she was a prodigal; near or remote, 
 absent or present, grateful or ungrateful, all were re- 
 membered and cared for. Of course, like the sower in 
 the parable, much of the seed fell on the rock, or among 
 thorns, or by the wayside, but she was not discouraged. 
 
 Benevolent people are sometimes, nay often, lugubri- 
 ous, but our friend had inherited from her Irish grand- 
 father. Captain Callahan, a merry heart, so that, just as 
 the robins who strewed the leaves over the babes in the 
 wood sang at their work, so her mingled tenderness and 
 gaiety healed more wounded and cheered more sad 
 hearts than even her bounty. 
 
 She had, what is with us a rare gift, social genius; her 
 house was the home of good cheer. She was a natural 
 leader, undaunted and energetic ; execution followed fast 
 upon conception ; the confidence, which in her youth had 
 impelled her to rash deeds, was now, " with more advised 
 watch," exercised wisely in conducting the footsteps of 
 others. " Whenever I visit her," said a young lady who 
 had settled in Boston a stranger, " as I come away my 
 eyes fill with tears of joy that I too have a hoihe." 
 " She was the most human person I ever knew, but I 
 
SARAH PAINE CLEVELAND 411 
 
 never saw a human failing in her, and it was wonderfn 
 that anybody could be at once so at home on earth, anc 
 so fit for heaven." 
 
 How can I bid farewell to my friend of three-scon 
 years and ten, how can I better close my memorial o 
 her than with this tribute from the daughter of one o 
 her oldest and dearest friends; expressing, as it does 
 the charm of one whose sweet humanity lifted her abov 
 meaner things, and prompted her, chastened by trials, t^ 
 bestow on others the happiness which had not been ful 
 fiUed to her, — 
 
 Hold firmly by the human ties, 
 But breathe in heavenly air. 
 
 27 
 
MARTIN BRIMMER 
 
 I framed his tongue to music, 
 I armed his hand with skill, 
 I moulded his face to beauty 
 And his heart the throne of will. 
 
 Thekb is not another man in Boston who would 
 be so missed and so mourned as will be Martin Brimmer. 
 
 Most men are limited in their interests and their im- 
 portance. The vestry, the charity bureau, the court- 
 room, the caucus, the exchange, — one and only one of 
 these is their theatre, and elsewhere they are unknown 
 and unregarded. 
 
 Martin Brimmer, freed from private cares, dedicated 
 himself to the commonweal. He took his part in legis- 
 lation, in charities, in education, in cultivation of art. 
 He mingled in all public affairs, not only mingled, but led. 
 
 Nature had made him prepossessing. His dignity, his 
 deliberation, his reserve, were imposing, his gentle 
 courtesy was winning; and when at last he uttered a 
 few pregnant words in a judicial tone, the majority of 
 his hearers fancied that he was but expressing their 
 sentiments, while the minority decided that opposition 
 was vain. The fusion was complete. 
 
 " What others effect by talent or by eloquence, this 
 man accomplished by some magnetism." 
 
MAETm BRIMMER 419 
 
 " It lies in the man ; that is all anybody can tell you 
 about it." 
 
 " His mind has some new principle of order. Where 
 he looks aU. things fly into their places." 
 
 In all companies his presence was acceptable, in all 
 councils his advice was desirable. To the College and 
 the Museum of Fine Arts it was indispensable. Among 
 these carefully selected men, Fellows and Trustees, 
 there are some as shrewd, some as courteous, some as 
 earnest, but what one in either Board combines to 
 such a degree strong sense, unfailing tact and personal 
 ascendancy ? 
 
 We are all bereft; our public-spirited citizen, ow 
 wise counsellor, our bountiful benefactor, our charming 
 companion, our hospitable host, our faithful friend, has 
 been taken from us. 
 
SPEECH ON DEATH OF MR. WM. PERKINS 
 
 [Spoken before the Trustees of the Provident Institution for Savings 
 for Seamen and Others in the Town of Boston] 
 
 Mr. Pebsident: — 
 
 Inasmuch as I am an old friend of Mr. Perkins, and 
 he was mine, for he was wont to address me " my 
 friend," it is natural that I should make a few remarks 
 
 ; before passing these resolutions. 
 
 It is close upon fifty years since I made Mr. Perkins's 
 acquaintance. The firm of wliich I was a member was 
 engaged in the East India and South American trades, 
 and we had several joint adventures to Brazil. The 
 satisfactory business intercourse drew me into relations 
 of friendship, made closer by my after-association with 
 him as Director of the Boston Port Society and as mem- 
 ber of our Board of Investment, where I served with him 
 for a while. My affection led me sometimes to remon- 
 strate with him upon his disproportionate gratuitous 
 
 • services to individuals and institutions, and to comment 
 upon his course of life, until he got to fear that I should 
 write his obituary, and to expostulate; whereupon I 
 always replied: " I certainly shall, and it will be 
 headed, ' Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is 
 no guile.' " 
 
SPEECH ON DEATH OP WM. PERKINS 421 
 
 "Well, our friend has stolen away as quietly as he 
 was wont to glide in among us, and my promise made in 
 jest is to be fulfilled in earnest. 
 
 Two thoughts are uppermost in my mind: the pecu-' 
 Mar character of Mr. Perkins's gifts, and the analogous 
 character of this Institution, each an incessant and wide- 
 spread charity, so veiled from the public eye that the 
 drudgery involved and the benefit conferred are both 
 undervalued. 
 
 Mr. President, if your pocket was full of pennies, 
 you might either shower them from your window upon 
 the crowd below, or, mingling with them, bestow your 
 alms from time to time as you saw occasion. One way 
 would be the more easy and conspicuous, the other more 
 laborious and useful. 
 
 There is no place where a few words could be more 
 fitly spoken than in this old Provident Institution, to 
 which he gave so much of his time and sympathy, this 
 old charity founded by a few public-spirited citizens 
 seventy-one years ago in response to an appeal from- 
 good Bishop Cheverus in behalf of his poor flock, whose 
 petty savings were being wasted for want of a place of 
 deposit. 
 
 Established in the face of much ridicule and in- 
 credulity, the steady growth of this old Institution and 
 the propagation of the system through the length and 
 breadth of the land attest the benefit conferred upon 
 the otherwise helpless wage-earners, while the history of 
 its management is a memorial of the wisdom and fidelity 
 of its Trustees. 
 
422 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 Stone by stone, layer by layer, through these three- 
 score and eleYen years, this Institution, hallowed by the 
 prayers of the saintly bishop and by the pious labors of 
 good men, has grown to be a monument of the disin- 
 terestedness of its founders and of their successors to the 
 present day. 
 
 And who of that long list of faithful workers has laid 
 more of those stones than the modest, dutiful, constant 
 man, who for forty-four years has given so lavishly of his 
 time and his thoughts to its conduct. 
 
 He has served in every capacity, from member of the 
 corporation to president ; and, most of aU, we have had 
 the benefit of his unremitting attendance on the board 
 of investment for twentynsix years, where his unceasing 
 vigilance, his wide experience, his perfect independence 
 were most valuable. The quality and quantity of that 
 work can only be fully appreciated by those who have par- 
 ticipated in it. We are called upon to recognize his 
 devotion to this charityl but the seniors present are well 
 aware of his equal devotion to many more like institu- 
 tions. In fact, I have often felt, as I said before, that 
 our friend was too prodigal of his unpaid time. Time 
 is money, and who can compute the fortune he would 
 have accumulated and enjoyed, had he devoted to his own 
 affairs the time spent in the service of others. Boston 
 can show a long list of men who have, by close attention 
 to business, built up fortunes, fractions of which they 
 have bestowed upon the public. These gifts in the form 
 of money and in a lump sum are obvious, and these 
 givers have and should have their reward; but the 
 
SPEECH ON DEATH OP WM. PERKINS 423 
 
 community sometimes fails to recognize the far greater 
 and more precious benefactions of those men, who, dis- 
 daining thought of self, devote their time to the welfare 
 of their fellow men. It is patriotic to send a substitute 
 to the war, but one can hardly claim a hero's reward 
 because of his substitute's exploits. The gift of money 
 may, and sometimes does, represent self-denial, sacrifice, 
 but is more often merely the bounty of the wealthy, and, 
 while more conspicuous, cannot be compared to the gift 
 of time and what that includes of personal service; — 
 this is heroic, this is twice blessed — " It blesseth him 
 that gives and him that takes." 
 
 Such a benefactor was William Perkins, and we place 
 him, we have always placed him, in the front rank. 
 Just a week ago, driving in from Brookline, I discerned 
 him creeping into the Beacon Street Mall. He looked 
 to me more bent, more wan, more tired than ever, 
 and pointing him out to my companion, I said, " There 
 goes all that is left of William Perkins." So we cannot 
 wish him back ; his toils began too early and were per- 
 haps too severe. I always fancied that the yoke had 
 bowed his neck, and, to a degree, depressed his spirit, for 
 the apprenticeship of those days was not only strict, but 
 harsh, and sometimes galling to a sensitive, high-spirited 
 boy. I always felt that he had never had a play-day, and 
 that in some respects his part in life was a sad one. 
 Perhaps my sympathies were uncalled for ; however that 
 may be, they are all now needed for this and other 
 institutions which have lost his help, for this community 
 which has lost his example, for his sole surviving child 
 who sits bereft of brothers, mother, and father. We must 
 
424 MEMOIR OF COLONEL HENRY LEE 
 
 all be thankful that he passed away so quickly, so peace- 
 fully, while yet in the full possession of his faculties. 
 
 O good old man 1 How well in thee appears 
 The constant service of the antique world, 
 When service sweat for duty, not for meed I 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbott, Jeeb, in private the- 
 atricals, 27, 30-32. 
 
 Abbott, Miss, 27. 
 
 "Absolute, Sir Anthony," played 
 by Mr. Lee, 21. 
 
 Academy of Arts and Sciences, 
 385. 
 
 Academy of Music, 346. 
 
 Adam, Miss H. A., 27, 28, 30. 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, 99, 177, 
 229. 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, the 
 younger, on Latin in the Har- 
 vard Catalogue, 132. 
 
 Adams, John,, 181, 190, 191, 203, 
 210, 267, 274. 
 
 " Advertiser". See " Boston Daily 
 Advertiser." 
 
 Agasaiz, Alexander, 17, 167, 410. 
 
 Agassiz, Mrs. Alexander, 32. 
 
 Agassiz, Mrs. Louis, 22, 23, 124. 
 
 Aldie Gap, battle at, 65. 
 
 "American Architect," 262. 
 
 Ames family, 4. 
 
 Amory, Charles, 252. 
 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
 Company, Lee's reminiscences 
 of, 84-89, 168, 387. 
 
 Andrew, John A., Governor of 
 Massachusetts, 53,59, 61, 109, 120, 
 266; appoints Lee Colonel of 
 staff, 54-56; presentation of the 
 muskets, 57, 58 ; Pearson's Life 
 
 of, 61, 76 ; his selection of offi- 
 cers, 62, 63 ; his correspondence,* 
 73; difficulty with Butler about 
 regiments, 74-76 ; letters from 
 Lee to, 77-78,81, 82 ; commissions 
 Lee to write a history of the 
 militia, 90 ; misses support of 
 "Wendell Phillips, 97 ; his feeling 
 towards the Whig (Kepublican) 
 party, 115; Lee's defence of, 
 177, 178; Lee's "Personal 
 Reminiscences of," 227-261 ; his 
 preparation for war, 228-338; 
 his task of organization, 239- 
 261 ; his effort to preserve the 
 Hancock house, 264 ; his as- 
 sociation with the State House, 
 270, 271 ; Lee's appreciation of, 
 291, 292. 
 
 Andrew, John F., member of 
 Congress, 108. 
 
 Andrews, General, 230. 
 
 Anti-Coru-Law League, 5. _ 
 
 Antietam, battle of, 66. 
 
 Appleton, Nathan, 5. 
 
 Argyle, Duke of, 282. 
 
 Atkins, Henry, 355. 
 
 Atkins, Henry, Jr., 355. 
 
 Atkins, Katherine, 345. 
 
 " Atlantic Monthly," Lee's article 
 on Mrs. Kemble in, 171 ; Mrs. 
 Kemble's "Old Woman's Gos- 
 sip " in, 314. 
 
428 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Back Bat, Boston, 187. 
 
 Balch, Prancis V., characterization 
 of, 167. 
 
 Ball's Bluff, engagement of, 64, 
 65, 76, 245. 
 
 Banks, Gen. N. P., censured by 
 Lee, 83. 
 
 Barber, Dr., instructor at Harrard 
 College, 13. 
 
 Barrett, Mrs., the actress, 299. 
 
 Bartlett, Sidney, 168. 
 
 Bartlett, Gen. William Francis, 
 presentation of his bust in Me- 
 morial Hall, 130. 
 
 Bath, England, 283. 
 
 Baxter, Captain, 288. 
 
 Bayley, Samuel K., 290. 
 
 Beard, Alanson W., condemned by 
 Lee, 103, 117. 
 
 Bell, Mrs. Joseph (Helen Choate), 
 160. 
 
 Bell Alley, widening of, 285. 
 
 BelIingham,Governor Bichard,264. 
 
 Belmont Dramatic Club, 23. 
 
 Berkeawell, England, 379. 
 
 Berwick, Maine, 186. 
 
 Beverly, Mass., 5, 9. 
 
 Beverly Farms, Mass., 34, 103, 160, 
 191, 192, 389. 
 
 Bigelow, George Tyler, 84, 288. 
 
 Bigelow, Henry J., Lee's obituary, 
 355-362. 
 
 Biffelow, Miss, 28. 
 
 Blaine, James 6., Lee's censures 
 upon, 103, 105, 107, 116. 
 
 Blair, Francis P. (senior), 238. 
 
 Blair, Montgomery, 177. 
 
 Blake, the actor, 353. 
 
 Blake, G. B., Jr., in private theat- 
 ricals, 28, 29, 30. 
 
 Blanchard, Senator, 265. 
 
 Blunt's " Scripture Characters," 
 317. 
 
 " Bob Acres," Joseph Jefferson in 
 part of, 38. 
 
 Boit, B. D., Jr., in private theat- 
 ricals, 27, 28, 29, 32. 
 
 Boit, Mrs. E. D., Jr., in private 
 theatricals, 29, 31. 
 
 " Bombastes Furioso," 23. 
 
 Bonnat, the artist, 51. < 
 
 Boston, 5, 7, 9, 14, 21, 41, 60, 61, 79, 
 93, 96, 105, 115, 148, 151, 153, 
 157, 161, 175, 178, 180, 184, 186- 
 187, 189, 190, 198, 209, 222, 263, 
 280, 298, 305, 352, 384, 386, 388, 
 414. 
 
 " Boston Almanac," 287. 
 
 Boston Amateur Dramatic Club, 
 28, 29, 30, 31. 
 
 Boston Athenaeum, 414. 
 
 Boston Brigade Band, Lee's sketch 
 of, 168, 170, 212. 
 
 Boston Common, 265'; attempt of 
 West End Street Railway Com- 
 pany to use, 188, 189. 
 
 "Boston Daily Advertiser," 58, 
 78, 103, 104, 106, 230, 331, 338, 
 344. 
 
 "Boston Daily Evening Trans- 
 cript," Lee's letter on Labor Day 
 parade printed in, 171-174. 
 
 Boston Lancers, 78, 79, 81, 388. 
 
 Boston Latin School, 136. 
 
 Boston Light Infantry, 288, 384. 
 
 Boston Mnsenm, 41. 
 
 Boston Miiseum of Fine Arts, 419. 
 
 Boston Port Society, 227, 420. 
 
 "Boston Post," 56, 103, 231, 259. 
 
 "Boston Report," 5, 114. 
 
 Boston Society for Medical Im- 
 provement, 357. 
 
 Boston Theatre, constmction of, 
 213, 214; John Gilbert at, 352, 
 354. 
 
 Boston Volunteer Fire Depart- 
 ment, in Broad St. riot, 288. 
 
 Bontwell, George S., Governor of 
 Massachusetts, 238 ; disliked by 
 Lee, 114. 
 
 Bowditoh, Edward, in private the- 
 atricals, 27, 38. 
 
 Bowditch, E. Francis, in private 
 theatricals, 27, 29, 30. 
 
INDEX 
 
 429 
 
 Bowditch, "Vincent Y., letter to Lee 
 about Salviui dinner, 45. 
 
 Bowen, Prof. Francis, remark 
 about Lee, 122. 
 
 " Box and Cox," 23. 
 
 Boyd, Gen. John P., 278. 
 
 Boylston, Susannah, 190, 267. 
 
 Boylston, Zabdiel, introducer of 
 inoculation, 291. 
 
 Boys' Asylum, 264. 
 
 Brackett, J. Q. A., Governor of 
 Massachusetts, 116. 
 
 Bradford, George Partridge, obit- 
 uary, 363-364. 
 
 Bradford, William, 363. 
 
 Bradstreet, Simon, 4. 
 
 Braman, Jarvis, 290. 
 
 Brigade Band. See Boston Brigade 
 Band. 
 
 " Brigands of Lodi," 28. 
 
 Brigham, Colonel, 252, 
 
 Brimmer, Martin, characterization 
 of, 167 ; obituary, 418, 419. 
 
 Broad Street Riot, Lee's paper on, 
 287-290. 
 
 Brookline, 22, 23, 51 ; Lee's estate 
 in, 190-192, 267. 
 
 Brooks, Phillips, 111, 128, 317; 
 prayer at the Harvard Com- 
 memoration Celebration, 123; on 
 compulsory attendance at prayers, 
 133 ; characterization of, 1 67. 
 
 Bulkeley, Rev. Peter, 402. 
 
 Browne, Col. Albert G., private 
 secretary of Gov. Andrew, 253. 
 
 Browning, Mrs., 308. 
 
 Buchanan, James, 229, 231. 
 
 Bull Run, battle of, 256. 
 
 BuUard, William Story, partner of 
 Lee, 15 ; obituary, 497-409. 
 
 Bunker Hill, sentiment for, 256, 
 271; the locality, 284; Gen. 
 Devens' oration at, 389. 
 
 Burditt, the band-master, 213. 
 
 Burgoyne, Sir John, Lieutenant- 
 General, 182. 
 
 Butler, Benjamin F., Governor of 
 
 Massachusetts, 100, 102, 105, 120, 
 177, 230; corrected by Lee, 58, 
 59 ; clash with Andrew, 74-76 ; 
 Lee's opinion of, 83 ; as a public 
 man, 95 ; Lee's criticism of, 115 ; 
 his military career, 246. 
 
 Butler, Pierce, 301. 
 
 "Butler's Own Book," 76. 
 
 Cabot, Caroline, 25. 
 
 Cabot, Charles, 66. 
 
 Cabot, Edward C, 23, 24, 26, 32 ; 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, 76; architect 
 of Boston theatre, 213. 
 
 Cabot, F.lizabeth, 5. 
 
 Cabot, Elizabeth Perkins. See Lee* 
 Mrs. Henry. 
 
 Cabot, George, 5. 
 
 Cabot, George (the younger), 358. 
 
 Cabot, J. Elliot, 24, 34 ; character- 
 ization of, 166. 
 
 Cabot, Mrs. J. Elliot, 34. 
 
 Cabot, Julia. See Wilde, Mrs. 
 George C. 
 
 Cabot, Samuel, 22, 50. 
 
 Cabot, Walter, in private theat- 
 ricals, 24, 25. 
 
 Cabot family, 4, 9, 53. 
 
 Cadet Band, 169 ; uniform of, 170. 
 
 Cadets, First Corps of, anecdote of, 
 76. See also Independent Carps 
 of Cadets. 
 
 Calcutta, 5. 
 
 Callahan, Captain, 416. 
 
 Calumet & Hecla mine, 11. 
 
 Cambridge, Mass., 6, 15, 366, 382. 
 
 Cameron, Simon, Secretary of 
 War, 238. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 392. 
 
 Carr, Sir Robert, 273. 
 
 Cary, Elizabeth. See Agassiz, 
 Mrs. Louis. 
 
 Cary, Fanny. See Cunningham, 
 Mrs. Edward. 
 
 Cary, Richard, in private theat- 
 ricals, 23 ; death at Cedar Moun- 
 tain, 66. 
 
430 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Car7, Misa Sarah, in private 
 theatricals, 23, 25. 
 
 Gary, Thomas, in private theat- 
 ricals, 23, 25. 
 
 " Cat Changed into a Woman," 30. 
 
 Cedar Mountain, battle of, 66, 330 ; 
 Banks at, 83. 
 
 Chandler, Parker C, 196. 
 
 Channing, William EUery, D.D., 
 204, 205, 206, 316, 367. 
 
 Chapman, Miss Mary B., 27. 
 
 Charles Biver Embankment, Lee's 
 views on, 194. 
 
 Charleston, 68, 114. 
 
 Charnock, Elizabeth, 4. 
 
 Chicago, 78, 81. 
 
 Chicago, Burlington and Qnincy 
 Railroad, 17. 
 
 Child, Mrs., 278. 
 
 ChUds, Nathaniel, 31. 
 
 Choate, Bufus, 160. 
 
 Christ Church, 274, 281. 
 
 " Christian Examiner," 364. 
 
 Church, Dr. Benjamin, 274. 
 
 City Guards, 170, 288. 
 
 Civil Service Reform, 121. 
 
 Clark, Elizabeth, 281. 
 
 Clark, Lemuel, 169. 
 
 Clark, Sarah, 282. 
 
 Clark, William, 279, 282. 
 
 Clark house, the, 277, 279-281. 
 
 Clark Square. See North Square. 
 
 Clarke, James Freeman, character- 
 ization of, 166. 
 
 Clark's Island, 363. 
 
 Claybrooke, England, 379. 
 
 Cleveland, Grover, 113, 122. 
 
 Cleveland, Sarah Faine, obituary, 
 413-417. 
 
 Clevenger, Miss Sarah, 24. 
 
 Clifford, Governor, 238. 
 
 Codman, Col. Charles B., in politics, 
 108. 
 
 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 110. 
 
 College rebellions at Harvard, 
 12-15, 137. 
 
 Colman, James E., 139. 
 
 Columbia Street (Boston), 7. 
 
 Combe, Mrs. George, 306. 
 
 Comer, Thomas, musician, 169. 
 
 " Commemoration Ode," Lowell's, 
 123. 
 
 Common Street (Boston), 8. 
 
 Concord, Mass., 400, 401, 402, 406. 
 
 Cook, , excoriated by Lee, 
 
 264, 265, 267-269. 
 
 Copp's Hill, Boston, 4, 274, 276, 
 281. 
 
 Coquelin, B^noit Constant, the 
 French actor, 44, 47, 48. 
 
 Cotting, Charles U., 129. 
 
 Cotton, Rev. John, 4, 264. 
 
 " Country of the Pointed Firs," by 
 Miss Jewett, 188. 
 
 Covent Garden, 295, 300, 320. 
 
 Cromwell, Henry, in connection 
 with Sir Harry Frankland and 
 Agnes Surriage, 283-285. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 282. 
 
 Crowninshield, Francis B., services 
 in the Civil War, 237. 
 
 Cummings, militiaman, 290. 
 
 Cunningham, Mrs. Edward, 25. 
 
 Curtis, Mrs. Charles P., 24. 
 
 Cashing, Robert M., in private the- 
 atricals, 23, 27, 29-32. 
 
 Gushing, Thomas, 139. 
 
 Gushing, Thomas F,, in private the- 
 atricals, 23, 28, 31, 32. 
 
 Cushman, Charlotte, 36, 353, 355. 
 
 Dabnet, Chabi.es, 64. 
 
 Dabney, Edward, 64. 
 
 Dabney, F., 27. 
 
 Dale, William J., Surgeon-General 
 of Massachusetts in Civil War 
 252. 
 
 " Damon and Pythias," 28. 
 
 Dana, Richard H., a Free-Soiler, 
 60; characterization of, 166. 
 
 Dartmouth College, 373. 
 
 Davis, Jefferson, 229. 
 
 Davis, John, Governor of Mas- 
 sachusetts, 84. 
 
INDEX 
 
 431 
 
 Davis, John Brazer, 87. 
 
 Davis, Mrs., 25. 
 
 Davis, Thomas, 289. 
 
 Democratic party, concerning the, 
 54, 67, 103, 108, il2, U3. 
 
 Dennis, Louis, 289. 
 
 Devens, Charles, obituary, 366-370; 
 speech on Gen. Grant, 369. 
 
 Donaldson, Thomas, 139. 
 
 Donne, William, 308. 
 
 Doogue, William, Boston city for- 
 ester, 194, 195. 
 
 Dorr, Sasan, 25. 
 
 Downes, of Cadet band, 169. 
 
 Downes, Commodore, 275. 
 
 Dudley, Thomas, colonial gov- 
 ernor, 4. 
 
 Dunbar, Peter, 289. 
 
 Duukin, Christopher, causes rebel- 
 lion in Harvard, 13, 14. 
 
 Dwight, Howard, 329 ; in private 
 theatricals, 33 ; in Civil War, 66. 
 
 Dwight, Wilder, 329 ; in Civil War, 
 66. 
 
 Dwight, William, 192. 
 
 Eaele, James Tilghman, 11, 12. 
 
 Edinburgh, 151, 183. 
 
 Eliot, Charles, 345. 
 
 Eliot, Charles W., president of Har- 
 vard University, 112, 116, 117, 
 118; Lee not in sympathy with, 
 125, 126 ; Lee gives credit for 
 Memorial Hall to, 130 ; in Over- 
 seers' meetings, 133 ; Lee's ap- 
 preciation of, 134. 
 
 Eliot, John, 184, 185. 
 
 Eliot, Eev. Dr., 278. 
 
 Eliot, Samuel, 166, 345, 346. 
 
 Eliot, Mrs. Samuel, 345. 
 
 Eliot, William, 287, 345. 
 
 Ellis, Joshua, 285. 
 
 Ellis, Rowland, 285. 
 
 Emerson, Charles, 384. 
 
 Emerson, Edward W., quoted, 52. 
 
 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 200, 214, 
 363, 364, 365, 400, 402, 404; at 
 
 Mr. Ripley's in Waltham, 15 
 quoted by Lee in Tavern Club 
 speech, 46 ; friendship with Lee, 
 52 ; quoted on laying of Memo- 
 rial Hall comer-stone, 127; in- 
 fluence in religions reform, 201 ; 
 quoted, 134, 187, 207, 306, 319, 
 386, 392. 
 
 England, Lee's criticism on her con- 
 duct in Civil War, 67-70 ; de- 
 fended by Mrs. Kemble, 70, 71 ; 
 strictures upon, by Lee, in Lon- 
 don " Spectator," 72. 
 
 Essex County, Mass., 9, 35. 
 
 Essex Street (Boston), 7. 
 
 Evarts, William M., 131, 135, 136. 
 
 Everett, Edward, 262, 289, 290, 385. 
 
 Everett, Otis, 7. 
 
 Everett, William, candidate for 
 Congress, 108; criticism of Eev. 
 Dr. Hale's " Story of Massachu- 
 setts," 176. 
 
 Exchange CofEee House, 270. 
 
 "Exposition of Evidence," by H. 
 Lee (senior), 114. 
 
 "False Colours," 32. 
 
 Faneuil, Peter, 264. 
 
 Faueuil Hall, 81, 87, 88, 189 ; meet- 
 ing at, to consider endorsement of 
 purging of Louisiana legisla- 
 ture, 96, 98 ; Democratic rally at, 
 108. 
 
 Faucit, Helen, 300. 
 
 Federal Theatre, 352. 
 
 Felton, Mrs. C. C, 23. 
 
 Felton, Samuel, 139. 
 
 Fillebrown, musician, 87, 169. 
 
 Fire Department. See Boston Vol- 
 unteer Fire Department. 
 
 Fitzgerald, Edward, 308. 
 
 Florence, 51, 151. 
 
 Floyd, John, of the Southern Con- 
 federacy, 5, 229, 237. 
 
 Flynt, Eev. Josiah, 4. 
 
 Follen, Charles, 25. 
 
 FoUen, Mrs. Charles, 25. 
 
432 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Forbes, John M., 17; aids in de- 
 spatching tioops, 61 ; devotion 
 to the State, 231 ; and the Shaw 
 Memorial, 291. 
 
 Forbes, Robert B., Jr., in private 
 theatricals, 24, 25, 26. 
 
 Forbes, William H., 66. 
 
 Forristall, militiaman, 289. 
 
 Fort Independence, 230. 
 
 Fort Sumter, 178. 
 
 Fort Wagner, 65, 66, 243, 293, 333. 
 
 Fort Warren, 230. 
 
 Fort Winthrop, 229. 
 
 Foster, Dwight, Attorney-General, 
 75, 238. 
 
 Foster, " Honest," 276. 
 
 Fox, candidate for Congress, 110. 
 
 Fox, Edward, 139. 
 
 Franfais, Theatre, 40. 
 
 Francis, Dr. Convers, 15. 
 
 " Francis I," Mrs. Kemble's, 316. 
 
 Frankland, Sir Charles Henry 
 (" Harry "), 264, 279 ; his story, 
 282-285. 
 
 Frankland, Lady (Agnes Surriage), 
 story of, 282-285. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin^ 181, 274. 
 
 Franldin County, Mass., 366. 
 
 Franklin Park (Boston), 189. 
 
 Fredericksburg, battle of, 66. 
 
 Free-Masons, 274. 
 
 Free Soil party, 104 ; Lee's con- 
 nection with, 53, 109, 115; rise 
 of, 54 ; standing of, 60. 
 
 Free Trade, Lee's opinions on, 121. 
 
 " Free Trade Convention of all the 
 States," Gallatin's "Memorial" 
 at, 114. 
 
 Frothingham, Kichard, historian, 
 99. 
 
 Fumess, Dr., 316. 
 
 " Further Kecords," Mrs. Kemble's, 
 314. 
 
 Gallatin, his " Memorial," at Free 
 
 Trade Convention, 114. 
 Gallop's Island, 79, 80. 
 
 Gambrill, Charles A., 24. 
 
 Gardiner, William H., 25, 212. 
 
 Garrison, William Lloyd, 99, 100. 
 
 Gassett, 139. 
 
 Gericke, Wilhelm, 45. 
 
 Germany, 141. 
 
 Gettysburg, battle of, 66, 68, 369. 
 
 Gibson, Mrs. Charles. See Warren, 
 Miss. 
 
 Gilbert, John Gibbs, 43, 300 ; obitu- 
 ary, 352-356. 
 
 " Good for Nothing," 31. 
 
 " Good Night's Rest," 29. 
 
 Goodwin, Daniel, 4. 
 
 Goodwin, Ozias, 27, 28, 30-32. 
 
 Gordon, Gen. George H., 230. 
 
 Gorham, A., 27, 28, 30. 
 
 Gorman, Senator, 113. 
 
 Grand Army Encampment, 369. 
 
 Grant, Gen. Ulysses S., his admin- 
 istration, 94, 97; Wendell Phil- 
 lips' speech on, 100 ; Devens' 
 speech on, 369. 
 
 Gray, William, characterization of, 
 166. 
 
 Gray, William, Jr., Park Com- 
 missioner, 194. 
 
 Green Dragon Tavern, the, 274. 
 
 Greene, Col. Charles G., editor of 
 the (Boston) " Post," 57, 231, 232, 
 258. 
 
 Greenfield, Mass., 369. 
 
 Greenhalge, Frederick T., Governor 
 of Massachusetts, 109. 
 
 Greenleaf, Gardner, 290. 
 
 Greenough, Thomas, 282. 
 
 Greenwood, Rev. Francis, 206. 
 
 Greville, Charles, 297, 319. 
 
 Guild, Boston dentist, 290. 
 
 Guild, Curtis, Jr., 110. 
 
 Gymuase Theatre, 40. 
 
 Hale, Rev. Edward Everett, 
 his " Story of Massachusetts," 
 59, 176, 178, 179, 215. 
 
 Hale, Miss, 31. 
 
 Hallam, Arthur, 308. 
 
INDEX 
 
 433 
 
 Hammond, Mrs. Samuel, 30, 31. 
 Hancock, John, 181, 242, 273, 274. 
 Hancock House, the, 88, 163, 182, 
 
 264. 
 Hairison, Benjamin, Fiesident, 116, 
 
 117. 
 " Harvard Book," Lee's article on 
 ■University Hall in, 13, 144, 168, 
 171. 
 Harvard Club of New York, letter 
 to, 126 ; speech to, 130-136. 
 
 Harvard College, 4, 11, 23, 52, 65, 
 137, 255, 369, 373, 376, 380, 405, 
 410, 419; rebellions at, 12-15; 
 liee as chief marshal at, 122- 
 124 ; Lee's contributions to, 124- 
 126; building of Memorial Hall 
 at, 126-130; Lee's speech on 
 needs of, 131-136; Lee's speech 
 at Commencement (1884), 136- 
 140 ; Lee as Overseer of, 142-143. 
 
 "Harvard Graduates' Magazine," 
 Lee's presidency of, 143. 
 
 Harvard Medici School, Lee's 
 speech at opening, 147-150. 
 
 "Harvard Memorial Biographies," 
 165. 
 
 Harvard Overseers, Lee's speech 
 on, 131-136 ; Lee's service, 142. 
 
 Harvard University, 117, 165; Quin- 
 quennial Catalogue, 132; offers 
 LL.D. degree to Lee, 144-147,221. 
 
 Harvard Washington Corps, 83, 
 138, 168, 375, 384. 
 
 Hayes, Rutherford B., President, 
 101, 102, 366. 
 
 Heath, 86. 
 
 Heath, carriage-builder, 290. 
 
 Heath Farm, 315, 317. 
 
 Hedge, Rev. Trederick H., Lee's 
 remarks at dinner given to, 199. 
 
 Higginson, Rev. Francis, 4, 379, 
 381. 
 
 Higginson, I^ancis J., 12. 
 
 Higginson, Francis L., 17, 65, 128. 
 
 Higginson, George, 16, 17; obituary, 
 348-351. 
 
 Higginson, Henry L., 17, 20, 65, 
 128 ; his paper in memory of 
 Henry Lee (" An American Gen- 
 tleman"), 220-224. 
 
 Higginson, James J., 65. 
 
 Higginson, Joane, 379. 
 
 Higginson, Rev. John, 379, 382, 383. 
 
 Higginson, Stephen, 350, 379. 
 
 Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 
 160 ; quoted, 129, 151, 157, 163, 
 165, 216. 
 
 Higginson, Waldo, 160; obituary, 
 375-383. 
 
 Higginson family, 9, 379-381. 
 
 HiUard, George S., 67. 
 
 Hinckley, 139. 
 
 " History Made Readable," 176. 
 
 Hoar, Ebenezer R., 108, 109, 166, 
 238 ; Lee's memoir of, 399^06. 
 
 Hoar, George F., 108; Lee's at- 
 tacks on, 110-119; Lee's letter 
 to, 113-118; his oration on Ruf us 
 Putnam, 118. 
 
 Hoar, Joanna, 405. 
 
 Hoar, Samuel, 114, 402. 
 
 Hoar, Sherman, 1 12 ; candidate for 
 Congress, 108 ; Lee's speech in- 
 troducing, 109. 
 
 Hobby, Ann, 281. 
 
 Holmes, John, 380. 
 
 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 160; 
 Lee's address on, 389-393. 
 
 Holmes, Mrs. 0. W., 389, 390. 
 
 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr., 
 wounded, 65. 
 
 Hoosac Tunnel Railroad, 91. 
 
 Hopkinton, Mass., 283, 284. 
 
 Horticultural Hall, 27-32. 
 
 Howard, Charles, 26. 
 
 Howe, Mrs. George D., 29. 
 
 Howe, Sir WilUam, 263. 
 
 "Hunchback," 32, 297. 
 
 Hunting, Colonel, 89. 
 
 Hutchinson, Anne, 4, 53, 203, 
 214. 
 
 Hutchinson, Faith, 4. 
 
 Hutchinson house, the, 277, 281. 
 28 
 
434 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hutchinson, Thomas, Grovemor, 
 
 264, 275, 277-278, 355. 
 Hutchinson, William, 277. 
 Hyde, Mr., 188, 189. 
 Hyslop, Mr., 191. 
 
 Inches, Hbndebsox, 287. 
 
 Independent Corps of Cadets, Lee 
 a member of, 83 ; vote of thanks 
 to Lee for services in Legislature, 
 84 ; John Hancock as Colonel of, 
 242. See also Cadets, First Corps 
 
 of- 
 Independents, the. See Mugwumps. 
 Indians, reception of, 290. 
 International Medical Congress in 
 
 London, 149. 
 Ipswich Farms Koad, 35. 
 Irving, Sir Henry, criticism of, 35 ; 
 
 Lee's speech at dinner to, 36-38. 
 
 Jacksoit, Andebw, at Harvard 
 
 College Commencement, 146. 
 Jackson, Charles, 7, 159, 219, 341, 
 
 357, 389. 
 Jackson, Edward, 22, 27, 28, 30, 389. 
 Jackson family, 4, 8, 9, 53. 
 Jackson, James, 362. 
 Jackson, John Barnard Swett, 148. 
 Jackson, Jonathan, 6, 371. 
 Jackson, Mary, 6. 
 Jackson, Patrick Tracy, 340 ; Lee's 
 
 obituary of, 371-372. 
 Jamaica Pond, 192. 
 Jarman, Fanny, 356. 
 Jefferson, Joseph, Lee's opinion of, 
 
 in part of Bob Acres, 38, 39. 
 Jepson, 290. 
 
 Jesus College, Cambridge, 379. 
 Jewett, Sarah Orne, Lee's letter to, 
 
 186-188. 
 Joannes, Count. See Jones, George. 
 Johnson, William F., 353. 
 Jones, George, 164. 
 
 Kansas Immioeant Aid Com- 
 PANT, 119. 
 
 Kansas Famine, 119. 
 
 Kean, Charles, 37. 
 
 Kemble, Adelaide, 302, 320. 
 
 Kerable, Charles, 36, 299, 300, 302, 
 320, 322, 323. 
 
 Kemble, Gouverneur, 324. 
 
 Kemble, Henry, 320. 
 
 Kemble, John, 308, 318, 320. 
 
 Kemble, Mrs. Frances Ann, 24, 25 ; 
 her letter about her hat, 44 ; Lee's 
 letter to, about the Civil War, 64- 
 69 ; her reply to Lee, 69-71 ; Lee's 
 article on, 171 ; Lee's memorial 
 to, 295-326 ; her " Sonnets on the 
 American War," 312-313. 
 
 Kendal, Mrs., 40. 
 
 Kendal, the actor, 47 ; letter from 
 Lee to, 39-40. 
 
 Kendall, Edward, 169. 
 
 Kendall, James, 168, 169. 
 
 Kilby, Christopher, 282. 
 
 King's Chapel, 8 207, 283, 284, 346, 
 389. 
 
 Kirkland, John Thornton, Pres- 
 ident of Harvard College, 138, 
 139, 205, 206. 
 
 Knowles, Sheridan, 300. 
 
 Knox, Gen. Henry, 86. 
 
 Knoxville, 68. 
 
 Labkanche, Dbausin B., 12. 
 
 Lafayette, 270. 
 
 Lake family, 4. 
 
 Lamb, Charles, 110, 392. 
 
 Lancers, the militia company. See 
 
 Boston Lancers. 
 Larcom, John, 160. 
 Lathrop, Dr., 275. 
 Latin School. See Boston Latin 
 
 School. 
 "Lavater." See "Not a Bad 
 
 Judge." 
 Lawrence, Amos A., 129. 
 Lawrence, Mass., 16. 
 Lawrence, R. Bigelow, II. 
 Learned, Colonel, 89. 
 Lee, Clara, 50, 51. 
 
INDEX 
 
 435 
 
 Lee, Eliot C, 50. 
 
 Lee, Elizabeth P. (Mrs. F. C. Shat- 
 tuck), 50. 
 
 Lee family, remarks on, 9, 53, 77. 
 
 Lee, Francis L., in private theatri- 
 cals, 22-30 ; in Civil War, 64, 76. 
 
 Lee, George, 50. 
 
 Lee, Henry, his ancestors, 4-6; 
 birth, 6, 7 ; " Random Bemi- 
 niscences," 6-8 ; characterization 
 of, 9 ; at Harvard, 10-15 ; in busi- 
 ness, 15-20; in theatricals, 21- 
 33 ; fondness for Shakespeare, 33 ; 
 his home life, 33-35 j as a play- 
 goer, 35-44 ; speech at dinner to 
 Irving, 36-38 ; opinion of Jeffer- 
 son, 38, 39 ; letter to Mr. Kendal, 
 39-40 ; obituary of William War- 
 ren, 41-43 ; friendship for Mrs. 
 Kemble, 43, 44 ; letter from V. 
 Y. Bowditch to, 45; speech at 
 Tavern Club dinner, 45-49 ; 
 marriage, 50 ; children, 50-52 ; 
 political affiliations, 53 ; commis- 
 sioned as colonel, 54-56 ; at the 
 presentation of the muskets, 57- 
 58 ; corrects Butler, 58-59 ; con- 
 nection with Union Club, 60 
 work as Governor's aide, 61-63 
 letter to Mrs. Kemble, 64-69 
 letter from Mrs. Kemble to, 69- 
 71 ; letter to the London " Spec- 
 tator," 71-73 ; his letter-writing, 
 73 ; loyalty to Andrew, 74-76 ; 
 speech at Cadets' anniversary, 76; 
 resignation as Governor's aide, 
 77, 78 ; letters on return of regi- 
 ments from war, 78-81 ; letter to 
 Andrew, 81-82 ; paper on " Mi- 
 litia Brigadiers : Banks' Statue," 
 83 ; love of things military, 83- 
 90 ; reminiscences of the Ancient 
 and Honorable Artillery Com- 
 pany, 84-89 ; monograph on " The 
 Militia of the United States," 90 ; 
 in the State Legislature, 91 ; in- 
 terest in public affairs, 91-121 ; 
 
 opinion of McClellan, 93-94; 
 hostility to Butler, 95 ; opinion 
 of Wendell Phillips, 96-101 ; his 
 politics, 101-121; letter to the 
 "Boston Advertiser" in Cleveland- 
 Blaine campaign, 106 ; attacks 
 on Senator Hoar, 110-119; as 
 chief marshal at Harvard Com- 
 mencements, 122-124; money 
 contributions to Harvard, 124- 
 126 ; part in the building of 
 Memorial Hall, 127-130 ; at pres- 
 entation of Gen. Bartlott's bust, 
 ISO; speech to Harvard Club of 
 New York, 130-136; speech at 
 Harvard Commencement, 1884, 
 136-140 ; letter to the " Nation " 
 as to Harvard graduates in busi- 
 ness, 141 ; as Harvard Overseer, 
 142-143 ; president of " Harvard 
 Graduates' Magazine," 143 ; 
 article on University Hall in 
 "Harvard Book," 144, 171; un- 
 delivered speech on offer of hon- 
 orary Harvard degree, 145-147 ; 
 speech at opening of new build- 
 ings of Harvard Medical School, 
 147-150; love of Boston, 151- 
 153; high place in the com- 
 munity, 154-157 ; benefactions, 
 158-160; his conversation, 160- 
 165; descriptive faculty, 165- 
 170; as a writer, 170-171 ; letter 
 to the " Boston Transcript," on 
 Labor Day, 171-174; his obitu- 
 aries, 175-176; paper in the 
 "Nation" on Hale's "Story of 
 Massachusetts," 59, 176-179; 
 interest in preservation of Old 
 South Church, 180-186; letter 
 to Miss Jewett, 186-188 ; estates 
 in Brooklineand Beverly Farms, 
 190-193; Park Commissioner, 
 193-195 ; dislike of boulevards 
 and electric roads, 195-197 ; atti- 
 tude towards religion, 198-211 ; 
 remarks at dinner to Dr. Hedge, 
 
436 
 
 INDEX 
 
 199; address on "The Ministry 
 as viewed by a Layman," 200- 
 202 ; paper on " Why we go to 
 Church," 203-211 ; love of music, 
 211-213; fancy for domestic 
 architecture, 213 ; literary tastes, 
 214-215; personal appearance, 
 215-216; personal traits, 216- 
 218; opposed to war with Spain, 
 218; death, 219. 
 
 Lee, Heniy, Jr., 52. 
 
 Lee, Henry, Sr., 5-6, 77, 114, 220. 
 
 Lee, Higginson & Co., 16, 219. 
 
 Lee, John C, 16. 
 
 Lee, Joseph (born 1782), 5. 
 
 Lee, Joseph (son of Henry Lea), 50. 
 
 Lee, Judge Joseph, 147. 
 
 Lee, Mary, 6, 77, 159. 
 
 Lee, Mrs. Eliza Buckminster, 77. 
 
 Lee, Mrs. Henry, 22 ; her marriage, 
 50 ; her children, 50-52 ; remarit 
 as to scene at presentation of 
 muskets, 58 ; note to, 61 ; her 
 health, 78. 
 
 " Lee's Vaults." See Union Safe 
 Deposit Vaults. 
 
 Lee, Thomas (born 1702), 4-5, 355. 
 
 Lee, Thomas (uncle of Henry Lee), 
 estate in Brookline, 192; in 
 Music Hall dispute, 200. 
 
 Leverett, master of Boston Latin 
 School, 136. 
 
 Lewis, Winslow, estate, 277. 
 
 Lexington, presentation of mus- 
 kets from battle of, 57. 
 
 Libby Prison, 65. 
 
 "Life and Times of John Win- 
 throp," 387. 
 
 Light Horse, the, 289. 
 
 Light Infantry. See Boston Light 
 Infantry. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 271 ; desire to 
 carry out will of nation, 68 ; part 
 in clash between Andrew and 
 Butler, 74-76 ; characterization 
 of Andrew, 255; his raising of 
 negro regiments, 293. 
 
 Lincoln, Levi, Governor of Massa- 
 
 . chusetts, 86, 87. 
 
 Lisbon earthquake, 283. 
 
 Little, William, 278. 
 
 " Lives of the Lords Chancellors '' 
 (Campbell's), 174. 
 
 Lodge, Henry Cabot, 119, 157. 
 
 Lodge, Mrs. James, 28, 29, 30. 
 
 Logan, William H., the Boston 
 waiter, 175 ; obituary, 338. 
 
 London, 26, 51, 52, 153. 
 
 Long, John D., Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts, 111, 163, 268, 269, 
 293. 
 
 Loring, George B., 105. 
 
 Lome, Marquis of, 282. 
 
 Louise, Princess, 282. 
 
 Louisiana, 96. 
 
 Levering, Charles, 27. 
 
 Lowell, Charles Kussell (the elder), 
 111, 289. 
 
 Lowell, Charles Russell (the 
 younger), 65, 66, 238. 
 
 Lowell, Francis Cabot, obituary, 
 340-343. 
 
 Lowell Institute, 341. 
 
 Lowell, James Jackson, 65. 
 
 Lowell, James Eussell, 392 ; Com- 
 memoration Ode, 123; at Har- 
 vard University 250th anniver- 
 sary, 124. 
 
 Lowell, John, founder of Lowell 
 Institute, 341. 
 
 Lowell, John, Judge of the TJ. S. 
 Circuit Court, in private thear 
 tricals, 25; characterization of, 
 167. 
 
 Lowell, Mass., 16. 
 
 Lowell, Mrs. E. J., 31. 
 
 Lowell Bailroad, the, 376. 
 
 Lowell, Rev. Dr., 206. 
 
 Loyal Legion, 82. 
 
 Lyman, Mrs. Theodore, 25, 26, 32. 
 
 Lyman, Theodore, in private the- 
 atricals, 25, 26, 32 ; in Civil War, 
 66 ; characterization of, 167; 
 obituary, .410-412. 
 
INDEX 
 
 437 
 
 MiCEEADT, the actor, 296, 307, 308. 
 Malaprop, Mrs., played by Mrs. 
 Ifemble, 24 ; by Mrs. Torrey, 25. 
 Malkins, the, 308. 
 Malvern Hill, battle of, 65. 
 Mann, member of Brigade Band, 
 
 168. 
 Mansfield, Bichard, 36. 
 Marblehead, Maas., 282, 283. 
 Martineau, Miss Harriet, 319. 
 Massachusetts, 54, 56, 59, 61, 70, 90, 
 
 94, 95, 102, 248-249, 271, 366. 
 Massachusetts Historical Society, 
 
 387, 389, 399. 
 Massachusetts Infants' Asylum, 
 
 27. 
 "Massachusetts Soldiers' Fund," 
 
 235. 
 Mather, Cotton, 281, 383. 
 Mather, Rev. Samuel, 275. 
 Mathers, the, 274. 
 Mathews, Charles, 25. 
 Matthews, Nathan, 189. 
 Maurice, Frederick, 308. 
 McClellan, General George B., 
 
 Lee's opinion of, 93-94. 
 M'Clester, John and Sally, 285. 
 McGregor, Miss Fanny, 26. 
 Meade, General George H., 67. 
 "Med Facs," society of, at Har- 
 
 Tard, 138, 211. 
 Mellowes, Martha, 4. 
 "Memorial" by Gallatin, at Free 
 
 Trade Convention, 114. 
 "Memorial" by Judge Lemuel 
 
 Shaw, on Free Trade, 114. 
 Memorial Hall, 134, 196, 376, 405, 
 410 ; Lee's part in the building 
 of, 127-130. 
 "Memorial History of Boston," 
 
 quoted, 90. 
 Mercantile Library Association, 
 
 169. 
 "MilitiaBrigadiers: Banks' Statue," 
 
 Lee's paper on^ 83. 
 "Militia of the United States," 
 Lee's monograph on, 90. 
 
 Miller, General, 8. 
 
 Mills, Charles J., obituary, 329-330. 
 
 Milnes, Bichard Monckton, 308. 
 
 "Ministry as Viewed by a Lay- 
 man," Lee's address on, 200-202. 
 
 Minot, William, characterization 
 of, 166 ; obituary, 394-396. 
 
 "Modern Warfare," 29. 
 
 Mohawks, the, 181. 
 
 Molineux, of the Boston "Tea 
 Party," 274. 
 
 Monroe, James, President, 270. 
 
 Montgomery Guards, 288. 
 
 Morris Island, 68. 
 
 Morris, William, 272. 
 
 Morse, 'Benjamin Eddy, obituary, 
 397-398. 
 
 Motley, Thomas, Jr., 27. 
 
 Mugwumps, 103-109. 
 
 Murdoch, the actor, 356. 
 
 Museum. See Boston Museum. 
 
 Museum of Fine Arts. See Boston 
 Museum of Fine Arts. 
 
 Music Hall, letting to Theodore 
 Parker's congregation, 119, 200. 
 
 Mystic Biver, 265. 
 
 " Nation," the, 115, 120, 135 ; Lee's 
 review of " Story of Massachu- 
 setts," 59, 176-179 ; Lee's letter 
 about college graduates in busi- 
 ness printed in, 141. 
 
 National Lancers, the, 289, 290^ 
 
 "Nervous Set," 30. 
 
 New Berne, 76, 193. 
 
 Newburyport, Mass., 8. 
 
 New England, 16, 54, 67, 70, 312. 
 
 New England Guards, 170, 212, 
 288. 
 
 "New England Magazine," 186. 
 
 " New Monthly Magazine," 298. 
 
 New North Church, 274, 276. 
 
 Newport, 76. 
 
 New York, 18. 
 
 New York Hotel, 260. 
 
 Niebuhr, of the Brigade Band, 169 
 
 North Beverly, Mass., 35. 
 
438 
 
 INDEX 
 
 North Carolina, 68. 
 
 North, Christopher, 297. 
 
 North End (of Boston), 264, 355, 
 
 356; Lee's paper on, 273-286, 
 
 355, 356. 
 North End Grammar School, 277. 
 North Square, 275. 
 Norton, Charles Eliot, 46, 130, 364. 
 "Not a Bad Judge," 25. 
 
 " Old Noeth " Church, 274, 275, 
 355. 
 
 Old South Church, Lee's interest in 
 preservation of, 180-186, 196. 
 
 Old State House, 181, 183, 196. 
 
 Olmsted, Frederick Law, the land- 
 scape gardener, 195-197. 
 
 O'Neil, Miss, the actress, 297. 
 
 " Original Olympic " Theatre, 26. 
 
 Orne, Lois, 5. 
 
 Otis, Harrison Gray, 289. 
 
 Otis, James, 183, 274. 
 
 Otis, William F., 212. 
 
 Paine, Henet W., 99. 
 
 Paine, Sumner, 66. 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, 67. 
 
 Parker, Francis E., 132, 133; char- 
 acterization of, 167. 
 
 Parker, Theodore, 57; and the 
 Music Hall, 119, 200. 
 
 Parkman, Francis, characterization 
 of, 167. 
 
 Parkman, Samuel, 139. 
 
 Parkman, Mrs. Samuel, 34, 160. 
 
 Parton, James, 230. 
 
 Payne, Daniel C, 32. 
 
 Peabody, Key. Andrew P., 133. 
 
 Pearson, Life of John A. Andrew 
 cited, 61, 76. 
 
 Pecker, Daniel, 355. 
 
 Peel, Sir Rohert, 68. 
 
 Pemberton Hill, 264, 
 
 Pen\31eton, Isaac P., 11. 
 
 " Perfection," 23. 
 
 Perkins, Edward N., 24. 
 
 Perkins, Stephen, 66. 
 
 Perkins, Thomas Handasyd, 22, 23, 
 
 50, 151, 414. 
 Perkins, William, Lee's speech on 
 
 death of, 420-424. 
 Phi Beta Kappa Society, Lee 
 
 elected to, 142. 
 Philadelphia, 18. 
 Phillips, Wendell, 154, 374; Lee's 
 
 opinion of, 96-101. 
 Phipps, Sir William, 264, 273. 
 Pickering, Henry G., 30. 
 Pickering family, 4. 
 Pierce, musician, 169. 
 Pierce, Augustas, 12. 
 Pierson, Mrs. Charles, 32. 
 Pillsbury, Albert E., 110. 
 
 Pinckney, , 10. 
 
 Pitcairn, Major, 275. 
 
 Pittsfield, Mass., 140. 
 
 Flanche, James il.,the dramatist,2S. 
 
 Plymouth Rock, 268-269. 
 
 Port Hudson, 66, 68. 
 
 Porter, General, 8. 
 
 " Post." See " Boston Post." 
 
 " Poudre aux Yeux," 32. 
 
 Price, Rev. Roger, 283. 
 
 Provident Institution for Savings, 
 
 18, 420, 421, 422. 
 Province House, 182, 263, 264, 277. 
 Public Garden at Boston, treat- 
 ment of, 194. 
 Putnam, Rufus, George F. Hoar's 
 
 oration on, 118. 
 
 QtriNOT, DOKOTHY, 389. 
 
 Quincy, Edmund, characterization 
 
 of, 166. 
 Quincy, Josiah, 11, 12, 288. 
 Quincy, Josiah, Jr., 87. 
 Quincy, Josiah, 3d, 108. 
 Quincy, Samuel M., 30, 31. 
 Quincy family, 4. 
 
 Rachel (Elizabeth Rachel Fe- 
 lix), the actress, 301. 
 
 "Random Reminiscences of an 
 Octogenarian," 6-8. 
 
INDEX 
 
 439 
 
 Eeadville, Mass., 80. 
 
 "Rebelliad,"the, 12. 
 
 Reed, Colonel John H., 252. 
 
 Republican party, 53, 54, 94, 101, 
 106, 107, 109. 
 
 " Revenge Church," the, 275, 276. 
 
 Revere, Paul, 66, 274, 275. 
 
 Rice, Alex. H., Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts, 262, 263. 
 
 Richardson, the old armorer, 87. 
 
 Richardson, William A., character- 
 ization of, 167. 
 
 Rifle Bangers, the, 168, 288. 
 
 Rio de Janeiro, 15. 
 
 Ripley, Rev. Ezra, 400, 402. 
 
 Ripley, Samuel, 15. 
 
 Ripley, Sarah Alden (Mrs. Sam- 
 uel), Lee's obituary on, 335-337, 
 402. 
 
 Ritcliie, Harrison, 55, 61, 230, 239, 
 252, 255. 
 
 Ritchie, Mrs. Harrison, 24. 
 
 "Rivals," acted by the amateurs, 
 23; read by Col. Lee, 33 ; Joseph 
 Jefierson in, criticised by Lee, 
 38. 
 
 Rodman, Samuel, 139. 
 
 Romillys, the, 308. 
 
 Russell, Cabot Jackson, 65. 
 
 Russell, Miss, 27, 28. 
 
 RusseU, Miss Emily, 32. 
 
 Russell, William 6., characteriza- 
 tion of, 167. 
 
 Rutledge, Thomas Pinckney, 11. 
 
 "Safety Vaults," construction 
 
 of, by Lee, 18-20. 
 St. Gaudens, Augustus, sculptor of 
 
 Shaw Memorial, 294. 
 St. Leger, Miss, 316, 319, 321. 
 St. Paul's Church (Boston), 48, 87. 
 St. Paul's School, 373. 
 Salem, Mass., 4, 5, 59, 232. 
 Salem Light Infantry, 59, 232. 
 Saltonstall, Leverett, 116. 
 Salvini, the elder. Tavern Club's 
 
 dinner in honor of, 45. 
 
 Sanitary Commission in Boston, 65, 
 
 390. 
 Sargent, Charles S., 192. 
 Sargent, Horace Binuey, 55, 230. 
 Sargent, Joseph, 139. 
 Sargent, Peter, 263. 
 Savage, Thomas, 4, 85, 181. 
 " School for Scandal," 33, 38. 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 151, 214, 297. 
 Scott, General Winfield, 177, 178, 
 
 229, 230. 
 Sedgwicks, the, 311, 321. 
 Sever, 138-139. 
 
 Sewall, Judge Samuel, 89, 181, 208. 
 Seward, William H., 237. « 
 
 Seymour, Horatio, Governor of 
 
 New York, interview with Gov- 
 ernor Andrew, 237. 
 Shakespeare, Lee's familiarity with 
 
 his plays, 33, 214. 
 Shattuck, Frederick C, 219. 
 Shattuck, Mrs. Frederick C, 50. 
 Shattuck, George Cheyne, obituary, 
 
 373-374. 
 Shaw, G. Howland, obituary, 333- 
 
 334. 
 Shaw, Chief Justice Lemuel, his 
 
 Free Trade "Memorial," 114. 
 Shaw, Colonel Robert G., 65 ; death 
 
 at Fort Wagner, 69 ; presentation 
 
 of the bas-relief in memory of, 
 
 291-294. 
 " Shaw Memorial," Lee's address at 
 
 unveiling of, 291-294. 
 " She Stoops to Conquer," 27. 
 Sheridan, General Philip H., 96. 
 Sherman, Roger, 114, 131. 
 Ship Island, 246. 
 Ship Tavern, 273. 
 Shortle, Mr., 400, 401. 
 Siddons, Cecilia. See Combe, Mrs. 
 
 George. 
 Siddons, Mrs., 36, 295, 297, 301, 302. 
 Siddons, Mrs. Harry, 316. 
 Simmons, Collector of the Port of 
 
 Boston, 98, 103, 105. 
 " Smiles and Tears," 31. 
 
440 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Sohier, Miss E. P., and the Old 
 
 South Church, 180. 
 Soldiers' Monument, the, 369. 
 Somerset Club, 60. 
 " Sonnets on the American War," 
 
 by Mrs. Kemble, 312-313. 
 South Carolina, 5, 366, 368. 
 South End (of Boston), 265. 
 Spanish "War, Lee opposed to, 218. 
 " Spectator," letter from Lee to, 
 
 71-73. 
 " Splendid Investment," 25. 
 Stanley, musician, 170. 
 Stanton, Edwin M., 177, 250, 
 
 251. 
 State House (Mass.), the present, 
 
 182, 185; speech on, 262-272. 
 
 See also Old State Souse. 
 Steedman, Miss, 28, 30. 
 Sterling, John, 297, 307, 308. 
 Stevens, Thaddeus, 83. 
 Stevenson, General Thomas G., 
 
 330 ; obituary, 331-332. 
 Storrow family, 379. 
 "Story of Massachusetts," Hale's, 
 
 reviewed and corrected, 59, 176- 
 
 179, 215. 
 Stuart, Gilbert, 7. 
 Sturgis, Russell, " Quick-step," 212, 
 
 213. 
 Sullivan, General John, 76. 
 Sumner, Adjutant-General, 87. 
 Sumner, Sheriff, 87. 
 Surriage, Agnes. See FranUand, 
 
 Lady. 
 Surriage, Isaac, 285. 
 Symmes, Eev. Mr., 4. 
 
 Tavbkn Club, 36, 44, 45, '219; 
 
 Lee's speech at, 45-49. 
 " Tea Party," the Boston, 274. 
 Tennessee, 68. 
 Tennyson, Alfred, 308. 
 Terry, Ellen, 35, 36, 3o. 
 Thacher, Eev. Peter, 276. 
 Thackeray, William Makepeace, 
 
 300, 308. 
 
 Thayer, Adin, political attack upon, 
 
 104-106, 113. 
 Thayer, General, 230. 
 Thomas, William, 136. 
 Ticknor, Mrs. George, obituary, 
 
 345-347. 
 "Times," the, 70. 
 Torrey, Mrs. Charles, as Mrs. Mal- 
 
 aprop, 25. 
 Torrey, Miss Mary, 25. 
 Toucey, Isaac, 229. 
 Tracy, family, 4. 
 "Transcript." See "Boston Daily 
 
 Evening Transcript." 
 Tree, Ellen, 356. 
 Tremont House (Boston hotel), 8, 
 
 113,298,321,357. 
 Tremont Theatre (Boston), 164, 
 
 169, 298, 352, 353, 356. 
 Trench, Richard, 308. 
 Troy and Greenfield Railroad, 
 
 91. 
 " Turnout," the, 22. 
 "Twenty Minutes with a Tiger," 
 
 John Gilbert in, 353. 
 Twiggs, General David E., 
 
 229. 
 " Two Palaverers," the, 273. 
 Tyler, Colonel, 87. 
 Tyng family, 4. 
 
 "Union Building" (Boston), 19. 
 
 Union Club, Lee's connection with, 
 60. , 
 
 " Union Safe Deposit Vaults," built, 
 18-20; incorporation of, blocked 
 by Governor Butler, 95. 
 
 University Hall, 13, 14; Lee's arti- 
 cle in " Harvard Book " on, 144, 
 168. 
 
 "Value op Sentiment," Lee's 
 speech thus entitled, 262-272. 
 Vane, Sir Harry, 264. 
 Varieties Theatre, 22, 26. 
 Vicksburg, siege of, 66, 68. 
 Virginia, 76. 
 
INDEX 
 
 441 
 
 Wagnek, Biohasd, the music com- 
 poser, Lee's dislike' of, 212. 
 
 "Walker, General Francis A., 111. 
 
 Walker, James, D.D., 206. 
 
 Wallack's Theatre, 352, 354. 
 
 Waltham, Mass., 15, 83. 
 
 Wanamaker, John, 117. 
 
 Ware, Charles E., 380. 
 
 Ware, William R., 24, 26. 
 
 Warren, musician, 169. 
 
 Warren, Joseph, 181, 274. 
 
 Warren, Miss., 30, 33. 
 
 Warren, William, Lee's friendship 
 with, 40; obituary, 41-43; as 
 Sir Peter Teazle, 354. 
 
 Washington, George, 367. 
 
 Washington, North Carolina, 64. 
 
 " Waterman," the play, 23. 
 
 Wayne, Henry, 139. 
 
 Webster, Daniel, 11, 49, 114, 274. 
 
 Webster, Daniel (servant), 8. 
 
 West, Nat, 138. 
 
 West End Street Railway Com- 
 pany, effort to use Boston Com- 
 mon, opposed by Lee, 188-189. 
 
 Westminister Abbey, 267-268. 
 
 Wetherbee, Samuel, musician, 168. 
 
 Wetherell, Colonel, 239, 252. 
 
 Wheelwright, Charles, 139. 
 
 Wheelwright, Rev. John, Puritan 
 divine of New England, 203. 
 
 Whig party, 54, 115. 
 
 Whitcher, Martin L., obituary, 344. 
 
 White, Azel, 169. 
 
 White, Joseph, 355. 
 
 White, Mr., 7. 
 
 Whitman, Mrs. Henry, 160. 
 
 Whitwell, William S., 24, 25, 26. 
 
 " Why we go to Church," Lee's 
 paper so entitled, 203-211. 
 
 Wickliffe, Robert, 138. 
 
 Wilby, General, and Louisiana leg- 
 islature, 98. 
 
 Wilde, Mrs., George C, 24, 25. 
 
 Wilder, Marshall P., Lee's letter to, 
 190-192. 
 
 Williams, H., 31. 
 
 Williams College, 255. 
 
 Wilson, Senator Henry, 113, 233, 
 246. 
 
 Winsley, John, 281. 
 
 Winthrop, John, 148, 171, 181, 183, 
 184, 263, 348, 386. 
 
 Winthrop, Lieutenant-Governor, 
 87. 
 
 Winthrop, Robert C, 67, 262 ; ob- 
 ituary 384-388, 399. 
 
 Wool, General John E., 238. 
 
 Worcester Catholic College, 255. 
 
 Wyman (Jeffries or Morrill ?), 11. 
 
 Wyman, Oliver, theatrical man- 
 ager, 352. 
 
 Young, Charles, 307. 
 I Young, Julian, 307. 
 

 I/'