58 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
young cavalier. *' Why are n't you wearing it now ? " re- torted Lee. Isn't that admirable ? I verily believe that if any young woman had had the unimaginable audacity to throw a garland over Lee, he would have worn it through the streets of Richmond itself. ^^
You say, then, this Stuart was dissipated, perhaps, a scapegrace, a rioter, imitating Rupert and Murat in other things than great cavalry charges. That is the curious point. The man was nothing of the sort. With all his in- stinct of revelry, he had no vices, a very Puritan of laugh- ter. He liked pretty girls everywhere ; but when he was charged with libertinism, he answered, in the boldness of innocence, ** That person does not live who can say and he liked his wife better than any other pretty girl. He married her when he was twenty-two years old and his last wish was that she might reach him before he died. His few letters to her that have been printed are charming in their playful affection. He adored his chil- dren also ; in short, was a pattern of domesticity. He did, indeed, love his country more, and telegraphed to his wife, when she called him to his dying daughter's bed- side, " My duty to the country must be performed be- fore I can give way to the feelings of a father" ; but the child's death was a cruel blow to him. With his inti- mates he constantly referred to her, and when he himself was dying, he whispered, ** I shall soon be with my little Flora again." ^^
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