“A name which every wind to Heaven would bear,
Which men to speak, and angels joy to hear.”
Another letter from Eliot broke like a sunbeam through the monotonous clouds that hung over the Lees.
“My Dearest Mother,—I arrived safely at headquarters on the 22d. Colonel Ashley received me with open arms. He applauded my resolution to join the army, and bestowed his curses liberally (as is his wont on whatever displeases him) on the young men who linger at home, while the gallant spirits of France and Poland are crossing the ocean to volunteer in our cause. He rubbed his hands exultingly when I told him that it was your self-originating decision that I should leave you. ‘The only son of your mother—that is, the only one to speak of’ (forgive him, Sam and Hal), ‘and she a widow!’ he exclaimed. ‘Let them talk about their Spartan mothers, half men and demi-monsters; but look at our women-folks, as tender and as timid of their broods as hens, and as bold and self-sacrificing as martyrs! You come of a good stock, my boy, and so I shall tell the gin’ral. He’s old Virginia, my lad; and looks well to blood in man and horse.’
“The next morning he called, his kind heart raying out through his jolly face, to present me to General Washington. If ever I go into battle, which Heaven of its loving mercy grant, I pray my heart may not thump as it did when I approached the mean little habitation, now the residence of our noble leader. 86‘You tremble, Eliot,’ said my colonel, as we reached the doorstep. ‘I don’t wonder—I always feel my joints give a little when I go before him. I venerate him next to the Deity; but it is not easy to get used to him as you do to other men.’
“When we entered, the general was writing. If Sam wishes to know whether my courage returned when I was actually in his presence, tell him I then forgot myself—forgot I had an impression to make. The general requested us to be seated while he finished his despatches. The copies were before him, all in his own hand. ‘Every t crossed, and every i dotted,’ whispered the colonel, pointing to the papers. ‘He’s godlike in that; he finishes off little things as completely as great.’ I could not but smile at the comparison, though it was both striking and just. When the general had finished, and had read the letters of introduction from Governor Hancock and Mr. Adams, which I presented, ‘You see, sir,’ said my kind patron, ‘that my young friend here is calculating to enter the army; I’ll answer for him, he’ll prove good and true; up to the mark, as his father Sam Lee was before him. He, that is, Sam Lee, and I, fit side by side in the French war; I was no flincher, you know, sir, and he was as brave as Julius Cæsar, Sam was; so I think my friend Eliot here has a pretty considerable claim.’
“‘But, my good sir,’ said the general, ‘you know we are contending against hereditary claims.’
“‘That’s true, sir; and thank the Lord, he can stand on his own ground; he shot one of the first guns at Lexington, and got pretty well peppered too, though he was a lad then, with a face as smooth as the palm of my hand.’
“‘Something too much of this,’ thought I; and I attempted to stop my trumpeter’s mouth by saying ‘I had no claims on the score of the affair at Lexington; that my being there was accidental, and I fought on instinct.’
“‘Ah, my boy,’ said the colonel, determined to tell his tale 87out, ‘you may say that—there’s no courage like that that comes by natur, gin’ral; he stood within two feet of me, as straight as a tombstone, when a spent ball bounding near him, he caught it in his hands just as if he’d been playing wicket, and said, “you may throw down your bat, my boys, I’ve caught you out!”—was not that metal?’
“General Washington’s countenance relaxed as the colonel proceeded (I ventured a side glance), and at the conclusion he gave two or three emphatic and pleased nods; but his grave aspect returned immediately, and he said, as I thought, in a most frigid manner, ‘the request, Mr. Lee, of my friends of Massachusetts, that you may receive a commission in the service, deserves attention; Colonel Ashley is a substantial voucher for your personal merit. Are you aware, sir, that a post of honour in our army involves arduous labour, hardships, and self-denial? Do you know the actual condition of our officers—that their pay is in arrears, and their private resources exhausted? There are among them men who have bravely served their country from the beginning of this contest; gentlemen who have not a change of linen; to whom I have even been compelled to deny, because I had not the power to divert them from their original destination, the coarse clothes provided for the soldiers. This is an affecting, but a true view of our actual condition. Should the Almighty prosper our cause, as, if we are true to ourselves, he assuredly will, these matters will improve; but I have no lure to hold out to you, no encouragement but the sense of performing your duty to your country. Perhaps, Mr. Lee, ‘you would prefer to reflect further, before you assume new obligations?’
“‘Not a moment, sir. I came here determined to serve my country at any post you should assign me. If a command is given me, I shall be grateful for it: if not, I shall enter the ranks as a private soldier.’
“General Washington exchanged glances with the colonel, 88that implied approbation of my resolution, but not one syllable dropped of encouragement as to the commission; and it being evident that he had no leisure to protract our audience, we took our leave.
“I confess I came away rather crest-fallen. I am not such a puppy, my dear mother, as to suppose my single arm of much consequence to my country, but I felt an agreeable, perhaps an exaggerated consciousness, that I deserved—not applause, but some token of encouragement. However, the colonel said this was his way; ‘he never disappoints an expectation, seldom authorizes one.’
“‘Is he cold-hearted?’ I asked.
“‘The Lord forgive you! Eliot,’ he replied. ‘Cold-hearted!—No, his heat does not go off by flashes, but keeps the furnace hot out of which the pure gold comes. Lads never think there is any fire unless they see the sparks and hear the roar.’
“‘But, sir,’ said I, ‘I believe there is a very common impression that General Washington is of a reserved, cold temperament—’
“‘The devil take common impressions. They are made on sand, and are both false and fleeting. Wait, Eliot—you are true metal, and I will venture your impressions when you shall know our noble commander better. Cold, egad,’ he half muttered to himself; ‘where the deuse, then, has the heat come from that has cemented our army together, and kept their spirits up when their fingers and toes were freezing?’”
“Give me joy, my dear mother; a kiss, Bessie; a good hug, my dear little sisters; and a huzza, boys! General Washington has sent me a lieutenant’s commission, and a particularly kind note with it. So, it appears, that while I was thinking him so lukewarm to my application, he lost no time in transmitting it to Congress, and enforcing it by his recommendation. Our camp is all bustle. Soldiers, just trained and fit for service, are departing, 89their term of enlistment having expired. The new quotas are coming in, raw, undisciplined troops. The general preserves a calm, unaltered mien; but his officers fret and fume in private, and say that nothing effective will ever be achieved while Congress permits these short enlistments.”
“Thanks to you, dear mother; my funds have enabled me to purchase a uniform. I have just tried it on. I wish you could all see me in it. ‘Every woman is at heart a rake,’ says Pope; that every man is at heart a coxcomb, is just about as true. My new dress will lose its holyday gloss before we meet again, but the freshness of my love for you will never be dimmed, my dear mother; for Bessie, and for all the little band, whose bright faces are even now before my swimming eyes.
“Yours devotedly,
“Eliot Lee.
“P. S.—My poor jack-o’-lantern, Kisel, is of course of no use to me, neither does he give me much trouble. He is a sort of mountebank among the soldiers, merry himself and making others merry. If he is a benefactor who makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew before, Kisel certainly is, while he produces smiles where rugged toil and want have stamped a scowl of discontent.”
In this letter to his mother, Eliot enclosed one to Bessie; reiterating even more forcibly and tenderly what he had before said. It served no purpose but to aggravate her self-reproaches.