The students who enjoyed the privilege of sitting at the
feet of this grand college president there learned lessons of
patriotism. They were advised to build up the places left waste and
desolate, and to look hopefully forward to a reunited country and a more
prosperous future.
Whatever public disappointment or private grief or loss he suffered was
buried in his own breast. He advised his countrymen that the great
questions which had long divided the country, and upon which opinions
had been so diverse that legislative debate and administrative action
had failed in finding a solution, had been finally settled by the sword,
and that henceforth their duty was to the Union restored and
indissoluble.
With so illustrious an example the immediate restoration of peace and
good order all over the South is not to be wondered at. The annals of
all nations may be searched in vain for a parallel. It is an easy task
for men who have accomplished all they desired to lay down their arms
and return to their homes and resume their former avocations.
The Southern soldier did all this after failure and defeat. The cause
was lost; his efforts availed nothing. The homes of many were in ashes;
sorrow was in every household; many were stripped of their all.
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