General Lee on Being a Father

                     Vol. IX, No. 7, August 1996

General Lee tells an interesting anecdote in connection with his son, Custis. On leave one snowy winter morning, the general was walking with Custis down a path near the house. Since the snow was several inches deep, little Custis began falling behind. Realizing he had outpaced his little companion, Lee glanced back over his shoulder to see where he was. He saw Custis imitating his every movement, with head held high and shoulders square, putting his feet in his father’s footprints. “When I saw this,” chimed the general, I said to myself, ‘It behooves me to walk very straight, when this fellow is already following in my tracks.’” [A. L. Long, Memoirs of Robert E. Lee, p. 34.]

[Editorial Comment: Oh fathers – and mothers – are you walking “very straight”? Your little ones are imitating your every move, every belief much, much more than you realize. TCP]