He was the
only one of all the men I have known that could laugh at the faults and
follies of his friends in such a manner as to make them ashamed without
touching their affection for him."
Lee graduated from West Point with the Class of '29, and the rank of
second lieutenant of engineers. His first important move after leaving
school was to choose for wife Mary Custis, daughter of George
Washington Parke Custis of Arlington, the last branch of the Washington
family. Here again the fates linked up the names of Washington and
Lee. The two homes at Arlington and Mt. Vernon were only a few miles
apart on the Potomac, and as a final link in the chain we find, years
after, at the close of his life, Lee giving his last efforts to
building up Washington College, which was to be known thereafter as
Washington and Lee.
When Mary Custis became Mrs. Robert E. Lee there was some disparity in
their fortunes. She was the heiress of the Custis estate, while he was
drawing only the meager pay of a second lieutenant. But such was her
pride and confidence in him, that she turned her back on money and
decided to live on her husband's income. It was harsh training for a
time, but it fitted her to become a real helpmeet for him; and in the
rigorous days of the Civil War she was glad that she had learned early
to "do without.
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