Page 6 Advertisements Column 4

New Zealander, Volume XX, Issue 2080, 2 April 1864, Page 6

Sketch of General Lee. —General Lee is, al- " most without exception, the handsomest man of his ■ age I ever saw. He is fifty-six years old, tall, broad- - shouldered, very well made, well set up—a thorough • soldier in appearance ; and his manners are most L courteous and full of dignity. He is a perfect gentlet man in every respect. I imagine no man has so few , enemies, or is so universally esteemed. Throughout ’ the South all agree in pronouncing him to be as near [ perfection as a man can be. He has none of the small vices, snch as smoking 1 , drinking, chewing, or swearing; and his bitterest enemies never accused him of any of the greater ones. He generally wears a well-worn long grey jacket, a high black felt hat, and blue trousers tucked into his Wellington boots. I never saw him carry arms ; and the only mark of his military rank are three stars on his collar. He rides a handsome horse, which is extremely well-groomed. He himself is very neat in his dress and person ; and in the most arduous marches he always looks smart and clean. In the old army he was always considered one of the best officers ; and, at the 'outbreak of these troubles, he was lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Cavalry. He was a rich man, but his fine estate was one of the first to fall into the enemy’s hands. I believe he has never slept in a house since he has commanded the Virginian army ; and he invariably declines all offers of hospitality, for fear the person offering it may afterwards get into trouble for having sheltered the rebel General, The relations between him and Longstreet are quite touching, they are almost always together. Longstreet’s corps' complain of this sometimes, as they say they never get a chance of detached service, which falls to the lot of Ewell. It is impossible to please Longstreet more than by praising Lee. I believe these two generals to be as little ambitious and as thoroughly unselfish as any men in the world. Both long for a successful termination of the war, in order that they may retire into obscurity. Stonewall Jackson (until his death, the third in command of the army) was just such another simple-minded servant of his country. It is understood that General Lee is a religious man, but not so demonstrative in that respect as Jackson ; and, unlike his late brother in arms, he is a member of the Church of England. His only faults, as far as 1 can learn, arise from his excessive amiability. — Blackwood's Magazine. Doctors and their Difficulties. —The onerous duties which medical gentlemen are compelled to undertake have been fully shewn up in a recent action, viz.—Sym v. Frazer, in which a drunken dirty old lady brought an action against the medical men who had been called in to save her from the effects of intoxication.—A verdict was given'for the defendant, and a member of the profession writing in the Times afterwards, thus states the difficulties that beset the profession : “ Not unfrequently a surgeon’s best energies, both of mind and body, are required when they are well nigh spent. Called at a moment’s notice to act in some desperate emergency. he must be prompt and fearlessly accept the i responsibility however thankless it may be. Must he not fit himself for this by a life of stud® and discipline? Again, his domestic life is one of continued self denial. His professional toils frequently are so unceasing as barely to admit of reasonable time for a meal, not to mention the inroads made upon his health by disturbed nights. It is only by great effort and method that the Sabbath brings in part its appointed rest to his jaded and weary frame. The medical man is oftentimes overwhelmed by his immense responsibilities ; and if from no higher motive, surely the public might see that it is to their interest to encourage him amid his anxieties by kindly forbearance for his shortcomings, and a just appreciation of his services, rather than by manifesting, as is too often -the case, a harsh scrutiny of his motives, coupled with an unwillingness to remunerate him in proportion to his labours. I am. Sir, your obedient servant,—A Hospital Surgeon., i True, 0 King I—-A. sceptic thinks it very, extraordinary .that an.ass once talked like a man. Isn’t it still more extraordinary that thousands of men are continually talking like asses 1 The latest style of hoop-skirts, is the self-adjusting, double-back-action, bustle-etruscan, : face-expansion, Piccolomini-attachment, gossamer indestructible, po-' locticomoram. It is said to be a very charming thing.