in their behalf were unceasing.  The burden of these demands was that, unless his men’s wants were attended to, the Southern cause was lost; and it plainly revolted his sense of the fitness of things that men upon whom depended the fate of the South should be shoeless, in tatters, and forced to subsist on a quarter of a pound of rancid bacon and a little corn bread, when thousands remaining out of the army, and dodging the enrolling-officers, were well clothed and fed, and never heard the whistle of a bullet.  The men understood this care for them, and returned the affectionate solicitude of their commander in full.  He was now their ideal of a leader, and all that he did was perfect in their eyes.  All awe of him had long since left them—­they understood what treasures of kindness and simplicity lay under the grave exterior.  The tattered privates approached the commander-in-chief without embarrassment, and his reception of them was such as to make them love him more than ever.  Had we space we might dwell upon this marked respect and attention paid by General Lee to his private soldiers.  He seemed to think them more worthy of marks of regard than his highest officers.  And there was never the least air of condescension in him when thrown with them, but a perfect simplicity, kindness, and unaffected sympathy, which went to their hearts.  This was almost a natural gift with Lee, and arose from the genuine goodness of his heart.  His feeling toward his soldiers is shown in an incident which occurred at this time, and was thus related in one of the Richmond journals:  “A gentleman who was in the train from this city to Petersburg, a very cold morning not long ago, tells us his attention was attracted by the efforts of a young soldier, with his arm in a sling, to get his overcoat on.  His teeth, as well as his sound arm, were brought into use to effect the object; but, in the midst of his efforts, an officer rose from his seat, advanced to him, and very carefully and tenderly assisted him, drawing the coat gently over his wounded arm, and buttoning it up comfortably; then, with a few kind and pleasant words, returning to his seat.  Now the officer in question was not clad in gorgeous uniform, with a brilliant wreath upon his collar, and a multitude of gilt lines upon the sleeves, resembling the famous labyrinth of Crete, but he was clad in a simple suit of gray, distinguished from the garb of a civilian only by the three stars which every Confederate colonel in the service, by the regulations, is entitled to wear.  And yet he was no other than our chief, General Robert E. Lee, who is not braver than he is good and modest.”