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Writing immediately before his death, Lee carefully articulates his opinion of men and of history.
Despite the intense pain that characterized the last few years of his life, Lee's thoughts are calm
and, above all, hopeful.
The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of
progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of
the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus
discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope.