ieved the tedium of his long and closely-reasoned
demonstrations. He never descended to the level of his pupils'
understanding, nor did he appreciate their difficulties. Facts
presented themselves to his intellect in few lights. As one of his
chief characteristics as a commander was the clearness with which he
perceived the end to be aimed at and the shortest way of reaching it,
so, in his explanations to his stumbling class, he could only repeat
the process by which he himself had solved the problem at issue. We
may well believe that his self-reliant nature, trained to intense
application, overlooked the fact that others, weaker and less gifted,
could not surmount unaided the obstacles which only aroused his own
masterful instincts. Nevertheless, his conscientious industry was not
entirely thrown away. To the brighter intellects in his class he
communicated accurate scholarship; and although the majority lagged
far behind, the thoroughness of his mental drill was most useful, to
himself perhaps even more than to the cadets.

1854 to 1857.

The death of his first wife, daughter of the reverend Dr. Junkin,
President of Washington College, after they had been married but
fourteen months, the solution of his religious difficulties, and his
reception into the Presbyterian Church; a five months' tour in
Europe, through Scotland, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy;
his marriage to Miss Morrison, daughter of a North Carolina
clergyman: such were the chief landmarks of his life at Lexington.
Ten years, with their burden of joy and sorrow, passed away, of
intense interest to the individual, but to the world a story dull and
commonplace. Jackson was by no means a man of mark in Rockbridge
county. Although his early shyness had somewhat worn off, he was
still as reserved as he had been at West Point. His confidence was
rarely given outside his own home. Intimates he had few, either at
the Institute or elsewhere. Still he was not in the least unsociable,
and there were many houses where he was always welcome. The academic
atmosphere of Lexington did not preclude a certain amount of gaiety.
The presence of Washington College and the Military Institute drew
together a large number of families during the summer, and fair
visitors thronged the leafy avenues of the little town. During these
pleasant months the officers and cadets, as became their cloth, were
always well to the fore. Recreation was the order of the day, and a
ro