Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1903 — TRIBUTES TO WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

TRIBUTES TO WASHINGTON.

Ksteeiu and Affection Shown the Father of His Country. “Born upou our soil—of parents also born upon it —never for a moment having bad sight of the old world—instructed according to the modes of his time, only iu the spare, plain, but wholesome elementary knowledge which our institutions provide for the children of the people —growing up beneath nnd penetrated by tlie genuine influences of American society—living from infancy to manhood and age amidst our expanding, but not luxurious civilization —partaking iu our great destiny of labor, our Ipng contest with unreclaimed nature and uncivilized man—our agony of glory, the war of independence—our great victory of peace, the formation of the Union, and the establishment of the constitution —he is all, all our own. Washington la ours." The foregoing was written by Daniel Webster in regard to the Father of His Country, tiie anniversary of whose birth is mi occasion that is ever freshly remembered by American hearts, "lie was the first man of the time in which he grew,” wrote Rufus Choate. “His memory is first and most sacred in our love; mid ever, hereafter, till the last drop of blood shall freeze in the last American heart, his name shall lie a spell of power and might. There is one personal, one vast felicity which no man can shore with him. It was the daily beauty and towering and matchless glory of his life which enabled him to create ids country, nnd at the same time secure an undying love and regard from the whole American people. Undoubtedly there were brave and wise and good men before l is day in every colony. But the American nation, ns a nation, I do not reckon to have begun before 1774, and the first love of that young America was Washington. She first word site lisped was his name. er earliest breath spoke it. It Is still her proud ejaculation. It will be the l*st gasp of her expiring life. About and around him we call up no dissentient, discordant nnd dissatisfied elements, no sectional prejudice or bias, no party, no creed, no dogma of politics. None of these shall assail him. Yes, when the storm of battle grows darkest nnd rages highest, tho memory of Washington shall narve every American arm nnd cheer every American heart. It shall reillume that Rromethean fire, that sublime fin me of patriotism, that devoted love of country which his words have commended, which his example has consecrated.” The story of George Washington’s life is sn old one, but the salient facts will bear repeating. He was born at Wakefield, Westmoreland County, Virginia, Feb. 22, 1732, lived from 1735 to 1739 nt what I* now Mount Vernon, nnd when he was 7 years old lie was taken to an estate on the Rappahannock, almost opposite Fredericksburg. The father was one of the prosperous planters of Virginia, able to give Ids children what •ducation the times could afford. The first teacher of George Is reputed to have been a convict, whom his father bought for the purpose. All of Washington’s schooling ended before he was lfl. His long and brilliant career ns a soldier and statesman has given to history some of Ita most Interesting pages. “It was strnnge,” wrote Thackeray, “that In a savage foreat of Pennsylvania a young Virginia officer should firo a

shot, and waken up a war that was to last for sixty years, which was to cover his own country and pass into Europe, to cost France her American colonies, to sever ours from us and create the great western republic; to rage over the old world when extinguished in the new; nnd, of all the myriads engaged in the vast contest, to leave the prize of the greatest fame with him who struck the first blow.” As to the exteem and affection in which the name and character of Washington were held one cannot do better tiian quote Lafayette, who wrote from France as follows: "Were you but such a man as Julius Caesar, or the King of Prussia. I should almost be sorry for you at the end of the great tragedy where you are acting such a part. But, with my dear general, 1 rejoice at the blessings of a peace when our noble ends have been secured. Remember our Valley Forge times; and, from a recollection of past dangers and labors, we shall he still more pleased at our present comfortable situation. I cannot but envy the happiness of my grandchildren, when they will be about celebrating nnd worshiping your name. To have one of their ancestors n;»iong your soldiers to know he had the good fortune to be the frieml of your heart, will he the eternal honor in which they shall glory." The poet Shelley, aboard an American slifp. drinking,to the health of Washington and the prosperity of the American commonwealth, remarked: “As n warrior mid statesman lie was righteous in nil he did, unlike all who lived before or since; he never used his power but for the benefit of bis fellow creatures.”