Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1858-03-19
Extract from Hunters Address.

there is one man who, more than all
others, may be said to have organized
and directed this great movement Of hui
man society, there is one name which,
above all others, represents this mighty
epoch in history, aud that is the name of
/ GEORGE WASHINGTON, the son Of Virgil !
MIA, the father of his country, the best
and perhaps the wiscst of all who have
ruled the destinies of our race A name
which represents more Of human fame,
beeause it has more deeply affected hu-
man destiny than any other that figures
in the annals Of man.
1t is a duty, then, which Virginia
owes to him, to herself, and TO posterty,
to tell the great story of his life in all
tho forms in which it can reach the hearts |
and minds of men, Let it be told in the
graceful numbers of the poet let it be
carried down in the everlasting traditions
of history let it be imagcd forth in the
highest impcrsonat;ons Of painters and
sculptors genius. There is a great mo-
raj in that story which ought to be felt
by every human heart, for it is the story
of one who alone, Of all the great rulers
of men, has proved by consistent ex-
ample, that in the midst of temptations
and the most scducing opportunities for
the qualification of a selfish ambition, he
preferred the duties of life to its plea
sures, its power, and even to life itself
Let, then, Virginia, on this his natal
day, raise the eihgy of her nobest son
before the eyes Of admiring men; and
who shall blame her if some touch Of
maternal pride should be mingled with
the tears Of pious regard which she may
shed for him who was the worlds great
paragon for all that is sublime in public
virtue, and all that is patient and brave
in the human soul She raises this i'm
age not to refresh the fountains of her
grief, not to take tribute for the souls
+, deep wound, not to express the sad sense
of bereavement in whatever form may
be most enduring; but she this day ele-
Yates it in the face of the world to conse-
crate his memory in the best affections of
, every heart. and to dedicate his name to
the great cause of humanity, and as
common possession of all mankind. This
is no id.e ceremonial of grief which we
celebrate to-day; but State is inaugu-
rating with the reverential sorrow which
such greatness may inspire in even a mo-
theirs heart, the influence Of perhaps the
: highest human example, which is TO be
as wide as the world in its operation and
=, to command love and sympathy from
!. every human heart. Long, then, may
: yonder expressive bronze continue to
: speak its lessons of virtue and wisdom to
!, each succeeding generation of man. L.
Let the mother bring her boy hither that
she may teach him in this presence, ms
. her earliest lesson, so much Of the great
- story Of Washington as he may be able
: to appreciate and comprehend Let the
' aspiring youth whose ambition, like Ce-
: sar's, may have been fred by the study
7 of examples Of early successes so much
y greater than his own, pause to behold
i that calm face and consider its associated
story of patient fortitude and noble per-
severance Or should he, in his eager
ness for fame, find that he is in danger
to prefer the prizes of ambition to good
: ness, let him pursue thai story TO its con-
= clusion and learn that it was Washing
: toms unfaltoring loyalty to duty and faith
! in virtue which endowed him with nm al
: most superhuman strength. and made his
name immortal among men.
1t is the man of maturer years, who,
disappointed in bis aspirations and mis-
construed in his best and noblest efforts
for his race, begins to grow weary in the
struggle and to despair Of achieving any
thing great or even good, let him consider
how sternly the great soul Of which that
statute speaks was tried, and with what
courage it passed through the fires of a
consuming strife, until every difficulty
: was surmounted and it stood purified and
annealed by the fierce ordeal to which il
; which it had been exposed. Who,
amongst US all, might not gather from
his meditations, in this calm presence,
precious lessons for the guidance and di-
rection Of future conduct Here, then,
is the gonious loci which should invite
the universal pilgrimage Of man. for all
its influences are sacred to the great cause
Of humanity itself Touched by the in
J spring hand Of human genius, that mute
bronze pours forth its full tide Of living
associates which, like water from the
rock of Horeb, may refresh the soul of
him whose hopes and strength arc failing
under the toiisomc and it may be, the
sad experience Of his devious journey
{ through life.
This statute is not merely monument
to Washington, but an altar erected 10
Heroic Virtue itself, before which the
, human heart may purify its own aspira-
tons under the Christening influences Of
the great example Of the Father Of bis
, Country, and upon which it may sacrifice
every wild or mad desire that may be
adverse to the country's good.
And yet this monument itself will pass
away when time, with corroding tooth,
shall have dissipated atom by atom its
consccratcd dust But when all It's parti-
cles, fugitive on the winds, shall have
disappeared from human view, there will
still survive tho monument which Wash
ington's own genius has erected for ITSELF
for there is promise in which wo all
conGde, that the good which men do
shall life after them. How much Of all
] we admire 10 human achievements must
loose its influence in the end, because it
is founded in i'll. The very process Of
its progress dissipates IL at last, for the
oirofaa If ila iuapttlga e,rnty faiuiar % ihov