The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1860-01-27
BEDFORD PA, FRIDAY MORNING, JANUARY 2z, 1860

| glory, pass them and enter the shop of an art-
| zan. She could not resist the wish that the
great Washington should see the child. She
| waited at the door until he was passing out
when she SAID to him, "Your Honor, this little
boy is called for YOU" Washington paused,
and asked his name then with solemnity, such
as belonged only to him. he laid his hand upon
the fair head of the child, and said, "May God
Almighty bless the Iad." Washngton's bles-
sing What an Inheritance And who shall
say that the good mans benediction followed
not the boy-the youth-the man Who SO
sceptical as to hazard the opinion that the BEN
Ison SO Gevoutly uttered by him frofn whose ,ias
| never passed trifing word, was not interwo-
ven in the after life of the happy child, and
passed INTO the fabric Of his destiny, as the warp
| lnterlaces with the wool ?-Who, but He whose
Almighty blessing, was invoked upon the boy,
can tell how that blessing like guardian angel,
all unseen, led the career of the future man; a
career, glorious in the world of letters-n the
universe of high and noble thought, as the ca
reer of the great man for whom he was named,
was sublime and glorious, in the world OF arms
in the universe of great and mighty de eds
Who, but He, who sees the end from the begin
ing, could have foreseen, how those great stars
in their country's armament, would, though
set IN different fields of glory, shine, the Bies-
sed, with lustre, SO much the counterpart of
the Blessing How gloriousIy pure their hight
Washington the hero Of many battles un-
stained with one drop of blood in wantonness
sPllt-Washington, the statesman, the ruler
yet guiltess of the statesmans and the rulers
ambitions and crimes aud int-igues. Well
might the bard of Britain and OF Greece, him
self, alas mighty meteor, flashing, but with
baleful light, exclaim,
"Where may the weared eye repase
When gazing the great,
Where neither guilty glory gows,
Nor despicable state,
Yes, one, the first, the last, the best
The Cincinnatus of the west,
Whom envy dared not hate,
Bequeathed the name of Washington
To make blush, there was bat one''
wen heilteu was tue lrlOute; ana now appfo-
priatey could be paraphrased to apply tolrvng. the
author Of many books Who, that has gathers
ed garlands from the fields OF secular htelat.re
for more than half century, can produce re-
Gprd so unsaned by any unwhoesome thought,
as is his Pure as his own life were his wri-
tIngs; not one thought did either Of his many
volumes contain, that dying, he could have
wished unwritten. No covert apology for vice,
no cavrl at truth; no scotf at virtue: no Danger
Gus opinion; no pernicious demoraliziug senti-
ment, found authorship in him. Others have
penned great thoughts; but how often are their
great thoughts coupled with the basel Others
have written beautiful things, but how often
are their beautiful things, stained and shadowed
by conceptions ofhideous deformitv Full ma
ny there who have written. and the world
IN frenzy Of admiration, has fallen down to
worship at toe shrine of their transcendent
genius; but Of how few of them can 1t be said. !
''the pearls they gathered from the deeps of the
nn5ounded ocean food of mind" were pure, as
brilliant? From the 'sBard of Avon's" pen.
not always flowed an uncorrupted stream. The
muse OF Ayr, not always brought IN purity, her
Stra.D ID him, who struck immortal notes on
Scotia's Tyre. The harp of him, who walked
the plaintive melody of Erin. and sang the i'm
Passoned lays of Persia aud of Araby the Blest,
was not always tuned . virtue and even the
King Of mInstrelsy and ofNromance-the sage
of Abbosford, regretted, dying, that some things
he had written could not be recalled.
Not so with the author OF the E'Sketch Book -
He a0as great in genius; but it was The simpli-
city and purity of his character, more than his
genius, that drew around him at all times. a
host OF toUing friends-lt was the mpartatlon
OF that pure and simple character, that gave to
hls writings their greatest charm How appro- |
pirate that he should be compared ID Washing
ton; how deserving of his name how worthy
Of his blessing; and how beautiful and still how
wonderful, that after long career of honor: |
ITO which he was providentIaIy, by early re-
verses dIrected) honor not only in his own land, I
but worldwide; he shoad close that career.
by linking their two immortal names togetber.
and crown his own fame by recording that OF
the lllustrcus man, whose name he bore; and
and as II to carry the analogy beyond the linn
1t OF time, like Washington, be laid all bis tro-
phes upon the altar of living faith, and died
as he had lived, "Christlan gentleman" But
have digressed from the intention of this pa
per- Personal recolIections are apt to SAVIOR too
much OF the first person singular: The Ego and