The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-02-27
For the Courier
WasIlilg:On's Birth Day.
By A CONTRIBUTOR.

The anniversary Of Washington. It should
he gala day in the hist ,ry of or nation
Oar holidays are so few and fur between,
that we might well afford to celebrate this
one with extraordinary and pure attention.
1t would be much to our credit, if on this
memorable day, we wonld cast aside that
overwhelming sense OF the impotanc of
business, that surprising, monopolis;ng, soul
devouriag, time destroying passion for the
acquisition of wealth, which eats into our
very nature and acidulates the cup Of even
momantary pleasure, AMI meet like men and
do honag, to the memory Of the great, the
good the wise, the noble, the dignifed the
Incompatible Father of his country, GEORGE
WASHINGTON.
Mr.. Hamilton, in his "IIistory o. tn, Re-
public" may intimate that WASHINGTON was
not mastery writer We know that ne
was no orator His speeches were as quaint
novelties as his smiles Burr insisted that
he was deficient in every token Of genius as
a General. Contemporary pamphleteers pro-
nounced him cold, unintellectual, reserved,
and querulous. There were not those want
ing in his day, to stigm m,tizo him as pashon-
ate beyond control, aud dogmatic beyond en-
durance, and tim;d almost to pusillanimty.
Yet he beheld many of his calumniators die
in envious anguish at his distinction. He
lived TO crush with his pure public role, the
ISLANDERS of some, while the warm. fond,
gushing popular rememberance has left of
the disparagement of Others, scarcely enough
of Importance to more than renler them
curiosities in tier opposition to the general
sentiment.
WASHINGTON was one Of the very few hui
man beings, whose name history has con-
scnted to embalm, without the introduction
of simple drawback to its hold on immor-
tality He had his faults, no doubt it is
the lot of human nature but what ever they
may have been, his noble disinterestedness
of purpose, his quiet faith, his sef-sacrificing
spirit his modesty and glory, both as civil
liam and warrior, have long since succeed.
ed in obliterating them forever from the
record of his own and his country's great
ness. He is one Of whom We may think
without solitary pang for his infrmaties.
lie is one to whose career we may proudly
point in illustrating the achievements of the
nations Independence. And if We have
ever had Just reason to feel ashamed of any
thing in connection with the day that pre-
s,nted him as God-like boon to the world
OF western liberty, it IL of the cool indifcr-
ence with which we, in spite Of our really
grateful feelings, recognize it in the almanac
of our annual engagements. 1t isa disgrace
to every true lover of his country. We
know it. every body knows it; but what is
every body's business is nobody's business,
and nobody attends to this celebration with
his usual discretion aud assiduity.
The anniversary of GEORGE WAsHINGrS
in 1861, shows wide, a lamentab'c moral
difference in the mind of the American peo-
pie, when compared with that of 1896, when
this nation was guided by that great, and
good man. Bat thank God, the patriotism
of former days, Is once more entering the
hearts of large majority Of the American
people, now known as Republicans. These
are men who dare do right men who have
spoke through the Chicago platform the
life breathing, patriotic sentiments of GEORGE
WASHINGTON.
That sentiment has already made clear ia
all intelligent men, that it is the pure patri.
otc sentiments Of our fore fathers, aid thai