The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-01-22

and cross the Delaware on the ice; you must
recover New Jersey, and you must hail the
arrival of Lafayette; you must adopt your
national flag ia 1777; then YOU must 90
through Burgoyne's campaign and surrender,
and see Schuyler and st. Clair wronged: then
you must fight the battle of Bennington with
Stark, and read of our soldiers patient forth
tude and splendid patriotism; then be de-
teated on the Brandywine, and lose Philadel.
phia; read the great story of the Quaker
woman Darrah, who did such noble service
to Washington at White Marsh; then track
those bleeding feet over the snow at Valley
Forge; go through the dreadful winter of
1777-l77S; see Baron Steuben arrive; then
60 on with Monmouth, Newport, Savannah,
wyoming; read how Wayne surprised Stony
Point, and CORVALLIS still master OF Charles
ton; skip about in your geography-master
the confusing details"
80 Orestes! cannot you let me up little
How dreadful all this is
eyes, but it is the history of your coun-
try, and you must know it. Bear with me
moment longer. See Congress hampered by
want of money; imagine. describe, dwell
upon that depreciation of continental mon
ey.'
"That is not so difficult to do now, judy
ing from recent events"
7'Then get to Arnold's treachery."
~ never could believe in the hanging of
Andre; he was young, he was handsome, he
was brave"
Sand so he must escape Never! 1t was
military necessity"
"Then why not shoot him?''
''That would have been contrary to the
avs of war. Washington did right"
~ know he always did; that is the reason
one cannot always sympathize with him! 1
like little human infrmity."
"You would not have been here if he had
had any human infirmity."
"Perhaps not; but who knows but might
have been in better placeP'
"Ignorance! A remark unworthy of an
American citizen approaching first centen-
Ignorance leads to want of patriotism,
you were about to say, Orestes?'
eyes, indeed it does. The commencement
of the year 1881 found our affairs more hope
less than ever. You will need all your cour-
age to read through this period; but imag-
inc what courage it required to liue it! Stuff
ering in the field, disaffected men, mutiny:
aid solicited from France Robert Morris !!
l declare to you, when Tread his history, and
remember the ingratitude of our government,
think we deserve, mot success but failure.
However, let us skip that until we reach the
siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Corn
wallis; that you can read, can't youW
eff 1 have not lost my eyesight by the
time get there.''
'But now we reach what we were talking
of before, and that is, the defects of the ar
ticles of confederation Remember, the con-
test between the state government and the
general government had led to Shay's rebel
lion in Massachusetts, and that other troubles
beset the unhappy people everywhere. 1t was
in January, 1856 that the initial movement
Of reform was proposed in the legislature of
Virginia, and congress was recommended to
call general convention. George Washing
manned with closed doors over three
months, and produced the constitution
'It was severely criticised, this constitution,
was it not? seem vaguely to have heard
So"
"Oh yes! Alexander Hamilton made
speech of three hours length before New
York would listen to it. Madison and Jay
answered objections from other quarters.
North Carolina and Rhode Island accepted it
only after some delay"
"Little Rhody was recalcitrant?"
eyes. She had a will of her own always"
SHUT it was not until April IA, 1889, that
Washington received an official announce
ment that he was elected president under the
new constitution, was it ?"
'sNo: and in this fact of his being presi-
dent of the convention before, has arisen
much confusion. All American history is
confused. 1t was period of confusion. You
need good head, a clear head, and great
determination TO master it,"
81 have got none oflthese things, but re-
member what Webster said of Hamilton,
He smote the rock of national resources, and
abundant streams of revenue burst FORTH +"
"Ah, yes, you can remember bit of elo-
quence. and you can remember about Ham,
iton, because he was young, and handsome,
and eloquent and a genius. ! want you to
remember about the plain, unheroic people
the silent heroes, the warp and wool of a
lnsey-woolsey history? No brocade, no
cloth of gold, no roseate tints Of romance;
but fabric that was woven to last forever,
to cover the freezing, to protect the lowly, to
be safeguard TO the millions! That is the
sort of stuff our Washington essayed to
weave. If there were some defects in it, con-
slider what an experiment it wasp
"The r0seate tints of romance do come in
occasionally, as in De Soto's march from
Florida to the sea, in the study of Marion
and his men, in the pages of Cooper, and in
such sporadic novels as Horseshoe Robinson
not to speak of our own Irving, whose
'Knickerbocker's History is unique.'
eyes, as work of humor, but I do not
pretend, when 1 ask the young student, or
the woman, to read American history, that
there is much that is roseate about it. It is
singularly difficult to make il interesting to
the young"
Therefore, we have no poetry of pariot-
ism. I find nobody cares much for the Cen
tennial, your numerical accident -.
swell, Ilthink a great mistake has been
made in adding on a great exposition, for
which this country is not ripe, to the politi-
cal celebration, which should be held first at
Philadelphia, then all over the land. We
should speechify, I think; our great national
disease ought to have an airing; we should
fire guns, have professions, and celebrate
the day. More than all, we should ponder in
our hearts the price which these men paid
for our national existence, one hundred years
ago. There should be thousand dollars Of
tered for an essay on the decay of patriot
ISM"
"You are inventing only a more noisy
Fourth of July. 1t will be very warm at
Philadelphia, proverbially the warmest city
on the continent, on the Fourth of JulyW
eyes," said Orestes, gOomily, sand dread
fully crowded"
''But we must remember" said I, with a
glow of patriotic memory, ''that at the battle
of Monmouth more persisted with the heat
than with the sword, and yet they CALAMITY
fought it through
"What?' said Orestes, Gan American wo-
man! and you do know fact in American
history! Why, begin to have hopes of my
countrywomen p'-Appleton' Journal