The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1879-08-22
WAsHINGTON's LITTLE RATCHET.

WASHINGTON'S LITTLE RATCHET.
The Man Who Made 1t, and Who Manu-
featured the Silly Anecdotes.
James Parton IN the Magazine of American
History.
Toward the close of the last century an
eccentric bookseller, Weems by name,
used to ride about in the southern states
with an assortment of literature in his
little wagon, and fiddle under the seat.
He sold, in the daytime, from house to
house, and from county to county, and
in the evening, when he put up for the
night at some plantation house, he was
ready with his fiddle, either to amuse the
family, or to go into the negro quarters
and strike up tune for the servants to
dance to. He seems to have been 4 good
natured, easy-going man, with a talent
for telling stories; talent which makes
almost any man welcome almost any
where.
have called this man book peddler !;
but that was by no means the title he
gave himself. If he had had such Il
thing as card about him, il would have
borne the words, Rev. Mason Locke
Weems. He had figured in the pulpit
in his time, and it has been recently as
certained that he was ordained in Mary
land a Clergyman of the Episcopal
church. In early manhood, we find him
a hanger-On, or curate unattached, in
Pollok parish, near Mount Vernon, the
the church which was for many years at
tended by General Washington and his
family. He used to speak of himself
sometimes as the rector of that parish.
Bishop Meade, of Virginia, who knew
him in his own bOyhOOd, intimates that
the idea of NJ. L. Weems being the in
cumbent of parish was preposterous.
II acknowledge" wrote the bishop, "that
he was in the habit of having the SER
wants assemble in private houses, where
he would spend the night, and would re-
cite a portion of scripture 0or he never
read it out of a book and perhaps say
something to them, or in the prayer about
them; but then it was in such Il way as
only to produce merriment." The bish.
OPP adds that he had been an eyewitness
of Weems' ludicrOus exhibitions, both al
his mothers house and his own. and he
does not think that Weems could have
long made any serious pretence to be a
settled rector. 1t is possible he may have
officiated IN Pohick church in the pres
ence of Washington, and doubtless he
had often gaZed upon the general with
sincere veneratlon.
Among the polite readers of this peri
Odical, l presume there are many who
have never so much as heard the name O
this singular genius. continually NEE
well-informed people who know nothing
of him, and who gaze with incredibly
when they are told that he was not only
a vOluminOus author, but one of the mos
influential that ever lived in the UniteC
States. Take one remarkable instance
It was Weems' Life of Washington
that assisted to call forth the latent mine
of Abraham Lincoln, when he was a rag
ged, ignorant, bare-footed boy of thu
frontier, fourteen years of age. He Dor
rowed the fascinating little book from
neighbor, and as often as he could snatch
a few minutes he read 1t with avidity, a!
hundreds of thousands of boys had dom
before him, and as thousands are nov
doing. 1t proved a costly book to tn
poor lad, for when it was not in use h
. was accustomed to place 1t on a shelf il
his lather's miserable log hut; and on
night, while the future President wa
asleep, the rain poured through a crew
ice between the logs and spoiled tn
. precious volume. Books were books OF
the frontier then. The owner refused t.
take back the damaged volume, anC
. Abraham was Obliged to pay for IL b.
. working three days for twenty-five cent
day. The book is still one of the sta
pie commodities of the trade, although
, the polite world never sees ii and rarel
, hears of it. Probably it was a sketch
published in 1894 by DR.. Beattie, of hi
eldest son, which suggested to the in
r geniOus Weems the plan of his Life @
, Washington"
"In a corner of little garden" wrOt
Dr. Beattie, without informing any pei
f son of the circumstance, l wrote in til
mould, with my finger, the three initia
e letters of my sons name; and sowin
garden crosses in the burrows, covered u
the seed and smoothed the ground. Tel
days after he came to me, and with a,
constituent in his countenance, told m
l that his name was growing in the gal
D den. ] smiled at the report, and SCENE
inclined to disregard it; but he insiste
on my going to see what had happened
Yes said l, carelessly, on coming {
!. the place, i see it is so; but there
nothing in this worth notice, it is mer
chance; and went away. He follOwe
me, and taking hold of my coat, sais
!: with some earnestness; 1t could not L
: mere chance, tor somebody must hav
contrlVed Matters SO as to produce it,
The father then called the attention {
y his son to the various parts of his bod,
! and their evident adaptedness to the pu
POoCo III NCLC
: used, until he reached the point whic
= he desired to enforce: what begins
= be must have cause, and what is form
s ed with regularity must haYe an INTEL
y gent cause"
The boy was greatly affected, the fatht
!, adds, and never forgot the lesson, nor I'll
: manner in which it was brought to b
Il attention. Rousseau had made this moo
of dealing with the youthful mind e
> ceedingly popular, and the story was we
calculated to attract the notice of stOr
I telling Weems. When he began his Ii
u of Washington he evidently resolved
Z give bis readers an apundSnt supply
such anecdotes. He Slid tile people III
heard enough of Washington, s'the her
], the demi-god, the sunbeam in council al
q the storm in war;" he meant to prese
le to his countryman Washington, the du
y full son, the affectionate brother, the chez
full school-boy, the neat draughtSman, Il
widows husband, the poor mans frien
Oh For this he had two qualifications:
G. style ofconsiderable force and an abSolu
insensibility to the claims of truth,
which we may add the artiflce ofthe prs
n tised story-teller.
h, The very opening sentence of the boz
Sc shows the stOry-teller's tact. The mar
k that filled the world in 1900, when
rs wrote theiwork, was Napoleon Bonapar
n Weems availed himself of the circul
-, fNlI