Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-09-05

! Washington swore, at ,east once, and in the
same spirit that rambling writer Mr. James
Parton, in the August Magazine of American
History, furnishes facts which go to show
that the Father Of his Country was much
more like an ordinary mortal than he appears
in the eulOgy of Everett or the biography of
! Irving His deeds have been nmplihed and
| his writings edited until Washington stands
! to us in much the same relation that Alexan-
der and Cesar do, as n sort of demigod that
was lent to mankind for the purpose of
achieving American independence. All the
| biographies Of Washington are full of this
admiration, and it was this fact which led
Mr.. Parker to rejoice in any tangible evidence
of his profanity According TO Mr.. Parton
the inan who has told most lies about Wash
ington was the Rev. Mason Locke Weems, n
quondam Episcopal clergyman; indeed, the
manufacture of these lies has been his chief
means of posthumous fame. II was Weems's
Life of Washington" that helped to call
forth the latent mind of Abraham Lincoln
when he was n ragged, barefooted boy of the
frontier, only II years of age, and the book
is 30 popular, though unknown TO the book
trade, that it is manufactured like spelling
books or clothespins, as required. Many Of
the stories of Waslingtons childhood were
pure invention, like that of the hatchet and
the cherry-tree, or stolen from other books,
wonder at the idea of the Great First Cause,
or exaggerated, like that of his declining
midshipman's berth to please his mother
The facts of Washington's early life were
far otherwise. His mother was the wife of
hard-working Virginia planter, and, being
left suddenly with five children to support
was compelled 10 look up "A situation where
George could take care Of himself. The po-
sition opened for him to 90 to sea in a tobac-
co ship, rs an apprentice before the mast.
He was too poor to enter the navy with any
hope of preferment, and, though inheriting a
few hundred acres of land from his fathers
estate, was what is called too real estate
poor to do anything with it until he had
earned the means Of buying few
slaves by his business as a surveyor. There
was nothing of the feudal aristocrat in him.
and all attempts to trace his ancestry into the
Middle Ages have been notorious failures.
Mr. Parton goes to the other extreme He
claims that Washington was not man Of rich
or striking mental gifts, and holds it as part
OF his glory that he was not greatly endowed
He had but one exceptional and unique gift,
and that was his genius for rcctitude. His
justice said Mr.. jefferson, was the most
inheNible have ever known" He never act
ed until he had exhausted every means with
in his reach for ascertaning the true course.
His education was chiefly of one kinda
close contact with rude things and average
men. aud "as far as be saw" again remarks
Mr.. Jefferson. mo judgment is ever sound
err lie came Of "A thriving race, and even
in his sixteenth year knew how to trough it,"
,f ,,,,. r,o,,, ,.,,i,t, no., ,,;t "a i'd,
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tho Uo,,so ~ I,,r,,,y,,. ,,nd .,.a,, h., hr
an NO, r.acb H., tli,,,, ,,t 800 "a 80,
which is conut.J ,s ,l,,, s,s.is1 o5van,ooa of
n r;.I no., ,,,,'., i;.. ell, -
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lists and ,I' no,l,.r rl,,,,, ,ros ol,, ,,,or of
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the opir;on IN g. o,',, Na.on tLot in dafensa
81 nc, Ill ,,,I - - -,
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cvcitrd witIi,, lin, tho Trofonn,iest sorrov,
nntAtInn q
homo IN rim ,y,. ,.l,,r.st, yistic. "Can - viz
tucus man I'.itnt.' i'm Lis cboice :" w., NJ
Parton is ri,bt in SAYING that dnr;pg all of
his nr.lhn,rary neri9d bc wos MOT a
lender of th.. rry,lntionnrv movement Ho
,as nc, ,,,or.. ,I,o,,,,bt ~ r. a., O., CT
yyas nynect,l IL, a., H. ~ ,bo ba,,Ia' 81
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Rohert Leo would givr nm his sword Ha Is
right a,,,ir in so,iSc, tbot ,bere does NOT an
near ~ bnya bee;, a1ytLing in the Fnro,,ean
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viii 1Ie,n1rt. ,ybieeh ~, lid not co,,troI
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