Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-08-21
Washlngt0n's Hatehet.

THE NAN VINO INVENTED IT AsD BET IT
AOoING.
James Parton in the Magazine d American Iistory.
Towards the close Of the last century,
an eccentric bookseller, WeeJns by name.
used 10 ride about in the Southern
States with an assortment of literature
in his little wagon and fiddle under
the seat. lie sold in tho daytime, from
house TO house, and from county TO
county, and in the evening, when he
put up for tie night at some plantation
house, he w.S ready with his fiddle,
either TO am Ise the family or 10 70 into
the negro quarter and strike up tune
for the servants to- dance 10. lie seems
TO have been a good natured, easy.going
man, with a talent for telling stories, a
talent which makes almost any man
welcome almost anywhere. have call.
ed this man book peddler; but that
was by no means the title he gave him.
self. If lac had such thing as card
about him, it would have born the
words, Rev. Mason Lock Wcems.
Among the polite readers of this peri.
odieal, ] presume there are many who
have never 30 much as heard tho name
OF this singular genius. continually
met welliniormed people who know
nothing OF him, and who gaze with in.
credullty when thcy are told that he
wa not only yoluuinous author, but
one Of the most influential that ever
lived in the United ST. ties. Take one
remarkable instance: II was Wcems'
Life Of Washinetou' that assisted 10
call forth the latent mind Of Abraham
Lincoln when hc was ragged, iguo.
rant, harc'ootcd boy Of the frontier.
fourteen years Of age. He borrowed
the fascinating little book from neigh.
Dor, and ~ often as hc could snatch
few minutes he read it with ayidity, o.
hundreds Of thousands Of boys had done
before him. and as Thousands are now
doing. when he began his Life Of
Washington hc evidently resolved 20
give hi. readers an abundant supply Of
such anecdotes. He said the people
had heard enough OF Washington, "thc
hero, the dcm.god, the sunbeam in
council, and tho storm in war :" hc
meant 20 present 10 his countrymcn
Washington, the dutiCul son, the alicc-
tionate brother, the cheerful schoolboy,
the neat draurhtsman, the widow hus-
band, the poor man friend. For this
hc had two qualifications 4 style of
considerable force. and an absolute in
scusibI!ity 20 the claims Of truth, 10
which we may add the artiiccs Of the
practiced stoTy-tcllcr. The fiction Of
the hatchct and the cherry tree is dec.
GRATED with de.ails equally sJ.urd; but
they were such a. gave pleasure 10 the
simple childhood OF pa-t generations.
The comic paragraphist has now appear
ed in the world, and this story. onces.o
edifying, has fallen before him as A.
easy prey. II was the peddlcr Wcems~
nevertheless, who created the tradition.
al Washington, "the sunbeam in coun.
cil and the storm in war = Washing.
ton, the gre test Of the great, in whose
overpowerinp presence no mortal could
stand unabashed Washington, wi ose
blime serenity nothing was ever
kno yn 10 disturb, one of those majestic
commanders who in no stress Of crcum.
stances could ever use "a big, big u r.
The lying little book had the more
weight with rustic readers of the earlier
time from a fiction which the author
boldly placed upon his title page, where
he styles himself, M. l.. Weems. form.
erly Rector OF Mount Vernon Parish"
! may be that the term rector was not
very accurately defined in old Virginia,
but at a later day, AZ remark ed above.
the Bishop Of Virginia regarded this
claim to the rectorship as something
ridiculous. "His name" adds Bishop
Meade, never appears on the journals
Of any Of our conventions" II Wecms
ever ofiiciated At Mount Vernon. it
must have been because there was no
other clergyman 10 perform the duty,