, 1879-07-27
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY. PAGES

countrymen OF Washington-' WIS Wy
well, General when we left Amsrca, Hn! asn
| never be otherwise than well. The measure o.
mis- tame is full. Posterity will talk OF him Win
| reverence as the founder OF great empire
when nv name shall be lost In the vortex OIL
| revoluuons.'"
: This is very good specimen Of bis art. ne
soon entered upon his series of anecdotes re-
specting Wasniugton's bovhood. which now ap-
pear so ridiculous. When his own invention
failed be did not hesitate to ava1l m haea1 o.
under contribution among others, and turned
his garden~story into
MOST PREPosTERous CAR1cATuRE.
The father of the boy. he tells us, desiring to
| "start1e' George into lively sense OIL MS
Maker, fell upon the following verfcurious' but
impressive. expedient":
| pared little bed Of fncly-pulverized earthr on
| which he wrote Georges name at full IN large
| letters; then, strewing in plenty OF caboa9e-
Seed be covered them p, Up, and smooshea. az al
| prepared close alongside Of q gooseberrv-walk
which, happening at this time to be well hung
| with ripe fruit. he knew would be honoEed with
Georges visits pretty regularly every day. Not
! many mornings had passed away before IN came
| George, with eyes Withholding, and his little
come here! come here' t.Wnat's the matter,
| my son? What's the matter?' % come here,
| I tell you, pa; come here and I'll show you
such s; 2, sight af you never saw in all your life
The old gentleman OF course proceeds to the
garden, where he discovers In 1arge letters the
! full name OF GEORGE WASHINGTON; upon
which father and son pruceeu to cOnVer6s IN
! manner which would have made DR.. Beattio
| abhor himself for having recorded tie incident
| Mr. Washington also pretended Ito pooh-poon
| the startling phenomenon, but the boy would
not accept this mode Of treating it, and insisted
| upon knowing VINO made his name grow tn the
garden. !" It grew there By chance, suppose,
my son." said the father. This exclamation be-
| ing yehemently rejected, long conversation
acknowledgement OF First Great Cause. George
at length falls into profound si!cl,.e, nd
"his pensive looks y showed .liat nl5 youthful
soul was labortng with the great idea. - Fer
alive Weems, - that the germ OF plety was Gu
| grated on bis heart, which filled his after life
| With such PRECIOUS fruits"
| The hction OF the batcliet and the cherry-trce
/ Is decorated With details equally absurd; but
| they we're such as gave pleasure to the simple
childhood Of past generations. The comic para
| graphst has now appeared IN the world, anu
| this story, once SO edfylng, has fallen before
| him an easy prey. 1t was The pcudler Weems
never ~heless, who created the traditional Wash
ington, i the sunbeam in.council. aud the storm
in wur': Wash ,ngton, the greatest of the great,
| in whose oyerpoTerng presence no mortal could
! st md unabashed; Washington, whose sublime
serenity nothing was eyer known to disturb,-
one Of those majestic comm 4ndcrs who in no
stress Of circumstances could ever use
| "a BIG, BIG D!''
| The lying little book had the more weight with
rustic readers Of the earlier time from u fiction
| which the author boldly placed upon his title
| page, where Le STYLES himself, * NJ L. Weems,
| formerly Rector Of Mt. Vernon PARISH" 1t
NAV be That the term Rector was not very ac-
! al raH in otd Vsr,+3 hufn lar
| day, as remarked above, the Bishop Of Virginia
/ regarded this caimto The Rertorship as some
| thing ridiculous. His name" adis Bishop
/ Meade, :" never appears on the journals Of aur
at Mt Vernon, it must have been because there
| was no other clergyman to perform the duty.
| On one point Wcems is wisely reticent; he
| does not claim for his hero 1lustrious descent.
| 1t was reserved for later writer's to construct
pedtgrees for George Washington which go
meet his name with persons OF various
| distinction In Englah history. Some Of these
pedigrees, as readers are aware, have been
badly damnged BY recent investigators, and
there are now several awkward gaps in The line
Of descent, which are now only filled By the
| imagination. d.. Jared Sparks made minute
personal inquiries in England on this subject;
and later writer's, such as Mr. Irv.ng and Mr.
| Everett, have acccuted bis conclusions without
question. The pedigree being now in course of
reconstruction, We need only observe that the
| idea given OF the staudtug and influence OF the
| family in Virginia by DR.. Sparks, Mr.. Irving,
| Mr.: Everett, and others, does. not harmonIze
with some indubitable facts. Let US uotjce, for
example, the story related Dy all the bographers
| Of yonng Wasnngton's declining a Midship-
mans berth at the last moment to please hts
mo N ner: M Mr: ..:l Irving has worked up this
uud earnest, with an grounding intellect,
and deep.seated passion tor martial enter
! prise, burning to aVcnge the insults to bis
coun1ry's flag by entering the Ro. al navy. The
great difficulty, ar. Irving remarks, was TO
procure the assent Of bis mother! There was
no difficulty at all about getting Midshpnan's
warrant Tor the scion o. so distinguished race.
| Only the feelings of tender moahcr were in
| the way. She was brought at length to yield
| to the lads ambitious desire; the warrant was
| obtained, and "it is even Sdid,n adds Geofrey
| Crayon, THAT the luggage Mc youth was
actually on board Of man-ot war anchored IN
the river, just below Sit. Vernon" But at the
| last moment, be tells US, tile mothers heart
| faltered. ihe thought Of his being com oletely
| severed from her, OF his being exposed to the
dangers Of war and the perils Of the deep, over
came her resolution, and the Ind dutifully gave
| up the scheme.
Bow different is the plain, interesting truth
from this romantic fctionl His mother, left
| widow With five children. and possessing an
estate which only vigorous and able master,
like her late husband, could have made Of much
her household by procuring for this stout, en-
ergetic, hungry boz An opportunity to earn his
own livelihood Sue was advised to send him
TO sea in a tobacco-ship. rs
AN APPRENTICE BEFORE THE MAST,
in the hope that perhaps BIZ good conduct he
might rise to be the captain Of such ship!
Those vessels we're impressive aud captivating
objects to boys living near the Potomac or the
James,-mighty craft of200 OF 300 tons, burden,
which brought from the Old Country every
article OF luxury, and many of utility, whfch the
planters families desired; and, returning, bore
across the sea the produce Of the lands.
The captain Of a fayorite ship was trusted with
commissions OF the most delicate and im mpbrtant
nature. To this. day we can discern in the
demeanor OF the steamboat-captaius on the
James something of the courtesy and fatherly .
care that marked their. progcnitors. who took
Charge Of boys going to Eton, or vonng ladies
sent across tile sea to join their parents in En-
gland. II was the Captain OF the tobacco-ship
who bought the wedd!ng-ring and the brocade,
the fowllng- piece aud the doll, the hogshead OF
Madeira aud the improved pow. His arrival
in the river, and the slow passage up the stream
anchorng opposite each important house, wore
. kind OF triutuphal character, which might we'll
have given Doth to George and his mother the
impression that the captain of such vessel
was among the powerful and enyiab1e men Of
the world.
Mrs. Washington was not living then faud
never did live) in one Of the Virginia mansions
xNt