The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-22
THE ROY FATHER TO THE MAN.


THE BOY FATHER TO THE MAN.
The babe born l52 years ago to-day was but
a babe the same as others born before and
since. He was probably subject to all the in
fantile disorders Of the times, and had the
same herculean task of learning to walk Out
of the gibberish of his gooing and pulling he
finally fashioned ineligible language, and
was petted and punished as occasion required
or the temper of father and mother varied.
In boyhood he was a boy in all that the name
implies. He probably was fond of fishing and
not averse to hunting. He would have been
a good skater had the weather of Virginia
furnished ice at sufficiently frequent intervals.
The story of the cherry tree and hatchet may
be true and may not. The incident
was not impossible, and might have
happened thousand years earlier
to some tan-colored lad in far Cathay. But
whatever boyish traits George Washington
had, it is safe to say that meanness was not
one of them. A mean boy makes mean and
narrow man every time. 1t is impossible to
be otherwise. Had that Virginia lad OF cen
fury and half ago been a sneak, or cruel, or
deceitful, he could never have reached the eX-
allied place he did It is well for the boys Of
to-day to think of the Father of his Country
when he was lad; to try to trace back the
noble qualities of the man to the manly traits
of the boy. 1t is possible to be boy and
still be manly; to laugh, shout, run,
whistle, SWIM hunt and fish, and still
he honorable and high-spirited. The
boy who is above petty meanness
is the best boy for friend and companion
Confident in his own honesty of purpose he
is inspired to go on to any undertaking that
any other boy or man ever accomplished. 1t
will be a sad day for this country when the
stock of George Washington boys runs out
That day has not yet come. There is much
of wickedness in the world, but there are
thousands Of clear-eyed, clean hearted boys
scattered all over the land To each and all
of these it is a grand thing to think of Wash
ington, not only as leader of armies and
President Of the new republic, but as boy,
ong-limbed and animated by every decent
boyish impulse that comes to young hearts
in all times and in all lands. In
the memorial services in the schools to-day it
would be well to turn back the leaves of
Washington's life to the pages where the
pictures are most frequent, and see his grand
and patriotic nature unfolding as the years
pass over his youthful head. Some one put
into the head and heart of the boy George
Washington those things that gave his name
and fame Immortality, just as numberless
mothers to-day are watching over and praying
over boys who may be as pure and good as
Washington, though the eXigencies of the
times may not allow them to become as
great But great as Washington was as
soldier and leader, he was greater
still in his unfinching integrity and
perfect patriotism. He loved his country
first; loved it so well and so ingenuously that
when he declined the greatest honor CRATE
full people could offer, he did it so unostenta-
tiously as to make the act perpetual marvel
for more ambitious and less conscientious men,
From boyhood to manhood from birth to
death, Washington was true to himself and to
his felow-men. His example is wholesome,
and his virtues should be held up for emula-
ton by the grooming generation, so that
those who follow in the conduct of this grand
and growing republic may be too patriotic to
wish for anything but the peoples welfare and
the nations good.