The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-02-22
TODAY.


To-day is the anniversary of tn,
immortal George Washington. Ont
hundred and ffty-two years sgt
there came into the world in hum
bic home in Virginia one whom the
nation reyeres MOI e than it doeE any
other. And while We do not now
as IN the past, honor the anniversary
of his birth with the boom of can
non and the blow Of trumpets, We
yet elevate him absve all the heroic
figures of history, and worship him
as the soldier, patriot, statesman
and ruler whose crown of glory has
never been furnished and whose i'm
mortality is fsdeless. 1t Is theory
Of mankind that only after death
terminates a mans laboys does the
world recognize his services; Wash
ington was striking exception to
the rule, for in his life time was he
loved and revered by his country
men, and recognized and honored by
the world; he was also rewarded
more substantially than by mere
plsudits, for besides honors
rewards were forced upon
him by a pitiful republic,
which he had done go much to ore
ate and establish. To-day politicians
will quarrel and wrangle over the
spoils of Office, and they viii tell us
that the nation is on the down grade
TO destruction, but deep down in the
hearts of the people there will exist
an abiding faith in the peace and
liberties and permanency of the
grand republic that the untitled
hero helped to establish and found.
Men will tell their children of Wash.
ington, and in their minds keep
green the memory of his virtues,
patriotism and fidelity. The career
of Washington was unlike that of
SO many of the worlds heroes, who
have stood forth in the hour of q |
peoples peril, to battle for individ~
ual freedom and national liberty. It
wss not sudden inspiration that
flashed across his mind and led
him to forswear his allegiance to
the King. He reached the striking
point by a course of slow and eau.
tious reasoning. He was born to be
true and loyal. and grievous wrongs
long persisted only drove him to as
sert the rights that man feels are
his. There we've long years of
troublous times in the country, and
while the hotsheaded and impatient
were loudly and incautionsly de.
manding speedy and furious redress
which might never have been,
Washington was ever found counsel
ing caution, moderation and pa
thence. 1t was a serious thing to
deny the mother country, and the
contemplation Of the results to
which that denial might lead was
even more serious. It was reason
and thoughtfulness that guided him.
while Others were reVeling in the |
heat of partisan strife and wars Of
words, Of pamphlets and OF docu.
ments. He did not allow
these to affect his calm esui.
poise. He had an Unborn
love for SYSTEM, for law and order,
and a bump of caution which would
not allow him to bring on disaster
by ill-timed or ill-advised action.
But when by the slow processes
his mind had teen made up and his
plal formed, only death or loss of
reasoning faculties could change his
purposes. II was then that he de-
clared that no government in Amer.
lea "wili ever submit to the loss OF
those valuable rights and privileges
which are essential to the inhabls- !
ants Of every free State, .and with
out which life, liberty and property
are rendered totally insecure" He
then accepted his new trust, and
never thereafter swerved in his de-
votion to country and the principles
of freedom. He was not inflated
by success, any more than he was
daunted by disaster; all through the
long, weary and severe trouble he
never for a moment faltered |
or entertained the thought
of failure. When peace came
he went back to his fields
as humbly and quietly as he had left
hem in obedience to the calls Of
country and conscience.
The story CT this father OF bis