The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-01-10
GEORGE WASHINGTON,

GEORGE WASHINGTON,
 Bill Nye, in New York Mercuy.1
 Now that the workmen are clearing away the scaffolding from the tallest monument in the world, we are led to in- auire, who was George WashingtonI He was the father ot his country for one thing. He gave this country start that it has never fully recovered from. He was also first in peace, first in war aud first in the hearts of his countrymen. He did not take the position on account of .he salary. At that time the pay was not large, yet George attended to the work we'll. He would get up before day light and work till late in the night. He very seldom took holiday, and used to work right on through the 22nd, of February as he did other days. George Washington was different from some of our modern statesmen in many respects. | He scorned to enter convention and grapple with the delegates all day. He did not seek to be president so hard as some have since done. He simply placed himself in the hands of his friends and let nature take her course.
 The more l study the character of George Washington the more l regret his untimely death. We need him al- most every day. If he could see how badly his orphan country needs him sometimes, it seems as though he would almost open the door of the Mount Yer non smoke-house and come forth.
 A very curious incident occurred in the life of George Washington which DOW l sr tat Ersf If seems that George was given a small hatchet by his father when a boy, and in an unguarded moment the youth cut down favorite cherry tree belong to his father. On the return of the old gentle man he discovered the act, and calling his son 10 him, asked how it occurred George did not know what to say, but finally he looked bravely up in his father $ face and said: Father, cannot tell a lie. did it with my little hatchet"
 have often wondered that an anecdote like this, concerning a great man, should have remained so long unknown. am indebted for the above facts to friends of deceased.
 The monument to George Washington is deserved tribute to great man. It is no sloucl of job to be president the first time and pay of the help that it takes to run such government as this. Let those who think it is easy to be presi- dent try to write an annual message once and see how their brains will throb. A president must not only shine in society and be able to stand on one leg and shake hands with every ten cent official in the union, bu, he must be quiet and gentle manly in his home life and good pro- wider in his household. Added to all this he must be able at a glance to dis tipguish between hotilla and recipro- city. He must know how to spell at sight and be able to sign his name so that it will look like birds eye view of stroke of paralysis. He must be firm with foreign powers, and still he must govern his temper and avoid the un- necessary shedding of other peoples blood. He should be a good business man, good statesman, gentleman and a scholar. We can readily see that a successful president cannot be picked up on every street Of course, he has a good deal of help, but he alone is re- sponsible. George Washington was all that was great, but the most successful thing that he did was to quit at the right time and to die before he stopped over. Late years great men commit an error, some of them at least. They make bad break and then die, instead of dying first. Some of our eminent men have saved the American people the expense of tall monument, notice, by procras- tinating in the matter of death. George Washington did not wait till !" the nation | crayed his death. He now has A monu- ment that is tall and attractive. This is a powerful lesson to some of our public men not to overdo the matter of lor. gevity. Long life is all right in other walks of life, but in politics it may be oyerdone.
 George Washington attracted a great deal of notice, even in his time. by telling the truth. Think what a curiosity he would be now. And yet truth is within the reach of all. We may accustom our selves to almost anything if we begin gi adually and work our way up to it. George Washington to-day would no doubt be regarded as freak of nature, and yet he told the truth without effort tertain his friends through the long winter evenings by allowing them to tic his hands and feet and then blindfold him, and on top of all this he would tell the truth for hours at a time. He was what we call in science an anomaly. But he had to give up at last, and hually he yielded to the unequal strain and death ensued People who contemplate a polit- icsl career with more or less truth n il should see that they have strong con-