Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-02-27
GEORGE WASHINGTON.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.
Some Reflections On the Life of a Good
Man by Truthful William.
Now that the workmen are clearing
away the s%ca:folding from the tallest
monument in the world. we are led to
inquire, who was George Washington?
He was the father of his country for
one thing. He gave this country a
start that it has never fully recovered
from. He was also first in peace, first
in war and first in the hearts of his
countrymen. He did not take the
position on account of the salary. At
that time pay was not large, yet George
attended to the work well. He would
get up before daylight and work till
late in the night. He very seldom took
a holiday, and used to work right on
through the 22d of February as he did
other days. George Washington was
different from some Of our modern
statesmen in many respects. He
scOrned to enter a 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 I 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 Vernon smoke-house and come
forth.
A very curious incident occurred in
the life of George Washington which
now appears in print for the first time.
1t seems that George was given a small
Ratchet by his father when a boy, and
in an unguarded moment the youth cut
down a favorite cherry tree belonging
to his father. On the return OF the old
gentleman he discovered the act, and
calling his son to him, asked how it
occurred. George did not know what
to say, but finally he looked bravely up
in his fathers face and said: 'Father,
I can not tell a lie. l did it with my
little Ratchet"
| have often wondered that an anec
dote like this, concerning a great man,
should have remained solong unknown.
I am indebted for the above facts to
friends of deceased.
The monument to George Washing
ton is a deserved tribute to agreatman.
It is no SLOUGH of a Job to be President
the first time and pay off the help that
it takes to run such a Government as
this. Let those who think it is easy to
to be President try to write an annual
message once and see how t:1eir 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, but he
must be quiet and gentlemanly
in his home life and a good pro
wider in his household. Added to all
this he must be able at a glance to dis
tinguish between a tlotilla and a re.
ciprocity. He must know how to spell
at sight and be able TO sign his name SO
that it will look like a birds eye view
of a stroke of paralysis. He must be
firm with foreign powers, and still he
must govern his temper and avoid the
unnecessary shedding of other PEG.
pies blood. He should be a good bust
ness man, good statesman, a gentle
man and a scholar. We can readily
see that a successful President can not
be picked up on every street. OF
course, he has a good deal of help, but
he alone is responsible. George Wash.
ington vas all that was great, but the
most successful thing that he did was
to quit at the right time and to die be,
fore he stopped over. Late years great
men commit an error, some of them al
least. They make a bad break anc
then die, instead of dying first. Some
of our eminent men have saved the
American people the expense of a tai
monument, l notice, by procrastinatine
in the matter of death. George Wash:
ington did not wait till ''the nation
craved his death. He now has a monu.
ment that is tall and attractive. This
is a powerful lesson to some of oul
public men not to oyerdo the matter o:
longevity. Long life is all right ii
other walks Of life, but in politics ii
may be overdone.
George Washington attracted a great
deal of notice, even in his time, by tell.
ing the truth. Think what a curiosity
he would be now. And yet truth i
within the reach Of all. We may &C.
custom ourselves to almost anything
If we begin gradually and work oui
way up to it. George Washington to.
day would no doubt be regarded as a
freak of nature, and yet he told the
truth without effort and without his
notes. He used to entertain 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 fol-
hours at a time. He was what we cal
in science an anomaly. But he had tc
give up at last, and finally he yielded
to the unequal strain and, death ensued.
People who contemplate a political ca.
rec with more or less truth in it should
e that they have strong constitutions
to begin with.-BW Nye, IN N. Y. Mer.
cury.
THE CHAIRMAN.