The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-02-22
AS TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.

To-day is the anniversary of the birth
Of w AsHINGTON-but as it will pass by
unheeded, it makes but little difference.
In strict justice the birthday Of WASH
INGToN should become year by year a
matter of increasing note, for year by
year we learn more about him, and fiDd
more to admire in his solid, unaffected
and genuine character.
We, collectively, know him better
than any one person knew him in his
life time. We have information which
was not collected and available one hun
dred nor fifty years ago. AS little by
little the evidence is gathered, as one
witness after another takes the stand,
WASHINGTON grows upon US, a noble
and heroic yet plain and simple figure.
WAsHINGToN never remarked of him
self that he was a self made man yet be,
yOnd the fact that he early came into the
possession of property sufficient to main
tain him comfortably-which is always
a good thing, for poverty never yet
sweetened or ennobled anybody-WAsH-
INGTON had no very great external ad
vantages. He could as well have grown
up to manhood and passed on to the
grave a rough riding, hard drinking,
cock fighting Virginia 'sqire, as anything
else. His early surroundings, the soci-
ETY. about him, his hard life as a land
III hi1 -,;lto-, .z.o -.
BRADDOCK were all favorable to the for
nation of that sort of life.
\ proof of his native elevation Of
character is shown by the fact that his
youth was not followed by a dissipated or
purposeless manhood. He played, and
lost some money at cards when a young
fellow, and recorded in his diary his dis
gust at his own fo~olishness. He drank,
as did everybody else in his time. He
was a fine hOrseman, and a breeder of
horses. Yet he never became a gambler.
lie never drank to the degree Of excess
and had a genuine dislike of drunkards.
And he never ran the horse business in
to the ground or learned the most unde-
Sirable of accomplishments to talk
horse"
WASHINGTON, though he probably
never read a work on etiquette, was
thoroughly a gentleman according to the
rule that governed society in those DAYS.
tie met at his own table CHAsTELLUx
and other distinguished gentlemen of
France, and many Of them have left testi-
mOny as to the dignity of his manners.
lie was a patriot and believed in republi-
can institutions, yet be retained the re-
spect Of conservatives and even b~ourbons.
lie, the founder of a republic, and so the
natural enemy of monarchy, was vet the
object of distinguished regard of his
throned contemporaries. He was the re-
cipient of numerous tokens of their
friendship, and his death was announced
by NAPoLEoN-his direct opposite in
chsracter-in terms of feeling and eio.
Quent eulogy.
WASHINGTON commanded small armies.
but he could have commanded large ones.
lie never made a wild or foolish fight.
lie never made a losing battle 10 please
The newspapers or public He fought TO
win and in most cases he won. He was
pitted against some of the best generals
IN the British army, trained and schooled,
and he was their equal and more. He
was a soldier in the same class with VEL
lie was a cool headed, mathe-
NAUTICAL fighter who made the most OF his
resources.
HE GLOBE knows of no character