Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1894-02-22
WASHINGTON TRAITS.
yoHN CLARK RIDPATH'S ESTIMATE OF
HIS PERSON AND CHARACTER.

Personal Appearance, Physical Strength
and Intellectual Powers of the Father of
His Country-His Honesty and Sincerity.
His Matchless dignity Illustrated. fii
Copyright. 1894. by American Press Associa-
It is difficult to realize such man as
the Father Of His Country. He was SO
greatly mythologized by the admiration
of his own times and the worship of the
times following that the real man is OBJ
Icured in the halo. The nimbus round
about Washington is greater and more
luminous than that of any other figure
In modern history. He has been tie
idol of poets. philosophers and statesmen
In all the continents. Byron summed it
up in the concluding stanza Of the stOde
10 Napoleon Bonaparte;"
t Where can the weary eye repose Ii
When gazing on the great.
Where neither guilty glory glows
Nor despicable state?
Yes, one-the first, the last, the best
The Cincinnatus of the west,
Bequeathed the name of Washington.
To make men blush. there was but one.
But Washington was real. Like other
men, he had a bodily and personal life.
He possessed peculiar mental faculties
and remarkable character. All Of these
may be weighed and estimated, not in
the spirit of the myth. but in actual de-
ineation.
In person the man Washington was
strongly individual Once seen, he was
never forgotten, He was SO shaped as to
be- distinguished from the common type.
He was tall, even to majesty. His stat
ure. however, was attributable to great
length of body and not, as in the case of
Lincoln, to long limbs. Lincoln's body
was hardly beyond the average in length,
but his legs were extraordinary. These
features were reversed in Washington.
His limbs were not greatly beyond the
usual measure, but his body was very
long, so that when he sat he lowered
above his cabinet. When he arose his
height was still conspicuous, but not so
strikingly shown as when he was sitting.
In his boyhood and youth Washington
had extraordinary strength. Westmore-
land county and the old Potomac towns
still preserve traditions of the young
mans feats. He was the greatest jump
er in all the countryside. His strength
of arm when in bis, vigor was tremen-
dous. He is said to have thrown stone
across the Potomac opposite George
town, but the story may well be doubt
ed. He was the best rider among all the
young men in his part of Virginia. He
mastered the horse with skill and
strength unmatched in his times. Even
after the Revolution, on certain occa-
sion he took from his groom a. refractory
and cayorting horse that had thrown
him, seized the animal, mastered him,
mounted him and rode him, laughing
immoderately at the discontinue of the
groom. His great strength was fire.
quently exhibited when he as q youth
was surveying on the upper Potomac,
and particularly when he was sent by
Dinwiddie to Fort LIE Beuf. H. had
great endurance in early life. Nothing
could fatigue or exhaust him.
Washington's bodily vigor remained
with him until the Revolution. He was
43 years old when he was appointed
commander In chief. He was past SO
when relieved of responsibility. It was
in thissepoch that his constitution was
shaken and undermined 1t is probable
that the responsibility Of his situation
preyed heavily upon him-at least he
was broken by it. He became prema-
turely gray and partially bald. His elias
ITCHY Of step and manner disappeared.
He lost his teeth. The lines in his face
were always deeply drawn. but during
the Revolution they were furrowed still
deeper, as if plowed into cutters with
the share of sorrow. There was often a
painful expression on his face, particu-
larly about the mouth. This feature was
jintensified by the bungling attempt of a
dentist to fit him with q set of artificial
teeth. The work was not successful,
and the dignifed Washingtonwas an
noyed through the rest of his life with
the deformity of his features.
In mind the young Washington, as
well as the aged hero, was sedate and
severe. 1t appears from diary which
be kept when a boy that he never was a
boy in instinct or manners He was
born man. While still in his teens he
was as sober and rsaturnine as most men
are at 80. Only on occasion did he show
some sign OF hunor. He never did OF
said humorous things himself; Itmight
be difficult to discover q single joke that
he ever perpetrated, but he was capable
of sppreciating q humorous situation
and of laughing at it. The CLEAN, how
| ever, was only momentary; then the
somber hue returned and settled ON hii
visage and manner. e m
On the whole Washington was not 9
smart man. In his boyhood, though as
siduous, he was not quick to learn. His
/ intellect was rather strong, but, at ths
same time somewhat sluggish and inert
This led him to be nearly always little
| behind his countrymen in opinion and
even in policy, This was particularly