Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-22

tigatIon Is Not to Lift Men Upon Cold
 and Snowy Pinraclcs-His Strong Will.
 His Energy and His Perseverance,.
 ICopyright 1895. by American Press Associa-
 tion.l
 The tendency which promoted great leaders to the honors of the godhead did not altogether cease with tho mythmak- ing period Carlyle emphasizes hero worship IS tho salt which saves poor human nature from dry rot In other words, it upholds concrete ideals as ob- ieCt lessons to fire the imagination, sing ing the chant:
 On one clear harp of many tones
 That men may rise on stepping stones Of their dead selves to higher things.
 It is more than an open question whether this instinct is not easily car riod to excess vitiating its own purpose. The idealization of tho hero, if it petri- fies its object and lifts him above the blood warmth of the human atmosphere, makes the pattern man less virile and vit.. Sur9 until a recent period was the tone of historic discussion dealing with George Washington. Chief Justice Marshall, then Jared Sparks, then Wash ington Irving, who wrote the standard lives of our batter patri9, followed this 1 method of conception and planted q ! marble colossuS high mp on a pedestal in the freezing cold. It was an impeccable deity, before which humanity should | bow down and burn perpetual incense, half stitiiuG itself in the fumes.
 Tho more recent tendencies of historic study, what We may term the realistic | school, take Washington down from his arctic perch, and without leSsening his genuine greatness make him vastly more | lovablo He is presented to us ill flesh and bluod and not in stone. We ind that ho was n man of very human faults as well as of virtues: that he could give way to fits of fiery wrath and could swear terribly in such moods; that he was very sensitive alike to applause and CritiCism; that he was often nasty, even harsh, in his judgments, and that he loved dearly to have his own way and could enforce it with an imperious | will
 WashinCton's lack of schooling was quite aS complete as that of Abraham
 
 | that magic wand. tho podagogue's birch. | His learning was the fruit of attrition contact with men and affairs, and he was plunged into very whirlpool of it | when scarcely moro than a lad. He was only 23 when he saved tho beaten rem. nant of Braddock' $ forces, and this was l by no means his first trust of impor- tancc. With tho bluest blood of tho col | onies running in his veins, he was nat ] urally an aristOCrat in the conventional aS well as the nobler sense of the word. | NoblesSe obligo, to live up to tho finest ] there was i'll him, was law of life as natural as breathing. Probably none l but an aristoCrat, one forced by social position from mere oyhood into a great number of public responsibilities, would havO had the chance to have 50 proved his sterling value. This stamp on the coin mad9 him by general choice the l picked man of men to lead the Ameri. cans ill the field when tho thundcrcloud of the Revolution burst. All the tradi, tious of his family and training nodded him into a conservative, By instinct and | preference ho was royalist. But when he reluctantly felt himself lifted on the tide of public sentiment, swelling through all the colonies, he gave him l self heart and soul 10 the work IL may be too niCo point of speculation, but | one Is tempted to believe that had Wash inCtOn been ono whit moro of the dema goGue. one whit less of the aristocrat, he would have failed to have welded that permanent adherence of men oi blood. family ana social prestige to tho | Revolutionary cause on which succeS. so much dcpcndcd.
 Judged by all tho laws of military probability tho American Revolution should have been failure. It was house divided against itself. There were almost as many Tories as patriots. Tn, enemy was tho greatest power then ex isting by land and sea. Among the chic causes which finally assured tho tri umph of the colonies, tho personal fac tor, tho leadership of George Washing ton, was not tho least important As military genius ho does not rank among the first 10. scarcely perhaps among tho worlds second 20 great soldiers Yet critics of the art of war, if they find few magnificent coupS, can scarce ly point to a mistake in his militar, plans In the talents of tho statesmen h, was not great-scarcely even common place as orator and writer. He was es sentially the man of affairs, not the mal of words. It was his profound and i'm perturhable sagacity. a lighthouse shin ing screnely above the beat and roar O the waves, that made him a master O men. It was common sense raised to it superlative and become genius. Tenn perament and character entered into equally with mind. The ii nal produc was one of those personalities so sym metrical and balanced as to stand iso lated among the worlds leaders. Per haps nowhere else ill history do we fin, n great man with whom the absolut touchstone of right and wrong was tn, golden test, one in whom the perception of right and wrong was so luminous an, direct All classes, plebeian and gentle poor and rich, felt that here was tow CT of safety, rock bottomed in intogrit, and strength,
 Four squarc to every wind that blew. So Washington has continued to tn worlds eye n type of the public servan whoso patriotic devotion never bend from the straight lino of what is essen tially and eternally true. He was not typical American, for Americanism Ina crystallized since his day. He was fa more nearly an Englishman in taste an habit. But he is in no sense national O racial as historic figure. He belong to the whole world as much as Home or Shakespeare. G. T. FERRIS
 Sea water contains silver in considerab quantities. It is deposited on tho copp' , sheathing of ships in amounts sufficient { , | make its reduction profitable
 The phosphorcscenoo of sea water in Il