The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-02-23

ana II l was required at moments
notice to name the fittest occupant for
1t, think my choice, at any time with
in the last forty-fve years, would have
lighted, and it would now light, upon
Washington"
DIR. PHILLIPS ADDRESS.
"'Tis splendid to live so grandly
That, long after you are gone,
The things you did are remembered,
And recounted under the sun;
To live so bravely and purely
That nation stops on it's way
And once year, with banner and
drum,
Keeps it's thought of your natal day
tbs splendid to have record
So white and free from stain
That, held to the light, it shows no
blot,
Though tested and tried amain;
That age to age forever
Repeats its story of love,
And your birthday lives in a nations
heart, ~
AIT other days above.
And this is Washington's glory,
"A SteadtaSt soul and. true, A
Who stood for his country's honor
When his country's days were few,
And now when it's days are many,
And its flag of stars is flung
To the breeze in defiant challenge,
His name is on every tongue
Far be it from us to permit a syllable
to be spoken, on this or any other day,
that shall detract from the just fame
of that Martyr Chief who led us
through the civil strife and sprinkled
sacrifcial blood upon the forehead of
the reunited nation. Let the names of
the man who made the nation and the
man who saved it. ever be spoken to-
gether and with equal praise; let not
the later hero obscure the earlier. If
James Russell Lowell, when he called
Abraham Lincoln,
New birth of our new soil, the first
American"
meant that he was the foremost Amer
lean of his time, then every loyal
tongue will speak a quick assent. But
if he meant that in Lincoln the full
content of that word American first
found expression, then, on this day at
least, we may safely take issue with
him. For, if to be lofty in purpose and
calm in soul, to be equal to the emer-
gencies of life, to do the duty of the
time with modest strength and splen-
did faithfulness, to live up to the best
one knows, to love freedom with a
quenchless ardor, to see clear and think
straight, to be undaunted by difficult
ties, to take responsibilities and dare
al 10 Cod 1xnpro 0nl'c
powder dry"--if to be that is what this
word has come to mean, then George
Washington was the first great Amer
lean.
Up against the western sky doomed
the lofty stature and broad shoulders
Of this wholesome, clear-brained, stur
dy man, prophecy of the manhood that
was to be on this continent. He seemed
to gather into his own person and set
at the dawning of our history all those
noble qualities which were to distin-
guish our best. men after decades of
development, as if God meant to show
those struggling yoemen what their
high contention meant in terms of
manhood-to make place for breeding
such as he, an arena for illustrating the
power of American principles and
ideals to fashion men.
1t would be easy to show that the
circumstances of his birth and train
ing were representative of those out of
which our largest men have sprung.
He was not born to grinding poverty,
neither was he without pedigree or
blood or opportunities of education.
He belonged to that great middle-class
of gentlemen with good blood in their
veins, good gray matter in their skulls,
good principles in their hearts and
some cash in their purses, who have
been the true makers of the republic,
because they have been it's brain. and
conscience, and nerve. There has been
a sentiment, verging on maudlinism,
persistently cultivated by some writer's
and speakers that, in America, by some
strange reversal of natural law, obscur-
| ity, and poverty, and ignorance, were
| the necessary nurses of greatness, but
| the facts do not support it. America
never despises a man because he is poor
or obscure; she guarantees him his
rights and bids him grow to the 1arg-
| est possible stature; she instructs her
teachers to say to every struggling lad,
you may reach the top if you WILL"
| but she does not expect figs from this
| ties, nor seek on the thorns of coarse
| ness and ignorance for the ripe grapes
of inspiration and power
So it was from comfortable Virginia
| mansion, aristocratic in the best sense
because 1t was the abode of clear-b brain
ed, clean-hearted, strong-limbed people
who believed in righteousness, and du-
ty, and learning, were ready to make
the most of life and to give the best
they had to the world, that this ideal
American stepped forth. We need not
rehearse the familiar story of his school
days and pastimes, nor count up the
traits which foreshadowed the man
that was to be, nor linger even over the
tender love for a good mother which
saved him from defrauding history by
going to sea. Two teachings of that
early period need, however, to be noted
because they bear directly on our
theme: The first is that he made the
most of his opportunities, which is
quality characteristic of all the best
Americans Sometimes you have half
scornfully named it enterprise, and
men, incapable of reading it's finer
meaning, have smiled at Yankee push
and thrift. but call it what you will. it
is the ability in men to see and seize
oil that there is in the time and tho