The age-herald., 1898-02-23
Imprint Left by the Father of His COun-
 try Upon the Young.
HEROIC, UNsELFIsH AND JUST
His Wisdom and Foresight Are vindicated After More Than Century of Experience While the Nation Has Grown From Four
 to Seventy Million People.

ley ate an early breakfast with the family of Charles c. Harrison this morning. He did not leave the house until few minutes before Il o'clock, when in company with MT. Harrison he was driven to the academy of music, where the Washington day com memorative exercises of the University of Pennsylvania were held.
 Over 2,0O0 students assembled on the uni versity campus at 930 this morning and macrhed four abreast to the academy of music. The route was arranged so that the procession should pass MT. Harrfsons s home, and the students gave cheering welcome to the president. The chief mag istrate, when the head of the long column reached the house, appeared at the door. There, with barred head, he smilingly bowed to the hundreds of under graduates in re- sponse to their hearty college greeting. The column marched in classes, and as each class reached the house its members shouted the college cry of "Penn-syl-va- nia,' "Penn-syl-va-nia,' ending with ''the president" "the president" "the presi- dent"
 The President Pleased
 The presidents faced lighted up and be- tokened extreme pleasure. Reaching the academy the students marched inside and took the seats reserved for them.
 President Mckinley addressed an intel Hgent and appreciative audience at the academy. By his side on the stage were assembled the faculty of the University or Pennsylvania and many professors and executive officials of other prominent edu- cational institutions. The seating capacity of the academy is 2,S00 All seats and pro- scenfum boxes were occupied and yet four to five hundred persons stood in the of the several galleries. The main portion of the auditorium was reserved for the students of the college. The appearance of the president on the stage was the sig nal for thunderous applause and as it died away the students broke out with their thrice repeated college cry of "Penn-syl- va-nia" and the municipal band followed with Hail to the Chief,'' and the Star Spangled Banner"
 The exercises were opened with prayer by Bishop Whitaker, of the Protestant Episcopal church. Charles c. Harrison, provost of the University of Pennsylvania, then delivered an address, on closing which he introduced President Mckinley.
 MT. Provost, Officers and Students of the University of Pennsylvania. Ladies and Gentlemen;
 We celebrate here as in every part of our country the birthday of a great patriot, which assured the beginning of great na- tion. This day belongs to patriotism and the people. But in a certain sense the University of Pennsylvania has special reasons for honoring the 22nd of February. For over half a century, with ever fncreas- ing popularity and public recognition you have honored the occasion, either as holiday with patriotic exercises, par ticipated in by faculty and students. No other American institution of learning has a prouder title to the veneration of Wash ingtons memory than this, whose founda- ton was laid in colonial days nearly fifty years before Pennsylvania became a state; whose progress was largely due to the activity of Franklin and other zealous and far-seeing patriots and whose trustees were on terms of sufficient intimacy with Wash ington to congratulate him upon his elec- tion to the presidency and to receive from him notable reply which has passed into the history of the times.
 Washington, too, belonged to the brother hood of the alumni of this institution, nav- ing accepted the degree of doctor of laws conferred upon him in i7S3-an honor doubt less the more appreciated when he realized the events which gave him close and pe- culiar attachment to the city of Phiia- delphia-
 No wonder that your great university has made the 22d of February its most impressive ceremonial and devoted Its an nual exercises to special tributes to the memory of the first president of the Unit ed States and the patriotic themes which cluster thickly about his life and work. rejoice with you in the day. I rejoice, also, that throughout this broad land the birthday of the patriot leader Is faitn- fully observed and celebrated with an en- thusiasm and earnestness which testify to the virtue and gratitude of the common people.
 1t would not be possible in the compara- lively short time to which these exercises ,n,,st today he limited to follow Wash ington in his long and distinguished serv- ices at the head of the army and as chief executive of the government My pur- pose is simply to call to your attehtion a few points in Washngton's career which have singularly impressed me and refer n some messengers in his writings that seem peculiarly appropriate for the guid. ance of. the people who under our form of government. have in their Keeping the well-being of the country.
 washington's Public Life
 Tn it's entirety washington's public fife is as familiar to the American student as the history of the United States. They are associated in holy and indissoluble bonds. The one is incomplete without the other Washington's career ana acmeVements have been a part of the school books of the nation for more than a century, and have moved American youth and American man. hood to aspire to the highest ideals or re- sponsible citizenship. With enduring fame as great soldier the world has recognized his equal accomplishments in the paths which he lived and as a statesman his rank is fixed with the most illustrious in any country in any age
 But with all our pride in Washington, we not infrequently fail to give him credit for his marvellous genius as constructive statesman. We are constantly in danger of losing sight of the sweep and clearness of his comprehension which accurately grasped the problems of the remote future and knew how to formulate the best means for their solution. It was committed to Washington to launch our ship of state. He had neither precedent or predecessor to help him. He welded and scattered and at times anfagonlstic colonies into inde- structible union and inculcated the lessons of mutual forbearance and fraternity which have cemented the states into still closer bonds of interest and sympathy.
 From the hour when Washington de- clared in his Virginia home that he would raise thousand men and equip them at his own expense to march to the defense of