Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-14
GRAND MASTER DUKE.
His Speech Introducing the President
at Mount Vernon.

Grand Master Duke of Virginia made the
address Introducing the President. He said
in part:
My Brethren: The divisions of time are
but the mile stones men erect on the high
way leading to eternity. In His sight to
whom a thousand years are but as yester-
| day when it is past and as a watch in the
night, the centuries are but as the seconds
which are gone ere We can reckon them
And We who here today. gathering in the
light CT majestic memory. commemorate
the 1oHh anniversary Of the death of
great man-bear testimony that the good
man never dies.
This is The only answer We can make to
the question. Why these ceremonies:
If one hundred years ago. the real
George Washington died then these cere-
MONIES are but vain and idle and hooking
Hummeries, serving to recall am event
whose memory brings with it only sense
OF the emptiness Of human glory and the
end of human greatness.
But Washington lives today. not only in
the minds Of I1en-in the records of fame
not only III the pages Of hlStOry-but lives
| in that Sercn" light which emanateS from
the presence Of G1d-lives Il sentient, glori-
Gus and gloriued being, and We assemble
here today to thank God that he lived, to
thank God that he lives, and to commence
rate the Tooth anniversary of the dawn of
greater life unto the greatest life that
was ever lived by mere mortal We
have today borne the same light and the
same book and jewels borne when his body
| was laid To rest We have retraccd in
! solemn procession the route that simple
/ funeral Cprtege followed century ago.
/ Cannon have thUndered from tbs. river
! the voices of war calling Vainly to the
/ eternal peact-as they Numbered when the
| great warrior rested r. peace. We have
| recited from the great poet the inspired
| words sung to Israel's GOd-Outlivings Is
| raci-recognizing in all humanity that it
! Is Ills voice alone that can say return ye
| children of men
And now that all set ceremonies are
over, We wait to hear the head Of the ma
iiGn pay his tribute to the nations first
head And We shall go back to the city's
noise and tumult-we shall leave these quiet
NeIdS-thiS unpreteutiDuS manSion-yOnder
silent and sacred tenement of the dead-to
near the sound Of JOY and gladness the
notes Of rerelry. of music and of song
VAIN and empty and useless will this com
memoratlon be-unworthy of the man and
| OF MS memOry-if II be merely A comment
Grafton, and stir not up our hearts and
minds TO some useful purpose-some purer
impulse The Srander days of the fathers
| should be recalled-and this recurrence
should awaken a recurrence of the spirit
of that time. Men were men il is true
then. as now. Politicians were politicians
theh. as now This great soul had enc
mics and slanderers and vilifiers then. as
great men have now and viii have as long
as greatness exists and vileneSs can crawl
ana bite Its heel His motives were ma
lshe,i-hlS Self-sacritices were belittled-
MS character was aspersed. And vet when
he died. wave of grief and Of disnnett
ana an awakened Sense of gratitude swept
SANDER died away.
We may not withhold the highest need
| OF praise from the great minds who CON
CCiVcd and framed the Cnnstitutior -.
I wind that blows from the Virginia biIiS
! every wave that laps her shores and the
| SHORES OF the great thirteen states. would
Ftpukt the voice that dare belittle the work
OF Madison and Hamilton, Franklin and
Morris. But these men were the sCulptors
the designers. who with infinite toll and
patience. and genius and skill made the
clay model Washington was the work
man that cast the figure in the enduring
| bronze that now for over a century has
stood the rain and the hail and the mist of
doubt and distrust, the storm of war, the
deadly CInker of corruption and the hurri-
cane of party strife.
Fervent Invocation
And today l would invoke that same
| cessation of party spirit that same feeling
OF common interest in a common country
and pray that the first lesson We shall
carry back from this place shall be A
| lesson of charity and consideration, and
kirdiness to all in authority, whether
our own suffrages placed the men in
authority above us or not. That pub
lie men and publicf measures should
| be judged not in the nttleness of
party prejudice or party passion hut that
| in things political. as well as in things nri-
| Nate. charity should govern all who wish
| the welfare of their country. The curse of
| UPS age Is the personality. the bitterness
| the observation-disclosures of politics Nothing
~ suinciently vile to say of political OPP
7 cement; no motive too mean to be ascribed
| 10 poLtcal measure. No mans patriot
| ism is believed sincere unless his opinion
| colpSides with our own, and the fioodgates
or Vltuperation. abuse and misrepresenta-
| non are opened often when hardly the
| mildest criticism is deserved These things
| grow and will continue to increase unless
| sternly depressed. All purity and honesty
| and desire for good government is not and