The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-14
THE REAL WASHINGTON.
WAS A MAN LIKE OTHER MEN, AND
HAD HIS FAULTS.

But His Virtues Prepondcrated in
such Degree as to MaI>s Him Great,
and the Towering Figure in Amer
can HistOry-SOme Anecdotes That
Give an Insight Into His Charac-
ter.
From the St. Louis Globe-DemOcrat.
What sort of a man was that George
Washington, who. born at Pores Creek
Va, on Feb % 17S2, and dying at Mount
Vernon on Dec. II, 1893, played in the
meantime a part so potential that his
name remains, after the lapse of 100 years,
the mightiest in our history? There is
story told of the late James Parton that
some forty years ago he went TO Virginia
TO gather material 'for life of the first
President to be issued by the house of
Harper. AT the end of a fortnight he re-
turned to New York, sought the office Of
his publishers and said, quizzically:
"T'wont do. friend Harper; another
bubbles burst. can't write the life Of
Washington, at least from the letters and
records and traditions placed at my dis
posal in Fairfax county"
Simply because 1 have a wife and fam
lily to support and because l don't want
to see a mob of enraged patriots sack and
destroy your publishing establishment ana
hang me TO a lamp post"
Explain yourself" said the surprised
publisher.
We'll, the fact is" Mr.. Parton went on,
that Washington, inustriOus character
as he was and ever viii be in history, was
no saint He was wise and prudent in
council, brave and skillful in battle dig
nified in demeanor. and he brought the
| colonies fbrnuoh their troubles RlIf ne
went to cock fights and horse races, and
bet on both; was so close in his money
| affairs as to be almost penurious; was hard
in his dealings with his neighbors; never
| genial or generous toward his tenants and
| interiors; and some of his outings were
well, 1 am afraid they would not have re-
ceived the approval of the president of a
! village temperance society"
Enough said" interrupted Mr.. Harper.
ION second thought, l agree with you,
| Brother Parton, that we don't want anoth-
er life of Washington"
This story may or may not be true;
| doubtless it is not but it clearly Mus
trates one of the points of view from
| which Americans have come to regard
| the most notable personality in the forma-
| tive period of their history For the vast
majority of his countrymen Washington
has always been and is now man so
great and good as to be devoid of all minor
human defects. faultiess as a statue, and,
one might add, as cold Marshall, Sparks,
| Irving and the rest of his early biogra-
| pliers have all brought their hero down
| to posterity on stills, rarely, if ever allow
ing his huge feet to touch the ground.
On the other hand, certain recent writer's
of history, in a praiseworthy effort 10 res
cue Washington's personality from the
fast deepening mist of legend, have gone
to the other extreme, and have convinced
themselves, as they would now convince
us. that the most illustrious of Americans
was a man of obstinate will and only COM
monplace ability, and burdened besides
with more than the average man snare
of the frailities of his kind.
Attentive study of the more than 5000
of Washington's letters available TO the
student will convince one that the truth
about him lies between the two estimates
indicated His life, inspected from end to
end. has little to fear from the microscope,
for posterity's veneration of him can in
no way be impaired by the knowledge
that he was after all a man, with the
impulses and passions of his fellows More
over. any estimate of Washington Is a
faulty and unjust one that does not take
into consideration that social, mental ard
moral surroundings of his youth and early
manhood These it is well to remember,
were passed in Tidewater Virginia, the
population of which then had for its bases
the labor systems of indentured white ser
wants and negro slaves At the other ex-
IRENE of colonial society was the ruling
| aristocracy made up of royal officials, for
malistic and often dissolute and riotous
clergymen and planters possessed of great
wealth and given over to lives of wasteful
extravaganza Drinking, gambling and
swearing were the besettng vices OF
eighteenth century Virginia, and study