The L'Anse sentinel., 1900-02-17
A WASHINGTON STORY.
~ ~ -
Probably Is Not, But Might
Have Been, True.
Y HIVE Just been reading a note fl N

HN\ T. Just been reading note II m
the diary of Gen. Washington, " ho
Will remain until the crack of doom the
one great, tlawless, dignitied hero of the
nation. if not of the world y hero
means one who is brave gentleman all
the time.
Says Gen. Washington's diary, June
80. 1885: "Dined with only Mrs. Wash
ington, which believe is the first in
stance Of il since my retirement from
public life" That was IS months after
coming home from his victorious wars.
Think of the horror of it, For all that
time the inquisitiye hero worshipers
had been dropping in jun about dinner
time to say: How wonderful, really,
Mr.. Washington! 1t makes n,e quite
shudder TO think of; really and truly it
does. Oh. must kiss our hand" And
poor George would have to be polite and
ask them to stay for dinner.
How coy that little dinner on June
80, 1855. must have been; how homelike
at last. when Gen. Washington raised
his glass and said: Martha, my love,
your heath. That ribbon becomes you
vastly. You look too young for a bat
tered old hulk like me-
"George.' said Mrs. Washington,
don't dare talk like that! You u
battered what-didyou-say. The idea!
Why, not a young man in old Virginia
has your figure
Then she got up and came round the
table and kissed him, the cupbearers
.ith hIr MI N l.. a1 In
gether in the gentle summer afternoon.
and his eXcellency said, as he gathered
some cherries: "Why can't people al
ways leave us in peace, Martha? How
nice this is. Let's go and look at the
pigs"
There were heaps Of birthday pres
ents awaiting his excellency, and all
the jolly black house servants wished
him long life and happiness, and a
table was weighed down with 5000
birthday poems from the 5000 most
promising poets in the country, and
there was a heap Of newspapers with
marked editorials in his praise, and
every man who had ever invented any
thing, from clockwork clambaker Ia
most curious and amusing contrivancej J
to n baseball, sent the general one, and
every man, woman and child who had
written book, even If not published,
sent copy to George Washington. Yes,
everybody sent him present and
wished him joy, and most OF them
wished something for themselves in re-
turn.
Certainly George Washington should
have been happy with all these beauti-
full, costly things; but somehow he
slipped to the attic and left all the gifts
and looked at the little hatchet his
father had given him years and years
ago, and he said, as he put it back:
"When was happier, then or now?"
Then .he visitors came, very old men,
who told him he could never hope to live
as long as they, for they had constitu-
tions like iron, and he must enjoy him
self before It was time to give him :
state funeral; and very old ladies who
had known his father and called him
"Georgie," and very young misses who
trembled so they could hardly utter the
words of congratulation they had
learned by heart. And there was one
manly little rascal who rode on his pony
bearing his grandfather's compliments,
and pushed straight at the hero, crying:
"Gen'ral, grandpa's compymens,
happy returns, mine, too. General, ]