The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-25
WHY WASHINGTON
WAS A GREAT NAN
Successful in Everything He
Undertook.
SKETCH OF CHARACTER
INTERESTING ADDRESS BY DR.,
PADEN.

The Rev. DR.. Paden spoke on the
character of George Washington last
night at the First Presbyterian church.
The address was short and to the point,
dealing, not with the story of the life
of Washington, but with characteristic
incidents in his life, his habits and
manner of working. In beginning, DR..
Paden said that he was sorry that
Washington, like so many other great
men, had become common in the minds
of the people. So much has been said
of the great statesman and soldier, so
many stories told of his life, he has
been held up before the youth and the
general public so often as a model of
everything that is good and just, that
the tendency Of the age is to tire OF
him, to pass him by without giving due
thought to his greatness, as we pass
a statute Of q. great man on the street
and seldom think of what it represents
Washington was q, real man, said
he, "a man of worth, a man of whom
enough of what is good cannot be SAID.
Books Of his life, books realistic and
ideal, have been written, but much of
them is mere romance. He was a silent
man and very seldom talked about
himself, so that much which has come
down TO US is not true of the real char
acter of Washington.
1T has been said by some that the
revolution was the great event in his
tory that made Washington, the Op-
pOrtunity that brought him out and
showed of what stuff he was made. To
a certain extent it did show what sort
of man he was, but the revolution did
not make him. At an early age he
proved himself to be q, great politician,
statesman and soldier. At the age Of
% his name was known in many of
the courts of Europe. When he was
lad of Is he was sent out into the field
as a surveyor, and the surveying he
did at that time has stood the test of
time, it stands today and is recOg-
nized as perfect. And the secret Of
his work then, a, characteristic that is
seen throughout all his after work, was
the thOroughness with which he did it.
while a surveyor working for a sal
airy he began to buy land, to invest
small sums whenever he had a, chance,
not waiting as many do to accumulate
large sums before buying. In that way
he began to build up that estate which
made him in after life one of the larS-
est landed prOprietOrs in the United
States. His estate was added to by the
| demise of his brother and his marriage
with a rich widow, but when he be-
came wealthy he did not Squander his
fortune; he took care of it. And the
manner in which he took care of his
means, built up his fortune and won
success in the world of business made
him one of the best investors, one of
She best farmers and one Of the best
business men of his age.
In the continental congress he was
recognized as one of the leaders, and
1 think we would not be far wrong if
we said he was the greatest man in
that body of great men, His work
there was the same as it had always
been, the same as it was when he be-
came president. In the latter position
he did not shirk work. On the con-
trary, he devoted himself untiringly to
the business OF the nation; he shut
himself up for a month at a time when
congress was not in session and did
nothing else but study the affairs of the
various states, so that when congress
met he was as well, if not better post
ed on the needs and general conditions
Of each state than the representatives
from those states.
But the great point about the char
acter of Washington, the thing about
him that made him a great man. was
his capacity for detail. Everything, no
matter how trivial. received from him
the greatest care. His capacity for de-
tail was immense. AS a boy in the
field surveying one can trace it. and
all through his life it is this part of
him that shows up everywhere, and it
was this that made him the first in
war, the first in peace, and the first in
the hearts of his cOuntrymen'
He was a born fighter lie loved
fight as much as a college boy loves
a game of rugby. It was part of his
nature. He had an ungOvernable tenn
per which he learned to govern, one of
the small things that show the power
of man. But above all the interest
ing points of his character. we are glad
to say he was d moral man. Not a.
blemiSh can be cast upon his morals
during his entire life. And he was
also religious man.. A member of the
Episcopal church, he attended services
regularly during the latter part of his
life