Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1901-02-23
The IMMORTAL
GEO. WASHINGTON
Birthday of Country's FatheE
Fittingly Honored.
CELEBRATION IN CHICAGO
"Patriotism and Character" the
Theme of an Eloquent Grafton De-
livered by Bishop Spalding - Am
Englishman Pays Tribute.

Theme of an Eloquent Grafton De-
livered by Bishop Spalding - An
Englishman Pays Tribute.
CHICAGO, Feb. %. - In accordance
with time-honOred custom, Washing.
toms birthday was commomorated by
the Union League club today by two
events at the Auditorium. To complete
the days program the club Will give a
banquet at the Auditorium tonight.
The Marquette club Will also give din.
ner during the evening, at which appro.
pirate speeches will be made
Celebrations held during the day or
scheduled for the night by other clubs
and organizations We're numerous
Banks, railroad offices, the board of
| trade, the Stock Exchange and the ma.
Jority of the schools were closed Ad.
dresses were made at the University of
Chicago and the Northwestern unlver-
s1ty at Evanston. Five thousand chill.
dren crowded into the Auditorium dur.
ing the forenoon, special program
having been arranged for them
AhO 0NSAb VI bu0 Qety was UQ6 dig al
ternoon meeting at the Auditorium,
which Frederick Harrison, the famous
English author and philosophical ora.
tor, was the chief speaker, his subject
being George Washington "
The railroad offices closed at l D. M,
having signed a petition to do so which
had been circulated by the Canadian
Pacific and Grand Trunk railways.
Bishop Spalding of Peora delivered
al eloquent address on Patriotism and
Character. He spoke in part as fol.
lows:
GAS they alone are Christians who
strive to lead high and worthy life, so
only those who are seriously intent on
making themselves wise, strong and
V1rtuOus are patriots. Words are idle
unless they are filed with meaning by
the deeds of those who utter them. a
soldier may die in battle for his country
and be only a mercenary, but he who
so lives as to make men thankful that
he is their fellow citizen is a patriot.
By making use of the opportunities
which liberty offers, one may amass
vast wealth and be an enemy of free
dom, but he who frees himself from
greed makes us think we'll not only of
himself but of his country also.
1.-The characteristics of true Amerl-
can good will, sympathy with the help.
less and oppressed, intelligence, up.
righteousness, energy, courage and in
dustry, and If we love our country and
desire to make its institutions perma-
nent we must labor to cultivate these
virtues in ourselves and in those whom
we arc eh'~ - '"Auence.
1.-The love of education lii the deep
sense of the word and the love of ceun-
try are one and the same love. Moth
ing but education, domestic, religious
and scholastic, can form the virtues
which make patriots. Character is the
man himself; it is precisely this moral
growth which it is the chief business Of
the school to promote, and if it fails in
this it fails radically.
Value of Character.
ga characterless man is neither good
in himself nor good in his relations to
any form of the social environments
If the average of moral and intellectual
culture were higher, we should be able
not only to procure the needs and com.
forts Of life with less effort, but we
should have the wisdom and strength
to deny ourselves many things which
are harmful and mere wastes of indi
vidual and national force. All the lux.
uries involve dissipation of vital energy
and deterioration of the quality of life.
But among the luxuries no sensible man
will place the great works of art, which
spring from the highest activities of the
soul, and without which our whole ex-
istence must sink to lower levels.
"What more striking instance could
there be of the crude kind of thinking
in vogue among US than that a univer-
sity professor should deem it not absurd
to place great money gatherer on the
same footing with a great poet The
one is q mechanical; the other vital
man. Riches are akin to fear, to cow
ardice and death, but the highest
thought rightly expressed is the fine
essence of the purest life stored up for
all who are able to appreciate and ad-
mire even TO the remotest age.
Tribute to Washington.
The hero whose memory we honor to.
day was not man genius or of the best
intellectual culture, but he was great
character-hOnest, simply true, disin.
terested, incorruptible. He thought not
of private gain nor of personal glory,
nor of the aggrandizement of 1his coun.
try, but believing with all his heart in
the right of the people to govern them.
selves, he gave his time, his wealth, his
life, to make such government actual
and permanent. He had a noble soul;
he had great heart; he had honest con.
victions; be had the courage of his
opinions. -
Five Italians E(jIIpn.
YOUNGSTOWN, o., Feb 22. Five men
were caught on the Pennsylvania rail
rood hridoa at 6.O5 and killed Tho