The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-03-01

tend with his jealous army officers but he had to fight his enemies. who were working against his plans in congress. Instead Of giving to him an army re- cruited from men who had enlisted for two or three years or for the war. these enemies voted 10 him an army made up of men who had enlisted for a few months or a year. No sooner would Washington plan battle or campaign than he would find that a large part of his soldiers discovered that their terms of service had expired and that they were entitled to pack up their things and go home. 1t is impossible for me in the compass of a letter" he wrote to his brother in 1G6 to give you any idea of our situation and of my difficulties and of the constant perplexities l meet with derived from the unhappy policy of short enistments and delaying thcm too long. I am worried almost to death with the retrograde motion of things. and | sol- emnly protest that q pecuniary reward of f20.000 a year would not induce me to undergo what l do, and, after all per- haps to lose my character" Yes. yes, some of the mghtiest battles George Washington had to wage were against his enemies at home and not against his enc mics from abroad. So my brother. if you are ever going to accomplish any thing for God and the worlds betterment, you will find that some of the people who ought to help the most are those who will try to undermine you; that the man who should be pushing you ahead will ofter be the man who is trying to stab you in the back.
 Here, for instance, Is true gospel min ister trying to preach Jesus Christ in the village or city church. Who is the great est enemy he has to fight? The saloon. keeper? The proprietor who runs the low playhouse? The inidel who never sets foot inside of a church? Oh, no. The greatest retardment of an average minister's work is not to be found out side but Inside the church. It is perhaps the church member who refuses to be re- eonciled to the minister because the con gregation called him instead of another man to the pastorate, What is the great est obstacle that mother has in the right development of her children? Is 1t the bad example set by her sons classmates or her boys employer? Oh, no. It is the bad example set by the boys own father that does the most effective damage And so, wherever we go, we find that our greatest struggles must often be waged against those people who ought to help us instead of trying to destroy us. And oAi bA Sii NAiitl iAStSblio why we ubllbl George Washington today is because he went forth bravely and faithfully to do his work and did not swerve one inch from the right path, no matter what his enemies at home might do or say.
 The Duties of Peace.
 George Washington knew that the du- ties of peace are of vital importance and far reaching in their results As Presi- Hpnf-a1aaf ba is bop opened Bible and promised to uphold the constitution of the United States with as solemn a consecration and reverence as when he drew his sword as commander of the revolutionary armies He knew that the work of the pen was just as im- portant as the work of the sword. On his way to inauguration he made this sue- gestive entry in his diary: April 16 17S9, About 10 o'clock l bade adieu to Mount Vernon. With a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than have words to express I set out for New York, with the best disposition to render service to my country, but with less hope of answering its expectations" As he stood taking last farewell of his beloved Potomac and with anxious eyes tried to look into the future George Washington fully realized that his acts as first Pres ident of the United States would make or destroy a nation. And yet some people suppose that the only great work George Washington did for his country was as a soldier and not as a statesman, as leader of armies and not as a leader in the greater work of the initiation and ad- mnistration of laws.
 As George Washingtons memory is cherished for what he did as the first President of the United States, so may our memory be honored for the bravest deeds of heroism accomplished by us in times of peace. We may often be able to serve our country and people in the store and the home as unselfishly and bravely and nobly as if we donned a soldiers uni form and marched up to the cannon's mouth. when George Washington, as a young man, was being thanked by the Virginia house of burgesses for his gal-> lantry during the French war and for having saved the remnant of Braddock's army he could not speak a word. He stood Up in the aisle stammering and blushing and trembling all over like a child. With that, Speaker Robinson no- tieing his embarrassment, came to his rescue and said Sit down, MT. Wash ington, sit down. Your modesty is equal to your valor, and that surpasses the power If any language that I possess.