The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1903-03-06

Washington lives because gratitude
lives and appreciation grows. The
passing years remove from sight all
shortcomings of any doer Of great ser.
vice. leaving in sight only those broad
details of purpose and of accomplish.
ment that made The service possible.
In fact. remo'eness iu time gives a true
proplrtilu o. a NJ ans work and shows
itiu relation o. the work Of others of
his tme. Patience is therefore as s0rely
tried by those who look for flaws with
micrlsc1ps as it is by those who raise
a man % the height of "a demigod just
because be has done an uuselfsh work
audidone 20 well.
cAround Washington there gathers
each year less Of idolatrous exaltati0n,
less of silly detraction; but more Of
genuine appreciation aud calm estimate
Of his value % our people.
Seen from this distance he is known
TO have had the eye ola seer, that
could look forward over generations,
roughly reading the lines Of our nation
al life in the palm Ofeternal Good He
had faith to see i'm the weakling,
loose-iointed child of Independence
Day the promise Of giants strength
to be restrained by wisdom and guided
by devotion into a field Of endeavor
wider, greater, richer. than the greatest
domain ever known up TO Washing
toms time.
His presence makes him stand in
our estimate 50 much as a head and
shoulders over his compeers. noble and
devoted though many Of them were.
He knew that the end Of the war was
only the beginning Of things Of far
greater moment. The thirteen then
lolled back after their labors as if the
newborn nation would live without
further care; IN fact, unity Of national
action in a time of peace was further
from their thought than it had been
when war was piling up its clouds Of
fate along the Atlantic horizon.
In the hush that followed the tur-
moil his ripened judgment turned to
problems that needed 10 be worked out
His letters 70 his friends were clarion
calls TO other forms Of activity. He
did not believe that the narrowed
ground represented crop until seed
sowing, reaDiug and garnenng had
gone forward to completion. His own
heart turned to the sweetness Of quiet,
country life and broad minded schemes
for highways and canals. Along the
route Of Braddock his plan for western
highway across the Alleghanes was
developed and his hearts dream for
National University was endowed in
part By his Canal stock. 1t seems
more than a coincidence that his dream
will now come true at the liberal hands
OF a foreigh-born man enriched by the
metallic wealth Of the Alleghanies and
by the demands that came from the
very growth Of enterprise that Wash
ington foresaw.
Never for long, however, did theories
Of developement and his own beloved
agriculture exclude from his mind the
larger purpose Of a nation. lie knew
that not alone wealth, not alone terri
tory, not alone inhabitants can make a
people great, but that greatness in its
truest sense comes from free men with
free minds to think, free souls to wor-
ship, and free hands TO work out en-
terprisesi yet all nicely tempered and
restrained by constitutional obligations
freely assumed.
Good citizenship as exemplified in
Washington consists more in construc-
tive work than in destructive work.
The clearing away Of evil conditions is
good but the utilization Of the clearer
ground is better.
Thus it was that Washington saved
the nation twice-iirst, by wearing out
its enemies in fruitless skirmishes and
last by rousing it from the fatal mac
ton that followed the triumph ofarms.
To HIM belongs the honor Of the Con-
slitutlonal convention. His urgent
pleas, volcing a very agony of spirit
over the torpor that had befaIlen the
thirteen, brought together men of
high minds and good purpose. The
work done there was large. far-seeing
stalemanship that strengthened the
fabric Of the nation when small, grew
with Its growth. held fast together
those whom passing passions might
drag asunder, and still shows TO the
world republic that has lived IN three
centuries by closely following the pre-
cepts Of its Godfather Of the eighteen
ID century.
or his later acts, none throw Wash
ington 20 greater prominence as a
high-minded statesman than his in
slstence on treaty Of commerce with
England, and bis refusal to allow the
country's passions 10 be officially sway
cd by Citizen Gent i'm favor Of revolu-
uonary France and its attack on Eng
land.
Now, We see his wisdom in two acts;
then, be was as violently denounced as
he had before been wildly hailed as a
uoeliyerer. The great are only known |
ia Their true measure when dead. This |
j. penalty Of greatness. Truly in |
1873, Washington lives because graft |
t1ue lives and appreciation grows.
- us give timely honour 20 him
land.
when Liberty, young light burned weak /
and dim.
ana wayered meath DTS steady shielding /
hand
20 as the Conqucror who blazes out,
a. meteor ln Dis glare and quick eclipse
s.t a. tne Counsellor with soul devout
GU Grave ana honest heart and loyal lips /
cvt a. me Party Leader seeking pelL
III faudiis cheap from Ignorance TO sake /
-. a. iair tnsamplc, leaving self,
s.-a uiaN ambitions gifts for uufy's sake 4