The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-02-23

induce them to forget their local preju-
| dices aad policies, 10 make those mu-
/ tual concessions which are requisite 20
the general prosperity and, in some
instances, to sacrifice their individual
advantages to the interests of the
community" If he had foreseen the
political industrial, and race antagon-
ism of this later time, the prejudice
| and selfshness that were to disturb so
many relations, he could not have given
more pertinent counsel; and he surely
could furnish no more impressive per-
sonal enforcement OF his words than
his own EXAMPLE.
To-day what would Washington find
on his birthday walk through the land?
Little of the early simplicity it is true,
many things that would perplex him,
some that would distress; the shouts Of
the lingo on the one side, the walls of
The anti-eXpansionist on the other; but,
standing between the two, he would
| discover that the body of the American
people is at bottom persstently loyal
to the ideas he enunciated, and is hope
fully working out the great destiny in
which he believed, And if the stanch
old patriot needed anything more to
reassure him, let him search for it in
the hearts of the people giving their an
nuaI pledge to the future by honoring
his memory and rehearsing his pre-
cepts.
Hamilton Mabie has recently said
that two things are essential to the
making Of a hero: these are discipline
and genius. 1t was the eye of genius
that saw the angel in the MARBLE but
it was the trained, patient hand of the
disciplined sculptor that set the angel
before an enraptured world.
Washington had discipline! We have
often been warned of late against the
influence of tradition, especially in the
study of great mems lives; but back
of tradition there is usually a truth
which is infinitely worth the seeking.
And without blindly accepting all that
has been written of the great Virgin
ian's early years, one may not refuse
to believe that the mother and -. the
home and the school trained the lad,
the solitude and silence of the forest
disciplined the young surveyor, the
hardships of border warfare under in
competent leaders prepared the junior
officer for the experiences toward which
he was moving; when his hour struck
he was ready. He had learned how to
use raw troops in a new country, how
to be calm and patient and alert; he
interpreted the time, he knew himself,
he knew men; he was master of all
three.
And Washington had genius, but he
was himself something more than
genius. Her perceived the~~.~+h for
the hour and was loyal to it; he had
faith in right, in justice, in liberty; he
had persistence, pure patriotism, a
self-sacrificing spirit. He could not be
daunted by difficulties, or turned aside
by hardships or apparent defeat; he
believed in God, in the cause, in his
own integrity of purpose, and, he saw
the triumph from afar, by faith he
brought it nigh The final word re-
gardfng his character and work has not
yet been spoken. but as the mists lift
and perspective becomes more true, he
is each year more definitely taking his
place in our history as the early en-
bodinlent of the patriotism that never
waivers, the faith that removes noun
tains, and the spirit Of sacrifice that
makes a man the servant of all. Sea-
But the, more important lesson of this
anniversary concerns ourselves; that
lesson is, the future finds its prophecy
in the past; let no American despair;
we have never wanted the men for the
hour. When the lines of, the nation
were to be laid Washington was there;
and there never has been an exigency
in our history which did not produce
the men in whom the heartsof the peo-
Pile could safely trust. Only let the
sons Of modern America, reaping the
fruits Of righteousness in government |
and church and home and school and |
press, in the spirit of peace, drop their |
seed into the burrows from which the |
future may gather the plenteous, peace |
full harvests of righteousness, and the
republic is safe.