Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1910-02-18
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George Washington.

uCVtku WoSNhkbuh'
All over this broad Iand the 22nd
! OF Fesruary-WuShinglo n~s birth
day 10 celebrated
How shall! any man add aught to
the praise or enlogy 1T George Wash
ington? History and biography, elo-
quence and poetry have exhausted
their combined riches upon the sue
csssful leader of the American revo-
luton and the founder of the Ameri
can republic our first great national
hero.
Every great cri.i, in the history OF
the world has found It's man to con
troll and guide it, Call this pro"i-
denee or accident, the american rev
olution was no exception to it. Be
fore the first murmurS of discomfort
were teard in that struggle the man
was being prepared for the crisis. On
tne banks of the Potomac and the
Rappahannock, thirty years before
Lexington and Bunker Hill, a truth
tul and manly boy was growing up,
ripenins into stalwart young man
hood With only the common school
education of that early day, the
young man was soon being educated
in the broader school OF nature and
experience, in the great forest, under
the open heavens, with his survey
or's chain and his sword, in Indian
wars, defending the frontier settle
ments from savage incursions
Growing still apace, the manly
young Virginian is soon the leading
spirit and military commander Of all
that Potomac region. and has skill
endurance and courage ia those cam
paigns swell The measure Of his fame.
Then with his peace. the yOun. com
mander lays aside the sword, marries
and settles upon hin inherited coun-
t. ' seat at Mt. Vernon and like his
ancestors is now 4 rich landed pro
prietOr, Virginian farmer and plan
ter and country gentleman. SO he
might have remained to the end, had
not the voice of patriotism caiied him
to take part with his neighbor> and
the oppressed people of thu colonies
a.ainst the tyranny of the mother
country. Washington sa! with JET
ferson and Richard Henry Lee and
Mason and Pendleton, colleagues to
that first continental congress al
Philadelphia
Ths gun. of Lexington crack and
their far echoes reach the patriut con
gress at Philadelphia. They walked
the colonies to action. 1t had been
debate and petition and rem0nstrance
before-lt was war, war for liberty
now. Twenty thousand p. tl'iot col
onists lad closed in upon the retreat,
ing British in Boston. Who should
This leader be? The hour found the
map, and out there stepped from
the Virginia delegation and advanced
To the bar of the house to accept his
great trust, this modest frontier col
Onel. legislator ana pldnter-tall,
imposing and commanding in APP
pearance, bis fine form name athletic
and sinewy by long, manly exercise;
his Judgment ripened by experience
in war and peace the very ideal pic
ture of the here which the crisis de-
Inanded George Washington, the
MAN.
Aside from I'll question OF success
or failure, us we look at the man,
What was it that made Washington
great? 1t is clear That it was not the
possession of great or bril- liant intel
lrctusl faculties. Not in congress or
convention, nor as speaker, writer,
or even soldier, were these displayed.
Other men have excelled him in all
these ways, but in a word, it was
manhood; II was character: it was
moral greatness. 1t was that nice
adjustment of the moral and intellec-
tua faculties, that perfect blending
OF parts, that lofty sense of duey in
the performance OF every trust, that
spOtleSs truth, that stainless honor,
that incorruptible integrity, that
fauitless courage and mistaken en-
durance-all these and more that
made up that cOnsum mate piece of
manhood which fio"ered out ia that
eighteenth century OF time ana which
is now evermore the priceless posses
sion ana glory OF history. This i, the
supreme greatness of Washington.
Take the sunshine sent into your
life as something TO be grateful for;
don t darken t with shadows Of your
own making
The Love and Respect Of Children.