The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-09-24
WASHINGTON IN STORY.

The Story Life OF Washington. \ Life
History In Five Hundred True Stories
Selected from Original Sources m ane
WhIpple. With Reproductions ol
Paintings, Engravlngs and Manu-
scripts In Two Volumes: The Johi
c. Winston Company, Publishers fnil-
adelphia.
This is work of great and profitable
labor. and of good Judgment combined
with the desire to maintain to The full
the great and high fame of Washing
ton The compiler states very truly
that there has been altogether too much
of sort of semi -deifcation of Washing
ton, and that it is good for the people
to know the man Just as he was, In
the Introductory talk about the real
Washington, Mr.. Whipple cites the Par
son Weems effort to show Washington
as bov out of all connection with
boy nature, and so truthful ms TO make
the presentation altogether untrue. AS
10 the hatchet story, it is stated on
good authority that the cherry rec in
cident di not appear in Weems S Life
OF Washington until 1906, and when
someone took him to task for making
up that story, he sweetly asked ''Was
it not good for the boys!' Hhe COM
piler states that ''ths benevolent bit
~ fiction seems to be original With
Weems, though he was a poor writer,
unless the story was really told HIM
by that aged relative which he states,
which is neither impossible or unlike.
ly.' And philosophically the compiler
comments; "The very biographers who
seem to have no religious regard for
truth in the abstract have much to say
about the falsity of the. story that
Washington at any time in his life
could NJ -alI lip md STnIrflV clam,
that afterwards he overcome that dis
ability-if he ever had IT. y On the
other hand, the compiler states that
"some Of the writers about Washing
ton would like TO be iconoclasts, but
they arc really scaveugers. Such
seem to enjoy circulating unsavory
stories about Washington, and in quot
ing Carlyle in depreciation OF Washing
ton s true greatness; cit is unfair y
SAYS Mr. Whipple, ''not only to Wash
ington, but To the American people, to
disparage or explain away his true
greatness.
The compiler's work is one of great
labor And every biographer or writer
about Washington is badly handi.
capped by the destruction of material
which was In possession OF President
Sparks, who made letters, documents,
conversations, and SO on over In his
own pedantic style, and then burned
the original services. The author eS-
plains the difficulty OF his labor in the.
following paragraph:
In gathering. from a hundred sources.
largely from the many admirable hiog
raphies eXtant. over five hundred stories,
some OF which have never been in print.
IL is the intention 10 show Washington
in many lights. but 10 keep the resultant
impression In temperate middle ground,
while a few eNtravagan conceits are In
serted 10 show the absurd lengths TO
which some writer's have permitted them
selves 70 go. somewhat as thcologan
might flash certain side lights from pro-
rsne history upon Scriptural MARIA
tive.
The compiler S final word is:
The Story-Life OF Washington is de-
American from every point Of vantage,
leaving the reader 10 see and feel and
know the great Washington. This Is
presented as life and not n libel on that
great and good man,--";irst in war. first
In peace, and first In the hearts of his
countrymen." There are many questions
about which historians do not agree. But
WHEN doctors disagree. who Shall de-
cide?" After all the facts and facets
OF his character are presented and IL
Illuminated. who shall be better able TO
recognize the real George Washington
than the reader himself?
mere 10, uTeI OF ali. CONSIDERATION
of Washington S antccedents. and then
the stories proceed in order, giving
typical instances showing the achieve.
ments and the quality of the boy, of the
youth. Of the young man, and Of Wash
ington the man as his responsibilities
increased and his great achievements
and ability became recognized. The
stories are in excellent vein Large
numbers Of them have been printed in
the works of Habberton, of Mrs Hugh
Fraser, Washington Irving. Everett Tom
linson. Edward Everett Hale, Frederick
Trevor Hill, S. Weir Mitchell and many
others. The stories show excellent
Judgment i'll selection, and they are
sufficient i'll number TO give in them
selves 4 very satisfactory life of Wash
ington; the best, indeed. that has yet
been printed. and the publication OF
the work is 4 matter of national i'm
portance.