The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-07-11

affairs. and loved the sweet retirement
and the free life he was leaving be
hind him.
Grief and foreboding did not in the
least relax his proud energy and
promptness in action. He was not q
whit the less resolute to attempt this
new role, and stretch his powers to the
uttermost to play it in masterful fash
ion.
He was only wistful and full of a
sort of manly sadness; lacking not
resolution, but only alacrity.
Obliged to Borrow Money.
He had hoped to the last that he
would be suffered to spend the rest OF
his days at Mount Vernon; he knew
the place must lack efficient keeping.
and fall once more out of repair un.
der hired overseers; he feared his
strength would be spent and his last
years come ere he could return to look
to it and enjoy it himself again.
He had but just now been obliged to
borrow round sum of money TO meet
pressing obligations; and the expenses
of this very journey had made it neces-
4. sary to add full hundred pounds to
that new debt.
! If the estate brought money so slow.
ly in while he farmed it, he must
count upon its doing even less while
i lie was away: and yet he had deter
j mined to accept no salary as presi
| dent but only his necessary expenses
/ while in the discharge of his officia
duties, as in the old days of the war
Washington PerpIexed.
1t had brought distressing perplexi
ties upon him to be thus drawn from
his private business to serve the ma.
ton. Private cares passed off, nc
doubt, and we're forgotten as the jour
ney heightened. But the other anx-
| iety. how he should succeed in this
large business of craftsmanship to
which he had been called, did nor
pass off; the incidents of that mem
orable ride only served to heighten It.
When he had ridden TO Cambridge
that anxious summer of 1915, he had
been hailed by cheering crowds upon
the way, who admired the fine figure
he made, and shouted for the cause he
was destined to lead; but he know
himself soldier then, was but forty
three, and did not fear to find his
duty uncongenial.
The people had loved him and had
thronged about him with looks and
words it had quickened his heart to
see and hear as he made his way
from New York to Annapolis to resign
his commission but six years ago; but
that was upon the morrow of task
accomplished, and the plaudits he
heard upon the way were but greet
ings to speed him the more happily
homeward
Things stood very differently now.
Though he felt himself grown old.
he had come out to meet a hope he
could not share, and it struck subtle
pain to his heart that the people
should so trust him-shouId give him
so royal a progress as he Jared on his
way to attempt an untried task.
A Royal Welcome.
No king in days of kings divinity
could have looked for so heartfelt
welcome to his throne as this modest
gentleman got to the Office he feared
to take.
Not only were there civil fete and
military parade at every stage of the
Journey; there was everywhere, be-
sides, a running together from all the
country roundabouts of people who
bore themselves not as mere sight
seers, but as If they had come out of
love for the man they were to see
pass by.
1t was not their numbers but their
manner that struck their hero with a
new sense of responsibility; their
earnest gaze, their unprecedented
cries of welcome, their simple joy to
see the new government put into the
hands of man they perfectly trusted.
He was to be their guarantee of
its good faith. of its respect for law
and its devotion to liberty; and they
made him know their hope and their
confidence in the very tone of their
greeting.
Strew Roses Before Him.
There was the manifest touch of
love in the reception everywhere pre-
pared for him. Refined women broke
their reserve to greet him in the open
road; put their young daughters for
ward, in their enthusiasm, to strew
roses before him in the way; brought
tears to his eyes by the very artless-
ness of their affection.
When at last the triumphal journey
was ended. the display of every pre-
vious stage capped and outdone by
the fine pageant of his escort of boats
from Newark and of his reception at
the ferry stairs in New York, the
demonstration seemed almost more
than he could bear.
"The display of boats which attend
ed and joined u.s." he confessed in his
diary, "the decorations of the ships,
the roar of the cannon, and the loud
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