Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-16

ct points to cherry tree; and both lead
unerringly back to that Little Masterpiece -
of American Fiction which you withheld u
from publication until the year following Ill ~
the heros death. ~ -
Perhaps this action was udicious; yet e ~
think how entertaining and comforting M
some of your anecdotes would have been to -
the Father of His Country in the declining go
years!
On my little pilgrimage to the original n
sources of the Cherry Tree story, sought sNH
for you in the catalogue of the Hall of 1As
Fame, and found you not. You are not Ess
among the great physicians and surgeons; E&EA
although you spent three years in a medical k5fgW
college. Nor does your genial face look out 49,
from the ranks of the eminent divnes;
though it is matter of record that you -
preached with great acCeptat1on IN diverse -
places even to the immortal George-and -
that your prayers were not only moderate -
in length but were also diverting at times. NzEs2z
Was your exclusion from the Immortals
due to the charge of contemporary that
Parson Weems is cheerful in his MEN,, to the fact
that you played ngly tunes your nseparabe fiddle
at night? At any you elegated to the Attic
And-oh, irony of Fate!-they have placed you
your rghtful place high up among the great masters of
fiction. But the thing happened to Plutarch you
remember. Instead of locating him among the great
novests of that early day. he is classified with the biog
raphers Fate has been kind to Jules Verne and
the amanuenss of Mr.. CULVER
In your the dslocaton is probably the result of
the careessness of poserty merely reading the title
of your biography. would suggest that in the next
edition the words "A Historical Novel" be affixed to the
title. Still, 1t would seem that anybody ought to know
where to locate the author of "A Bad Wifes Looking
Glass and that pleasing persuasive to wedock,
titled "Hymens Recruiting Sergeant, or the New Mat
rmonial Tattoo for Old Bachelors" However, there
you are, among the biographers But it might have
been worse Think of what you escaped by not being
pedestaed between Jonathan Edwards and Lorenzo
Dow throughout all the centuries!
AS personality, ParsOn every existing trace of your
sojourn in this goodly land exhaes fragrance not in
keeping with the theology of the age which you served
You gentleman and the companion of gentle
men, yet you preached to the negroes with unconceaed
delight. You could play "Hark from the Tombs
Doefu Sound!' on your fiddle; but "Old Dan Tucker
much more to your liking. You drove like Jehu
when you had a horse, and plodded cheerfuy along
the road when you didn't. And although you rritated
your Bishop like equity toe there cant tom
fooery about your preaching. Some pyrotechnics,
maybe but no whine.
But it travelling seller of books-especialy
of your own books-that you to prominence in
your day and generation Nowadays it is not thought
to be good taste for author to from town to
town and spread his books front of the courthouse
while he explains their merits to passersbywhich may
be one reason why royalties meager. But it
pretty certain that any American author of your
day who wished to get up among the "Bes Sellers had
to hump himself if he reached place No. l. And
the popularity of your books especially the @Le of
George Washington, with Curious Anecdotes Equally
Honorable to Himself and Exemplary to His Young