American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1914-02-19

RtthNf AAh AhRA ~ -
saked. Besides the running Ice In the river, there
was a binding blizzard. and 1t was so bitter cold
that the chief loss on the American side was OF
The men who. though Injured TO pioneer hardships.
froze to death that awful night.
Did General Washington stand in his boat in
that dangerous current during a driving storm
and stare pompously at the opposite shore7 Not
ne. Instead OF that, he sat tight and cajoled
she men. using every device that might make them
forget their terrible situation; even telling them
a facetious story. which. coming from him, star
ued them, set their blood tlngling and made them
obliyious to tho cold and dangers around them.
That was the grandest deed In the military STRAIT
agcm which made Frederick the Great OF Prussia,
and. indeed. the whole world. wonder at the
genius OF Washington.
Nearly every one knows the outside OF the
story OF the siege OF Boston by the new com
mander-in-chief. gno had come TO the continental
congress as a wealthy Virginia colonel, and his
nondescript crowd OF raw recruits, wholly unused
not only TO military discipline, but even to MILL
fary forms. But few know OF the transcendent
blum General Washington had to put up when he
discovered that there were but a few rounds OF
Sunpowder In the possession Of the whole Ameri-
can army, while the British we're amply supplied
with ammunition and might sally forth any hour
against the American 'irregulars'
Some one had Numbered" Many a com
mander would have shown up the improvident
officers who had that matter ia charge and pee
vlshIy thrown up the command as rldiculously i'm
pohalDlc. But tenerul Warrington ala not tell MS
mo8t trusted officers OF the excruciating dilemma
ne found himself IN. he knew the awful secret
would spread II known to a few. and the great
cause OF Justice might be lost. He began quietly
40 scour the country for gunpowdar. He soon
found that the nearest place at which any guam.
tity could be had was In a magazine on the island
OF bermuda. To get that required a secret expe-
dition, much hazard and many wecl j; but Wash.
~ington's Nerve was equal to the fears vi strain.
During that long. tense interval the American
troops we're working away upon the Notifications.
preparing for a grand attack. Meanwhile the
young commanderin-chief was entertaining
Hospitality al his headquarters. the Craige man
sion. now best known as "Longfellow's Home" In
Cambridge. As a pleasant diversion, Lady
Washington. then one of the wealthiest women In
America. came 20 visit the general, and all the
countryside was agog over her coach-and-four with
six black positions In white and scarlet livery.
Even the British. cooped up in Boston. were i'm
pressed by the resources and apparent confidence
of the American generalissimo.
While one expedition was gone to Bermuda
FOR powder. General Knox. with a small force.
succeeded IN bringing a number OF cannon sew
eral hundred miles on OK sleds In midwinter
from Fort Ticonderoga- In those times that
tried mems souls" Il was Washington's iron
nerve. supported by his broad sense Of humor
sometimes scintillating with a radiance worthy
81 a Franklin or a Lincoln, which saved the day.
This was only one of many occasions on which
Washington he'd TO fight out the revolution alone.
a Aflcnu OF ilntond once Sulu OF nluls me
presidents laugh Is his lfe-preserver." This was
rruer OF Washington than any one seems TO have
realized In a day when strict gravity without
tevdy. was expected OF public characters. To
laugh or TO see the numerous side of an incident
WAS considered the sign Of a frivolous dispost
fion.
Nashington's early bloaraphegs we're solemn
men. TO have told IN their books how much theii
hcro laughed would have been. in thotr opinion
Nnuionly exposing his weakness to public gaze
Men like "parsou" Wecms. renegade preacher and
tramp ftdler though he was, had been brought
arp 40 Think that laughing was worse than wick
edit WIS ~yulrnr'" In straning 10 make their
hero cYrccr 90 have been a demlgcd, those pedan
tic blosrf piers related not what George Wash
lngton rcpiy dd but what they imrrincd such a
bcy ur nGn ou.ht Go have done under given con
ahl0ne.
Washington would have laurhcd heartily at
Ncers hatchotend cherrytree story 10 he haC
sygr heard it-vhich ne never did Tor q was moi
invented I'm a later edition Of the errng %rec,or's
Juvenile history. six years after Washington
death. Yet the real hero OF the cherry-trce nc
tion would have found Il the occasion Of gravit,
ns wen as mirth. In the stiited story OF "Littl,
George and Ills Pa Weems YVES only carryin.
ont the idea OF his time. 10 tell not what the small
boy actually did. bur what the consummate it'll,
priE he conceived little George Washington t
nave heCn would have done II ne had cut down his
mther'a q yorite cherry tree.
n iitle George Washington had been the Insult
rcrable lttle prig described by Mr. Weems. his
haifbroihers would not have loved him better
aAan their own brothers, or their own children
Tor that natter His early life was fuller OF eN
citing experiences than any fiction, Yet the lif
az young Washington is yet to be told as an ad
venture story Even In his quaint little diarie
fa early diseloses a lively sense Of humor--sav
age humor sometimes. but broad and boyish. II,
showed this by telling only the jokes against him
self. When he was a lad OF sixteen he led a sur
veying party to iny out the lands OF his old friend
Lord rnirfax, In the wilderness OF the ShenRn
snah. Here IL one OF his own experiences as
~t1nderfoot" recorded on Tuesday. March Is
r747S.
W got cur Suppers q was lighted into
Room. and !. not being so good a Woodsman al
p rest OF my company. stripped myself very or
dorly. < went into ye Ped. as they called II
~nen 10 my surprise 7 found IL to be nothing bu
a little ~aw-ma together without sheets oil
anything else but one threadbare blanket, witt
nouble its weight OF vermin. such as Lice. Fleas