Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-02-22
THE CHERRY TREE AND THE HATCEET
The Famous Story Mason Weems Told 1.-THE Mythical George
Washington Despite the Higher Criticism Remains Valued
Inheritance and the Legends Are Worth Keeping

TT is not by any means strange that George
i Washington became something of a myth
to later generations of his countrymen. Pop
ular imagination mixed with gratitude and
sentiment, could hardly have failed, in any
era or place, to have clothed the national
hero with mythical attributes and surrounded
his name with mythical anecdotes. 1t has
been so from the dawn of history even to the
present. We must remember moreover that
1t was long time after Washingtons death
before America ceased to be pioneering
country. The people were battling Win
wilderness, wrestling living from the plains
and prairies, from The mountains and val
leys, until we'll along into the 10Th century.
The period, with it's intellectual simplicity
and comparative lack of that literature which
reflects culture and scientific Judgment was
remarkably favorable to the growth of le-
gends concerning the character and deeds OF
so great figure that OF George WASH
ington. The higher historical criticism OF re-
cent decades has analysed and labeled these
tales without at all lessening the worlds ad-
miration of the noble American, and, OF
course, without in any wise vitiating the
value of his memory to the people for whom
he wrought more than hundred years ago.
To the stock of fictitious stories which
made of Washington, the boy and man, a
faultless demigod, the principal contributor
was the Rev. Mason L. Weems "Rector of
Mount Vernon Parish" he called himself, but
there never was a Mount Vernon parish.
Weems used the title to convey to his readers
a suggestion of his intimacy with the hero of
his book 1t rests on the fact that Weems
had once preached to a congregation which
included Washington. The author indeed,
was hopelessly given to OVERLAPPING his facts
with fiction so deeply that the facts were
well-nIgh covered up. He revealed in his
biography of Washington the almost COM
plete absence of what Henry Cabot Lodge has
called Historical morals"
Weems "Fond of Good Story"
Weems wrote the book for the pioneers and
frontiersmen, the hard-working ''plain peo-
pie" of an age of strenuous battle with an
untamed continent. 1t was not intended for
the educated and cultured society of the
older communities. 1t was written in the
period of the pale dldacti ism of Maria
Edgeworth, Hannah More and Jane Taylor.
His account of the boyhood of Washington
was mostly sheer fabrication, but he bor-
rowed complete stories from Doctor Beattie's
life of his son, published In England In 1899.
The famous incident OF the flower bed is a
plagiarism from Beattie's book.
1t can be said for Weems the itinerant
parson. book writer and book peddler. that he
wrote not only to make money from his
books but to instruct and edlfy. The liber-
ties that he took with truth seem not TO
have troubled him. Apparently he had no
literary or historical conscience When some
body took him to task for inventing the
cherry tree story, he sweetly smiled and
asked, WAS 1t not good for the boys"
Weems was a clergyman only in the sense
that In his constant wandering he sometimes
preached. For the most part he spent his
time writing books which he intended to be
popular and peddlng them about the coun-
try.
Perhaps the most famous OF Weems' tales
Is the one which concerns the cherry tree
and the hatchet. 1t follows, just as weems
wrote It:
George Receives Instruction
''Never did the wise Ulysses take more
pains with his beloved Telemaehus. than did
Mr. washington with George. TO inspire him
with an early love Of truth.
"'Truth. George said he. Is the loveliest
quality OF youth. I would ride so miles, my
son, TO see the little boy whose heart Is SO
honest and his lips 50 pure that we may de-
pend on every word he says. o, how lovely
does such child appear In the eyes OF every
body His parents dote on him. His rela-
tlons glory In him. They are constantly
praising him to their children whom they
beg 10 initiate him. They are often sending
for him 70 visit them, ana receive him. when
he comes. with as much Joy as II he were a
little angel. come to set pretty examples 70
their children.
alaE ohi heY diasrsnt esores = tha ssas