The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-31
useful LIFE DEDICATED
TO BANNER OF STARS.
George W. Fickenscher. Though Born
in Germany. Recognized
but One Flag.

remembered in marble and bronze. the
man who achieved distinction in shedding
human blood and sending men to death
Is held up as a model for living men to
pattern after. Sometimes the deeds o.
a sta tesman are remembered in metal or
stone but so little is said or written
about him that we pause awhile in ques-
tioning silence before his monument to
recall VINO he was or what he did. we
write Of talk about. and glorify the hero
of war. and having done so from the
beginning. we have come to regard 1t al
most as a thing sanctioned by Holy
Writ.
Even in our churches and civic socie-
tics We sing: Onward, Christian Sol
dier"-always the soldier.
For the one monument dedicated to
heroic valor of the warrior that We see
on street side and in park. million just
as deserved and as faithfully earned
could be erected to the heroes of peace
without whose work the soldier would
be powerless.
At his best the soldiers work Is one
Of destruction. He. when in action. de-
stroys the handicraft of his brotherman
and the image of his God. For this he
is called patriot but patriotism Is not
q thing to be buckled meath a warriors
belt and held there as against the world.
He is the patriot who tills the soil and
provides food for the multitude from its
rich increase and reward. He Is the
patriot who rears heavenward the homes
Of men and hives of industry in city and
town He is the patriot who binds our
nation together In meshes of steel and
iron and for the good of mankind guides
the steady flow of the fruits of mine.
loom, and husbandry throughout the
land.
do not brgrudge the warrior the hon.
or he earned in the past. hut for the fu-
tuTe would honor the creator OF good
rather than its destroyer.
When the evening chimes were tollinE
last Tuesday there passed between the
shadows to light a soul that for eighty
five years had been known to earth as
docr of good. A builder. AS child in
far-away. historic Bavaria. George w.
EickcnsCher began a study of the Ameri-
can Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution of the United States Then
keen, alert. discerning. he contraste
these documents with the mandates of
kings who ruled his native land He
realized the mockcry of the pretense of
government under divine right. Gott-
fried kinkel and Carl Shurz were begin
ming to sound the cry of freedom in Ger
many, and believing they were right he
"spoused their cause. At the outbreak OF
the revolution of 1StS. Fickenscher real
izinS that true freedom would more sure !
lN come TO Germany through the example
set by nation already free and working
out its own destiny in the new world,
came I" America. His reason for coming.
often expressed to me. was: Il did not
h"lieve in TIL" rule Of kings or emperors, |
End came here TO he one among people
who rule themselves" |
From the hour he touched American |
SOIL in lAiS until he went to sleep
wrapped in its loving embrace. George |
w Flckenscher was an American in
every fiber of his being. a few there
are through habit. perhaps. who call
themselves German Americans. The
book that he read contained no hyphen.
No man born in Germany could love tho
Fatherland with a stronger. purer love
than H., hut il was her music, her art
I've. Industry. her productive soil. her
pure al" free from the breath of kings
that he priced
AS a m"r" hoy he learned how to
weave cloth and fashion it into gar
ulcntS. Then lac studied music and OK
'"!lcd IN its rendition. After remaining
aw hi!e in New York lc went to Penn
syivana. then to Illinois. where the
greater part of his life WAS spent He
lived 4 short tim" in Nohra ska When
tn" war between tho States began he
enlisted in tn" Thirty sixth Illinois In
fantry pledge of his devotion to
tn" institutions and fig of his country
After the war a., taught music and
German in the schools OF Aurora. Ill.
h"lnE associated in the work with the
late Prof Powell. who afterwards be-
anne approximations of schools in the
! District. II was h" who gave Maud
Powell. now known and celebrated
rlror g!out the world. her first lessons
in music.
VI" was All ardent lover of nature
Many tim" ! have seen him take OF
leo. /
"lde-Sl"cadInG tree. One day he said to
me. 1T don't seem quite right to call
I"an TN" noblest work Of God; man can
Il" evil a. well as good. but d tree is
always good" lie planted trees every
whore ne lived. hundreds of them, and
'"uns''lod others to do the same.
Eleven wears ago he came to Wash
nIt"n to live with me and he my COM
Hnlon. lie read extensively and pro-
Il d by II, :ur he didn't believe all he
-rad I
When th" war broke out last August
n Europe. he Grieved that the land of l
MS birth should he engaged in il. One =
lay ne said L" me: L Nope my country .,
may not hc involved in this terrible
Thinking that he meant
GERMANY. l said. 1t seems +" me that
{ is in pretty deep now" His reply
Aas: Il don't mean the Fatherland; II
mean my own country. this country of q
nuTS here.
Naturally. his extreme age told on
lin. but his intellect WAS as keen as
Yer. and his desire to read and learn
md work remained with him to the
asst. Ills health was good until the :.
v"ninC papers on May : told of the y
linking Of the Lusitania. Turning lo
ne at the liable that evening he said: =
I am shocked and grieved that the o
people of my old land should do this .
hing and destroy so many good. inno- u
Ont lives. Father forgive them, for -
surely they know not what they do"
From that hour he grew fainter
frequently he would say: "Oh. il the
'eople of the old countries would only
govern themselves as we do, there .
yould be an end to war"
Shortly before his death ne sara:
II they had but expended that won :,
erful energy and skill in useful work, A
low much better it would have been =
han sinking the Lusitania." \
His last words were: IF ii shall 81
'lease the good Lord to take me. 7,
lope He will give me some work to =
10. for / want to be useful up there" u
His work on earth. now finished. h
vas for God and home and country, y
lis life poem of industrious help
illness, his death a message to men
II his race who are Americans TO =
tnow. live for. and hold allegiance =
o but one country and to cherish but \,
me flag. that flag of stars which he 7
arried in his cold dead hand into that n