The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-02-19
The OBSERVATORY
GEORGE WASHING TON

Next Monday, February %, will be
anniversary of the birth of George
Washington, whom we fondly call
the Father of his Country, and put
him on a high plane saying, He was
first in war, first in peace and first in
the hearts of his countrymen."
hope | am mistaken, but it seems to
me there is not as much said about
Washington, as many stories told the
young about him, that they do not
hear so much about Georges Ratchet,
his father and the cherry tree, as when
was boy. do not care if the story
OF the Ratchet and cherry tree is my
thical, as is now generally believed
such was formerly the native character
accorded to George Washington, be-
cause of other facts undoubtedly true,
that our fathers believed that the
Ratchet and cherry tree incident would
have been like him when a lad. | sup
pose all agree that it is a fact that
George having received an appoint
ment in the English navy had his
chest packed and was about to go
aboard an English frigate when the
evident grief of his mother held him
back from it. A boy who had such
heart might well have said Father.
! cannot tell lie" And in my boy
hood it was piously believed as patrio,
tic gospel, that he did say it.
| have recently spoken about the
great difference between the New En-
gland Puritan settlers and the Cava-
Hers who went to Virginia and the
other southern colonies after the death
OF Charles | in 1919 and following
years; most of them went to Virginia;
up to that time most of that colony's
settlers had been of the adventurer
class, good and bad, and largely bad;
but with the coming of the aristocra-
tic Cavaliers there was money, social
rank, courtly manners, large estates.
big houses, many servants and much
OF the life of the nobility and gentry
of England transferred to America.
lhackery's Virginians very we'll de
picts the facts and social life of that
colony at that time and till the mid
die OF the eighteenth century These
royalists had brought with them A
few scions of the nobility and all the
manners and prejudicies Of their class. |
and while up to about l765-70 the New
England colonists remained practical
~ the same as their fathers in relig-
lous and social life, and the same was
also true of the descendants of the
old Cavalier stock of the southern
colonies, it is extremely interesting
10 mark how along another line. the
Anglo-Saxon love of liberty had stead
~ grown IN each branch of the En-
gllsh stock in America. 1t is curious
% see how differently different En-
glish army officers affected the colon
SITS. Some of them, like Lord Amherst
VINO led New Englanders in the wars
gainst Canada, conceived high opin-
on of the colonial soldiers; while
8raddock and his officers who came
0 Virginia to fight the French at the
vest, on the Ohio, despised the colon
SITS, although many of them were rich.
u Cavalier stock, admirers of row
lily, and of that underlined class called
1t is probable that the I
ctions OF that army of Braddock. (
rom Its general down to the privates, '
ia much to loosen the hold of the )
'ratlsh government hrdlu ?????? !
,irginia. From that time we begin q
Q hear the same kind of expressions
bout freedom in the southern colon :
IS and efforts at selfgovernment is
! New England; and it was in this
hanging political atmosphere thar :
,atrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and :
George Washington lived and were :
eng formed. Washington's work as $,
government surveyor, his pioneer !
lg, his border warfare, all contributed y
prepare him to deal with and un- =
erstand subordinates and the com i