Norwich bulletin., 1916-02-24
THE CHARACTER
 OF WASHINGTON
Was the Topic Upon Which Rev. Charles H. Ricketts Spoke at Y. M. C. A. Shop Talk.

At the Richmond Radiator Plant Wednesday noon Rev. c. H. Ricketts addressed the shop meeting conducted under the auspices Of the I. M. C. A. Rev. Mir. Ricketts spoke on the Char acter of Washington and among some of the things he said were:
 Washington looms up before us as the highest peak in a remarkable mountain range; the farther We re- cede from it the more clear cut and individual does it appear. For raw age the eighteenth century in America produced a wonderful percentage of men who are destined to live and by common consent the name Of Wash ington heads the list. This can safely be said without making any unjust discriminations and comparisons.
 We would hardly expect that the England of his day, stung by the bit terness of defeat, could look at him except through the eyes of prejudice. Yet early, early in his career, Lord Brougham, the greatest living parlia- mentary orator called him 'the great est man of our own or any age"
 In these remarks no attempt is made to follow his military career be- fore or during the Revolutionary war, but rather to present an estimate Of his character. He stands before the world as a person of the highest man. ly qualities and of rare integrity of spirit He is one of the four out SldlulnS SenSTdlS OI lIle 4SlIl CSHluI . Peter the Great was the earliest of the four. He was a man of vast capacity of rough and sometimes ill., directed energy who brought titanic political frame out of savaSry into standardization. He was a marvel of | an organizer, eccentric, half made i'm posing an iron will upon an apathetic people. We call him the Great but l he was a tyrant who murdered per ] haps tortured" his own son, a man who united the policy of a great 1 prince with the tastes of a satyr, the manners of a barbarian and the pas i sions of fiend." To compare Wash | ington with such a monster would be sacrilege.
 The greatness of Washington is also seen in his originality. He lived in | an age of great men and great events, but he did not shine with any bor- | rowed lustre. He had no political l precedent to go by. It fell in carving
 a new political slate out of raw ma | terial- Frederick the Great could 1 look back to the empire of Charle-
 magne as a model and doubtless Ma | poleOn was dazed by the absolute l splendor of Louis XIV. Let us re- i member that Washington and his as- l sociates were constantly called upon 1 to engage in measures in which there were no examples to guide nor bea- [ cons to warn them.
 COnsummate prudence marked the
 career of Washington and prudence 1 is not a quality that dazzles the pub- i lie. It is the man of dash and bril- l liancy, rather than the calm master l full man who attracts us. We are
 more impressed by skyrockets thar by the quiet shining of the sun. | has been said that Washington was not a brilliant man, that he could no
 have led the mighty host which Ma. pOleon marched into Russia in 1912 Was it the greatest genius to lead aI
 army into a situation from which h, could not release it? It is not st much a question could he have dom it, as would he with his consummat prudence and sagacity? Justice wa
 another of the llingIy virtues of hi life. It was his great love of justic
 that led him to give his time and tai ents to the formation of a politica
 state in which all men should be equa
 in rights and privileges.
 | From the beginning to the end O l his career, Washington was a modes man and it is a fact of history whel he rose in the Virginia assembly t
 respond to a vote of thanks for hi splendid services in the seven year
 through difffdence. It IS not usual fo
 great political characters to DC over burdened with modesty.
 | The speaker called attention to tn
 common sense of Washington s
 marked in many of his public acts ant
 closed by emphasizing the vital re
 ligious quality of his nature whicl
 was his chart and compass durin)
 those dark days of the revolutio,
 when the cause of liberty scene
 doomed.