The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-02-22
M E N, w o M EN
 A N D I'll N G s

Every true American looks on it as one of the greatest holidays on the calendar, but believe bank clerks are particularly interested in it as 1t always means a day off for them l do not mean that they are not patri- otic, but it is human to want breath ing spell from ones daily duties. e I know it is near treason to admit that it is hard to enthuse much over Washington; but somehow in spite of ipg to warm up over him l have been so far unable to get in sympathetic ] touch with the man, although, of course. I know and acknowledge proudly his outstanding character and great worth to America. The trouble with so many of the histories about him is that they put him on such lofty pedestal that he | almost seems a demi god rather than human being. am aware that some ! liberties with him and are bringing him down closer to earth by exhibiting [ some of his human weaknesses. 1 Say what you please, but there is certain fascination with the way that ] the Greeks treated the gods of | Olympus for they showed their im- i perfections, and in this manner in- stead of making them forbidding per sonages caused them to be loved on account of their foibles. It may not be in the interest of good morals, but | it makes mythology much more in teresting than theology. I admit that this may be hetrodoxy.
 The man who remarked about Cleve- land that he loved him for the ene- mics he made" knew well the Ameri- can character and his saying at once caught even the man in the street." am fond of biography and memoirs, but when I get hold of volumes in which there is DO admission of any weaknesses in the men and women whose lives are set out, I usually find myself yawning, and the books fall from my hands. I do not mean that only care for the salacious kind, but I do mean I want the rhapsodic cut. | pr. Henry M. Edmonds told with great effect at the s1Oo dinner at the Tutwiler of how he first became an American. It happened not while standing beneath Bunker Hill monu- ment or in gazing upon the White House, or hearing Fourth of July ora tions, or taking part in flag raisings, but it came about one day in Paris when he stood face to face with the statue of Washington.
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 l It reminded me of the time when l lad I found myself tucked away in a. private school at Neuilly- sur Seine. the suburb of Paris which abuts on the Bois de Boulogne, the famous park. I'll never forget the jar got when took my seat for the first time in the study room and saw on the wall the framed story of George Washing | ton, his hatchet and the cherry tree. It did not effect my Americanism, but it did make me homesick.
 But one thing is sure, no American abroad can forget Washington's birth day, for it is the occasion for a cele- bration of some kind by nearly all l of the ambassadors, ministers and con- suls. 1t ranks right along with the Fourth of July. which is always made much of by Americans who find them selves abroad but coming in the sum mer it is usually made notable by pie nics and games.
 Here in America there is no chance to let it go by unnoticed, that is if you have children in the public schools, for if they do not have parts in the school exercises themselves, you will be made aware that performance is 1 to be held because you will be asked to buy tickets to it. It has been found a good way by the school improve ment associations to raise much need ed funds.
 It may be of interest to some peo- pie besides children to know that it was near the shore of the Potomac river, between Pope's creek and Brides creek, that Augustine Wash ington lived when his son George was born The land had been in the fami- ly since Augustine's grandfather, John Washington had bought it. when he came~over from England in 1857. John Washington was a soldier and a pub lie spirited man. and soon the parish in which he lived, for Virginia was divided into parishes as some other colonies into townships. was named Washington.
 It is quiet neighborhood not . sign remains of the old house, and the only mark of the place is q stone slab. broken and ovcrgrown with weeks and brambles, which lies oa | bed of bricks taken from the rem- nants of the old chimney of the house. it bears the inscription:
 Here
 The 11th of February. 17;2, George Washington was born" f| The English had lately agreed to use the calendar of Pope Gregory, (which added II days to the reckoning.
 we'll as the new. By the lew style the birthday is Fepruary 22. which we celebrate today
 George, the son of Augustine Wash
 ington, the Virginia planter. after a
 great record as soldier became the
 first President of the United States. Napoleon the Great announced Wash
 ington's death to the army of France,