Evening star., 1925-02-15

K tions in the phrasing but
the substance stands. The
Rambler takes this as his text-beg &
pardon, his subject, because about
this time o year there is good deal
said OF the cherry tree story, throw
ing silver dollar across the Potomac
.Jtiver where 1t is four miles wide,
breaking the neck of young colt,
and a few other tales of the boyhood
of George Washington.
The Rambler wants to tell you
about these stories and set down his
faith in them and his confidence in
the good old preacher who was prob
ably the first to put them in print
and surely the first to put them in
q book.
There is nothing improbable in the
stories. We will take from them
what is not essential to them, and
what was added to make them dra-
matte to give them sharper
moral point. Read my story, con-
Fider the evidence, and ! feel that
If YOU have even the sense of the
average reader and writer. you will
believe that little George Washington
may have hacked fruit tree with a
hatcher and, on discovery of the
damage done the tree admitted that
he did it,
The Rambler has written on this
subject before, several times, but the
tnatter comes in handy every year,
and no reader ought to complain
that the Rambler works over old
stories. He does it seldom. Your
minister and your Congressman work
pver the same sermon and Grafton,
and you never know it. The Con-
Fressman takes ten para graphs out
pf his last Fourth of July speech and
rl,{ -; u
celebration and the flag raising at
he new high school and You clap
he sole of. your hands (credit to o.
tenry's 'Tobin's Palm'D and when
he tumult and the cheering have
hied away believe that is a quo
tation-you crowd up to the stand
% shake hands with the sweating
speaker, and nine times out of ten
say, Let me congratulate you on
your fine address, enjoyed it so
taccent on 500 much
Perhaps your minister will chastise
in and sinners, crack Satan on the
roco, pounce on cake eaters, fappers,
fox trotters and pinochle players, and
do it in the same fervid outbreaks
hat he has been using for twenty
ears. and after the closing hymn
you will take him home to Sunday
Hinner and give him two helpings of
everything on the table. When you
put on your head-phones or pull out
the plug of your tube set, you hear
he announcer say: BY special re-
quest, Miss Birdie Marble, soprano
pr the Cosmopolitan Opera Company
and artist soloist of the Triller
ftudios. will sing Sweet Cockleburrs
That Stick This is a special request
humber. We have received a tele-
gram from Mrs. Gladys Gwendolin
Hokum of Ashtabula requesting this
selection and telephone calls for this
selection are coming in for this selec-
ION SO fast that Miss Birdie Marble,
soprano of the Cosmopolitan Opera
company and artist-soloist of the
triller Studios, will favor the radio
udience by singing by special re-
huest the selection, Sweet Cookie
burrs That Stick"
There may be two reasons for this
Birdie wants to put over one of her
bid songs or the announcer knows it
8 so bad that he tries to put the
lame on Mrs. Hokum, of Ashtubula.
Y x x x
THE Rambler is not working over
his cherry tree and silver dollar
tories by special request or any
ther kind of request. He is doing
because he knows they are good
tories, because he knows YOU have
brgot that you read them last Feb
Iary and February before that, be-
ause he wants to get away from the
flee for three weeks in order to do
ONE work, because he must put up
bur ram blers" in advance, and
ecause he feels that you could not
ct through the morning without a
ramble" any more than without your
old plunge and grapefruit
George Washington was accused by
is father of having hacked cherry
rec with a new hatchet. He was
ever charged with cutting down the
zee. When little boy gets his first
ack knife he generally hacks chair,
hble, rosebush or what not. The
was an important thing in coun-
" homes, and most little country
pys wanted a little ak. 1t was
pmmon to give a hatchet to little
ountry boy a century and half
go, just as at a later time it was
roper to give a little boy jack
nife, red-top boots and a rabbit
kin cap.
The place where the cherry tree
ragedy happened was the Ferry
krm, in Stafford County, across the
sappahannock River from Fred
ricksburg. Georges father and
lother moved there from the Pope's s
freek farm, now called Wakefield,
n the Potomac River, when George
vas about three years old. 1t is prob
bic that when Augustine Washing
on and his wife, Georges parents
moved to that farm they set out
oung fruit trees. 1t was the GUS
ON. 1t is not at all improbable that
he little boy George, five or six years
Id, when given hatchet hacked one
f those trees.
The cherry tree and other stories
f Washngtons boyhood were pub
shed by Washington's first biog-
apher, Rev. Mason Locke Weems,
"Parson Weems' once rector OF
Jount Vernon Parish, marriage
elation of Washington, and on
friendly footing with ehe family
Neems published his biography soon
fter Washington's death. The copy
n the Library of Congress was
printed In 1912. and is the sixteenth
EDITION. On the first page is this:
The Life of George Washington with
curious Anecdotes Equally Honor
abIe to Himself and Exemplary to
lis Young Countrymen. By M. L..
Weems, formerly rector of Mount
Vernon Parish
Parson Weems makes much of the
bains which the elder Washington
vas at to instill in his son principles
BIZ religion and truth. He tells the
cherry tree story and a less known
apple orchard story on authority of
Ian aged lady, then a girl in 1871.
Let US take the cherry tree story
but of Parson Weems' book:
when George she said (the lady
who was a girl in 1737J was about
six years old he was made the
wealthy master of ha atchet of which,
| like most little boys, he was immod-
erately fond and was constantly
going about chopping everything that