Evening star., 1933-02-19

III BlOODl, however Oue the DFOSpect DeTOTe
him and the Colonies cause. In the midst or
the Conway cabal. in which the effort was
made to sUpplant him by Gen. Gates, he wrote
to Lafayette: Il have no doubt that everything
happens for the best that we shall triumph
over all our misfortunes and in the end be
happy; when, my dear Marquis If you will
give me your company in Virginia. we will
laugh at our present difficulties and the folly
of others
So in all the suffering there was a note OF
gayety. Never was there any enforced sadness
about the American camps. Washington
mained constantly with his troops, setting
commendable example for the more fortunate
of Americans today.
ITO share the common lot" said he "and
participate in the inconveniences which the
army, from the popularity of our circumstances.
are obliged to undergo, has been with me a
fundamental ideal"
The charitable impulse of America, today so
strikingly demonstrated in vast outpourings OF
relief for the victims of depression, was alive
In Washington's heart in accordance with the
needs of his times. No man was more liberal
to the poor, and when, in TITS, he took COM
mand of the Continental Army, he wrote to
Lund Washington, left In charge at Mount
Vernon:
"Let the hospitality of the house with re-
spect to the poor. be kept up. Let no one go
hungry away. If any Of this kind of people
should be in want Of corn, supply their neces-
sities. provided it does not encourage them in
rleSs and have no objection to your CIV
Ai-a my money in charity. to the amount of E40
or ESQ year, when you think it well bestowed
what 1 mean by having no objection is that 1t
Is my desire that it should be DONE"
George Washington is known to history as
one of the wealthiest men of the Colonies but
1t Is not so generally known that in the very
hour there was rendered him the highest honor
within the gift of a grateful country he was
forced to the expediency to which many Amer1-
cans have been put since October, 1929.
Bluntly, he had to borrow some money He
did not seek the presidency, and to Alexander
Hamilton he confided
"You WILL am well assured, believe the as
sertion (though I have little expectation it
would gain credit from those who are less ac-
qlainted with me), that, If I should receive the
appointment, and if should be prevailed upon
to accept it, the acceptance would be attended
with more diff1dence and reluctance that I
ever experienced before in my life. It would
be. however. with fixed and sole determine
ton of lending whatever assistance might be
in my power to promote the public weai.
In hopes that at convenient and early period
my services might be dispensed with, and that
! might be permitted once more to retire, to
pass an unclouded evening after the stormy
day of life, in the bosom of domestic tran
guilty"
So duty won and preparation for the new
dignity included promotion Of a personal loan.
With characteristic simplicity he explained the
situation and his motive: 81 am inclined TO
do what never expected to be driven to, that
is. to borrow money on interest. Five hundred
pounds would enable me to discharge what I
owe in Alexandria, etc. and to leave the State
without doing this would be exceed
ingy disagreeable to me-"
Thus, he once more regretfully took leave or
his comfortable Mount Vernon acres TO journey
to New York for his Inauguration, with feelings.
as he himself expressed it, mot unlike those
OF culprit who is going to the place Of his
execution"
THE deep religious side Of Wathington's ma
ture is well known and In a day when
modern St. Johns are crying in the wilderness
the summons to mankind to give greater heed
to the spiritual it is worthwhile to recall those
crisis when Washington's believing soul was
revealed. Cynical modernism may dispute
whether he actually knelt in the snow at VAL
ley Forge to pray, but it is not to be questioned
that he was ever willing to give humble thanks
to his Creator for blessings His humility ana
gratitude was never more strikingly expressed
than when he wrote to friend in the early
months of the Revolution
Il have scarcely emerged from one difficulty
before I have plunged into another. How it
will end, God in his great goodness will direct.
am thankful for His protection to this time"
In the setting up of the actual machinery or
religion in the Continental Army he declared:
''The blessing and protection of heaven are at
all times necessary, but especially so in times
of public distress and danger. The General
hopes and trusts that every officer and man
will endeavor so to live and act as becomes a
Christian soldier defending the dearest rights
and liberties of his country"
His final words at the inaup1Iral of llQa ring