Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-02-13

his birth in 1874. when the nOStlllteS
and the British evacuation were both
in the past. Young men who had been
privileged to visit him in his famous
campaign tent organized birthday hon
ors fit for a hero; and in that first Feb
ruary of the new era, the celebrations
first began to resemble real occasions.
In Alexandria, Va, the town nearest
10 the Generals stately mansion, the
birthnight ball was inaugurated an an
nual affair. In Philadelphia patriots
celebrated with that hilarity and man
~ decOrum ever attendant on the sons
of freedom" In New York there met
"a select club of Wings" and drank to
Washington, and hailed him with song
and sonnet and defamation.
The date thus far widely hOnOreG
was February II. Washington was
born on February II, 1872, according
TO the British calendar usageS then
officially in vogue. Nineteen years
later Britain adopted the Georgian in
place of the Julian calendar. But
the ancient dates often stuck. and it
w
tons birthday-his first as President
being celebrated on the twenty-second
of February instead Of the eleventh
ny the Tammany society Of New York
Tammany in 1890 was patriotic,
anti-aristocratic, charitable and am
bilious. As yet it did not diff
ferentiate between President Washing
ton, its adopted Great Grand Sa-
chem" and the second of those char
acteriStics. In this, the initial year of
government under the new Constitu-
ton, New York strOve to honor the
Chief Executive and also TO persuade
the congress that had come to reside
in Its midst that New York city was
the logical choice for permanent
capital.
Washington himself was busy in
New York on that February % He
was moving from the Franklin house,
at the corner of Cherry and Pearl
Streets to the McCOmb mansion on
Broadway, near the newly rebuilt
Trinity church. His diary for the day
reveals him as an active superintend-
ent Of the disposal of his furniture.
On the twenty-third he transferred his
family to the new abode, while under
standing citizens kindly stayed away
from that days regular levee.
Meanwhile in all IL states, birthday
balls had been held, not only by the
cities with their higher social circles,
but also In hamlets that could only
muster a barn for a ballroom and
fiddle and flute for an orchestra. Sol
diers had paraded. Guns had doomed.
and church bells rung. Banners and
armlets and headbands had blazOned
forth the name and often the Inca
ments of Washington.
In 1891, the Society of the Cincin-
natl held It's first WashingtOn's birth
day celebration in New York, having
followed Tammany's example by re-
solving to mark the date each year.
The President and the congress (an1
also the capital Of the United States),
had meanwhile removed temporarily
to Philadelphia. But even New YOrk'S
disappointment did not prevent Tam
many from vying with the exclusive
organization of Revolutionary officers
40 do honor to the day.
Alas, the good feeling did not en-
dure. BY 1876, after John Jay had
come back from England with his
mated treaty, Tammany was fiercely
for revolutionary France: Jefferson
was it's god; George Washington was
actually being dubbed in public, pro-
English aristOcrat; and those who cele-
DRAFTED his birthday were coldly ac-
eused of being (amOng other things)
boOtlickers, idolators, Royalists and
sycOphants. The countrywide birth
day hOnOrs of that year, though even
more lavish and vOciferOus than usual,
presented for the first time the ogre
of party, grinning at the feast.