Evening star., 1936-07-05
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL P. KENNEDY.

The people of this country are ap-
pealed to by Representative Samuel B.
Pettengill of Indiana to note the great
service by the public school teachers
during these difficult years Of depres-
sion.
Children from millions Of homes have
had their hope and morale, physical
health and energies sustained by the
cheer and courage Of their teachers
for whom it has been period of added
work. more pupils, less pay-but they
have carried on. Certainly it has meant
much to the Republic that 26,000000
children enrolled in our schools, quar-
ter of the total population. have had
these daily contacts with $4,000 teach
erS.
The Federal Government helped to
carry the load for municipalities which
had reached the end Of their credit and
tax reserves, he points out. Thirty-tWo
national organizations joined forces to
form the National Committee for Fed
eral Emergency Aid for Education, with
James H Richmond as chairman
Schools have been kept open, teachers
pay rolls have been provided to close
the gap of shrinking revenues, and
under P. w. A. appropriations hundreds
of new buildings and Improvements and
extensions to existing buildings have
been constructed.
If the children's health is the Ma
tons wealth"-school nurses. play
ground directors. the medical and dental
professions have helped to maintain a
remarkable degree of health among
these 26000000 children. With only per
cent of the worlds population, We in
America during the worst year of our
worst depression spent more money on
our public schools than all the rest of
the world together spent on its public
schools.
And. again-the teachers are the first
line of defense against traffic hazards,
which last year had toll of $4,000 lives.
to teach children habits Of carefulnesS
of lasting value.
* ~
Now is a period of rehabilitation"
preservation of historic structures to be
shrines for future centuries. At the
Democratic National Convention, in
Philadelphia, there was drive for con-
tributions to adequately restore the
birthplace Of President James Buchanan,
to preserve and maintain for posterity'
the Tobias Lear House, at Portsmouth,
NJ H. Those heading the effort are Mrs.
Theodore Roosevelt, Charles F. Adams,
former Secretary of the Navy; Senator
Harry Flood Byrd of Virginia. Theodore
Roosevelt. Huntley N. Spaulding, Thom-
as Washington, U. S. NJ, and George l..
Washington.
The house is the birthplace and boy
hood home of Tobias Lear, who after
being graduated from Harvard College
became private secretary to General
Washington, later the Presidents chief
secretary and finally military secretary
with the title of colonel. During IA
years of that period Lear resided al
most continuously with the Washington
family-no other man in the country was
so close to Washington, so honored with
his intimate confidence. Lear's second
wife was niece of Martha Washington
and widow of the Presidents favorite
nephew, Maj. George Augustine Wash
ington. His third wife was Frances
cambridge Henley, another niece of Mrs
Washington.
Colonel Lear had the complete trust
of both Washington and jefferson.
When the latter was inaugurated Presi-
dent he selected Lear for special diplo-
matte missions. He sailed on the frig-
ate Constitution and negotiated the
treaty of peace with Tripon in 1905.
After the War Of 1912 President Madison
appointed him commissioner to arrange
for the exchange of prisoners with Great
Britain.
The Lear House adjoins the famous
Wentworth Gardner House in Ports
mouth and was built in 1740.
The bicentennial of Patrick Henry
Voice of the Revolution"-is about to
be celebrated with dramatic re-enact-
ment by cast of more than 1000.
Henry started life with failure as a
pupil farmer, merchant. He learned
mostly sympathy for the poor, whom he
trusted at his store until bankrupt. His
meteoric rise to fame from aiding the
tavern keeper at Hanover, whose daugh-
ter he married, was founded on a fort
nights stay at William and Mary COL
lege, where he obtained a permit to
practice law.
Henry became popular figure when
he stepped into the shoes of the Kings
attorney when the parsons of the Old
Dominion sued for strict Interpretation
of the law in obtaining payment for
their services in tobacco, currency of the
period. At first stammering, he sud-
denly burst into steady flow of perfect
oratory-the people took Henry on their
shoulders and paraded him about the
building. He was next heard from in
the General Assembly. where he jumped
IN fame with his resolutions against the
stamp act.