The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-02-18

for an explanation, the parent
makes his little trick an excuse
for a sermon on the workings of
OmniScience.
The Origins of His Tales.
If there was ever the slightest
bit of evidence to support either
story historians, who presum-
ably have dug up every possible
bit of information that has a
bearing on Washington's early
life, have never been able to
discover it. What they have dis
covered, however, is this:
Back in 1897 John Bioren of
Philadelphia published a book
called 1.-THE Looking Glass for
the Mind; or, the Juvenile
Friend" Later editions of this
same book were brought out by
T. B. Jansen and Company of
New York. In them appeared a
story called "The Fruitful Vine,"
in which a father moralizes to
his son much as the elder Wash
ington moralizes to young George
in the cherry tree story. Since
the cherry tree story did not APP
pear in the earlier editions of
Weems' biography but in later
ones CATER the publication Of
''The Looking Glass for the
Mind") scholars are convinced
that the "Parson" based his
cherry tree story on the vine
story. Similarly, an anecdote, in
vented by an English squire long
before Washington's time to i'm
press his son with the greatness
of God, gave Weems the idea
for his cabbage seed story.
Although the origin of some Of
the other stories which Weems
included in his book are not so
easily detected, there is little
doubt in the minds of historians
that they are pure inventions by
the "Parson" with only the
slightest, if indeed any at all,
foundation in fact. All of them,
of course, were highly moral and
all tended to paint the youthful
Washington as nearly perfect as
a boy could be.
About a decade ago Washing
toms biographer was himself the
subject of a biography. 1t was
"Parson Weems of the Cherry
Tree" written by Harold Kellock
and published by the Century
company. In this book Kellock,
commenting upon the fact that
Weems originated so many Wash
ington legends, says:
"He Washington was first in
manly games, the fastest runner,
the best jumper, and could throw
farthest. In fact, this young Ad-
mirable Crichton was the hero
of a literary artist who knew the
commercial value of laying on
virtue with the heavy trowel. In
these and other fables of a SIM
liar character scattered through
the book, Weems created
Washington that all the study
and research of the scholars have
been unable to erase. 1t is the
Weemsian Washington that per-
sists in the school readers and in
the popular imagination, a figure
of truly terrifying piosities and
incredible projections, and, as
Mr.. Albert j. Beveridge remarks
in his life of John Marshall, an
impossible and intolerable
prig.'"
An Early Best Seller
Be that as it may, the Amer
lean people of the Nineteenth
century evidently wanted their
heroes pious to the point of prig-
gishness for they accepted "Par-
son WeemS portrait of Wash
ington as an authentic one and
handed it down to us.
Before Weems' death in 1925
he wrote many other books, most
of them moral tracts such as
1.-THE Drunkard's Lookingglass,"
Goods Revenge Against Muir
der" Goods Revenge Against
Gambling" etc. Undoubtedly
they were popular in their day
but that day soon passed. More
enduring was his masterpiece
even though it was master
piece of mixed fiction and fact.
For his Life of Washington
that paradox of a book filed
with untruths about a man whom
he painted as the paragon of
truthfulness!-is more than an
early "best seller" 1t is monu-
ment to a master myth-maker
who gave a nation legend and
convinced them that it was His