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Show I Hard Chris tmases I I for G.Washington 1 O ONE has told us much about Jlfy George Washington's Christ-mases. Christ-mases. But from the record of his life we learn how he spent some of his Christmas days. It was a very cold Chrlstmastide In 1777 at Valley Forge. Snow was on the hills. Everything was frozen. And Washington's army was in great need of food, clothing and shelter. Instructions of parties of men to go' foraging for food are entered in the orderly book for that Christmas day at Valley Forge, which was anything but merry for Washington. ( Still more desperate were the JJoo conditions gt Morristown in 179, wfien Washington reported that his army wag on hnJ allowance an d near Starvation. "We have never exge rlenced a like extremity at any period of the war," declared Washington, pleading that food be sent. There was a welcome Christmas present for Washington and his men at New Windsor In 1780 when a big Christmas wagon came with over 2,000 shirts and other comforts made by Philadelphia women patriots things needed by the men under Washington, who were cheerfully suffering all sorts of hardship in order that this country might be free. The Philadelphia women wom-en qlso rftlsed, that year, over $300,-000 $300,-000 in aid of the y.'Ji'ortj: "The fine old Colonial mansion (the Craigie hOTls'e In Cambridge, Mass., (now .widely known as the Jjome of Henry W. Longfellow), Was tne place" where Washington pent his first Christmas as commander of the Rev-?!lii0PQr Rev-?!lii0PQr ?je?y lu 1775. Mrs. WaslP lilitou was thtte Ht'h httn (as she was lJlt-efat Valley l?orge), and there was sOtoe pleasure In the midst of the heavy careS and" responsibilities carried car-ried by the great W ashington. A year latej Christmas day X$izZ Washington at tlie TaeaS f ms 2.400 brave men making his celebrp crossing of the Delaware tivef, iiliie miles above Trenton. Tne fctvow and sleet were blinding, it is recorded, and the cold was Intense. But hearts were brave. Wherever he was at Christmastlde, Washington was cheered with the thought that the cause of the struggling strug-gling colonies would surely win. A few days before Christmas, 1776, he wrote to his older brother, John Augustine Au-gustine Washington : "Between you and me, our affairs are in a very bad situation. . . . However, under a full persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an idea that it will finally sink, though it may remain re-main for some time under a cloud." Washington must have had some ' very merry Chrlstmases at Mount Vernon. Ver-non. There were no children of his own with whom Washington could romp. But we can easily imagine the big-hearted general putting on a false beard of fuzzy white whiskers and slinging a pack over his back for ; the delight of the little ones in the 1 neighborhood. General Washington was truly the l "Father of His Country," and we have : a very good idea of the sort of holiday i spirit in which he observed the "glad Christmastide" when our republic was in Its infancy. ' No one in all our bright history as a nation has banded down a more ra- i diant Christmas message of hope and faith. |