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Show ;i The Washington Anniversary "H J TEXT TUESDAY will bo the anniversary J (177th) of the birth of George Washington. ' The other day Woodrow "Wilson declared that the people of New York City could not pro duce another Lincoln. He might have added, New York could not produce another Washington. He grew up without much of any schooling, he never could spell correctly, he took some elemen- !tary lessons in surveying. Fiom the first he was an athlete and a horse tamer, from the first the sound of fife and drum were music to him. So when the militia was formed, by natural selection he was the captain. He was, moreover a woodsman; woods-man; he knew all the habits of the wild game, and further back, the habits of the wild savage. So when a French-Indian war came on, and Great Britain sent an accomplished officer with a command to down the trouble, Washington went along with his militia and, when approaching a dangerous point, near where Pittsburg now is, he ventured to say to the English general that the appearances of things ahead were bad, that he should not venture further without first sending out some scouts to reconnoiter, and that educated fool, disdaining to receive adivce from the backwoodsman, back-woodsman, threw his men into what proved to he an ambuscade and he and many of his soldiers were killed. In that moment the spirit of George Washington Washing-ton shown out. He was everywhere in the fight, he had five horses shot from under him, he saved ' the remnant of the command. So that when the time was ripe for this nation to be born, Instinctively Instinc-tively congress turned to him for a leader and for the coming seven years, against all hardships and against all dangers, he guided the shabby army and wrought out deliverance to the land. Then he was made President when he might have been made king. He served eight years as Ift President, served until the constitution was formed and a free government fully established, ., and when he was called the whole world was thrilled with sorrow, and the great CorsJcan, who was then in the height of his power in France, ordered a state mourning and that all his officers should wear crape for thirty days. The secret of it all was the character of the (man. He was a man among men, he looked out sharply for his own interests, but above all other men aiound him, what was good for native land r was what he determined to have, and so profound were his convictions on this subject that fine s scholars acknowledged his power, men in every walk of life acknowledged his power; he was the strongest character of his day; the influence he left behind his country still retains and the flag which was first baptized in blood over him has be-i be-i come the symbol of liberty the world round. Next Tuesday wherever there is an American colony there will be memorial services, whereever an American ship is tossing on the sea a solemn salute will be fired in his memory. When he began be-gan his work the settlements of our country consisted con-sisted of a little fringe along the shore of the Atlantic; At-lantic; today 90,000,000 of Americans over the whole continent, will hail his name in remember- ance, and it will be so to the end of time with every return of his birthday. The men of the United States will send all halls to his memory k and that memory will be an inspiration to every real American on sea or on land. No American army and no American fleet will ever go into i battle without calling on his name. t I From nothing, by his character he won immortality, immor-tality, a distinct place in the list of great men, and one of the chief secrets of all his life was that he loved his country better than himself, and from boyhood up he held his fortune, his honor, his life itself, as but belonging to his country and subject every moment to his country's commands. |