OCR Text |
Show VTjPvtiie story or the first ppesiiiestVxSI y!S BY THE PRESIDENT .VZC of office once taken, he was no l.mc simple cJUsen, as be bad n dur Inf those two days of waiting; the dignity of the government had come Into his keeping with tint office. Henceforth Hence-forth he would pay no mora calla, ao-cept ao-cept no Invltatloaa. On a day fixed he would twelve calls; and he would show himself once a ffk at Mrt. Washington' general receptions. He would Invite persons of oltUUl rank or marked distinction to his table at suitable Intervals. There should be no pretense of seclusion, seclu-sion, no parade of Inaccessibility. Ttte president should be a republican officer, offi-cer, the servant of the people. Hut ha would not be common. It should be known that his office and authority were the first In the land. Every proper outward form of dignity, dig-nity, ceremony and self respect should bff observed that might tell whole-seaiely whole-seaiely upon the Imagination of the people; that might be made to serve aa a visible sign, which no man could miss, that there was here no vnatlg of the old federal authority, at which It had ben the fashion to liuigh, but a real government, and that the great est In the land. . Prestige for Government Rome thouKht him silff, but only the churlish could dm him unrepubllcaa. so evident waa It to every candid man that It was not himself but his office be was exalting. His old passion foi turowa was upon him, and he uinanl that this government of which he had ben made the head should have prestige pres-tige from the first. Count do Moustlcr, the French mla later to the United Stales, deeming America, no doubt, a protege ol France, claimed the rlht to deJ directly di-rectly with the president la person, as If upon terms of familiar privilege, when couductbig his diplomatic busl-ne; busl-ne; tat waa checked very promptly It waa not likely a man bred In tfca proud school of Virginian country gear tie men would miss so obvious a point of etiquette aa this. To demand Intimacy Inti-macy waa to Intimate superiority, aad Washington's reply drew Item the eount an Instant apoeogy. That the United States had every reaenn to bold France In loyal a ff rotten ro-tten Washington gladly admitted with all stately courtesy; but affection be-came be-came eervlllty when It lost self-respect, self-respect, and Fraace mast approach the president of the United States as every other country did, through the properly constituted department lf Uiera are rules of prooMedlng." ho said, quietly, "whlcti have originated from the wisdom of statesmen, and are ennctioned by the common assent of nations, it would not be prudent lor a young state to dispense with them el-together" el-together" particularly a young state (bis thought addtd) which foreign states had despised and might bow try to patronize. Theeo small matters would carry an infinite weight of suggestion with them, as he knew, and every suggestion sugges-tion that proceeded from the president should speak of dignity and Independence. Indepen-dence. Stricken With Illness. He had boon scarcely six weeks In office when he waa stricken with a sharp Illness. A malignant tumor In bis thigh seemed to hie physlolans for a time to threaten mortification. It was three weeks before he could take the air again, stretched piatnfnlly at length In bis coach; even bis stalwart strength was slow to rally from the draft made upon It by the disease, and Its cure with the korfe. There was deep anxiety for a little among thoee who knew, so likely dig It seem that the life of the government govern-ment was staked upon bis Ufa. He himself had looked very calmly into the doctor' troubled face, and aad bidden him tell bins the worst with that placid firmness that always cams to him ta moments of danger. "I sin not araid t dto," he said. -Whether tonight or twenty years hence makea no difference. I know that I am In the bands of a good Providence." Prov-idence." tTO BR CONTINUED.) After-Dinner Story. Amorwi after dinner speakers Joseph Jefferson ranked as one who could tell a good story In a dry, delightful way. His stories dealt principally with theatrical subjects. "While starring through Indiana aeveral years ago," he said at a dinner din-ner one right, "my manager was approached ap-proached by a man who bad the local reputation of being a pass 'worker,' or dead beat. He told the usual yarn about being a former actor and ended end-ed by asking for professional courtesies courtes-ies "'I would be glad to oblige you,' said the maanger, but. unfortunately, I haven't a card with me.' Just then a bajpy 0. ought struck him and be added: 'I'll 'all you what III do. I will write the pess where It will be easy for you to show it' "Leaning over, with a pencil be wrote, 'pais the bearer,' on the fellow's fel-low's white shirt front and signed his name. The best thanked him and hastened to the gate. The ticket taker gravely examined the writing and let blm take a few steps luside, then called him back, saylag In a loud voire: " "HoM on. my friend; I forgot! It will be necessary for yuu U leave that pais with me." Shrine at Aeroi's Teenb. An Important aerhaeloglca! find, ust swpnried from London, la a sbrtn on the top of Mount lior, which h claimed to bo the tomb of Aaron. The shrine Is always jealously guarded by I Mahometans, imi has never before ben examined by competent archaeologists. archae-ologists. Hebrew Inscriptions are also said t ' have be-n found la the place, which, 1 If true, mast be eery ancient, aa ni lew has ben allowed t approarB the i ihiiae for age. Installment 22 If the estate brought money so slow, ly In while he farmed It. he must count upon Its doing even ea while he waa away; and yet he had determined deter-mined to accept no salary as president, presi-dent, but only his neceatiary expenses while In the discharge of his olllclul duties, as In the old days of the war. Washington Perplexed. It hud brought distressing perplexities perplexi-ties upon him to bo thus drawn from hts private business to serve tit nation. na-tion. Private cure panned off. no doubt, and were forgotten aa the Journey Jour-ney l ngtbened. but the other anxiety, anx-iety, how ho should succeed In this large btmlnesa of stalemanahlp to which he had been called, dtd not las off; the Incidents of that memorable mem-orable rldn only served to heighten It. When he had ridden to Cambridge that anxloirs summer of 1775, he had been hailed by die-ring crowds upon the way, who admlrid the line llure he ms'le, and shouted for the cause he was detained to levl; but ho know himself a soldier then, was but forty-three, forty-three, and did not fear to tind his aiy uncongenial. Ibo people had loved him and had thronged about him with looks and , words II had quickened his heart to see and bear as he made his way from N't w York to Annapolis to resign bis commission but six years ago; but that was upon the morrow of a task accomplished. a,nd tlio plaudits he beard upon the way were but greetings greet-ings to speed him the more happily homeward. Things stood very differently now. Though he felt himself grown old, be had come out to meet a hope he could not share, and It struck a subtle pain to his heart that the pnople shculd o trust him should give him so royal a progress as he fared on bis way to attempt an untried task. A Royal Welcome. No king In days cf kings' divkilty could have looked for so heartfelt a welcome to his throne as this modest gmitlpmaii got to tho office he feared ' to take. Not only were there civil fete and military parade at every stage of tho Journey; there waa everywhere, besides, be-sides, a runuing together from all the country roundabouts of people who bore themselves not as mere sight-eers, sight-eers, but ls If they had come out of love for the man they were to a.e pass by. It was not their numbers but their manner that struck their hero with a new sense of responsibility; their earnest gaze, their unpremeditated cries of welcome, their simple Joy to see the new government put Into the hands cf a man they perfectly t runted He was to be their guarantee of Its good faith, cf Its respect for law and Its avroiien to l!brty; and they made him know their hope and their confidence In the very tone of their greeting Strew Roses Before Him. There was the manifest touch of love In the reception everywhere prepared pre-pared for him. Heflned women broke their reserve to greet him In the open roud; put their young daughters forward. for-ward. In their enthusiasm, to strew rnes before him In the way; brougkt teurs to his eyes by the very artless-re artless-re of their affection. When st last the triumphal Journey was ended, the dlnplay of every previous pre-vious stage rapped and outdone by tie ffne pageant of his escort of boats f'tm N'eeark and of his reception at th ferry stain In New York, the d-"!ienslratlon seemed alincst more than he could bear. '"itse display of boats which attended attend-ed er.d Joined n," he cottfenved In hi tlary. "the decorations of the ships, the roar of the cannon, and the loud acclamations of the people which rent the rkles as I walked along ' th ftreets. filed my mind with eens Hons a painful aa they are pleas-e pleas-e rt ; " for his fears foreboded scenes the opposite of these, when he shoflld have shown himself unable to fulfill the hepes which were the burden of all the preeeit Joy. It was the ;?th of April when Wa shir, sh-ir, a i en reached New Ycrk. Notwithstanding his executive fjih-Ion fjih-Ion of making haste, the rising of the country to bid him God ped had kept h'm f"vr days lonser on the way tan Mr Thomson had taken to carry the rummr.r.s to Mount Vernon Three days more elsfeed before congress hid eomnlf'ed t preparations fcr bin Ins'iguratlon. On the 10th of April. In the presence pres-ence of a great cwrouree of prrple Hrt frt boke In'o wild cheers ct rlaM of him. and then fell silent again upon the Ira'int to see him an moved Wsshirrtim strd fsre to face with the chancellor of the state uoon th open hal.wiy of the Federal hall It Wall street, snd tor.k the oith of a.Cce. Tskes te Oath. "Ho vet olemnly ir," ael !Jtirvn. "tMt yi will fal'hfilly St.-r-fe offee of prealdelt of the frf'd S-atee. and vrtll. to the bt ci yeu sf-Tl'v praperre. prenrt and d-'a. d-'a. , f-- rrirr?w'ion cf t5 UnPre .a-, ai.rnly swear" repIV d V -thwt I will fi'tAfaJly 0 ' execute the office of president of the United State, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." and then, bendlag to kiss lh Hlble held before blm. bowed bis hmd and said "Ho hftp me God!" In tonue no man ooirld mistake, so deep wan their thrill of feeling. Hailed aa President. "Long live George Warhinrfon. president of the United Statest" cried Uvlnston to the people; and a groat shout went up with the booming of the cannon In the narrow streets. WohhiriKtou was proaundly tsov-ed, tsov-ed, and. with all his extraordinary mastery of hims4f. could not hide his agitation. It was a company of frlnds. the senatcrs and representatives who etood about hi in within the siate chamber as he read his address, after the taking of tho oath. Some very old friends were there-men there-men who bad been with blm In the first continental congress, men who had been his Intimate corretiotidenis the long year through, men who were now his close confidants and sworn supporters. Not inns y slaun-gers slaun-gers oould crowd Into the narrow hall; and It was not mere love of ceremony, but genuine and heartfelt res feet, that made the whole company com-pany stand while he read. Washington Visibly Moved. He vlKlbly trejrl'4, nevertheless, as he stood In their presenee, strong and steadfast man though he wis. "and several times could scarce make out to read;" Khlfted hie manuscrtyt uneasily from hand to hand; gestured with awkwsrd effort; let his vi4ce fall almost Inaudible; was every way unlike himself, except fr the simple majesty and sincerity that shone In hlrn throiiKh It all. Hla manner but gave emijhasia. after all, to the words ho was readhig "The magnitude and difficulty of tho trust," he deelHred. "could not but overwhelin with despondence one who, Inheriting Inferior endowments from nature, and unpraetleed in the duties of civil administration, ouvht to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies;" and no one thpre could look at him and deem hlrn Insincere when he siMed, "All I dare aver Is that It ha been my faithful study to collect my duty from a Just appreciation apprecia-tion cf every circumstance by which It might he affected. All I darn hope Is that. If In executing this tank I have bee-n too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former Instances, In-stances, or by an affectionate en billty to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellowcltUens, and have thence too little consulted my InraiMM'lty aa well as dlHlnrllna-fioa dlHlnrllna-fioa for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will b palliated by the motives which misled me, and Its conqueiiee be Judged by my con ut ry with some share of the par-Ctllty par-Ctllty with which they originated " Some Vital Truths. His bearers know how near the truth he struck when he said, "The smiles of Heaven can never be expected ex-pected on a nation thst dlsregirds the eternal rules of order and right whkh Heaven Itself has ordained; and the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, the d-'ftlny of the republican repub-lican model of government, are Justly Just-ly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, slaked on the experiment In-tmiited In-tmiited to the hands of the American people." It waa. no doubt, "a novelty In the history of society to see a great people peo-ple turn a calm and scrutinizing eve upon Itself." as the eople of America Amer-ica had done; "to see It caref-Jlly ex- t.r'-.....- t- f,--.- First Presidential Mansion, New York. am'ne the eatect cf the evil" Intc m til' h disunion and disorder had brotiijht It; "patiently wait for two yewrs until a remedy ss discovered:" , and at last voluntarily adept a new order and government "without hiving hiv-ing wrung a ter or a drop of blood frcrn mankind." Overcome by Responsibility. Hut Wafhinaton knw that the praise deeerved for eutb tr.aatery snd self poeeese I'm would be shortlived eneii;b If th new government should , fall or he discredited It wss the overpowering thought , that h h!m4r would be chlefy re-specrlble re-specrlble fer Ita success or failure i t'tat shack Me nerves a be s'-ond here at 'he U tinning tf his task; i sad no a.an of right setbCity in "sal aediewce failed to llko blm the i Ntr and trtiat him the me.re las-II 5lie;'ly for his emotljn. i "It was a very touching scene," wrote FUher Ames, of Massachusetts. Massachu-setts. "It semed to me an allegory In which vlrtne waa personified aa addressing ad-dressing those whom she would make her votaries. Her power over the heart waa never greater, and the Illustration Il-lustration of bej dnctiino by her own example waa never more perfect" Words of Appeal. "1 f'l how much I shall stand tn nMd of txie ctajtitenance and aid of every friend to myself, of every friend to the Revolution, and of every lover of god government." were Washington's words of appeal to Edward Ed-ward Itutledge. of South Carolina; and he never seemed to hla friends more attractive or more noble than bow. Turns to New Duties. The Inauguration over, the streets fallen quiet again, the legislative Uisinesa of the houses resumed. Washington Wash-ington regained his old self -possession, and turned to master his new duties with a calm thoroughness of purpose which setned at once to paas Into the action of the government Itself. 1'erhaita ft was true, aa he Uieugbt, that he hud been no statesman hitherto; hith-erto; thCtigh those who had known him would havo declared tbeansexves of amMher mind. He had carried the affairs of the Confederation upon bis own shoulders, while the war lasted, after a fashion the mem of that time were not likely to forget, ao full of eaiergy had he been, so pro video', and capable upon every point of policy. His Inters, too, since the war endd. had shown bis correspondents the country over each aa appreciation of the present, so aure a forecast ef the future, so maecullne an understanding of what waited to be done and ef the means at hand to do It, that they.-at least, accounted htm their leader In peeoH no less than In war. Hut statesmanship hitherto had bemn only Incidental to his duties as a soldier sol-dier and a cltixen. It bad been only an aorldent of the Revolution that he had had himself, oftentimes, to auppty the foresight and the capacity in action ac-tion which the baiting congress lackwl. He had hud no experleuee as" all In actual civil administration. Ha' did not know his own abilities, or real-Ixe real-Ixe bow rich his experience In aCai:T had, in fact, been. He went about bis new tasks with diffidence, therefore, but with the full pulsed heartiness, too, of the man who thoroughly trusts blm-iK'lf. blm-iK'lf. for the capacity at any rate of ticking pains. Statesmanship was now his duty his wholo duty and It waa his purpose to understand and execute the office of presldut as he had understood under-stood and administered the ofllce of geiMTal Need for Caution. He knew what need there was for caution. Thla was to be. "In the first Instance, In a considerable degree, a government of accommodation aa well aa a government of laws. Much was to b done by prudence, much by conciliation, con-ciliation, much by flrmnesa." "I walk." be said, "on untrodden ground. There is scarcely an action the motlv of which may cot be subjected to a doubtn Interpretation. There Is scarcely scarce-ly any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn Into precedent." prece-dent." Hut. though he sought a prudent course, he rsd no mind to be tlmld; though he asked advice, be meant to l his own master. Wsshlngton bad. no doubt, a more precise understanding of what the new government must be made to mean than any other man living, except, perhape, Hamilton and Madison, the men whom he most conaftrd. The Confederation had died In contempt, despised for Its want of dlgiilty and power. The new government must dewrve and get preeminent standing rrom the first. Its policy must make the states a nation, must stir the peop out of their pettiness as colonists col-onists and provincials, and give them a national character and spirit It waa not a government only that was to b created, but the definite bodv of opinion also which should austatn snd perfect It. It must be made worth believing In, and the best spirits of th country must be rallW-d to Ita support. sup-port. It was not the question simply of how strong the government should be. Its action must, as Washington said, be mixed of firmness, prudence and conciliation. If It would win liking and loyalty as well aa respect. It must cultivate fact as well as eschew weak-nes weak-nes must win as well as compel obell.fce. ' Gives Dignity to Oflce. It waa of the first conaequence to the country, therefore, that the man It had thoMn to provide In this dell-rate dell-rate business of establishing a government gov-ernment which slio'ild be vigorous without being overbearing wss a thoroughbred gentleman, whoae Instincts In-stincts would rsrry him a great way mwwrd tlva rotation of many a nice question of roadtiet. Ablle be wsHed to a made pl J-at be nailed upon every s-osior and re renaM the In attendaaoe i u;-n congress, with the purpose to how them epnn how cordial and Rat-era Rat-era I a bsta of personal aruVBfa.ace ! fee tahd, for bla part, tn , rovert.ment coadctd; but. tla oath ' |