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Show s "-tzg mug V?--. WJ-"--ll kiw ref.r.oc. to fT2 -t - f W.hiniton "Th ' "iini"-"'Tr7'iiiiJ Father of Hi, Couotrr " J By ELMO SCOTT WATSON TTJ3"jV did it happen that George f i Cj Washington came to be f i L-j known by the name of "The J-; Father of His Country?" h i f v The obvious answer to that -ti- question is, of course, that a new nation, grateful to 5 the man who had led it safely through the dangers of a revolution against ils termer rulers, looked upon him as its parent and appropriately elected him for Its first 'resilient. But the fact remains that Washington Washing-ton was known by that title two years before the struggle for liherty had been won and at least ten years before be-fore he was called to the highest executive ollice. To a Pennsylvania German almanac, publish! in Lancaster. Lan-caster. Pa., by Francis Railcy in 1770. belongs the honor of first applying that title to Washington. The frontispiece fron-tispiece of this almanac was a crude woodcut of a scene in which appeared several symbolic figures. In the upper left band corner of the drawing is shown fame as an angel, bearing in one hand a medallion of Washington with a laurel wreath upon his head and in the other a trumpet from which comes t lie words "Des Landos Vater" '-The Father of the Country." Just how widespread became the use of that title as the result of the publication of this almanac Is unknown, un-known, but In 17S1 It was used again by Count Dumas, a French officer In Iiochantoau's army. In tli::t year George Washington ind gone to Newport, New-port, rt. I., to confer wilh General Ilochambeau. Although the Inhabitants Inhab-itants of that colony had suffered ;er-ribly ;er-ribly from the ravages of the war and were desperately poor, thy d, sired to give the commander In chief of the Continental army an appropriate reception. re-ception. To help those who bad been too Impoverished by th war to purchase pur-chase candles with which to light their windows In his honor, the council coun-cil ordered that th'se bo given to them free. The parad" In honor of Washington Is described by a contemporary con-temporary writer as follows: The pmrc'Mon vns r.ff by thirty boys, li'-.-i rintr enroll' fixf'l on p I n rf . follow! bvfjonernl Vnshinf;ton. Count fJe Jloctif rnlja u ari'l tii; othr o.Tiror. thoir rt 't--3 nnd the prff f:-:ion of citizens. citi-zens. The nicht vns r-Unr, fm'l th're v.;im not a t.rfalh to Inn the tor'h'-s The br ! 1 1 ;;i nt nro'-eM.ion rn:i r' her) through ttie prlno.tinl utreets nn'I rhwi return--'l to h'ri'lqij.-irtera. n r'-rch-lnt th floor. W;!:-:hinu'tnn w.-iitcd on lhf nt(p until all the otH'ers nnrl their frif-ndfi hfifj entered the house; th'Oi. tannine to the boys v.ho h,-il ;irtef torrht'e;irerfi he tto-ink''l them for their Httention Th, was Klory enough for the yonriR p:-trlo'3. Afler bis ronfereru-c v.llh Itoi-hatn-beau, V.'ashingt(n prcparoc to return to bis headquarters tear West Point and Count I'unias was iipointed by j:ocbarnl)fjiu to escort the n'-neral from Newport to Providence. In his memoirs. Count Immas tells of the Incident and records the use of the term "father of his country as follows fol-lows : We arrived there at night on March 13. Tne whole of the population hroi assembled from the suburbs, we were surrounded by a crowd of children carrying torches, reiterating the acclamations ac-clamations of the citizens; all were eaeer to approach the per?on of him whom they called their father, and pressed so clnFcly around us that they hindered us from proceeding. General Washingt was much affected. Mapped a feu moments and. present; my hand, said: "'We may be beaten by the Kny-l!sh; Kny-l!sh; it is the chance of war, but behold be-hold an army which thy can never cenquer." In connection with the use of that term in referring to Wa.shinton (t is interesting to note th;it a recent hioiT.'iphy of V;i.' Jiinton h:is het-n pi;Misl:cii by t!ie P.ol.bs-.M. Trill cm-p;:ny cm-p;:ny un-'er t!;e title of "The 1'aliier of Ills Country. It Is written by WHliurn K. Ilarten, noted as a hiocrnptier of Lincoln. nnl in his chnpte. "The Influence of Washington," Washing-ton," r.arton makes some InR'n.tini; compnrisnns hot ween thve two great men as follows: fie lovrd his country and he wn? capable of lovint? evpry part of It. was born In the South, but v. e do not (hink of him n n southerner. He spent his life In The Kast, but f"W men of hi. 4 rneration had so much faith In the West, or strove more earnestly earnest-ly nn'I intelligently to bind l'.:t?t and Wt to get her by rnads nnrl ca nals I'.ai 1 ways, of course, he did not know about, but he would have been interest inter-est d in them. T ii ' r e Is s o mr-1 h i n of close kinship In Washin::tnn'jt rriirr-ne.- s to see a icreat national h ich wa y f rtm the coa."t to the Interior, and 1-i ni-oln s grat hope of p.-oinif t lie completion of the Union Pacific railway. rail-way. Jnde'-d, thre are many flnf fju.tl-fti's fju.tl-fti's which these, two men bad In cum m on. Washintrton b'dieved In education, and Bought to secure a large AnitTl-ran AnitTl-ran univer.'uty. 'I'h's country, as he believed, rff d d Intelligent citizens, nn'I wl 1 -t ra in d U'ndera. He bflit-Vfd In paro with all nations, na-tions, nrid h" nought to sccur1 th;it peace by justice and honor. Hut he vas a man of courage, and when national na-tional existence or Integrity was at staV:e, he risked his life and bis fortune for-tune for his country. Lincoln was born in poverty and spnt nearly all his life a poor boy and man. WaMiini;ton was born In comfort a rid became a man of great weal t h. Lincoln ovp rra riie t lie ha nd I-cap I-cap of poverty, Wa::hincfon overcame over-came the greater peril of wealth. . While none of the detailed d.ncrip-tlons d.ncrip-tlons of Washington describe him as a man the detail of who"? appemnnr could be amounted marks of beauty, he was a man of r.trlking phyfO'iuo and had a certain Kymim'tiy thai mad him nothing lera than handsome In his imprersiveness. Washington and Lincoln were nearly near-ly of a height. Wo do not know what LM'-oln meanured In his stockings, find h1 was proud t o add the height of his boot-h"eli o wli-it would have been a Ii ')'::i i III gym na 'limn stature, lie ca I led tl I I ripe f ni x feet ll Tl d f our Iri'h.-s in heigbt and probably In his ntorkliu;a wan a little over hx feet and two InrlK'H ('unrernlng Washington we hr?v no preeiin me;i h u re ni en t h and n somewhat widely varying aerie of M:itemenin Me probably was Junl iihoiit Llnerjln'q height. Llri'-oln nt bis heaviest welched iibout one hundred 1 eighty. Washington was about two hundred. Washington wan spare and i Lincoln always thin. P.oth ha 5 narrow nar-row chests. Neither had a large head In proportion to his body, and that of , Washington, while about the size of j the average head, seemed small because ' his body was so large. Loth men car-1 car-1 rid their heads well, on finely poised i necks. Washington had enormous feet and hands; Lincoln's feet were ! about the size of Washington's but , h s hands were much smaller. Wo?h -lnt:ton's largeness showed Itself in ihe bulk of his bones and the prominence of his Joints. Lincoln's Joints were not unusually prominent, but his bnra were very long In proportion to their bulk. I.th rnen were powerful physically physi-cally and retained their strength Into later years. 1 Kac!i of these men. called to high and perilous n- po n si to 1 i t y in an hour of national peril, faeed dangers, rnis-un rnis-un 1-T.it and ' n t'S and ni in represent at ton. Karri of th'jm remalnrd true lo his convictions and unfalteringly loyal to to h:s country. Laeh of them was loyal to i-nn?i'ierK' sincere. relu;ion.i, sympathetic, sym-pathetic, courageous, patriotic and public-. p. rite J Of t lie influence of thin "father of Ids country up ti the nation which lio founded and as k final Irihute to the reatne.-s of the man himself, r.arton writes In t lie same chapter an follow fol-low s : American education was certainly not rstahhhhed by Washington nor Is he the fo rem out example of It; but his was an early and emphatic intlil-enco intlil-enco In favor of the development of eduea t ion In Amcrlrn I tscl f, that shou 1 1 Ira I n our national Wader a n 1 enable every Amerlrnn citizen to think and act Intelligently. In all h'.s transactions with the kov-ernir.ent, kov-ernir.ent, ns private citir.'-n, ss soldier and ollViai, no act of Washington fell below the high standard cf honor which was Inherent in Irs c U ,.r 1 e r. Ills perr-.nnal l.itcirrity and his public probity wer of the hlnhrst qual.ty. The Influence of Washington is mill to be f ou nd in the trad 1 1 ions Unit he-long he-long to the Presidential olllce. With m od i Or a t ions such ns have come naturally through the years, the dl-r dl-r it y and 'nil uencn of the otllro of the President Is what it Is In no small p.i rt been ure Washington e t a hi i i-hcd its precedents and wim-ly thought out its customs. The relation or the Unlt'-d Ptate wilh other nations are very I-ip'lv what they are been use of t be wb ibon of Washington In his definition of the Ameri.-an nttltudo. The I'nl t ed States after lung st rug-glefl rug-glefl with sectionalism and div:Ove I--fu'h, have come to see noire and inerf that Wafh liu:l on"s vIhIou of a grca t anil complei'-ly united republic Is America's true ideal. It Is Interesting to realize the high esteem of t;eorge Washington in nth-r lands than ours. In (Jrent Prltain he h Iidij red n I mo-it ns highly as he h In America. In Lurope, and throughout tho world, his name is known. nn,l newer republics have found inspiration in his character and wisdom. America has other and more recent heroes and there will be more In gen-i gen-i i a t ions t. come, lint he st n hds. and will ever stand, ns a noble r m In d I me nt of ii 1 1 t hn t in his K1'"" ra t inn was worthiest In American character llln honor is undimnied. and his name takes on add'd Pinter with the prism ng o.' lh years. Hew nations hav such name to stand at tho head of theh llfits of national heroes America and the world will ever venernte thr name of (i"orge Washington, tho father of his country. |