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Show :-. " r' i i ,, m i j. t '' I " ' r 1 ?! I ' ; S 1 ; I I Ml ' $ - I 1 ? 15 y f ' " - 1 ' H i t - " N - It V v - Ml' i - ; r 1 Iff " - - v : : u i l , - - v I p v ' t v v f i f k . I r f 4 ' M ' , 1 Wasliinqton W".flHERE Is no finer example - la in American history of WlS faith and pluck than that NW which was made at Val-pfjf Val-pfjf ley Forge by the Conti-w?!f Conti-w?!f nental army under its pMAvV. commander in chief, Ci.Jl.;.v, George Washington, In the winter of 1777-1778. It Is doubtful whether the sacrifice sacri-fice of the Continental army has ever been adequately realized, Arthur Ar-thur Weller writes in the National Republic Magazine. Half-starved, ill-clad, poorly sheltered, and in great peril, not only from the pangs of hunger and cold, but also from enemy attacks, they huddled about their campfires, while the British under Lord Howe, at the "rebel" capital of Philadelphia, celebrated detachment was one of the last tc receive shoes, also that the supply shortly after his detachment was reached, had been exhausted. Washington listened In silence but his deep sighs showed with what emotion he heard this report Turning to his men he said, his voice trembling, "Poor fellows !' Then he gave rein to his chargei and rode rapidly away. Valley Forge is more than a beautiful beau-tiful state park today. It is sym bolic of something more than forced privations. It is a shrine that instills in-stills in all true Americans a deeper apreciation of the manhood and the sacrifice of those who were quartered quar-tered there during the darkest hour of the Revolution. It is symbolic of a never-dying devotion to a cause and to a great commander that kept hope alive. Tracked March of Troops by Bloodstains Blood-stains of Feet on Ground. the taking of It with dances and other gala events. In Marshall's Washington we find this: "At no period of the war had the American army been reduced to a situation of greater peril than during the winter at Valley Forge. More than once they were absolutely without food." What hardships were undergone can be deduced from the fact that only 5,000 out of the 17,000 who encamped there in December for that winter were fit for active duty. Clothing, no less than food, was scarce. Men wore each other's uniforms In order that the naked could be clad and take their turn at active duties. One account tells of Washington, one cold morning, meeting his sentinel sen-tinel as the commander left headquarters, head-quarters, the Potts house. The sentinel sen-tinel was making vigorous movements move-ments with his hands and legs in order to keep warm. Noting this. Washington asked him if he had had his breakfast. Upon receiving a negative reply, Washington hurried hur-ried the sentinel Inside the house, nnd while he was being served a breakfast by Mrs. Washington, George Washington, with the sentinel's sen-tinel's gun, stood guard outside his iwn house until the soldier's return. Illustrative also of the conditions in the camp at beautiful, yet tragic. Valley Forge, so close to Philadelphia, Philadel-phia, so near tiie British, is the account ac-count of Washington's visit to a detachment de-tachment of his own men. He had been keeping his eyes on the ground, apparently noting something some-thing Interesting there on the snowy slopes. Upon drawing near to the i-hief officer of the detachment, Washington quietly returned the salute, sa-lute, then abruptly said: "How comes it, sir, that I have .racked the march of your troops by the bloodstains of their feet upon up-on the frozen ground? Were there no shoes In the commissary's stores?" To this the oflicer replied th-t his Planning the Future We are always wanting to be do ing, to be giving, to be planning for the future, to be mapping out all our life; Instead of resting and receiving re-ceiving day by day. leaving the morrow mor-row to our God, and rejoicing In Jesus Christ amidst all our fails nn' failures. |
