other disciples of Washington will celebrate his birth, with no less of sincere admiration than we now commemorate it.  When they shall meet, as we now meet, to do themselves and him that honor, so surely as they shall see the blue summits of his native mountains rise in the horizon, so surely as they shall behold the river on whose banks he lived, and on whose banks he rests, still flowing on toward the sea, so surely may they see, as we now see, the flag of the Union floating on the top of the Capitol; and then, as now, may the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!

FOOTNOTES: 

[21] At the beginning of the nineteenth century Marcus Tullius Cicero was often called Tully.

[22] A remark by Fisher Ames (1758-1808), of Massachusetts,—­perhaps the extremest Federalist of his time.

[23] The famous phrase, “honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none,” was not Washington’s but Jefferson’s.

* * * * *

MOUNT VERNON, THE HOME OF
WASHINGTON

BY WILLIAM DAY

The following lines were written on the back of a picture at Mount Vernon: 

  There dwelt the Man, the flower of human kind,
  Whose visage mild bespoke his nobler mind.

  There dwelt the Soldier, who his sword ne’er drew
  But in a righteous cause, to Freedom true.

  There dwelt the Hero, who ne’er killed for fame,
  Yet gained more glory than a Caesar’s name.

  There dwelt the Statesman, who, devoid of art,
  Gave soundest counsels from an upright heart;

  And, O Columbia, by thy sons caressed,
  There dwelt the Father of the realms he blessed;
  Who no wish felt to make his mighty praise,
  Like other chiefs, the means himself to raise;
  But there retiring, breathed in pure renown,
  And felt a grandeur that disdained a crown.

* * * * *

THE UNSELFISHNESS OF WASHINGTON

BY ROBERT TREAT PAINE

To the pen of the historian must be resigned the more arduous and elaborate tribute of justice to those efforts of heroic and political virtue which conducted the American people to peace and liberty.  The vanquished foe retired from our shores, and left to the controlling genius who repelled them the gratitude of his own country, and the admiration of the world.  The time had now arrived which was to apply the touchstone to his integrity, which was to assay the affinity of his principles to the standard of immutable right.

On the one hand, a realm to which he was endeared by his services almost invited him to empire; on the other, the liberty to whose protection his life had been devoted, was the ornament and boon of human nature.