Chapter 1

E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlene Taylor, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) in commemoration of Washington's Birthday, February 22, 2005

Our American Holidays

WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY

Its History, Observance, Spirit, and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse, with a Selection from Washington's Speeches and Writings

Edited by

ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER

New York Dodd, Mead and Company

PREFACE

The popular idea of Washington has recently begun to veer away from the vision of an eighteenth century demigod in a wig,--an old-fashioned statue in dusky bronze, stern and forbidding. We are swinging around toward the idea of a loveable, fallible, very human personality with humor, a hot temper, and a genuine love of pleasure.

Accordingly, in gathering material for this book the editor has passed by those earlier writers who are mainly responsible for this distorted view; and he has aimed to gather here the essays, orations poems, stories, and exercises which best exhibit the modern conception of Washington; together with a selection from his own writings and the finest of the elder tributes to the memory of our greatest National Hero.

NOTE

The Editor and Publishers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to Houghton, Mifflin & Company; Doubleday, Page & Company; J.B. Lippincott & Co.; Mr. David McKay, John Macy, and others who have very kindly granted permission to reprint selections from works bearing their copyright.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I THE DAY

WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY _Margaret E. Sangster_ THE BIRTHDAY OF WASHINGTON _Anonymous_ WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY _George Howland_ WASHINGTON AND OUR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES _Charles W. Eliot_ CROWN OUR WASHINGTON _Hezekiah Butterworth_ WASHINGTON-MONTH _Will Carleton_

II EARLY YEARS

A GLIMPSE OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHPLACE _Grace B. Johnson_ SOMETHING OF GEORGE WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD _Anonymous_ WASHINGTON'S TRAINING _Charles Wentworth Upham_ WASHINGTON AS HE LOOKED

III THE GENERAL

WASHINGTON IS APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF _Sydney George Fisher_ WASHINGTON AT TRENTON _Richard Watson Gilder_ GEORGE WASHINGTON VALLEY FORGE _Henry Armitt Brown_ WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE _Canon R.G. Sutherland_ A FRENCHMAN'S ESTIMATE OF WASHINGTON IN 1781 _Claude C. Robin_

IV THE PRESIDENT

WASHINGTON AND THE CONSTITUTION _John M. Harlan_ WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION _Edward S. Ellis_ WASHINGTON _Mary Wingate_ WASHINGTON'S INAUGURATION _Edward Everett Hale_ WASHINGTONIANA LESSONS FROM THE WASHINGTON CENTENNIAL _George A. Gordon_ PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S RECEPTIONS _William Sullivan_ THE FOREIGN POLICY OF WASHINGTON _Charles James Fox_

V LAST DAYS

GEORGE WASHINGTON _Hamilton Wright Mabie_ WASHINGTON'S LAST DAYS _Elisabeth Eggleston Seelye_ THE MOUNT VERNON TRIBUTE THE WORDS OF WASHINGTON _Daniel Webster_

VI TRIBUTES

MEMORIALS OF WASHINGTON _Henry B. Carrington_ FROM THE "COMMEMORATION ODE" _Harriet Monroe_ WASHINGTON'S STATUE _Henry Theodore Tuckerman_ TRIBUTES WASHINGTON'S NAME IN THE HALL OF FAME _Margaret E. Sangster_ ESTIMATES OF WASHINGTON WASHINGTON'S RELIGIOUS CHARACTER _William M'Kinley_ WASHINGTON _Anonymous_

VII WASHINGTON'S PLACE IN HISTORY

THE HIGHEST PEDESTAL _William E. Gladstone_ WASHINGTON IN HISTORY _Chauncey M. Depew_ TO THE SHADE OF WASHINGTON _Richard Alsop_ THE MAJESTIC EMINENCE OF WASHINGTON _Chauncey M. Depew_ FOR A LITTLE PUPIL _Anonymous_ WASHINGTON'S FAME _Asher Robbins_ WASHINGTON, THE BRIGHTEST NAME ON HISTORY'S PAGE _Eliza Cook_ WASHINGTON, THE PATRIOT

VIII THE WHOLE MAN

GEORGE WASHINGTON _John Hall Ingham_ HISTORICAL MEMORABILIA OF WASHINGTON _H.B. Carrington_ A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF WASHINGTON _Henry Mitchell MacCracken_ THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON _Daniel Webster_ MOUNT VERNON, THE HOME OF WASHINGTON _William Day_ THE UNSELFISHNESS OF WASHINGTON _Robert Treat Paine_ THE GENIUS OF WASHINGTON _Edwin P. Whipple_ WASHINGTON'S SERVICE TO EDUCATION _Charles W.E. Chapin_ ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT _John W. Daniel_ THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON _Henry Cabot Lodge_

IX ANECDOTES AND STORIES

ANECDOTES OF WASHINGTON THE ABUSE OF WASHINGTON _Thomas Wentworth Higginson_ PROVIDENTIAL EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON _Irving Allen_ CHARACTERISTICS OF WASHINGTON GREAT GEORGE WASHINGTON _Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith_ HEADQUARTERS IN 1776 _Paul Leicester Ford_

X SELECTIONS FROM WASHINGTON'S SPEECHES AND WRITINGS

SELECTIONS FROM THE RULES OF CIVILITY SAID BY WASHINGTON WASHINGTON BEFORE THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND, AUGUST, 1776 FROM VARIOUS LETTERS, SPEECHES, AND ADDRESSES WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL TO THE ARMY PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S RESPONSE TO THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR ON RECEIPT OF THE COLORS OF FRANCE, 1769 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS

XI EXERCISES

DECORATIONS FOR WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY EXERCISES SOME YEARS IN WASHINGTON'S LIFE _M. Lizzie Stanley_ SOMETHING BETTER _Clara J. Denton_ THE STATES CROWNING WASHINGTON _Kate Bowles Sherwood_ THE NEW GEORGE WASHINGTON _Anonymous_ IN PRAISE OF WASHINGTON

INTRODUCTION

A good deal of American history was once violently distorted by the partisanship of the eighteenth century, frozen solid by its icy formalism, and left thus for the edification of succeeding generations. For example, it was not until 1868 that Franklin's Autobiography was by accident given to the world in the simple natural style in which he wrote it. The book had been "edited" by Franklin's loyalist grandson, and had been cut and tortured into the pompous, stilted periods that were supposed to befit the dignity of so important a personage. When John Bigelow published the original with all its naïveté and homely turns of phrases and suppressed passages, he shed a flood of light upon Benjamin Franklin.

But not _such_ a flood as has still more recently been shed upon our struggle for independence, and the hero who led it.

Mr. Sydney George Fisher[1] has shown how the history of the Revolution has been garbled by the historians into the story of a struggle between a villainous monster on the one hand, and a virtuous fairy on the other: He has shown how a period that is said to have changed the thought of the world like the epochs of Socrates, of Christ, of the Reformation, and of the French Revolution, has been described in a series of "able rhetorical efforts, enlarged Fourth-of-July orations, or pleasing literary essays on selected phases of the contest." These writers have ignored the fearful struggle of the patriots with the loyalists, the early leniency of England as expressed in the conduct of General Howe, the Clinton-Cornwallis controversy, and many other important subjects. In short, their design was--as Mr. Wister has happily put it, "to leave out any facts which spoil the political picture of the Revolution they chose to paint for our edification; a ferocious, blood-shot tyrant on the one side, and on the other a compact band of 'Fathers,' downtrodden and martyred, yet with impeccable linen and bland legs."

In view of this state of affairs, it is not strange that Washington should have shared in the general misrepresentation. Like Franklin's, his writings, too, were altered by villainous editors. In his letters, for example, such a natural phrase as "one hundred thousand dollars will be but a flea-bite" was changed to "one hundred thousand dollars will be totally inadequate."

The editors were aided in their refrigerating enterprise by a throng of partisan biographers, first among whom was the Rev. Mr. Weems, that arch-manipulator of facts for moral purposes. They were helped also by many of our old sculptors and painters, who were evidently more concerned to portray a grand American hero in a wig than to give us a real man of flesh and blood.

"By such devices," writes Owen Wister,[2] "was a frozen image of George Washington held up for Americans to admire, rigid with congealed virtue, ungenial, unreal, to whom from our school-days up we have been paying a sincere and respectful regard, but a regard without interest, sympathy, heart--or, indeed, belief. It thrills a true American to the marrow to learn at last that this far-off figure, this George Washington, this man of patriotic splendor, the captain and savior of our Revolution, the self-sacrificing and devoted President, was a man also with a hearty laugh, with a love of the theater, with a white-hot temper ... a constant sportsman, fox-hunter, and host...."

"The unfreezing of Washington was begun by Irving, but was in that day a venture so new and startling, that Irving, gentleman and scholar, went at it gingerly and with many inferential deprecations. His hand, however, first broke the ice, and to-day we can see the live and human Washington, full length. He does not lose an inch by it, and we gain a progenitor of flesh and blood."

Since Irving the thawing process has been carried on with growing success by such able biographers as Lodge and Scudder, Hapgood and Ford, Woodrow Wilson, Owen Wister, and Frederick Trevor Hill.

As yet this new idea of Washington's essential humanity has seemed too novel and startling to make its way deep into the popular conviction. I say "new idea." In reality it is a very old idea; only it has been smothered by the partisan writers of history and biography. Certainly the accounts of the first celebrations of Washington's Birthday do not sound as though our ancestors were trying to work up their enthusiasm over a steel-engraving hero.

"It was the most natural thing," writes Walsh,[3] "for our forefathers to choose Washington's Birthday as a time for general thanksgiving and rejoicing, and it is interesting to note that the observance was not delayed until after the death of Washington. Washington had the satisfaction of receiving the congratulations of his fellow-citizens many times upon the return of his birthday, frequently being a guest at the banquets given in honor of the occasion. In fact, after the Revolution, Washington's Birthday practically took the place of the birthday of the various crowned heads of Great Britain, which had always been celebrated with enthusiasm during colonial times. When independence was established, all these royal birthdays were cast aside, and the birthday of Washington naturally became one of the most conspicuous in the calendar of America's holidays.

"It may be interesting at this time to look back upon those early days of the republic and see how the newly liberated citizens attested their admiration for their great general and the first President of their country. But the people did not wait until Washington was raised to the highest position his country could give him before honoring his birthday.

"The first recorded mention of the celebration is said to be the one in _The Virginia Gazette_ or _The American Advertiser_ of Richmond: 'Tuesday last being the birthday of his Excellency, General Washington, our illustrious Commander-in-Chief, the same was commemorated here with the utmost demonstrations of joy.' The day thus celebrated was February 11, 1782, the Old Style in the calendar not having then been everywhere and for every purpose abandoned. Indeed, the stone placed as late as in 1815 on the site of his birthplace in Westmoreland County, Virginia, had the following inscription: 'Here, the 11th of February, 1732, George Washington was born.'

"Twelve months later the 11th was commemorated at Talbot Court-House in Maryland. On the same day a number of gentlemen met in a tavern in New York. One had written an ode. Another brought a list of toasts. All, before they went reeling and singing home, agreed to assemble in future on the same anniversary and make merry over the birth of Washington.

"Next year they had an ampler opportunity. In the previous October the British troops had evacuated New York City, which was gradually recovering from the distresses of the long war. The demonstrations were not very elaborate, but they were intensely patriotic. In a newspaper of February 17, 1784, we find an interesting account of this first public celebration in New York:

"'Wednesday last being the birthday of his Excellency, General Washington, the same was celebrated here by all the true friends of American Independence and Constitutional Liberty with that hilarity and manly decorum ever attendant on the Sons of Freedom. In the evening an entertainment was given on board the East India ship in this harbor to a very brilliant and respectable company, and a discharge of thirteen cannon was fired on this joyful occasion.'

"A club called a 'Select Club of Whigs' assembled in New York on the evening of February 11, and a brief account of the proceedings at its meeting was sent to the _New York Gazette_, with an amusing song, written, it was stated, especially for this occasion. The following stanzas will serve as a sample of this effusion of poetical patriotism:

Americans, rejoice; While songs employ the voice, Let trumpets sound. The thirteen stripes display In flags and streamers gay, 'Tis Washington's Birthday, Let joy abound.

Long may he live to see This land of liberty Flourish in peace; Long may he live to prove A grateful people's love And late to heaven remove, Where joys ne'er cease.

Fill the glass to the brink, Washington's health we'll drink, 'Tis his birthday. Glorious deeds he has done, By him our cause is won, Long live great Washington! Huzza! Huzza!

"The following is also an interesting example of newspaper editorial patriotism which appeared in the _New York Gazette_ at the same time: 'After the Almighty Author of our existence and happiness, to whom, as a people, are we under the greatest obligations? I know you will answer "To Washington." That great, that gloriously disinterested man has, without the idea of pecuniary reward, on the contrary, much to his private danger, borne the greatest and most distinguished part in our political salvation. He is now retired from public service, with, I trust, the approbation of God, his country, and his own heart. But shall we forget him? No; rather let our hearts cease to beat than an ungrateful forgetfulness shall sully the part any of us have taken in the redemption of our country. On this day, the hero enters into the fifty-third year of his age. Shall such a day pass unnoticed? No; let a temperate manifestation of joy express the sense we have of the blessings that arose upon America on that day which gave birth to Washington. Let us call our children around us and tell them the many blessings they owe to him and to those illustrious characters who have assisted him in the great work of the emancipation of our country, and urge them by such examples to transmit the delights of freedom and independence to their posterity.'

"It is also interesting to know that New York City was not the only place in the country remembering Washington's Birthday in this year 1784. The residents of Richmond, Virginia, were not forgetful of the day, and in the evening an elegant entertainment and ball were given in the Capitol Building, which, we are informed, were largely attended. So late as 1796, Kentucky and Virginia persisted in preserving the Old Style date. But we have documentary evidence that in 1790 the Tammany Society of New York celebrated the day on February 22. The society had been organized less than a year, and it is interesting to see that it did not allow the first Washington's Birthday in its history to pass by without fitting expressions of regard for the man who was then living in the city as President of the United States. Washington, at that time, lived in the lower part of Broadway, a few doors below Trinity Church. Congress was in session in the old City Hall, on the corner of Wall and Nassau Streets, now occupied by the Sub-Treasury. New York was the capital of the country, but it was the last year that it enjoyed that distinction, for before the close of 1790 the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia, where it remained until 1800, when permanent governmental quarters were taken up at Washington. It may be of interest to know how the founders of this famous political organization commemorated Washington's Birthday. Fortunately, the complete account of this first Tammany celebration has been preserved. It was published in a New York newspaper, a day or two after the event, as follows:

"'At a meeting of the Society of St. Tammany, at their wigwam in this city, on Monday evening last, after finishing the ordinary business of the evening, it was unanimously resolved: That the 22d day of February be, from this day and ever after, commemorated by this society as the birthday of the Illustrious George Washington, President of the United States of America. The society then proceeded to the commemoration of the auspicious day which gave birth to the distinguished chief, and the following toasts were drank in porter, the produce of the United States, accompanied with universal acclamations of applause:

1. May the auspicious birthday of our great Grand Sachem, George Washington, ever be commemorated by all the real sons of St. Tammany.

2. The birthday of those chiefs who lighted the great Council Fire in 1775.

3. The glorious Fourth of July, 1776, the birth of American Independence.

4. The perpetual memory of those Sachems and warriors who have been called by the Kitchi Manitou to the Wigwam above since the Revolution.

5. The births of the Sachems and warriors who have presided at the different council fires of the thirteen tribes since 1776.

6. Our Chief Sachem, who presides over the council fire of our tribe.

7. The 12th of May, which is the birthday of our titular saint and patron.

8. The birth of Columbus, our secondary patron.

9. The memory of the great Odagh 'Segte, first Grand Sachem of the Oneida Nation, and all his successors.

10. The friends and patrons of virtue and freedom from Tammany to Washington.

11. The birth of the present National Constitution, 17th of September, 1787.

12. The Sachems and warriors who composed that council.

13. May the guardian genius of freedom pronounce at the birth of all her sons--Where Liberty dwells, there is his country.

"'After mutual reciprocations of friendship on the joyous occasion, the society adjourned with their usual order and harmony.'

"In Washington ever since the first President was inaugurated it had been the practice of the House to adjourn for half an hour to congratulate him on the happy return of his natal day. But this observance was dropped in 1796, on account of the animosities excited by the Jay Treaty.

"The Philadelphians, always patriotic, never allowed Washington's Birthday to go by without the celebration. In 1793 a number of old Revolutionary officers belonging to the First Brigade of Pennsylvania Militia had a 'very splendid entertainment at Mr. Hill's tavern in Second Street, near Race Street.' According to a Philadelphia newspaper account, the company was numerous and truly respectable, and among the guests on that occasion were the Governor of Pennsylvania, Thomas Mifflin, and Mr. Muhlenberg, Speaker of the House of Representatives. At all these patriotic banquets it was customary to give as many toasts as there were States in the Union, so that during the early years we invariably find that thirteen toasts was the rule. As new States were added, however, extra toasts were added to the list. Just when this custom died out can perhaps not be definitely determined, but probably the rapid increase of the States may have had something to do with it, as the diners probably saw that it was taxing their drinking abilities too heavily with the addition of each new State. However, at this Philadelphia celebration the toasts were fifteen, as two new States had recently been added, and among some of the most interesting are the following:

The people of the United States--May their dignity and happiness be perpetual, and may the gratitude of the Nation be ever commensurate with their privileges.

The President of the United States--May the evening of his life be attended with felicity equal to the utility and glory of its meridian.

The Fair Daughters of America--May the purity, the rectitude, and the virtues of their mind ever continue equal to their beauty and external accomplishments.

The Republic of France--Wisdom and stability to her councils, success to her armies and navies, and may her enemies be compensated for their defeats by the speedy and general diffusion of that liberty which they are vainly attempting to suppress.

May Columbia be ever able to boast a Jefferson in council, a Hamilton in finance, and, when necessary, a Washington to lead her armies to conquest and glory.

The Day--May such auspicious periods not cease to recur till every day in the year shall have smiled on Columbia with the birth of a Washington.

Our Unfortunate Friend the Marquis de Lafayette--May America become shortly his asylum from indignity and wrong, and may the noon and evening of his life be yet honorable and happy in the bosom of that country where its morning shone with such unclouded splendor.

"In conclusion, the newspaper account of this celebration states that 'the afternoon and evening were agreeably spent in social pleasures and convivial mirth, and the conduct of the whole company was marked by that politeness, harmony, and friendship which ought ever to characterize the intercourse of fellow-citizens and gentlemen.'

"Balls and banquets, it will be seen, were the chief methods employed in celebrating the day, and there was hardly a town so small that it could not manage to have at least one of these functions in honor of George Washington. The early newspapers for a month, and often longer, after the 22d of February, were filled with brief accounts of these celebrations from different localities. Many of them are very interesting, showing, as they do, the patriotism of the people, as well as their customs and habits in their social entertainments. For instance, when Washington's Birthday was celebrated in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1791, the _Baltimore Advertiser_ gives us the following amusing account of a ball held at Wise's tavern:

"'The meeting was numerous and brilliant. Joy beamed in every countenance. Sparkling eyes, dimpled cheeks dressed in smiles, prompted by the occasion, with all the various graces of female beauty, contributed to heighten the pleasure of the scene. At an interesting moment a portrait of the President, a striking likeness, was suddenly exhibited. The illustrious original had been often seen in the same room in the mild character of a friend, a pleased and pleasing guest. The song of "God Bless Great Washington, Long Live Great Washington," succeeded. In this prayer many voices and all hearts united. May it not be breathed in vain.'"

In course of time Washington's Birthday was made a legal holiday in one State after another, until to-day it is legally recognized in every State but Alabama.

But as it gradually became legalized, so it also became formalized little by little, until, in some parts of America, the very phrase, "a Washington's Birthday celebration," came to mean a sort of exercise in hypocrisy,--a half-hearted attempt to galvanize a dead emotion into life.

This attitude toward Washington as a man was due largely to the misrepresentations of the early literature. Three distinct eras in our regard for him as a public character have been pointed out by Bradley T. Johnson:[4]