Everything that he did demonstrates his marvelous foresight. We cannot afford to spare the inspiration that comes from Washington. It promotes patriotism and gives vigor to national life. Washington’s views on slavery were characterized by a high sense of justice and an exalted conscience. He was the owner of slaves by inheritance, all his interests were affected by slavery, yet he was opposed to it, and in his will he provided for the liberation of his slaves. He set the example for emancipation. He hoped for, prayed for, and was willing to vote for what Lincoln afterward accomplished.
VIII
THE WHOLE MAN
GEORGE WASHINGTON
BY JOHN HALL INGHAM
This was the man God gave us when the
hour
Proclaimed the dawn of Liberty begun;
Who dared a deed, and died when it was
done,
Patient in triumph, temperate in power,—
Not striving like the Corsican to tower
To heaven, nor like great Philip’s
greater son
To win the world and weep for worlds unwon,
Or lose the star to revel in the flower.
The lives that serve the eternal verities
Alone do mold mankind. Pleasure and
pride
Sparkle awhile and perish, as the spray
Smoking across the crests of cavernous
seas
Is impotent to hasten or delay
The everlasting surges of the tide.
* * * * *
HISTORICAL MEMORABILIA OF WASHINGTON
COMPILED BY H.B. CARRINGTON
1732. February 22 (February 11, O.S.), born. 1748. Surveyor of lands at sixteen years of age. 1751. Military inspector and major at nineteen years of age. 1752. Adjutant-general of Virginia. 1753. Commissioner to the French. 1754. Colonel, and commanding the Virginia militia. 1755. Aide-de-camp to Braddock in his campaign. 1755. Again commands the Virginia troops. 1758. Resigns his commission. 1759. January 6. Married. 1759. Elected member of Virginia House of Burgesses.