THE BATTALION
(5
The Life of Washington.
Never in the history of mankind has the name of any
individual been regarded with such veneration and respect
as that of Washington.
When we pause for a moment to think that other men
equally as great have lived, but are now passed into oblivion,
we are naturally led to inquire -what is it in the man that has
given such a a place in the affection, the respect, of his fellow
men throughout the world. Indeed we are told that the
Arab of the desert talks of Washington in his tent, and that
his name is familiar to the wandering Scythian, He seems
indeed, to be the delight of human kind, as their ideal of hu
man nature.
In studying the life of Washington the reason for it will
readily appear. Washington stands as a true type of the hu
man kind. From the time we first behold him on the arena
of active life and through all the stages of bis career, w : e find
that he was animated to all his deeds from a, love for his
country, humanity, and his Creator.
In his domestic life we find him a faithful husband, a
lilial son, an ardent brother, a true friend and a kind master.
Few men have made a home happier than did Washington.
His home attracted thousancs of visitors from every part of
the world and those too, of the most distinguished foreigners.
His home was open to every stranger, to the curious as well
as to the grateful, to the poor as Avell as the rich, and since
his death has become the shrine of many pilgrims.
As a citizen he is the exemplification of true patriotism.
A man, rising from the most aristocratic society of his age
and being brought up under the influences of the nobility,
would naturally be supposed to be inclined under all circum
stances to his class. But his intense sense of equity and right
compelled him to adopt the opposite course. When the po
litical horizon was threatening the liberty of his countrymen
he at once enlisted himself on their side. Its true that he