,,the    ,,americanism    ,,of          
,,washington    ,by    ,henry van ,dyke 
#aijf    ,hard is the task of the man   
who at this late day attempts to say    
anything new about ,washington4 ,but    
perhaps it may be possible to unsay     
some of the things which have been said1
 and which1 though they were at  one    
time new1 have never at any time been   
strictly true4    ,the character of     
,washington1 emerging splendid from the 
dust and tumult  of those great         
conflicts in which he played the leading
 part1 has passed  successively into    
three media of obscuration1 from each of
 which his  figure1 like the sun shining
 through vapors1 has received some      
disguise  of shape and color4 ,first    
came the mist of mythology1 in which we 
discerned the new ,st4 ,george1 serene1 
impeccable1 moving through an  orchard  
of ever-blooming cherry-trees1          
gracefully vanquishing dragons  with a  
touch1 and shedding fragrance and       
radiance around him4 ,out of  that      

mythological mist we groped our way1 to 
find ourselves beneath the  rolling     
clouds of oratory1 above which the head 
of the hero was  pinnacled in remote    
grandeur1 like a sphinx poised upon a   
volcanic peak1  isolated and mysterious4
 ,that altitudinous figure still        
dominates the  cloudy landscapes of the 
after-dinner orator2 but the frigid1    
academic  mind has turned away from it1 
and looking through the fog of criticism
  has descried another ,washington1 not 
really an ,american1 not amazingly a    
hero1 but a very decent ,english country
 gentleman1 honorable1  courageous1     
good1 shrewd1 slow1 and above all       
immensely lucky4    ,now here are two of
 the things often said about ,washington
 which need1  if ,i mistake not1 to be  
unsaid3 first1 that he was a solitary   
and  inexplicable phenomenon of         
greatness2 and second1 that he was not  
an  ,american4    ,solitude1 indeed1 is 
the last quality that an intelligent    
student of his  career would ascribe to 

him4 ,dignified and reserved he was1    
undoubtedly2  and as this manner was    
natural to him1 he won more true friends
 by  using it than if he had disguised  
himself in a forced familiarity and     
worn his heart upon his sleeve4 ,but    
from first to last he was a man who  did
 his work in the bonds of companionship1
 who trusted his comrades in  the great 
enterprise even though they were not his
 intimates1 and who  neither sought nor 
occupied a lonely eminence of unshared  
glory4 ,he was  not of the jealous race 
of those who        ,bear1 like the     
,turk1 no brother near the throne2      
nor of the temper of ,george ,,iii41 who
 chose his ministers for their  vacuous 
compliancy4 ,washington was surrounded  
by men of similar though  not of equal  
strength--,franklin1 ,hamilton1 ,knox1  
,greene1 the ,adamses1  ,jefferson1     
,madison4 ,he stands in history not as a
 lonely pinnacle like  ,mount ,shasta1  
elevated above the plain        ,by     
drastic lift of pent volcanic fires2    

but as the central summit of a mountain 
range1 with all his noble  fellowship of
 kindred peaks about him1 enhancing his 
unquestioned  supremacy by their        
glorious neighborhood and their great   
support4    ,among these men whose union
 in purpose and action made the strength
 and  stability of the republic1        
,washington was first1 not only in the  
largeness of his nature1 the loftiness  
of his desires1 and the vigor of  his   
will1 but also in that representative   
quality which makes a man able  to stand
 as the true hero of a great people4 ,he
 had an instinctive power  to divine1   
amid the confusions of rival interests  
and the cries of  factional strife1 the 
new aims and hopes1 the vital needs and 
aspirations1 which were the common      
inspiration of the people's cause  and  
the creative forces of the ,american    
nation4 ,the power to understand  this1 
the faith to believe in it1 and the     
unselfish courage to live for  it1 was  
the central factor of ,washington's     

life1 the heart and fountain  of his    
splendid ,americanism4    ,it was denied
 during his lifetime1 for a little      
while1 by those who  envied his         
greatness1 resented his leadership1 and 
sought to shake him  from his lofty     
place4 ,but he stood serene and         
imperturbable1 while that  denial1 like 
many another blast of evil-scented wind1
 passed into  nothingness1 even before  
the disappearance of the party strife   
out of  whose fermentation it had       
arisen4 ,by the unanimous judgment of   
his  countrymen for two generations     
after his death he was hailed as ,pater 
,patriae2 and the age which conferred   
that title was too ingenuous to  suppose
 that the father could be of a different
 race from his own  offspring4    ,but  
the modern doubt is more subtle1 more   
curious1 more refined in its  methods4  
,it does not spring1 as the old denial  
did1 from a partisan  hatred1 which     
would seek to discredit ,washington by  
an accusation of  undue partiality for  

,england1 and thus to break his hold    
upon the love  of the people4 ,it       
arises1 rather1 like a creeping         
exhalation1 from a  modern theory of    
what true ,americanism really is3 a     
theory which goes  back1 indeed1 for its
 inspiration to ,dr4 ,johnson's somewhat
 crudely  expressed opinion that the    
,americans were a race whom no other    
mortals  could wish to resemble2 but    
which1 in its later form1 takes counsel 
with those ,british connoisseurs who    
demand of their typical ,american  not  
depravity of morals but deprivation of  
manners1 not vice of heart  but         
vulgarity of speech1 not badness but    
bumptiousness1 and at least  enough of  
eccentricity to make him amusing to     
cultivated people4    ,not a few of our 
native professors and critics are       
inclined to accept  some features of    
this view1 perhaps in mere reaction from
 the unamusing  character of their own  
existence4 ,they are not quite ready to 
subscribe  to ,mr4 ,kipling's statement 

that the real ,american is              
,unkempt1 disreputable1 vast1    ,i     
remember reading somewhere that         
,tennyson had an idea that ,longfellow1 
when he met him1 would put his feet upon
 the table4 ,and it is precisely        
because ,longfellow kept his feet in    
their proper place1 in society as  well 
as in verse1 that some critics1         
nowadays1 would have us believe  that he
 was not a truly ,american poet4        
,traces of this curious theory of       
,americanism in its application to      
,washington may now be found in many    
places4 ,you shall hear historians      
describe him as a transplanted ,english 
commoner1 a second edition of  ,john    
,hampden4 ,you shall read1 in a famous  
poem1 of ,lincoln as        ,new birth  
of our new soil1 the first ,american4   
,he knew it1 ,i say3 and by what        
divination8 ,by a test more searching   
than  any mere peculiarity of manners1  
dress1 or speech2 by a touchstone able  
to divide the gold of essential         

character from the alloy of superficial 
characteristics2 by a standard which    
disregarded alike ,franklin's fur  cap  
and ,putnam's old felt hat1 ,morgan's   
leather leggings and  ,witherspoon's    
black silk gown and ,john ,adams's lace 
ruffles1 to  recognize and approve1     
beneath these various garbs1 the vital  
sign of  ,america woven into the very   
souls of the men who belonged to her by 
a  spiritual birthright4    ,for what is
 true ,americanism1 and where does it   
reside8 ,not on the  tongue1 nor in the 
clothes1 nor among the transient social 
forms1  refined or rude1 which mottle   
the surface of human life4 ,the log     
cabin  has no monopoly of it1 nor is it 
an immovable fixture of the stately     
pillared mansion4 ,its home is not on   
the frontier nor in the populous  city1 
not among the trees of the wild forest  
nor the cultured groves of  ,academe4   
,its dwelling is in the heart4 ,it      
speaks a score of dialects but  one     
language1 follows a hundred paths to the

 same goal1 performs a  thousand kinds  
of service in loyalty to the same ideal 
which is its  life4 ,true ,americanism  
is this3    ,to believe that the        
inalienable rights of man to life1      
liberty1 and the  pursuit of happiness  
are given by ,god4    ,to believe that  
any form of power that tramples on these
 rights is  unjust4    ,to believe that 
taxation without representation is      
tyranny1 that  government must rest upon
 the consent of the governed1 and that  
the  people should choose their own     
rulers4    ,to believe that freedom must
 be safeguarded by law and order1 and   
that  the end of freedom is fair play   
for all4    ,to believe not in a forced 
equality of conditions and estates1 but 
in a  true equalization of burdens1     
privileges1 and opportunities4    ,to   
believe that the selfish interests of   
persons1 classes1 and sections  must be 
subordinated to the welfare of the      
commonwealth4    ,to believe that union 
is as much a human necessity as liberty 

is a  divine gift4    ,to believe1 not  
that all people are good1 but that the  
way to make them  better is to trust the
 whole people4    ,to believe that a    
free state should offer an asylum to the
 oppressed1  and an example of virtue1  
sobriety1 and fair dealing to all       
nations4    ,to believe that for the    
existence and perpetuity of such a state
 a man  should be willing to give his   
whole service1 in property1 in labor1   
and  in life4    ,that is ,americanism2 
an ideal embodying itself in a people2 a
 creed  heated white hot in the furnace 
of conviction and hammered into shape on
  the anvil of life2 a vision commanding
 men to follow it whithersoever it  may 
lead them4 ,and it was the subordination
 of the personal self to that  ideal1   
that creed1 that vision1 which gave     
eminence and glory to  ,washington and  
the men who stood with him4    ,this is 
the truth that emerges1 crystalline and 
luminous1 from the  conflicts and       
confusions of the ,revolution4 ,the men 

who were able to  surrender themselves  
and all their interests to the pure and 
loyal  service of their ideal were the  
men who made good1 the victors crowned  
with glory and honor4 ,the men who would
 not make that surrender1 who  sought   
selfish ends1 who were controlled by    
personal ambition and the  love of gain1
 who were willing to stoop to crooked   
means to advance  their own fortunes1   
were the failures1 the lost leaders1    
and1 in some  cases1 the men whose names
 are embalmed in their own infamy4 ,the 
ultimate secret of greatness is neither 
physical nor intellectual1 but  moral4  
,it is the capacity to lose self in the 
service of something  greater4 ,it is   
the faith to recognize1 the will to     
obey1 and the  strength to follow1 a    
star4    ,washington1 no doubt1 was     
pre-eminent among his contemporaries in 
natural endowments4 ,less brilliant in  
his mental gifts than some1 less        
eloquent and accomplished than others1  
he had a rare balance of large  powers  

which justified ,lowell's phrase of an  
imperial man4 ,his  athletic vigor and  
skill1 his steadiness of nerve          
restraining an  intensity of passion1   
his undaunted courage which refused no  
necessary  risks and his prudence which 
took no unnecessary ones1 the quiet     
sureness with which he grasped large    
ideas and the pressing energy with      
which he executed small details1 the    
breadth of his intelligence1 the  depth 
of his convictions1 his power to apply  
great thoughts and  principles to       
every-day affairs1 and his singular     
superiority to current  prejudices and  
illusions--these were gifts in          
combination which would  have made him  
distinguished in any company1 in any    
age4    ,but what was it that won and   
kept a free field for the exercise of   
these  gifts8 ,what was it that secured 
for them a long1 unbroken opportunity of
  development in the activities of      
leadership1 until they reached the      
summit of their perfection8 ,it was a   

moral quality4 ,it was the evident      
magnanimity of the man1 which assured   
the people that he was no  self-seeker  
who would betray their interests for his
 own glory or rob  them for his own     
gain4 ,it was the supreme magnanimity of
 the man1 which  made the best spirits  
of the time trust him implicitly1 in war
 and  peace1 as one who would never     
forget his duty or his integrity in the 
sense of his own greatness4    ,from the
 first1 ,washington appears not as a man
 aiming at prominence or  power1 but    
rather as one under obligation to serve 
a cause4 ,necessity  was laid upon him1 
and he met it willingly4 ,after         
,washington's  marvellous escape from   
death in his first campaign for the     
defence of  the colonies1 the ,rev4     
,samuel ,davies1 fourth president of    
,princeton  ,college1 spoke of him in a 
sermon as that heroic youth1 ,colonel   
,washington1 whom ,i can but hope       
,providence has hitherto preserved in so
  signal a manner for some important    

service to his country4 ,it was a       
prophetic voice1 and ,washington was not
 disobedient to the message4  ,chosen to
 command the ,army of the ,revolution in
 #agge1 he confessed to  his wife his   
deep reluctance to surrender the joys of
 home1 acknowledged  publicly his       
feeling that he was not equal to the    
great trust committed  to him1 and then1
 accepting it as thrown upon him by a   
kind of  destiny1 he gave himself body  
and soul to its fulfilment refusing all 
pay beyond the mere discharge of his    
expenses1 of which he kept a strict     
account1 and asking no other reward than
 the success of the cause which  he     
served4    ,ah1 but he was a rich man1  
cries the carping critic2 he could      
afford  to do it4 ,how many rich men    
to-day avail themselves of their        
opportunity to indulge in this kind of  
extravagance1 toiling  tremendously     
without a salary1 neglecting their own  
estate for the  public benefit1 seeing  
their property diminished without       

complaint1 and  coming into serious     
financial embarrassment1 even within    
sight of  bankruptcy1 as ,washington    
did1 merely for the gratification of a  
desire  to serve the people8 ,this is   
indeed a very singular and noble form of
  luxury4 ,but the wealth which makes it
 possible neither accounts for its      
existence nor detracts from its glory4  
,it is the fruit of a manhood  superior 
alike to riches and to poverty1 willing 
to risk all1 and to use  all1 for the   
common good4    ,was it in any sense a  
misfortune for the people of ,america1  
even the  poorest among them1 that there
 was a man able to advance sixty-four   
thousand dollars out of his own purse1  
with no other security but his  own     
faith in their cause1 to pay his daily  
expenses while he was leading  their    
armies8 ,this unsecured loan was one of 
the very things1 ,i doubt  not1 that    
helped to inspire general confidence4   
,even so the prophet  ,jeremiah         
purchased a field in ,anathoth1 in the  

days when ,judah was  captive unto      
,babylon1 paying down the money1        
seventeen shekels of  silver1 as a token
 of his faith that the land would some  
day be  delivered from the enemy and    
restored to peaceful and orderly        
habitation4    ,washington's substantial
 pledge of property to the cause of     
liberty was  repaid by a grateful       
country at the close of the war4 ,but   
not a dollar  of payment for the        
tremendous toil of body and mind1 not a 
dollar for  work overtime1 for indirect 
damages to his estate1 for commissions  
on  the benefits which he secured for   
the general enterprise1 for the use of  
his name or the value of his counsel1   
would he receive4    ,a few years later1
 when his large sagacity perceived that 
the  development of internal commerce   
was one of the first needs of the new   
country1 at a time when he held no      
public office1 he became president of  a
 company for the extension of navigation
 on the rivers ,james and  ,potomac4    

,the ,legislature of ,virginia proposed 
to give him a hundred and  fifty shares 
of stock4 ,washington refused this1 or  
any other kind of  pay1 saying that he  
could serve the people better in the    
enterprise if  he were known to have no 
selfish interest in it4 ,he was not the 
kind of  a man to reconcile himself to a
 gratuity 7which is the ,latinized word 
for a tip offered to a person not in    
livery71 and if the modern  methods of  
coming in on the ground-floor and taking
 a rake-off had  been explained and     
suggested to him1 ,i suspect that he    
would have  described them in language  
more notable for its force than for its 
elegance4    ,it is true1 of course1    
that the fortune which he so willingly  
imperilled  and impaired recouped itself
 again after peace was established1 and 
his  industry and wisdom made him once  
more a rich man for those days4 ,but    
what injustice was there in that8 ,it is
 both natural and right that men  who   
have risked their all to secure for the 

country at large what they  could have  
secured for themselves by other means1  
should share in the  general prosperity 
attendant upon the success of their     
efforts and  sacrifices for the common  
good4    ,i am sick of the shallow      
judgment that ranks the worth of a man  
by his  poverty or by his wealth at     
death4 ,many a selfish speculator dies  
poor4  ,many an unselfish patriot dies  
prosperous4 ,it is not the possession of
  the dollar that cankers the soul1 it  
is the worship of it4 ,the true test  of
 a man is this3 ,has he labored for his 
own interest1 or for the  general       
welfare8 ,has he earned his money fairly
 or unfairly8 ,does he use  it greedily 
or generously8 ,what does it mean to    
him1 a personal  advantage over his     
fellow-men1 or a personal opportunity of
 serving  them8    ,there are a hundred 
other points in ,washington's career in 
which the  same supremacy of character1 
magnanimity focussed on service to an   
ideal1 is revealed in conduct4 ,i see it

 in the wisdom with which he1 a  son of 
the ,south1 chose most of his generals  
from the ,north1 that he  might secure  
immediate efficiency and unity in the   
army4 ,i see it in the  generosity with 
which he praised the achievements of his
 associates1  disregarding jealous      
rivalries1 and ever willing to share the
 credit of  victory as he was to bear   
the burden of defeat4 ,i see it in the  
patience  with which he suffered his    
fame to be imperilled for the moment by 
reverses and retreats1 if only he might 
the more surely guard the frail  hope of
 ultimate victory for his country4 ,i   
see it in the quiet dignity  with which 
he faced the ,conway ,cabal1 not anxious
 to defend his own  reputation and      
secure his own power1 but nobly resolute
 to save the army  from being crippled  
and the cause of liberty from being     
wrecked4 ,i see  it in the splendid     
self-forgetfulness which cleansed his   
mind of all  temptation to take personal
 revenge upon those who had sought to   

injure  him in that base intrigue4 ,i   
read it in his letter of consolation and
  encouragement to the wretched ,gates  
after the defeat at ,camden4 ,i hear    
the prolonged reechoing music of it in  
his letter to ,general ,knox in  #agih1 
in regard to military appointments1     
declaring his wish to avoid  feuds with 
those who are embarked in the same      
general enterprise with  myself4        
,listen to the same spirit as it speaks 
in his circular address to the          
governors of the different ,states1     
urging them to forget their local       
prejudices and policies2 to make those  
mutual concessions which are  requisite 
to the general prosperity1 and in some  
instances to sacrifice  their individual
 advantages to the interest of the      
community4 ,watch  how it guides him    
unerringly through the critical period  
of ,american  history which lies between
 the success of the ,revolution and the 
establishment of the nation1 enabling   
him to avoid the pitfalls of  sectional 

and partisan strife1 and to use his     
great influence with the  people in     
leading them out of the confusion of a  
weak confederacy into  the strength of  
an indissoluble union of sovereign      
,states4    ,see how he once more sets  
aside his personal preferences for a    
quiet  country life1 and risks his      
already secure popularity1 together with
 his  reputation for consistency1 by    
obeying the voice which calls him to be 
a  candidate for the ,presidency4 ,see  
how he chooses for the cabinet and for  
the ,supreme ,court1 not an exclusive   
group of personal friends1 but men  who 
can be trusted to serve the great cause 
of ,union with fidelity and             
power--,jefferson1 ,randolph1 ,hamilton1
 ,knox1 ,john ,jay1 ,wilson1 ,cushing1  
,rutledge4 ,see how patiently and       
indomitably he gives himself to the toil
  of office1 deriving from his exalted  
station no gain beyond the lustre  which
 may be reflected from its connection   
with a power of promoting  human        

felicity4 ,see how he retires1 at last1 
to the longed-for joys of  private life1
 confessing that his career has not been
 without errors of  judgment1 beseeching
 the ,almighty that they may bring no   
harm to his  country1 and asking no     
other reward for his labors than to     
partake1 in  the midst of my            
fellow-citizens1 the benign influence of
 good laws under  a free government1 the
 ever favorite object of my heart4      
,oh1 sweet and stately words1 revealing1
 through their calm reserve1 the  inmost
 secret of a life that did not flare    
with transient enthusiasm but  glowed   
with unquenchable devotion to a cause6  
,the ever favorite object  of my        
heart--how quietly1 how simply he       
discloses the source and origin  of a   
sublime consecration1 a lifelong        
heroism6 ,thus speaks the victor in     
calm retrospect of the long battle4 ,but
 if you would know the depth and  the   
intensity of the divine fire that burned
 within his breast you must  go back to 

the dark and icy days of ,valley ,forge1
 and hear him cry in  passion           
unrestrained3 ,if ,i know my own mind1  
,i could offer myself a  living         
sacrifice to the butchering enemy1      
provided that would contribute  to the  
people's ease4 ,i would be a living     
offering to the savage fury  and die by 
inches to save the people4    ,the ever 
favorite object of my heart6 ,i strike  
this note again and  again1 insisting   
upon it1 harping upon it2 for it is the 
key-note of the  music4 ,it is the      
capacity to find such an object in the  
success of the  people's cause1 to      
follow it unselfishly1 to serve it      
loyally1 that  distinguishes the men who
 stood with ,washington and who deserve 
to share  his fame4 ,i read the annals  
of the ,revolution1 and ,i find         
everywhere  this secret and searching   
test dividing the strong from the weak1 
the  noble from the base1 the heirs of  
glory from the captives of oblivion  and
 the inheritors of shame4 ,it was the   

unwillingness to sink and forget  self  
in the service of something greater that
 made the failures and  wrecks of those 
tempestuous times1 through which the    
single-hearted and  the devoted pressed 
on to victory and honor4    ,turn back  
to the battle of ,saratoga4 ,there were 
two ,americans on that  field who       
suffered under a great personal         
disappointment3 ,philip  ,schuyler1 who 
was unjustly supplanted in command of   
the army by ,general  ,gates2 and       
,benedict ,arnold1 who was deprived by  
envy of his due share in  the glory of  
winning the battle4 ,schuyler forgot his
 own injury in  loyalty to the cause1   
offered to serve ,gates in any capacity1
 and went  straight on to the end of his
 noble life giving all that he had to   
his  country4 ,but in ,arnold's heart   
the favorite object was not his country1
  but his own ambition1 and the wound   
which his pride received at ,saratoga   
rankled and festered and spread its     
poison through his whole nature1  until 

he went forth from the camp1 a leper    
white as snow4    ,what was it that made
 ,charles ,lee1 as fearless a man as    
ever lived1 play  the part of a coward  
in order to hide his treason at the     
battle of  ,monmouth8 ,it was the inward
 eating corruption of that selfish      
vanity  which caused him to desire the  
defeat of an army whose command he had  
wished but failed to attain4 ,he had    
offered his sword to ,america for his   
own glory1 and when that was denied him1
 he withdrew the offering1 and  died1 as
 he had lived1 to himself4    ,what was 
it that tarnished the fame of ,gates and
 ,wilkinson and ,burr and  ,conway8     
,what made their lives1 and those of men
 like them1 futile and  inefficient     
compared with other men whose natural   
gifts were less8 ,it  was the taint of  
dominant selfishness that ran through   
their careers1  now hiding itself1 now  
breaking out in some act of malignity or
  treachery4 ,of the common interest    
they were reckless1 provided they  might

 advance their own4 ,disappointed in    
that ever favorite object of  their     
hearts1 they did not hesitate to imperil
 the cause in whose  service they were  
enlisted4    ,turn to other cases1 in   
which a charitable judgment will impute 
no  positive betrayal of trusts1 but a  
defect of vision to recognize the  claim
 of the higher ideal4 ,tory or          
,revolutionist a man might be1          
according to his temperament and        
conviction2 but where a man begins  with
 protests against tyranny and ends with 
subservience to it1 we look  for the    
cause4 ,what was it that separated      
,joseph ,galloway from ,francis         
,hopkinson8 ,it was ,galloway's opinion 
that1 while the struggle for            
independence might be justifiable1 it   
could not be successful1 and the        
temptation of a larger immediate reward 
under the ,british crown than  could    
ever be given by the ,american ,congress
 in which he had once  served4 ,what was
 it that divided the ,rev4 ,jacob ,duch 

from the ,rev4  ,john ,witherspoon8 ,it 
was ,duch's fear that the cause for     
which he had  prayed so eloquently in   
the first ,continental ,congress was    
doomed after  the capture of            
,philadelphia1 and his unwillingness to 
go down with that  cause instead of     
enjoying the comfortable fruits of his  
native wit and  eloquence in an easy    
,london chaplaincy4 ,what was it that   
cut ,william  ,franklin off from his    
professedly prudent and worldly wise old
 father1  ,benjamin8 ,it was the        
luxurious and benumbing charm of the    
royal  governorship of ,new ,jersey4    
,professedly prudent is the phrase that 
,i have chosen to apply to  ,benjamin   
,franklin4 ,for the one thing that is   
clear1 as we turn to look  at him and   
the other men who stood with            
,washington1 is that1 whatever  their   
philosophical professions may have been1
 they were not controlled  by prudence4 
,they were really imprudent1 and at     
heart willing to take  all risks of     

poverty and death in a struggle whose   
cause was just though  its issue was    
dubious4 ,if it be rashness to commit   
honor and life and  property to a great 
adventure for the general good1 then    
these men were  rash to the verge of    
recklessness4 ,they refused no peril1   
they withheld  no sacrifice1 in the     
following of their ideal4    ,i hear    
,john ,dickinson saying3 ,it is not our 
duty to leave wealth to our  children1  
but it is our duty to leave liberty to  
them4 ,we have counted  the cost of this
 contest1 and we find nothing so        
dreadful as voluntary  slavery4 ,i see  
,samuel ,adams1 impoverished1 living    
upon a pittance1  hardly able to provide
 a decent coat for his back1 rejecting  
with scorn  the offer of a profitable   
office1 wealth1 a title even1 to win him
 from  his allegiance to the cause of   
,america4 ,i see ,robert ,morris1 the   
wealthy  merchant1 opening his purse and
 pledging his credit to support the     
,revolution1 and later devoting all his 

fortune and his energy to restore  and  
establish the financial honor of the    
,republic1 with the memorable  words1   
,the ,united ,states may command all    
that ,i have1 except my  integrity4 ,i  
hear the proud ,john ,adams saying to   
his wife1 ,i have  accepted a seat in   
the ,house of ,representatives1 and     
thereby have  consented to my own ruin1 
to your ruin1 and the ruin of our       
children2  and ,i hear her reply1 with  
the tears running down her face1 ,well1 
,i am  willing in this cause to run all 
risks with you1 and be ruined with you1 
if you are ruined1 ,i see ,benjamin     
,franklin1 in the ,congress of #aggf1   
already past his seventieth year1       
prosperous1 famous1 by far the most     
celebrated man in ,america1 accepting   
without demur the difficult and         
dangerous mission to ,france1 and       
whispering to his friend1 ,dr4 ,rush1 ,i
  am old and good for nothing1 but as   
the store-keepers say of their  remnants
 of cloth1 ',i am but a fag-end1 and you

 may have me for what  you please4'     
,here is a man who will illustrate and  
prove1 perhaps better than any  other of
 those who stood with ,washington1 the  
point at which ,i am  aiming4 ,there was
 none of the glamour of romance about   
old ,ben ,franklin4  ,he was shrewd1    
canny1 humorous4 ,the chivalric         
,southerners disliked his  philosophy1  
and the solemn ,new-,englanders         
mistrusted his jokes4 ,he made  no      
extravagant claims for his own motives1 
and some of his ways were not           
distinctly ideal4 ,he was full of       
prudential proverbs1 and claimed to be  
a follower of the theory of enlightened 
self-interest4 ,but there was not  a    
faculty of his wise old head which he   
did not put at the service of  his      
country1 nor was there a pulse of his   
slow and steady heart which  did not    
beat loyal to the cause of freedom4     
,he forfeited profitable office and sure
 preferment under the crown1 for  hard  
work1 uncertain pay1 and certain peril  

in behalf of the colonies4  ,he followed
 the inexorable logic1 step by step1    
which led him from the  natural rights  
of his countrymen to their liberty1 from
 their liberty  to their independence4  
,he endured with a grim humor the       
revilings of  those whom he called      
malevolent critics and bug-writers4 ,he 
broke with  his old and dear associates 
in ,england1 writing to one of them1    
,you and ,i were long friends2 you are  
now my enemy and ,i am ,yours1      ,b4 
,franklin4    ,he never flinched or     
faltered at any sacrifice of personal   
ease or  interest to the demands of his 
country4 ,his patient1 skilful1         
laborious  efforts in ,france did as    
much for the final victory of the       
,american  cause as any soldier's sword4
 ,he yielded his own opinions in regard 
to  the method of making the treaty of  
peace with ,england1 and thereby        
imperilled for a time his own prestige4 
,he served as president of              
,pennsylvania three times1 devoting all 

his salary to public  benefactions4 ,his
 influence in the ,constitutional       
,convention was  steadfast on the side  
of union and harmony1 though in many    
things he  differed from the prevailing 
party4 ,his voice was among those who   
hailed  ,washington as the only possible
 candidate for the ,presidency4 ,his    
last  public act was a petition to      
,congress for the abolition of slavery4 
,at  his death the government had not   
yet settled his accounts in its         
service1 and his country was left       
apparently his debtor2 which1 in a      
sense still larger and deeper1 she must 
remain as long as liberty  endures and  
union triumphs in the ,republic4    ,is 
not this1 after all1 the root of the    
whole matter8 ,is not this the  thing   
that is vitally and essentially true of 
all those great men1  clustering about  
,washington1 whose fame we honor and    
revere with his8  ,they all left the    
community1 the commonwealth1 the race1  
in debt to  them4 ,this was their       

purpose and the ever-favorite object of 
their  hearts4 ,they were deliberate and
 joyful creditors4 ,renouncing the maxim
  of worldly wisdom which bids men get  
all you can and keep all you get1  they 
resolved rather to give all they had to 
advance the common cause1  to use every 
benefit conferred upon them in the      
service of the general  welfare1 to     
bestow upon the world more than they    
received from it1 and  to leave a fair  
and unblotted account of business done  
with life which  should show a clear    
balance in their favor4    ,thus1 in    
brief outline1 and in words which seem  
poor and inadequate1 ,i  have ventured  
to interpret anew the story of          
,washington and the men who  stood with 
him3 not as a stirring ballad of battle 
and danger1 in which  the knights ride  
valiantly1 and are renowned for their   
mighty strokes at  the enemy in arms2   
not as a philosophic epic1 in which the 
development  of a great national idea is
 displayed1 and the struggle of opposing

  policies is traced to its conclusion2 
but as a drama of the eternal  conflict 
in the soul of man between self-interest
 in its ,protean forms1  and loyalty to 
the right1 service to a cause1          
allegiance to an ideal4    ,those great 
actors who played in it have passed     
away1 but the same drama  still holds   
the stage4 ,the drop-curtain falls      
between the acts2 the  scenery shifts2  
the music alters2 but the crisis and its
 issues are  unchanged1 and the parts   
which you and ,i play are assigned to us
 by our  own choice of the ever favorite
 object of our hearts4    ,men tell us  
that the age of ideals is past1 and that
 we are now come to  the age of         
expediency1 of polite indifference to   
moral standards1 of  careful attention  
to the bearing of different policies    
upon our own  personal interests4 ,men  
tell us that the rights of man are a    
poetic  fiction1 that democracy has     
nothing in it to command our allegiance 
unless it promotes our individual       

comfort and prosperity1 and that the    
whole duty of a citizen is to vote with 
his party and get an office for         
himself1 or for some one who will look  
after him4 ,men tell us that to  succeed
 means to get money1 because with that  
all other good things can  be secured4  
,men tell us that the one thing to do is
 to promote and  protect the particular 
trade1 or industry1 or corporation in   
which we  have a share3 the laws of     
trade will work out that survival of the
  fittest which is the only real        
righteousness1 and if we survive that   
will prove that we are fit4 ,men tell us
 that all beyond this is  phantasy1     
dreaming1 ,sunday-school politics3 there
 is nothing worth  living for except to 
get on in the world2 and nothing at all 
worth  dying for1 since the age of      
ideals is past4    ,it is past indeed   
for those who proclaim1 or whisper1 or  
in their hearts  believe1 or in their   
lives obey1 this black gospel4 ,and what
 is to  follow8 ,an age of cruel and    

bitter jealousies between sections and  
classes2 of hatted and strife between   
the ,haves and the ,have-nots2 of       
futile contests between parties which   
have kept their names and confused      
their principles1 so that no man may    
distinguish them except as the ,ins  and
 ,outs4 ,an age of greedy privilege and 
sullen poverty1 of blatant  luxury and  
curious envy1 of rising palaces and     
vanishing homes1 of  stupid frivolity   
and idiotic publicomania2 in which four 
hundred gilded  fribbles give           
monkey-dinners and ,louis ,,xv4 revels1 
while four million  ungilded gossips    
gape at them and read about them in the 
newspapers4 ,an  age when princes of    
finance buy protection from the         
representatives of a  fierce democracy2 
when guardians of the savings which     
insure the lives  of the poor1 use them 
as a surplus to pay for the             
extravagances of the  rich2 and when men
 who have climbed above their fellows on
 golden  ladders1 tremble at the crack  

of the blackmailer's whip and come down 
at  the call of an obscene newspaper4   
,an age when the python of political    
corruption casts its rings about the    
neck of proud cities and  sovereign     
,states1 and throttles honesty to       
silence and liberty to death4  ,it is   
such an age1 dark1 confused1 shameful1  
that the sceptic and the  scorner must  
face1 when they turn their backs upon   
those ancient shrines  where the flames 
of faith and integrity and devotion are 
flickering like  the deserted           
altar-fires of a forsaken worship4      
,but not for us who claim our heritage  
in blood and spirit from  ,washington   
and the men who stood with him1--not for
 us of other tribes  and kindred who    
,have found a fatherland upon this      
shore1    and learned the meaning of    
manhood beneath the shelter of          
liberty1--not  for us1 nor for our      
country1 that dark apostasy1 that dismal
 outlook6 ,we  see the palladium of the 
,american ideal--goddess of the just    

eye1 the  unpolluted heart1 the equal   
hand--standing as the image of ,athene  
stood  above the upper streams of       
,simois3    ,it stood1 and sun and      
moonshine rained their light    ,on the 
pure columns of its glen-built hall4    
,backward and forward rolled the waves  
of fight    ,round ,troy--but while this
 stood ,troy could not fall4    ,we see 
the heroes of the present conflict1 the 
men whose allegiance is  not to sections
 but to the whole people1 the fearless  
champions of fair  play4 ,we hear from  
the chair of ,washington a brave and    
honest voice  which cries that our      
industrial problems must be solved not  
in the  interest of capital1 nor of     
labor1 but of the whole people4 ,we     
believe  that the liberties which the   
heroes of old won with blood and        
sacrifice  are ours to keep with labor  
and service4        ,all that our       
fathers wrought ,with true prophetic    
thought1 ,must be      defended4    ,no 
privilege that encroaches upon those    

liberties is to be endured4 ,no  lawless
 disorder that imperils them is to be   
sanctioned4 ,no class that  disregards  
or invades them is to be tolerated4     
,there is a life that is worth living   
now1 as it was worth living in the      
former days1 and that is the honest     
life1 the useful life1 the unselfish    
life1 cleansed by devotion to an ideal4 
,there is a battle that is worth        
fighting now1 as it was worth fighting  
then1 and that is the battle for        
justice and equality4 ,to make our city 
and our ,state free in fact as  well as 
in name2 to break the rings that        
strangle real liberty1 and to  keep them
 broken2 to cleanse1 so far as in our   
power lies1 the fountains  of our       
national life from political1           
commercial1 and social corruption2  to  
teach our sons and daughters1 by precept
 and example1 the honor of  serving such
 a country as ,america--that is work    
worthy of the finest  manhood and       
womanhood4 ,the well born are those who 

are born to do that  work4 ,the well    
bred are those who are bred to be proud 
of that work4 ,the  well educated are   
those who see deepest into the meaning  
and the  necessity of that work4 ,nor   
shall their labor be for naught1 nor the
  reward of their sacrifice fail them4  
,for high in the firmament of human     
destiny are set the stars of faith in   
mankind1 and unselfish courage1  and    
loyalty to the ideal2 and while they    
shine1 the ,americanism of  ,washington 
and the men who stood with him shall    
never1 never die4      ,,the ,,end