which is always felt in the moral influence of a great character? In
every movement, too, there was a polite gracefulness equal to any met
with in the most polished individuals of Europe, and his smile was
extraordinarily attractive.... It struck me no man could be better
formed for command. A stature of six feet, a robust but
well-proportioned frame calculated to stand fatigue, without that
heaviness which generally attends great muscular strength and abates
active exertion, displayed bodily power of no mean standard. A light eye
and full--the very eye of genius and reflection. His nose appeared
thick, and though it befitted his other features, was too coarsely and
strongly formed to be the handsomest of its class. His mouth was like no
other I ever saw: the lips firm, and the under jaw seeming to grasp the
upper with force, as if its muscles were in full action when he sat
still."

Such Washington appeared to those who saw and knew him. Such he remains
to our vision. His memory is held by us in undying honor. Not only his
memory alone, but also the memory of his associates in the struggle for
American Independence. Homage we should have in our hearts for those
patriots and heroes and sages who with humble means raised their native
land--now our native land--from the depths of dependence, and made it a
free nation. And especially for Washington, who presided over the
nation's course at the beginning of the great experiment in
self-government and, after an unexampled career in the service of
freedom and our human-kind, with no dimming of august fame, died calmly
at Mount Vernon--the Father of his Country.

FOOTNOTES:

[16] From "Heroes Every Child Should Know." Copyright, 1906, by