American heart, his name shall be a spell of power and of might.

Yes, gentlemen, there is one personal, one vast felicity, which no man
can share with him. It was the daily beauty and towering and matchless
glory of his life which enabled him to create his country, and at the
same time secure an undying love and regard from the whole American
people. "The first in the hearts of his countrymen!" Yes, first! He has
our first and most fervent love. Undoubtedly there were brave and wise
and good men before his day, in every colony. But the American nation,
as a nation, I do not reckon to have begun before 1774, and the first
love of that young America was Washington. The first word she lisped was
his name. Her earliest breath spoke it. It still is her proud
ejaculation; and it will be the last gasp of her expiring life! Yes;
others of our great men have been appreciated--many admired by all--but
him we love; him we all love. About and around him we call up no
dissentient, discordant, and dissatisfied elements--no sectional
prejudice nor bias--no party, no creed, no dogma of politics. None of
these shall assail him. Yes; when the storm of battle blows darkest and
rages highest, the memory of Washington shall nerve every American arm
and cheer every American heart. It shall relume that Promethean fire,
that sublime flame of patriotism, that devoted love of country, which
his words have commended, which his example has consecrated.

* * * * *

WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY

BY GEORGE HOWLAND

Welcome, thou festal morn!