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The Commoner;
MARCH S, 1906
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IN THE HEART OF A SEED" A Talk to Students
The following address was delivered by
Richard L. Metcalfe on Washington's birthday bo
fore the students of Doane college at Crete Nebr:
"Those of us who are not too dignified to be
human may find inspiration in the literature of
the children. One who desired to arouse the
imagination of the little ones wrote in homely
verse: 'In the heart of a seed, buried deep, so
deep, a dear little plant lay fast asleep. 'Wake!' .
said the sunshine, 'and creep to the light!'
'Wake!' said the voice of the raindrop bright.
The little plant heard, and it rose to see what
the wonderful outside world might be.'
"Within the breast of every man and, of
course, of every woman too, there are pure emo-
tions that need but to be stirred, and great qual
ities that need but to be recognized in order to
make the man or woman a potent power for
good. As the little plant sleeping within the
heart of the seed is summoned to duty by the
eun and rain, so the great qualities., in every
human being are played upon by those mysterious
forces which are ever operating-in harmony with
the eternal prayer of a troubled world: 'God give
us men!'
"To say that there are pure emotions and
great qualities in every one does not mean that
every one may be a genius, and fortunate, in
deed, this is. Once Upon a time it happened by
mere accident that I was one of a party where
every guest but myself was a genius. I was the
only piece of common clay on hand, and I may
add that I was not permitted to forget that fact.
It was the most unsociable crowd I was ever in,
and I dare Bay to you that during that evening
of perhaps three hours I saw exhibited more en
viousness and malice, and listened to more
balderdash than I have ever witnessed or heard
in all my experience with men. So it is well,
after all, that every one cannot be a genius, but
one may rise to the heights of real service when ,
he strives, not to gain the temporary applause of
the world, but rather to win its enduring respect
by discharging his. duty as citizen and man, .ac
cording to that still; small voice within the
breast which iB constantly admonishing: 'Do
this1 and; constantly, warning: --'Don't do that!'
"We owe our existence as a nation to men
whose souls were awakened, perhaps primarily,
because of the wrongs they had been reqiured to
endure; but from that awakening, which may
have been due to anxiety for selfish interests,
grew a broader consideration for the rights of
all men and a larger concern for future genera
tions. We are justified in believing that few
who bore conspicuous part In the effort to sever
the ties between Great Britain and the Amer
ican colonies dreamed of .the far-reaching re
sults of their labors. But once aroused in de
fense of their own rights, it was but a short
step to the recognition of the rights of others;
and we know- that the structure of government
they built was not the work of a single day,
nor of a single individual.
"A stranger ignorant of our history, and in
attendance at a Fourth of July celebration, might
conclude that the men who founded this gov
ernment were one harmonious body of angelic
creatures. He might imagine that the serenity of
their existence was" only disturbed when they
dropped their wings long enough to seize a few
rusty muskets and trounce an enemy to the tune
of 'Yankee Doodle Dandy.'
"But 'the fathers,' as we affectionately call
them, lacked a great deal of being harmonious.
They even lacked something of being angelic.
They had the same differences of opinion which
wo have today. They displayed the same intoler
ance which we show. They were mere men, hav
ing all the frailties with which we of the present
generation are afflicted. They had dirty politics
then as we have now. There were jealousies
and malice among the politicians of those days
as there are in our day. Men distinguished in
the public service then, as now, were slandered;
and then, as now, the partisan supporter ex
aggerated the virtues of his favorite statesmen,
while the partisan opponent seized- upon that
statesman's smallest shortcoming to prove him
unworthy of the people's confidence.
"Some of the stories told of the men of that
day were 'human interest' stories, and if we
were to judge these men by what some of their
fellows said about them we would not care to
give their portraits place in r bmes Bu two
judge them rather by the composite picture pro
vided by the deeds they wrought and .by the
character of the temple , they erected. Lib
erty's unclouded blaze.' We .f1
rule' which we should be more willing to -apply
lo the men of our own day by being 'to their
virtues ever kind and to their faults a little
blind.' And In grateful recognition of the serv
ice they gave to liberty we stand uncovered at
the mention of their names and kiss with rever
ential awe the holy emblem of the free.
"If some of the men of that day placed our
heroes at too low a notch, we, of the present,
make a mistake if we place them so high as
to be beyond human ken. I never had great
faith in'that cherry-tree story, although I never
regarded its accuracy as essential to the preser- "
vation of George Washington's fame. It might
be difficult to persuade the American boy or girl
of today that every one could roach the heights
which Washington must have trod if ho really
'acknowledged the corn' with the switch hanging
over him. But there is inspiration for all boys
and girls, and Inspiration for all men and women,
too, when they learn that in a decent, orderly
way Washington discharged his duty as man, as
citizen, aB soldier and as president according to
the dictates of his conscience.
"Of all the men of the revolutionary period
Washington provides the best encouragement for
the youth of today because by his lack of genius
he is within our reach. Ho was not a dashing
soldier like 'Mad Anthony Wayne; he was not
an orator like Patrick Henry; he was not a
student of government nor an artist in giving
expression to his thoughts like Thomas Jefferson;
he was not a philosopher like Franklin, nor a
financier like Hamilton. Perhaps among all the
revolutionary figures he had the poorest educa
tion. Some even charged him with ignorance to
the point of illiteracy, and it was often claimed
by his enemies that he was unable to write his
own public documents.
"But these charges are by the general agree
ment of reputable -historians pronounced untrue,
and in his farewell address written unquestion
ably by himself he Bhowed the heights which
a man, laying no claim to rhetoric7 could reach
when inspired by a holy zeal for the future of
that great undertaking in the birth of which
his had been a conspicuous part.
"As a soldier Washington was painstaking,
capable, determined, brave. By the very lack
of the dash that gave 'Mad Anthony' his so
briquet, by. the very absence of the impulses
which prompted other men to take undue risks,
he became a successful commander of a poorly
equipped army composed of poorly trained men,
and proved to be the man of the hour In a
military emergency. Where other men won ap
plause as statesmen and financiers, he con
tributed, even in domains where he did not seem
to shine, to the strengthening of our structure
of government; and he left apart from his glory
as a soldier an imprint upon our national char
acter that serves even at this moment to remind
us in a practical way of the things to be done
by those who would perpetuate popular govern
ment. "Admitting that Washington cannot bo placed
in ..the first rank among the world's great cap
tains, and that as a statesman he must take a
second place, Elson, who has recently published
an attractive history of the United States says:
'"Wherein lay Washington's greatness?
He was not dashing, nor brilliant, nor origi
nal. His greatness consisted for the most
part in his lofty motives, in his extraordi
nary sound judgment, and his unlimited cour
age when standing for a principle that ho
believed to be right. His patriotism was as
pure as sunlight, and no element of selfish
ness entered into his motives. In all his
public career he never made a serious mis
take. As our first president he held himself
above party lines, and amid the contending
tempests of political passion he stood like a
mighty oak in a storm; and his conservative
strength was essential to the life of the in
fant republic
"McMaster declares that while 'General Wash
ington' pr 'President Washington' is a well
known man, Washington's true biography is still
to be prepared. When at last Washington is set
before us as he lived, McMaster says:
"'Naught surely that is heroic will bo
omitted, but side by side, with what is heroic
Will appear much that is commonplace. We
shall behold the great commander repairing
defeat with marvelous celerity, healing tho
dissensions of his officers, and calming tho
passions of his mutinous troops. But wo shall
also hear his oaths and see him in those
terrible outbursts of passion to which Mr.
Jefferson alluded, and one of which Mr. Lear
has described. Wo shall see him refusing to bo
paid for his services by congress, yet exact
ing from tho family of tho poor mason tho
shilling that was his duo. Wo shall know him
as tho cold forbidding character with whom
no fellow-man over vontured to live on close
and familiar terms. Wo shall respect and
honor him for being, not tho greatest of
generals, not tho wisest of statesmen, not
tho most saintly of his -race, but a mafl with
many frailties and much common sense, who
rose in tho fullness of time to bo tho political
deliver of our country.'
"To most of tho men of his time Washington
seemed a man of mystery. Ono writer in his day
said: 'Something of stillness envelops the ac
tions of Washington.' And another author in
our time says: 'His contemporaries who met
him during the revolution or during his terms of
office seemed at a loss to account for his great
ness; as if the man were constantly hiding be
hind his services.' But, as this samo writer says:
'The farewell address is perhaps tho most truth
ful portrait of him. which remains, and that ad
dress is one of the most significant and import
ant of historical documents because it embodies
tho vory essence of a sober and faithful patriot
ism It had none of the earmarks of tho poli
tician; it was not written with tho view of
strengthening tho writer's political fences; in
Washington's own words, it was 'the disinterested
warnings of a parting friend who can possibly
have no personal motives to bias his counsel.'
"There Is no need to dwell at length upon
tho farewell address. You have all read it and
it will bear frequent reading by any ono anxious
to discharge his duty to his country. The warn
ings against extravagance with tho public money,
and the cultivation of sectionalism and factional
ism; the protest against 'those over-grown mil
itary establishments which under any form of
government are inauspicious to liberty and which
are regarded as particularly hostile to republican
liberty;' the admonition to be ever jealous for the
preservation of the constitution and to bo alert
to prevent any effort to change that document
through usurpation; the counsel that morality is
an indespensible support of all the. dispositions
and habits which lead to political prosperity;
the advice that institutions for-the general dif
fusion of knowledge are objects of primary im
portance; the admonition to observe good faith
and justice toward all nations, avoiding anti
pathies against any particular nation and pas
sionate attachments for others; the particularly
solemn way in which he warned us against tho
wiles of foreign influence, saying that we should
resolutely set ourselves against every temptation
to interweave our destiny with that of any part
of Europe these counsels are of special value to
tho American people today; and although in
recent years wo have, with various pretexts,
been led into the very paths against which Wash
ington warned us, the good sense of the American
people will yet so operate as to rivet the atten
tion of our public men upon that feature of the
farewell address warning us of the vory pitfalls
which are today in the path of our national
progress.
"It has, of course, often occurred to you as
significant that many of the speeches and writ
ings delivered by men famous in our history and
given with respect to the conditions of the long
ago, apply with equal force today. This quality
'of being not of an age but for all time' which
Ben Jonson ascribed in a literary sense to
Shakespeare is very true In a political sense of
the men of the revolutionary period.
"The student must be impressed with the
remarkable foresignt of these men.
"Hamilton, whose peculiar views as to gov
ernment we may not endorse, saw mora clearly
than his distinguished associates the tendency
of tho masses toward indifference, and sometimes
ignorance, with respect to their privileges anS
their duties as citizens. While Hamilton's views
on this point have not, on tho whole, been justi
fied, experienced politicians say that after moro
than one hundred years of American progress,
along the lines of popular government, the catchy
phrase and the big barrel have done more to
win elections than all the solemn and profound
arguments that have been advanced.
"Washington was able to foresee the disas
trous operation of sectionalism, and from tho
large attention, he gave that subject in his fare
well address, we are justified in -believing that
he foresaw the complications resulting in our
Civil war.
v (Continued on Pago 11) .-
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