tate of
affairs; for he, conspicuously among great men, always looked facts
fearlessly in the face, and never deceived himself. He was under no
illusions, and it was this high quality of mind as much as any other
which enabled him to win victories.

How he really felt we know from what he wrote to Congress on December
20, when he said: "It may be thought that I am going a good deal out of
the line of my duty to adopt these measures or to advise thus freely.
A character to lose, an estate to forfeit, the inestimable blessing of
liberty at stake, and a life devoted, must be my excuse." These were the
thoughts in his mind when he was planning this masterly campaign. These
same thoughts, we may readily believe, were with him when his boat was
making its way through the ice of the Delaware on Christmas Eve. It was
a very solemn moment, and he was the only man in the darkness of that
night who fully understood what was at stake; but then, as always, he
was calm and serious, with a high courage which nothing could depress.

The familiar picture of a later day depicts Washington crossing the
Delaware at the head of his soldiers. He is standing up in the boat,
looking forward in the teeth of the storm. It matters little whether the
work of the painter is in exact accordance with the real scene or not.
The daring courage, the high resolve, the stern look forward and onward,
which the artist strove to show in the great leader, are all vitally
true. For we may be sure that the man who led that well-planned but
desperate assault, surrounded by darker conditions than the storms of
nature which gathered about his boat, and carrying with him the fortunes
of his country, was at that moment one of the most heroic figures in
history.

BENNINGTON

We are but warriors for the working-day;
Our gayness and our guilt are all besmirch'd
With rainy marching in the painful field;
There's not a piece of feather in our host
(Good argument, I hope, we shall not fly),
And time hath worn us into slovenry.
But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim,
And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night
They'll be in fresher robes.
--Henry V.

The battle of Saratoga is included by Sir Edward Creasy among his
fifteen decisive battles which have, by their result, affected the
history of the world. It is true that the American Revolution was saved
by Washington in the remarkabl