aves. Sad
alternative! But how can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?" He
becomes Commander-in-Chief of the American forces. After seven years'
war he is the deliverer of his country. The old Confederation passes
away. The Constitution is established. He is twice chosen President, and
will not consent longer to serve.

Once again Mount Vernon's grateful shades receive him, and there--the
world-crowned Hero now--he becomes again the simple citizen, wishing for
his fellow men "to see the whole world in peace and its inhabitants one
band of brothers, striving who could contribute most to the happiness of
mankind"--without a wish for himself, but "to live and die an honest man
on his farm." A speck of war spots the sky. John Adams, now president,
calls him forth as lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief to lead
America once more. But the cloud vanishes. Peace reigns. The lark sings
at Heaven's gate in the fair morn of the new nation. Serene, contented,
yet in the strength of manhood, though on the verge of threescore years
and ten, he looks forth--the quiet farmer from his pleasant fields, the
loving patriarch from the bowers of home--looks forth and sees the work
of his hands established in a free and happy people. Suddenly comes the
mortal stroke with severe cold. The agony is soon over. He feels his own
dying pulse--the hand relaxes--he murmurs, "It is well;" and Washington
is no more.

Washington, the friend of Liberty, is no more!

The solemn cry filled the universe. Amidst the tears of his people, the
bowed heads of kings, and the lamentations of the nations, they laid him
there to rest upon the banks of the river whose murmurs were his
boyhood's music--that river which, rising in mountain fastnesses amongst
the grandest works of nature and reflecting in its course the proudest
works of man, is a symbol of his history, which in its ceaseless and
ever-widening flow is a symbol of his eternal fame.

No sum could now be made of Washington's character that did not exhaust
language of its tributes and repeat virtues by all her names. No sum
could be made of his achievements that did not unfold the history of his
country and its institutions--the history of his age and its
progress--the history of man and his destiny to be free. But whether
character or achievement be regarded, the riches before us only expose
the poverty of praise. So clear was he in his great office that no ideal
of the Leader or the Ruler can