Delights of History: Washington

Excerpt from Delights of History: WashingtonNot only was the Father of his Country an Object of worship to the generations following him, but he had to suffer the still further misfortune of becoming a model. Preacher and schoolmaster and schoolbook moralist sought to enforce every duty by his example, and to ex emplify every virtue by stories of the great and good man. These stories were probably not invented deliberately; they rather grew by a process of unconscious myth mak ing. Washington, by his cherry tree, taught the noble ness of truth-telling. Washington making peace with a man who had knocked him down the day before taught the wisdom of avoiding duels, and SO on round the circle of moral and religious virtues. The effect of all this was exactly opposite to what had been designed. Under such treatment Washington as a man disappeared from view, and there was left instead a mere plaster cast. One so far removed from other men could not serve the purpose of an example.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.