Hawaii Holomua, Volume II, Number 41, 22 February 1894 Edition 02 — AN AMERICAN. [ARTICLE]

AN AMERICAN.

His B rthday Observed in Honolulu. Today L<i the 101st anniversanof tLe birtli of Gererul George Washington the first President of the Unite<l Stat-?s, and whose bone« have b»id at rest this many a year in the peacef>il nhades of Mt. \t-rnon. T;dc;, was observed iu Hono'ala by the rej>resentatives of the different nations flying their natioual colors, and by the firing of a n;»tional salnte bv the British man-of-war ehampion, Japanesc raan-of-war Naniwa, and the American Flag ship Philndelphia. The war vessels all ‘dres.sod ship” as did a'.so the Amenean merchantmen S. C. Allen and Alden Besse and the English bark Villalti». The Provisionul Governmont b»ttery joiued in tho si»lute, aud in thc aft«rnoon the olfices were infonnally closcd aad *‘sjieciar cxercises »»ere h©ld at the I)rill shcd. For the bonefit of many mombers of the “so called “American” League, and also tho odit >rs of the A iverli«er and Star, who aro advertised as attending to tho recognition of the d »y, and who kuow as little aboot Washington as they do of tho fin»t verso of the Star Spangl el Banner this Hawaiian journal, tho Holomua informs them that Georgo Washington was born Feb. 22nd, 17:52 in Virgiuia. Those who havestu»lied tho sub 8nbjoct bave discovered that he is a desceud.»nt fro*a the Wash iuctoas »>f Sulcravo Nothumborn " laiul County, England where the anceetral Lomo issi.uate»i. The American ancestry of George W..shington ean be traced no further back than his greatgrandfather John i\ashington, who settled in Virginia about 1057. Very liltle is known of Washington’s early lifo, pro bablv be»ause thote was little unusual to tell. The story of the hatchet, aud sirniUr talos, are quite apocryphal. having been coined by Washington’s raost j*ojnilar biograj»her. Ueems. The boy’s bfe was not difterent from that eommon b> Virginia families iu easy circu ustauces. Hunting fisbing. j>1 »nt;»tion air»irs, and « littlo reading made up its exist enee. His edncation was bnt elemeatarv aml very »lefective, excejit iu inathematics, in whieh he was solf t;»ught. Ko grvater mistake ean be ma»le than to thiuk th t the iuAueuee of Wash> ington w;»s fairly nppreciated »lu;ing his term of oflice. No direct desceud.»nt of Washington ean elaim his honor or disgrace his uamo. Tbe Washington est.»te «t Mount Vernou was ac»juired iu lS->8 by an association, aud has been practica!ly beeu uational proj>erty evei siaae. W«sbington was the first l_ieueral of tbe army and the first President of the Uniied States jpf Ameriea being iuaugurated April 30th 1789 «ud serving two torms. retiriug in 1797J He »lied Deo. 14 1799.