She made him, all
unconsciously to be sure, first in war. She saved him, consciously, from
the fate of an unsuccessful rebel. And she made it possible for him to be
first in peace. These are all defensible theses, however much or little
credit France may deserve in her purposes toward him.
Up in those same White Mountains there rises one that bears his name,
taller than the rest. It stands in a presidential range that has no
rivalling peak. A singular felicity in the naming of the neighboring
mountains has given the name Lafayette to the most picturesque of all.
There are well-known and much-travelled trails to the austere peak of
Mount Washington. There is even a railroad now. Doubtless no mountain in
America is known in its contour to more people, though there are many of
loftier height and of more inviting slopes.
So the outlines of the life of Washington are known more widely than those
of any other American. The trails to the height of his achievement and
genius have doubtless been learned in the histories of France.
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