ried men's souls. Often, appalling dangers
threatened. Wreck on the rocks of Disunion, engulfment in the mountain
waves of opposition, starvation and doubt and mutiny on shipboard--these
were a few of the perils which beset their course. But a royal-souled
Commander stood at the helm, and discerned, afar-off, the green shores
of liberty. On this land the sunshine fell with fruitful power. The air
was sweet with the songs of birds. Contentment, peace, prosperity,
reigned. Great possibilities were shadowed forth within its boundaries,
and a young nation, growing rapidly towards a splendid era of
enlightenment, was foreseen as a product of the near future. It took a
man with deep faith in the ultimate rule of right and in humanity, to
occupy that position; a man with large heart, with unselfish aims, with
prophetic instincts, with clear and equalized brain. George Washington
possessed all these qualities--and more!"

The following is from the admirably graphic sketch of the sturdy
soldier, Winfield Scott: "On the twenty-fifth of the same month (July,
1814), a little below that sublime spot where the wide waste of waters
which rush over the Falls of Niagara roar and thunder into the gulf
below, and where Lundy's Lane meets the rapid river at right angles, was
enacted the scene of conflict which took its name from the locality, and
is variously called the battle of 'Lundy's Lane,' or 'Niagara.' The
action began forty minutes before sunset, and it is recorded that the
head of the American column, as it advanced, was encircled by a
rainbow--one which is often seen there, formed from the rising spray.
The happy omen faithfully prefigured the result; for when, under the
cloudy sky of midnight the battle at length terminated, the Americans
were in possession of the field, and also the enemy's cannon, which had
rained such deadly death into their ranks. In this action General Scott
had two horses killed under him, and about eleven o'clock at night he
was disabled by a musket-ball wound through the left shoulder. He had
previously been wounded, and at this juncture was borne from the fray.
He had piloted Miller's regiment through the darkness to the height on
Lundy's Lane, where the enemy's batteries were posted, and upon which
the grand charge was made that decided the battle. Throughout the action
he was the leading spirit of the occasion, giving personal direction to
the movements of his men, and lending the inspiration of his pr