theater of human action than when, reining up his war-horse beneath the
majestic and venerable elm, still standing at the entrance of the
Watertown road to Cambridge, George Washington unsheathed his sword and
assumed the command of the gathered armies of American Liberty.

* * * * *

WASHINGTON AS HE LOOKED

From _The Christian Endeavor World_

According to Captain Mercer, the following describes Washington when he
took his seat in the House of Burgesses in 1759:

He is as straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in
his stockings, and weighing one hundred and seventy-five pounds.
His head is well shaped, though not large, and is gracefully poised
on a superb neck, with a large, and straight rather than prominent
nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes, which are widely separated and
overhung by heavy brows. A pleasing, benevolent, though commanding
countenance, dark-brown hair, features regular and placid, with all
the muscles under control, with a large mouth, generally firmly
closed.

Houdon's bust accords with this description.

III

THE GENERAL

WASHINGTON IS APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF[8]

BY SYDNEY GEORGE FISHER

On the 16th of June, the day before the battle of Bunker Hill, the
Congress, having accepted Massachusetts' gift of the army before Boston,
gave the command of it to Colonel George Washington, of Virginia, and
made him a general and commander-in-chief of all the forces of the
patriot cause.

Hancock, it is said, had ambitions in that direction, and was somewhat
disappointed at the choice. But the fitness of Washington for the office
was generally admitted as soon as John Adams urged his appointment. He
would conciliate the moderate patriots, for he had clung to the old
arguments as long as possible, and refrained from forcing events. If
substantial independence of Parliament and the Ministry could be
secured, he was willing to allow the King a vague or imaginary headship
until in the course of years that excrescence should slough away.

Many were inclined to think that a New England general should command
the New England army that was gathered before Boston; but they were
obliged to admit that the appointment of a general from Virginia, the
most populous and prosperous of the colonies, would tend to draw the
Southern interest to the patriot cause.

Washington was forty-three years old, which was