But present conditions had their marvellous premonition in 1892—when “a Congress of Nations,” and “a Parliament of Religions,” convened during the World’s Columbian Exposition, at Chicago, in the State of Illinois. For the purpose of that Exposition, a miniature city, of more than Roman or Grecian classical beauty and adornment, sprang up as by the power of magic, wherein all the nations of earth blended their contributions, in lines of utility and art. Their representatives, their contributors, and their wise men, beheld “the triumphs of peace,” uncontrolled by the prestige of artificial rank, or by the persuasion of bayonet, cimeter, or dagger. They journeyed to and fro in safety; were treated as brethren; as children of one supreme creative Father; and took thence some valuable lessons for thoughtful improvement. No social banquet at their far-distant homes, nor regal display at their national capitals, could have surpassed the cordial welcome or the deep significance of that purely Republican entertainment. The temporary shelter for their pleasure and comfort, costing millions, besides their own generous outlay, had its day and its uses; and then was set aside, as one gives away the morning daily paper, after its quick perusal. Then mighty warehouses, business blocks, and all the permanent features of a vast inland city, one thousand miles distant from the nearest ocean-port, rose instead of the temporary palaces of entertainment; while the markets of the world had received a new impulse, never to be lost. And such is the Land of Washington! His retirement from command of the “Continental Army of America,” in the spirit of Joshua, the Hebrew Captain, when the people thought no honor too rich for his reward, magnified his office and immortalized his example. Since his career as a soldier demands no elucidation of his office as legislator, statesman, or as the first President of these United States, there remains little to be added; except to commend to American youth, and to all patriotic youth, wherever these pages may invite perusal, the exemplar career of one whose unselfish patriotism, moral rectitude, and exalted qualities as an Ideal Soldier can never lose charm nor value.