He wrote with Dr.
Beattie's life of his son before him as a model, and the result is that Washington comes out in his pages a faultless prig.

Whether Weems intended it or not, that is the result which he produced, and that is the Washington who was developed from the wide sale of his book.

When this idea took definite and permanent shape it caused a reaction.
There was a revolt against it, for the hero thus engendered had qualities which the national sense of humor could not endure in silence.

The consequence is, that the Washington of Weems has afforded an endless theme for joke and burlesque.

Every professional American humorist almost has tried his hand at it; and with each recurring 22d of February the hard-worked jesters of the daily newspapers take it up and make a little fun out of it, sufficient for the day that is passing over them.