Note 611 — Chapter V
Reading edition
Weems probably knew more of the real life of the country, from Pennsylvania southward, than any other one man; and he thoroughly understood American tastes and characteristics. To this is due the unparalleled success of his Life of Washington. In addition to this absurd but engaging book, Weems wrote the Life of Gen. Francis Marion (1805); the Life of Benjamin Franklin (1817); and the Life of William Penn (1819). He was also the author of several temperance pamphlets, the most popular of which was the Drunkard's Looking Glass. Weems died in 1825.
Weems's Life of Washington still enjoys a good sale. It has been one of the most widely purchased and read books in our history, and has profoundly influenced the American conception of Washington. To it we owe the grotesque and wholly imaginary stories of young Washington and the cherry tree, the planting of lettuce by his father to prove to the boy the designs of Providence, and other anecdotes that make that intensely human founder of the American Nation an impossible and intolerable prig.
The only biography of Weems is Parson Weems, by Lawrence C. Wroth, a mere sketch, but trustworthy and entertaining.