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diff --git a/11858.txt b/11858.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1cb7ba --- /dev/null +++ b/11858.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7590 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, George Washington: Farmer, by Paul Leland +Haworth + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: George Washington: Farmer + +Author: Paul Leland Haworth + +Release Date: March 31, 2004 [eBook #11858] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WASHINGTON: FARMER*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 11858-h.htm or 11858-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/8/5/11858/11858-h/11858-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/8/5/11858/11858-h.zip) + + + + + +GEORGE WASHINGTON: FARMER + +BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS HOME LIFE AND AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES + +By + +PAUL LELAND HAWORTH + +Author of THE PATH OF GLORY, RECONSTRUCTION AND UNION, +AMERICA IN FERMENT, ETC. + +WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS, FACSIMILIES OF PRIVATE PAPERS, AND A MAP OF +WASHINGTON'S ESTATE DRAWN BY HIMSELF + +1915 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: _By permission of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association_ +Mount Vernon Stable Built in 1733 Showing also the Powell Coach] + + + +"The aim of the farmers in this country (if they can be called farmers) +is, not to make the most they can from the land, which is or has been +cheap, but the most of the labour, which is dear; the consequence of +which has been, much ground has been _scratched_ over and none +cultivated or improved as it ought to have been: whereas a farmer in +England, where land is dear, and labour cheap, finds it his interest to +improve and cultivate highly, that he may reap large crops from a small +quantity of ground." + +Washington to Arthur Young, December 5, 1791. + + + + +PREFACE + + +The story of George Washington's public career has been many times told +in books of varying worth, but there is one important aspect of his +private life that has never received the attention it deserves. The +present book is an attempt to supply this deficiency. + +I desire to acknowledge gratefully the assistance I have received from +Messrs. Gaillard Hunt and John C. Fitzpatrick of the Library of +Congress, Mr. Hubert B. Fuller lately of Washington and now of +Cleveland, Colonel Harrison H. Dodge and other officials of the Mount +Vernon Association, and from the work of Paul Leicester Ford, +Worthington C. Ford and John M. Toner. + +Above all, in common with my countrymen, I am indebted to heroic Ann +Pamelia Cunningham, to whose devoted labor, despite ill health and +manifold discouragements, the preservation of Mount Vernon is due. To +her we should be grateful for a shrine that has not its counterpart in +the world--a holy place that no man can visit without experiencing an +uplift of heart and soul that makes him a better American. + +PAUL LELAND HAWORTH. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +CHAPTER + +I A MAN IN LOVE WITH THE SOIL. +II BUILDING AN ESTATE. +III VIRGINIA AGRICULTURE IN WASHINGTON'S DAY. +IV WASHINGTON'S PROBLEM. +V THE STUDENT OF AGRICULTURE. +VI A FARMER'S RECORDS AND OTHER PAPERS. +VII AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION. +VIII CONSERVING THE SOIL. +IX THE STOCKMAN. +X THE HORTICULTURIST AND LANDSCAPE GARDENER. +XI WHITE SERVANTS AND OVERSEERS. +XII BLACK SLAVES. +XIII THE FARMER'S WIFE. +XIV A FARMER'S AMUSEMENTS. +XV A CRITICAL VISITOR AT MOUNT VERNON. +XVI PROFIT AND LOSS. +XVII ODDS AND ENDS. +XVIII THE VALE OF SUNSET. + +INDEX. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +Mount Vernon Stable, Built in 1733, Showing also the Powell Coach. + +Mount Vernon, Showing Kitchen to the Left and Covered + Way Leading to It. + +The Washington Family. + +Driveway from the Lodge Gate. + +The Porter's Lodge. + +One of the Artificial Mounds. The Tree Upon It Was + Set Out by Mrs. Grover Cleveland. + +The Seed House. Beyond Lay the Vegetable Garden. + +The Mount Vernon Kitchen (restored). + +Map of Mount Vernon Drawn by Washington and Sent + by Him to Arthur Young in 1793. + +Gully on a Field of Union Farm, Showing Susceptibility to Erosion. + +Looking Across Part of Dogue Run Farm to "Woodlawn," +the Home of Nelly Custis Lewis. + +First Page of Washington's Digest of Duhamel's Husbandry. + +Dogue Run Below the Site of the Mill. + +On the Road to the Mill and Pohick Church. + +Part of Washington's Plan for His Sixteen-Sided Barn. + +Bill of Lading for "Royal Gift". + +Experimental Plot, with Servants' Quarters (restored) +in Background. + +West Front of Mansion House, Showing Bowling Green + and Part of Serpentine Drive. + +First Page of the Diary for 1760. + +Part of a Manager's Weekly Report. + +The Butler's House and Magnolia Set Out by Washington + the Year of His Death. + +Spinning House--Last Building to the Right. + +Weekly Report on the Work of the Spinners. + +The Flower Garden. + +A Page from a Cash Memorandum Book. + +One of Washington's Tavern Bills. + + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +A MAN IN LOVE WITH THE SOIL + +One December day in the year 1788 a Virginia gentleman sat before his +desk in his mansion beside the Potomac writing a letter. He was a man of +fifty-six, evidently tall and of strong figure, but with shoulders a +trifle stooped, enormously large hands and feet, sparse grayish-chestnut +hair, a countenance somewhat marred by lines of care and marks of +smallpox, withal benevolent and honest-looking--the kind of man to whom +one could intrust the inheritance of a child with the certainty that it +would be carefully administered and scrupulously accounted for to the +very last sixpence. + +The letter was addressed to an Englishman, by name Arthur Young, the +foremost scientific farmer of his day, editor of the _Annals of +Agriculture_, author of many books, of which the best remembered is his +_Travels in France_ on the eve of the French Revolution, which is still +read by every student of that stirring era. + +"The more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs," such were the +words that flowed from the writer's pen, "the better I am pleased with +them; insomuch, that I can no where find so great satisfaction as in +those innocent and useful pursuits. In indulging these feelings I am led +to reflect how much more delightful to an undebauched mind is the task +of making improvements on the earth than all the vain glory which can be +acquired from ravaging it, by the most uninterrupted career of +conquests." + +Thus wrote George Washington in the fulness of years, honors and +experience. Surely in this age of crimson mists we can echo his +correspondent that it was a "noble sentiment, which does honor to the +heart of this truly great man." Happy America to have had such a +philosopher as a father! + +"I think with you that the life of a husbandman is the most delectable," +he wrote on another occasion to the same friend. "It is honorable, it is +amusing, and, with judicious management, it is profitable. To see +plants rise from the earth and flourish by the superior skill and bounty +of the laborer fills a contemplative mind with ideas which are more easy +to be conceived than expressed." + +The earliest Washington arms had blazoned upon it "3 Cinque foiles," +which was the herald's way of saying that the bearer owned land and was +a farmer. When Washington made a book-plate he added to the old design +spears of wheat to indicate what he once called "the most favorite +amusement of my life." Evidently he had no fear of being-called a +"clodhopper" or a "hayseed!" + +Nor was his enthusiasm for agriculture the evanescent enthusiasm of the +man who in middle age buys a farm as a plaything and tries for the first +time the costly experiment of cultivating the soil. He was born on a +plantation, was brought up in the country and until manhood he had never +even seen a town of five thousand people. First he was a surveyor, and +so careful and painstaking was he that his work still stands the test. +Later he became a soldier, and there is evidence to show that at first +he enjoyed the life and for a time had military ambitions. When +Braddock's expedition was preparing he chafed at the prospect of +inaction and welcomed the offer to join the general's staff, but the +bitter experiences of the next few years, when he had charge of the +herculean task of protecting the settlers upon the "cold and Barren +Frontiers ... from the cruel Incursions of a crafty Savage Enemy," +destroyed his illusions about war. After the capture of Fort Duquesne +had freed Virginia from danger he resigned his commission, married and +made a home. Soon after he wrote to an English kinsman who had invited +him to visit London: "I am now I believe fixed at this seat with an +agreeable Consort for Life. And hope to find more happiness in +retirement than I ever experienced amidst a wide bustling world." + +Thereafter he quitted the quiet life always with reluctance. Amid long +and trying years he constantly looked forward to the day when he could +lay down his burden and retire to the peace and freedom of Mount Vernon, +there to take up again the task of farming. As Commander-in-Chief of the +Armies of the Revolution and as first President of the Republic he gave +the best that was in him--and it was always good enough--but more from a +sense of duty than because of any real enthusiasm for the role of +either soldier or statesman. We can well believe that it was with +heartfelt satisfaction that soon after independence was at last assured +he wrote to his old comrade-in-arms the Marquis de Chastellux: "I am at +length become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, where under +my own vine and fig-tree free from the bustle of a camp and the +intrigues of a court, I shall view the busy world with calm +indifference, and with serenity of mind, which the soldier in pursuit of +glory, and the statesman of a name, have not leisure to enjoy." + +Years before as a boy he had copied into a wonderful copy-book that is +still preserved in the Library of Congress some verses that set forth +pretty accurately his ideal of life--an ideal influenced, may we not +believe, in those impressionable years by these very lines. These are +the verses--one can not call them poetry--just as I copied them after +the clear boyish hand from the time-yellowed page: + + TRUE HAPPINESS + + These are the things, which once possess'd + Will make a life that's truly bless'd + A good Estate on healthy Soil, + Not Got by Vice nor yet by toil; + Round a warm Fire, a pleasant Joke, + With Chimney ever free from Smoke: + A strength entire, a Sparkling Bowl, + A quiet Wife, a quiet Soul, + A Mind, as well as body, whole + Prudent Simplicity, constant Friend, + A Diet which no art Commends; + A Merry Night without much Drinking + A happy Thought without much Thinking; + Each Night by Quiet Sleep made Short + A Will to be but what thou art: + Possess'd of these, all else defy + And neither wish nor fear to Die + These are things, which once Possess'd + Will make a life that's truly bless'd. + +George Washington did not affect the role of a Cincinnatus; he took it +in all sincerity and simpleness of heart because he loved it. + +Nor was he the type of farmer--of whom we have too many--content to +vegetate like a lower organism, making scarcely more mental effort than +one of his own potatoes, parsnips or pumpkins. As the pages that follow +will reveal, he was one of the first American experimental +agriculturists, always alert for better methods, willing to take any +amount of pains to find the best fertilizer, the best way to avoid +plant diseases, the best methods of cultivation, and he once declared +that he had little patience with those content to tread the ruts their +fathers trod. If he were alive to-day, we may be sure that he would be +an active worker in farmers' institutes, an eager visitor to +agricultural colleges, a reader of scientific reports and an +enthusiastic promoter of anything tending to better American farming and +farm life. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +BUILDING AN ESTATE + +Augustine Washington was a planter who owned thousands of acres of land, +most of it unimproved, besides an interest in some small iron works, but +he had been twice married and at his death left two broods of children +to be provided for. George, a younger son--which implied a great deal in +those days of entail and primogeniture--received the farm on the +Rappahannock on which his father lived, amounting to two hundred and +eighty acres, a share of the land lying on Deep Run, three lots in +Frederick, a few negro slaves and a quarter of the residuary estate. He +was also given a reversionary interest in Mount Vernon, bequeathed to +his half-brother Lawrence. The total value of his inheritance was small, +and, as Virginia landed fortunes went, he was left poorly provided for. + +Much of Washington's youth was spent with Lawrence at Mount Vernon, and +as an aside it may be remarked here that the main moulding influence in +his life was probably cast by this high-minded brother, who was a +soldier and man of the world. By the time he was sixteen the boy was on +the frontier helping Lord Thomas Fairfax to survey the princely domain +that belonged to his lordship, and received in payment therefor +sometimes as much as a doubloon a day. In 1748 he patented five hundred +fifty acres of wild land in Frederick County, "My Bullskin Plantation" +he usually called it, payment being made by surveying. In 1750 he had +funds sufficient to buy four hundred fifty-six acres of land of one +James McCracken, paying therefor one hundred twelve pounds. Two years +later for one hundred fifteen pounds he bought five hundred fifty-two +acres on the south fork of Bullskin Creek from Captain George Johnston. +In 1757 he acquired from a certain Darrell five hundred acres on Dogue +Run near Mount Vernon, paying three hundred fifty pounds. + +It is evident, therefore, that very early he acquired the "land hunger" +to which most of the Virginians of his day were subject, as a heritage +from their English ancestry. In the England of that day, in fact, no +one except a churchman could hope to attain much of a position in the +world unless he was the owner of land, and until the passage of the +great Reform Bill in 1832 he could not even vote unless he held land +worth forty shillings a year. In Virginia likewise it was the landholder +who enjoyed distinction and consideration, who was sent to the House of +Burgesses and was bowed and scraped to as his coach bumped along over +the miserable roads. The movement to cities did not begin until after +the Industrial Revolution, and people still held the healthy notion that +the country was the proper place in which to live a normal human +existence. + +In 1752 Lawrence Washington died. As already stated, he was the +proprietor by inheritance of Mount Vernon, then an estate of two +thousand five hundred acres which had been in the Washington family +since 1674, being a grant from Lord Culpeper. Lawrence had fought +against the Spaniards in the conflict sometimes known as the war of +Jenkins's Ear, and in the disastrous siege of Cartagena had served under +Admiral Vernon, after whom he later named his estate. He married Anne +Fairfax, daughter of Sir William Fairfax, and for her built on his +estate a new residence, containing eight rooms, four to each floor, with +a large chimney at each end. + +[Illustration: Mount Vernon, Showing Kitchen to the Left and Covered +Way Leading to It] + +[Illustration: _From a painting by T.P. Rossiter and L.R. Mignot_ The +Washington Family] Lawrence Washington was the father of four +children, but only an infant daughter, Sarah, survived him, and she died +soon after him. By the terms of his father's and Lawrence's wills George +Washington, after the death of this child, became the ultimate inheritor +of the Mount Vernon estate, but, contrary to the common idea, Anne +Fairfax Washington, who soon married George Lee, retained a life +interest. On December 17, 1754, however, the Lees executed a deed +granting said life interest to George Washington in consideration of an +annual payment during Anne Lee's lifetime of fifteen thousand pounds of +tobacco or the equivalent in current money[1]. Mrs. Lee died in 1761 and +thereafter Washington owned the estate absolutely. That it was by no +means so valuable at that time as its size would indicate is shown by +the smallness of the, rent he paid, never more than four hundred +sixty-five dollars a year. Many eighty-acre farms rent for that much +to-day and even for more. + +[1] From entries in Washington's account book we know that this +equivalent in 1755 was L93.15; during each of the next four years it was +L87.10, and for 1760 it was L81.5. + +Up to 1759 Washington was so constantly engaged in fighting the French +and Indians that he had little time and opportunity to look after his +private affairs and in consequence they suffered. In 1757 he wrote from +the Shenandoah Valley to an English agent that he should have some +tobacco to sell, but could not say whether he did have or not. His pay +hardly sufficed for his personal expenses and on the disastrous Fort +Necessity and Braddock campaigns he lost his horses and baggage. Owing +to his absence from home, his affairs fell into great disorder from +which they were extricated by a fortunate stroke. + +This stroke consisted in his marriage to Martha Custis, relict of the +wealthy Daniel Parke Custis. The story of his wooing the young widow has +been often told with many variations and fanciful embellishments, but of +a few facts we are certain. From a worldly point of view Mrs. Custis was +the most desirable woman in all Virginia, and the young officer, though +not as yet a victor in many battles, had fought gallantly, possessed the +confidence of the Colony and formed a shining exception to most of the +tidewater aristocracy who continued to hunt the fox and guzzle Madeira +while a cruel foe was harrying the western border. Matters moved +forward with the rapidity traditional in similar cases and in about +three weeks and before the Colonel left to join Forbes in the final +expedition against Fort Duquesne the little widow had been wooed and +won. After his return from that expedition Washington resigned his +commission and on the 6th of January, 1759, they were married at her +"White House" on York River and spent their honeymoon at her "Six +Chimney House" in Williamsburg. + +The young groom and farmer--as he would now have styled himself--was at +this time not quite twenty-seven years old, six feet two inches high, +straight as an Indian and weighed about one hundred and seventy-five +pounds. His bones and joints were large, as were his hands and feet. He +was wide-shouldered but somewhat flat-chested, neat-waisted but broad +across the hips, with long arms and legs. His skin was rather pale and +colorless and easily burned by the sun, and his hair, a chestnut brown, +he usually wore in a queue. His mouth was large and generally firmly +closed and the teeth were already somewhat defective. His countenance as +a whole was pleasing, benevolent and commanding, and in conversation he +looked one full in the face and was deliberate, deferential and +engaging. His voice was agreeable rather than strong. His demeanor at +all times was composed and dignified, his movements and gestures +graceful, his walk majestic and he was a superb horseman[2]. + +[2] Adapted from a description written by his comrade-in-arms, George +Mercer. + +The bride brought her husband a "little progeny" consisting of two +interesting stepchildren; also property worth about a hundred thousand +dollars, including many negro slaves, money on bond and stock in the +Bank of England. Soon we find him sending certificates of the marriage +to the English agents of the Custis estate and announcing to them that +the management of the whole would be in his hands. + +The dower negroes were kept separate from those owned by himself, but +otherwise he seems to have made little distinction between his own and +Mrs. Washington's property, which was now, in fact, by Virginia law his +own. When Martha wanted money she applied to him for it. Now and then in +his cash memorandum books we come upon such entries as, "By Cash to Mrs. +Washington for Pocket Money L4." As a rule, if there were any purchases +to be made, she let George do it and, if we may judge from the long +list of tabby colored velvet gowns, silk hose, satin shoes, "Fashionable +Summer Cloaks & Hatts," and similar articles ordered from the English +agents she had no reason to complain that her husband was niggardly or a +poor provider. If her "Old Man"--for she sometimes called him +that--failed in anything she desired, tradition says that the little +lady was in the habit of taking hold of a button of his coat and hanging +on until he had promised to comply. + +He managed the property of the two children with great care and +fidelity, keeping a scrupulous account in a "marble colour'd folio Book" +of every penny received or expended in their behalf and making a yearly +report to the general court of his stewardship. How minute this account +was is indicated by an entry in his cash memorandum book for August 21, +1772: "Charge Miss Custis with a hair Pin mended by C. Turner" one +shilling. Her death (of "Fitts") in 1773 added about ten thousand pounds +to Mrs. Washington's property, which meant to his own. + +There can be no question that the fortune he acquired by the Custis +alliance proved of great advantage to him in his future career, for it +helped to make him independent as regards money considerations. He +might never have become the Father of His Country without it. Some of +his contemporaries, including jealous-hearted John Adams, seem to have +realized this, and tradition says that old David Burnes, the crusty +Scotsman who owned part of the land on which the Federal City was laid +out, once ventured to growl to the President: "Now what would ye ha' +been had ye not married the widow Custis?" But this was a narrow view of +the matter, for Washington was known throughout the Colonies before he +married the Custis pounds sterling and was a man of too much natural +ability not to have made a mark in later life, though possibly not so +high a one. Besides, as will be explained in detail later, much of the +Custis money was lost during the Revolution as a result of the +depreciation in the currency. + +Following his marriage Washington added largely to his estate, both in +the neighborhood of Mount Vernon and elsewhere. In 1759 he bought of his +friend Bryan Fairfax two hundred and seventy-five acres on Difficult +Run, and about the same time from his neighbor, the celebrated George +Mason of Gunston Hall, he acquired one hundred acres next that already +bought of Darrell. Negotiations entered into with a certain Clifton for +the purchase of a tract of one thousand eight hundred six acres called +Brents was productive of much annoyance. Clifton agreed in February, +1760, to sell the ground for one thousand one hundred fifty pounds, but +later, "under pretence of his wife not consenting to acknowledge her +right of dower wanted to disengage himself ... and by his shuffling +behavior convinced me of his being the trifling body represented." +Washington heard presently that Clifton had sold the land to another +man for one thousand two hundred pounds, which fully "unravelled his +conduct ... and convinced me that he was nothing less than a thorough +paced rascal." Ultimately Washington acquired Brents, but had to pay +one thousand two hundred ten pounds for it. + +During the next few years he acquired other tracts, notably the Posey +plantation just below Mount Vernon and later often called by him the +Ferry Farm. With it he acquired a ferry to the Maryland shore and a +fishery, both of which industries he continued. + +By 1771 he paid quit rents upon an estate of five thousand five hundred +eighteen acres in Fairfax County; on two thousand four hundred +ninety-eight acres in Frederick County; on one thousand two hundred +fifty acres in King George; on two hundred forty in Hampshire; on two +hundred seventy-five in Loudoun; on two thousand six hundred eighty-two +in Loudoun Faquier--in all, twelve thousand four hundred sixty-three +acres. The quit rent was two shillings and sixpence per hundred acres +and amounted to L15.11.7. + +In addition to these lands in the settled parts of Virginia he also had +claims to vast tracts in the unsettled West. For services in the French +and Indian War he was given twenty thousand acres of wild land beyond +the mountains--a cheap mode of reward, for the Ohio region was to all +intents and purposes more remote than Yukon is to-day. Many of his +fellow soldiers held their grants so lightly that he was able to buy +their claims for almost a song. The feeling that such grants were +comparatively worthless was increased by the fact that to become +effective they must be located and surveyed, while doubt existed as to +whether they would be respected owing to conflicting claims, +jurisdictions and proclamations. + +[Illustration: The Porter's Lodge] + +[Illustration: Driveway from the Lodge Gate] + +Washington, however, had seen the land and knew it was good and he +had prophetic faith in the future of the West. He employed his old +comrade Captain William Crawford to locate and survey likely tracts not +only in what is now West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, but beyond +the Ohio River. Settlement in the latter region had been forbidden by +the King's proclamation of 1763, but Washington thought that this was +merely a temporary measure designed to quiet the Indians and was anxious +to have picked out in advance "some of the most valuable land in the +King's part." In other words he desired Crawford to act the part of a +"Sooner," in the language of more than a century later. + +In this period a number of companies were scrambling for western lands, +and Washington, at one time or another, had an interest in what was +known as the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi Company, the Military +Company of Adventurers and the Dismal Swamp Company. This last company, +however, was interested in redeeming lands about Dismal Swamp in eastern +Virginia and it was the only one that succeeded. In 1799 he estimated +the value of his share in that company at twenty thousand dollars. + +Washington took the lead in securing the rights of his old soldiers in +the French War, advancing money to pay expenses in behalf of the common +cause and using his influence in the proper quarters. In August, 1770, +he met many of his former officers at Captain Weedon's in +Fredericksburg, and after they had dined and had talked over old times, +they discussed the subject of their claims until sunset, and it was +decided that Washington should personally make a long and dangerous trip +to the western region. + +In October he set out with his old friend Doctor James Craik and three +servants, including the ubiquitous Billy Lee, and on the way increased +the party. They followed the old Braddock Road to Pittsburgh, then a +village of about twenty log cabins, visiting en route some tracts of +land that Crawford had selected. At Pittsburgh they obtained a large +dugout, and with Crawford, two Indians and several borderers, floated +down the Ohio, picking out and marking rich bottom lands and having +great sport hunting and fishing. + +The region in which they traveled was then little known and was +unsettled by white men. Daniel Boone had made his first hunting trip +into "the dark and bloody ground of Kaintuckee" only the year before, +and scattered along the banks of the Ohio stood the wigwam villages of +the aboriginal lords of the land. At one such village Washington met a +chief who had accompanied him on his memorable winter journey in 1753 to +warn out the French, and elsewhere talked with Indians who had shot at +him in the battle of the Monongahela and now expressed a belief that he +must be invulnerable. At the Mingo Town they saw a war party of three +score painted Iroquois on their way to fight the far distant Catawbas. +Between the Indians and the white men peace nominally reigned, but +rumors were flying of impending uprisings, and the Red Man's smouldering +hate was soon to burst into the flame known as Lord Dunmore's War. Once +the party was alarmed by a report that the Indians had killed two white +men, but they breathed easier on learning that the sole basis of the +story was that a trader had tried to swim his horse across the Ohio and +had been drowned. In spite of uncertainties, the voyagers continued to +the Great Kanawha and paddled about fourteen miles up that stream. Near +its mouth Washington located two large tracts for himself and military +comrades and after interesting hunting experiences and inspecting some +enormous sycamores--concerning which matters more hereafter--the party +turned back, and Washington reached home after an absence of nine weeks. + +Two of Washington's western tracts are of special interest. One had been +selected by Crawford in 1767 and was "a fine piece of land on a stream +called Chartiers Creek" in the present Washington County, southwest of +Pittsburgh. Crawford surveyed the tract and marked it by blazed trees, +built four cabins and cleared a patch of ground, as an improvement, +about each. Later Washington, casting round for some one from whom to +obtain a military title with which to cover the tract, bought out the +claim of his financially embarrassed old neighbor Captain John Posey to +three thousand acres, paying L11.11.3, or about two cents per acre. +Crawford, now a deputy surveyor of the region, soon after resurveyed two +thousand eight hundred thirteen acres and forwarded the "return" to +Washington, with the result that in 1774 Governor Dunmore of Virginia +granted a patent for the land. + +In the meantime, however, six squatters built a cabin upon the tract and +cleared two or three acres, but Crawford paid them five pounds for their +improvements and induced them to move on. To keep off other interlopers +he placed a man on the land, but in 1773 a party of rambunctious +Scotch-Irishmen appeared on the scene, drove the keeper away, built a +cabin so close in front of his door that he could not get back in, and +continued to hold the land until after the Revolution. + +By that time Crawford himself was dead--having suffered the most +terrible of all deaths--that of an Indian captive burnt at the stake. + +The other tract whose history it is worth our while to follow consisted +of twelve hundred acres on the Youghiogheny River, likewise not far from +Pittsburgh. It bore seams of coal, which Washington examined in 1770 and +thought "to be of the very best kind, burning freely and abundance of +it." In the spring of 1773 he sent out a certain Gilbert Simpson, with +whom he had formed a sort of partnership, to look after this land, and +each furnished some laborers, Washington a "fellow" and a "wench." +Simpson managed to clear some ground and get in six acres of corn, but +his wife disliked life on the borderland and made him so uncomfortable +with her complaints that he decided to throw up the venture. However, he +changed his mind, and after a trip back East returned and, on a site +noticed by the owner on his visit, built a grist mill on a small stream +now called Washington's Run that empties into the Youghiogheny. This was +one of the first mills erected west of the Alleghany Mountains and is +still standing, though more or less rebuilt. The millstones were dug out +of quarries in the neighborhood and the work of building the mill was +done amid considerable danger from the Indians, who had begun what is +known as Dunmore's War. Simpson's cabin and the slave quarters stood +near what is now Plant No. 2 of the Washington Coal and Coke Company. +The tract of land contains valuable seams of coal and with some +contiguous territory is valued at upward of twenty million dollars. + +Washington had large ideas for the development of these western lands. +At one time he considered attempting to import Palatine Germans to +settle there, but after careful investigation decided that the plan was +impracticable. In 1774 he bought four men convicts, four indented +servants, and a man and his wife for four years and sent them and some +carpenters out to help Simpson build the mill and otherwise improve the +lands. Next year he sent out another party, but Indian troubles and +later the Revolution united with the natural difficulties of the +country to put a stop to progress. Some of the servants were sold and +others ran away, but Simpson stayed on in charge, though without making +any financial settlement with his patron till 1784. + +At the close of the Revolution Washington wrote to President John +Witherspoon of Princeton College that he had in the western country +patents under signature of Lord Dunmore "for about 30,000 acres, and +surveys for about 10,000 more, patents for which were suspended by the +disputes with Great Britain, which soon followed the return of the +warrants to the land office. Ten thousand acres of the above thirty lie +upon the Ohio; the rest on the Great Kenhawa, a river nearly as large, +and quite as easy in its navigation, as the former, The whole of it is +rich bottom land, beautifully situated on these rivers, and abounding +plenteously in fish, wild-fowl, and game of all kinds." + +He could have obtained vast land grants for his Revolutionary services, +but he stuck by his announced intention of receiving only compensation +for his expenses. He continued, however, to be greatly interested in the +western country and was one of the first Americans to foresee the +importance of that region to the young Republic, predicting that it +would become populated more rapidly than any one could believe and +faster than any similar region ever had been settled. He was extremely +anxious to develop better methods of communication with the West and in +1783 made a trip up the Mohawk River to the famous Oneida or Great +Carrying Place to view the possibilities of waterway development in that +region--the future course of the Erie Canal. Soon after he wrote to his +friend the Chevalier de Chastellux: "I could not help taking a more +extensive view of the vast inland navigation of these United States and +could not but be struck by the immense extent and importance of it, and +of the goodness of that Providence which has dealt its favors to us with +so profuse a hand. Would to God we may have wisdom enough to improve +them. I shall not rest contented till I have explored the Western +Country, and traversed those lines or great part of them, which have +given bounds to a new empire." + +In partnership with George Clinton he bought, in 1784, a tract of six +thousand acres on the Mohawk, paying for his share, including interest, +one thousand eight hundred seventy-five pounds. In 1793 he sold +two-thirds of his half for three thousand four hundred pounds and in his +will valued the thousand acres that remained at six thousand dollars. +This was a speculation pure and simple, as he was never in the region in +which the land lay but once. + +On December 23, 1783, in an ever memorable scene, Washington resigned +his commission as Commander of the Continental Army and rode off from +Annapolis to Mount Vernon to keep Christmas there for the first time +since 1774. The next eight months he was busily engaged in making +repairs and improvements about his home estate, but on September first, +having two days before said good-by to Lafayette, who had been visiting +him, he set off on horseback to inspect his western lands and to obtain +information requisite to a scheme he had for improving the "Inland +Navigation of the Potomac" and connecting its head waters by canal with +those of the Ohio. The first object was rendered imperative by the +settlement of squatters on part of his richest land, some of which was +even being offered for sale by unscrupulous land agents. + +With him went again his old friend Doctor Craik. Their equipage +consisted of three servants and six horses, three of which last carried +the baggage, including a marquee, some camp utensils, a few medicines, +"hooks and lines," Madeira, port wine and cherry bounce. Stopping at +night and for meals at taverns or the homes of relatives or friends, +they passed up the picturesque Potomac Valley, meeting many friends +along the way, among them the celebrated General Daniel Morgan, with +whom Washington talked over the waterways project. At "Happy Retreat," +the home of Charles Washington in the fertile Shenandoah Valley, beyond +the Blue Ridge, Washington met and transacted business with tenants who +lived on his lands in that region. On September fifth he reached Bath, +the present Berkeley Springs, where he owned two thousand acres of land +and two lots. Here fifteen years before he had come with his family in +the hope that the water would benefit poor "Patey" Custis, and here he +met "the ingenious Mr. Rumney" who showed him the model of a boat to be +propelled by steam. + +At Bath the party was joined by Doctor Craik's son William and by the +General's nephew, Bushrod Washington. Twelve miles to the west +Washington turned aside from the main party to visit a tract of two +hundred forty acres that he owned on the Virginia side of the Potomac. +He found it "exceedingly Rich, & must be very valuable--the lower end of +the Land is rich white oak in places springey ... the upper part is ... +covered with Walnut of considerable size many of them." He "got a snack" +at the home of a Mr. McCracken and left with that gentleman the terms +upon which he would let the land, then rode onward and rejoined +the others. + +The cavalcade passed on to Fort Cumberland. There Washington left the +main party to follow with the baggage and hurried on ahead along +Braddock's old road in order to fill an appointment to be at Gilbert +Simpson's by the fifteenth. Passing through the dark tangle of Laurel +known as the Shades of Death, he came on September twelfth to the +opening among the mountains--the Great Meadows--where in 1754 in his +rude little fort of logs, aptly named Fort Necessity, he had fought the +French and had been conquered by them. He owned the spot now, for in +1770 Crawford had bought it for him for "30 Pistols[3]," Thirty years +before, as an enthusiastic youth, he had called it a "charming field for +an encounter"; now he spoke of it as "capable of being turned to great +advantage ... a very good stand for a Tavern--much Hay may be cut here +When the ground is laid down in grass & the upland, East of the Meadow, +is good for grain." + +[3] Doubtless he meant pistoles, coins, not weapons. + +Not a word about the spot's old associations! + +The same day he pushed on through the mountains, meeting "numbers of +Persons & Pack horses going in with Ginseng; & for Salt & other articles +at the Markets below," and near nightfall reached on the Youghiogheny +River the tract on which Gilbert Simpson, his agent, lived. He found the +land poorer than he had expected and the buildings that had been erected +indifferent, while the mill was in such bad condition that "little Rent, +or good is to be expected from the present aspect of her," He was, in +fact, unable to find a renter for the mill and let the land, twelve +hundred acres, now worth millions, for only five hundred bushels +of wheat! + +The land had cost him far more than he had received from it. Simpson had +not proved a man of much energy and even had he been otherwise +conditions in the region would have prevented him from accomplishing +much in a financial way, for there was little or no market for farm +produce near at hand and the cost of transportation over the mountains +was prohibitive. During the Revolution, however, Simpson had in some way +or other got hold of some paper currency and a few months before had +turned over the worthless bills to Washington. A century later the +package was sold at auction, and the band, which was still unbroken, +bore upon it in Washington's hand: "Given by Gilbt. Simpson, 19 +June, 1784." + +At Simpson's Washington was met by a delegation from the squatters on +his holdings on Miller's Run or Chartiers Creek, "and after much +conversation & attempts in them to discover all the flaws they could in +my Deed &c." they announced that they would give a definite answer as to +what they would do when Washington reached the land in dispute. + +He drew near the neighborhood on the following Saturday, but the next +day "Being Sunday, and the People living on my Land, _apparently_ very +religious, it was thought best to postpone going among them till +to-morrow." On Monday, in company with several persons including the +high sheriff, Captain Van Swearingen, or "Indian Van," captain of one of +the companies in Morgan's famous rifle corps, he proceeded to the land +and found that, of two thousand eight hundred thirteen acres, three +hundred sixty-three were under cultivation and forty more were in +meadow. On the land stood twelve cabins and nine barns claimed by +fourteen different persons, most or all of whom were doughty +Scotch-Irishmen. + +Washington was humane enough to see that they had something to urge in +their behalf and offered to sell them the whole tract at twenty-five +shillings an acre, or to take them as tenants, but they stubbornly +refused his offers and after much wrangling announced their intention to +stand suit. Ejectment proceedings were accordingly brought by +Washington's attorney, Thomas Smith of Carlisle. The case was tried in +1786 before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and resulted in +Washington's favor. + +In 1796 Washington sold the tract to a certain Matthew Richey for twelve +thousand dollars, of which three thousand one hundred eighty dollars was +to be paid in cash and the rest in three annual instalments. Richey died +in 1798, and Washington's heirs had difficulties in their attempts to +collect the remainder. + +Leaving these legal matters to be disposed of by lawyers, Washington +turned back without visiting his Kanawha or Ohio lands, and on October +fourth reached Mount Vernon, having traveled on horseback about six +hundred eighty miles. One result of his trip was the formation of the +Potomac Company, but this is a subject that lies without the scope of +this book. + +[Illustration: The Seed House, Beyond Lay the Vegetable Garden] + +[Illustration: One of the Artificial Mounds. The Tree upon It was Set +out by Mrs. Grover Cleveland.] + +From that time onward he bought occasional tracts of lands in various +parts of the country or acquired them in discharge of debts. By the +death of his mother he acquired her land on Accokeek Creek in Stafford +County, near where his father had operated an iron furnace. + +Washington's landed estate as listed in his will amounted to about sixty +thousand two hundred two acres, besides lots in Washington, Alexandria, +Winchester, Bath, Manchester, Edinburgh and Richmond. Nine thousand two +hundred twenty-seven acres, including Mount Vernon and a tract on Four +Mile Run, he specifically bequeathed to individuals, as he did some of +the lots. The remaining lots and fifty thousand nine hundred +seventy-five acres (some of which land was already conditionally sold) +he directed to be disposed of, together with his live stock, government +bonds and shares held by him in the Potomac Company, the Dismal Swamp +Company, the James River Company and the banks of Columbia and +Alexandria--the whole value of which he conservatively estimated at five +hundred and thirty thousand dollars. The value of the property he +specifically bequeathed, with his slaves, which he directed should be +freed, can only be guessed at, but can hardly have been short of two +hundred and twenty thousand dollars more. In other words, he died +possessed of property worth three-quarters of a million and was the +richest man in America. + +Not all of the land that he listed in his will proved of benefit to his +heirs. The title to three thousand fifty-one acres lying on the Little +Miami River in what is now Ohio and valued by him at fifteen thousand +two hundred fifty-five dollars proved defective. In 1790 a law, signed +by himself, had passed Congress requiring the recording of such +locations with the federal Secretary of State. Washington's locations +and surveys of this Ohio land had already been recorded in the Virginia +land office, and with a carelessness unusual in him he neglected to +comply with the statute. After his death certain persons took advantage +of the defect and seized the lands, and his executors failed to embrace +another opportunity given them to perfect the title, with the result +that the lands were lost. + +The matter rested until a few years ago when some descendants of the +heirs set their heads together and one of them, Robert E. Lee, Jr., +procured his appointment in 1907 by the court of Fairfax County as +administrator _de bonis non_ of Washington's estate. It was, of course, +impossible to regain the lands--which lie not far from Cincinnati and +are worth vast sums--so the movers in the matter had recourse to that +last resort of such claimants--Congress--and, with the modesty usually +shown by claimants, asked that body to reimburse the heirs in the sum of +three hundred and five thousand one hundred dollars--that is, one +hundred dollars per acre--with interest from the date of petition. + +Thus far Congress has not seen fit to comply, nor does there seem to be +any good reason why it should do so. The land cost Washington a mere +bagatelle, it was lost through the neglect of himself and his executors, +and not one of the persons who would benefit by such a subsidy from the +public funds is his lineal descendant. As a mere matter of public policy +and common sense it may well be doubted whether any claim upon +government, no matter how just in itself, should be reimbursed beyond +the third generation. The heirs urge in extenuation of the claim that +Washington refused to accept any compensation for his Revolutionary +services, but it is answered that it is hardly seemly for his grand +nephews and grand nieces many times removed to beg for something that +the Father of His Country himself rejected. One wonders whether the +claimants would dare to press their claims in the presence of their +great Kinsman himself! + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +VIRGINIA AGRICULTURE IN WASHINGTON'S DAY + +The Virginia of George Washington's youth and early manhood was an +imperial domain reaching from Atlantic tidewater through a thousand +leagues of forests, prairies and mountains "west and northwest" to the +South Sea. Only a narrow fringe along the eastern coast was settled by +white men; the remainder was a terra incognita into which Knights of the +Golden Horseshoe and Indian traders had penetrated a short distance, +bringing back stories of endless stretches of wolf-haunted woodland, of +shaggy-fronted wild oxen, of saline swamps in which reposed the whitened +bones of prehistoric monsters, of fierce savage tribes whose boast was +of the number of scalps that swung in the smoke of their wigwams. Even +as late as 1750 the fertile Shenandoah Valley beyond the Blue Ridge +formed the extreme frontier, while in general the "fall line," where the +drop from the foothills to the coastal plain stops navigation, marked +the limit of settlement. + +At the time that Washington began to farm in earnest eastern Virginia +had, however, been settled for one hundred fifty-two years. Yet the +population was almost wholly rural. Williamsburg, the capital, was +hardly more than a country village, and Norfolk, the metropolis, +probably did not contain more than five thousand inhabitants. The +population generally was so scattered that, as has been remarked, a man +could not see his neighbor without a telescope or be heard by him +without firing a gun. + +A large part of the settled land was divided up into great estates, +though there were many small farms. Some of these estates had been +acquired for little or nothing by Cavalier favorites of the colonial +governors. A few were perfectly enormous in size, and this was +particularly the rule on the "Northern Neck," the region in which Mount +Vernon was situated. The holding of Lord Thomas Fairfax, the early +friend and patron of Washington, embraced more than a score of modern +counties and contained upward of five million acres. The grant had been +made by Fairfax's grandfather, Lord Culpeper, the coproprietor and +Governor of Virginia. + +The Virginia plantation of 1760 was much more sufficient unto itself +than was the same plantation of the next century when methods of +communication had improved, articles from the outside world were easier +to obtain, and invention was beginning to become "the mother of +necessity." Many of the large plantations, in fact, bore no small +resemblance to medieval manors. There was the planter himself residing +with his family in the mansion, which corresponded to the manor house, +and lording it over a crowd of white and black dependents, corresponding +to serfs. The servants, both white and black, dwelt somewhat apart in +the quarters, rude log huts for the most part, but probably as +comfortable as those of the Saxon churls of the time of the +Plantagenets. The planter's ownership over the persons of his dependents +was, however, much more absolute than was that of the Norman lord, for +on the manors the serfs could not be sold off the land, a restriction +that did not apply in Virginia either to black slaves or indentured +servants. On the manor, furthermore, the serf had his own bits of +ground, for which he paid rent in kind, money or service, and the +holdings passed from father to son; on the plantation the slave worked +under an overseer on his master's crops only and had nothing that he +could call his own--not even his wife or children. In the matter of the +organization of industries there was a closer resemblance. The planter +generally raised the staple articles of food for his family and slaves, +as did the lord, and a large proportion of the other articles used or +consumed were manufactured on the place. A son of George Mason, +Washington's close friend and neighbor, has left us the following +description of industry at Gunston Hall: + +"My father had among his slaves carpenters, coopers, sawyers, +blacksmiths, tanners, curriers, shoemakers, spinners, weavers, and +knitters, and even a distiller. His woods furnished timber and plank for +the carpenters and coopers, and charcoal for the blacksmith; his cattle +killed for his own consumption and for sale, supplied skins for the +tanners, curriers, and shoemakers; and his sheep gave wool and his +fields produced cotton and flax for the weavers and spinners, and his +own orchards fruit for the distillers. His carpenters and sawyers built +and kept in repair all the dwelling-houses, barns, stables, ploughs, +harrows, gates, etc., on the plantations, and the outhouses of the +house. His coopers made the hogsheads the tobacco was prized in, and +the tight casks to hold the cider and other liquors. The tanners and +curriers, with the proper vats, etc., tanned and dressed the skins as +well for upper as for lower leather to the full amount of the +consumption of the estate, and the shoemakers made them into shoes for +the negroes. A professed shoemaker was hired for three or four months in +the year to come and make up the shoes for the white part of the family. +The blacksmiths did all the iron work required by the establishment, as +making and repairing ploughs, harrows, teeth, chains, bolts, etc. The +spinners, weavers, and knitters made all the coarse cloths and stockings +used by the negroes, and some of fine texture worn by the white family, +nearly all worn by the children of it. The distiller made every fall a +good deal of apple, peach, and persimmon brandy. The art of distilling +from grain was not then among us, and but few public distilleries. All +these operations were carried on at the home house, and their results +distributed as occasion required to the different plantations. Moreover, +all the beeves and hogs for consumption or sale were driven up and +slaughtered there at the proper seasons, and whatever was to be +preserved was salted and packed away for distribution." + +Nevertheless the plantation drew upon the outside world for many +articles, especially luxuries, and the owner had to find the wherewithal +to make payment. The almost universal answer to this problem +was--tobacco. It was not an ideal answer, and historians have scolded +the departed planters vigorously for doing the sum in that way, yet the +planters were victims of circumstances. They had no gold or silver mines +from which to draw bullion that could be coined into cash; the fur trade +was of little importance compared with that farther north; the Europe of +that day raised sufficient meat and grain for its own use, and besides +these articles were bulky and costly to transport. But Europe did have a +strong craving for the weed and, almost of necessity, Virginians set +themselves to satisfying it. They could hardly be expected to do +otherwise when a pound of tobacco would often bring in England more than +a bushel of wheat, while it cost only a sixtieth part as much to send it +thither. It is estimated that prior to the Revolution Virginia often +sent out annually as much as ninety-six thousand hogsheads of tobacco. +Tobacco took the place of money, and debts, taxes and even ministers' +salaries were paid in it. + +The disadvantages of tobacco culture are well known. Of all crops it is +perhaps the most exhausting to the soil, nor was a large part of +Virginia particularly fertile to begin with. Much land was speedily +ruined, but nothing was so cheap and plentiful in that day as land, so +the planter light-heartedly cleared more and let the old revert to the +wilderness. Any one who travels through the long settled parts of +Virginia to-day will see many such old fields upon which large forest +trees are now growing and can find there, if he will search closely +enough, signs of the old tobacco ridges. Only heroic measures and the +expenditure of large sums for fertilizer could make such worn-out land +again productive. Washington himself described the character of the +agriculture in words that can not be improved upon: + +"A piece of land is cut down, and left under constant cultivation, first +in tobacco, and then in Indian corn (two very exhausting plants), until +it will yield scarcely anything; a second piece is cleared, and treated +in the same manner; then a third and so on, until probably there is but +little more to clear. When this happens, the owner finds himself reduced +to the choice of one of three things--either to recover the land which +he has ruined, to accomplish which, he has perhaps neither the skill, +the industry, nor the means; or to retire beyond the mountains; or to +substitute quantity for quality in order to raise something. The latter +has been generally adopted, and, with the assistance of horses, he +scratches over much ground, and seeds it, to very little purpose." + +The tobacco industry was not only ruinous to the soil, but it was badly +organized from a financial standpoint. Three courses were open to the +planter who had tobacco. He might sell it to some local mercantile +house, but these were not numerous nor as a rule conveniently situated +to the general run of planters. He might deposit it in a tobacco +warehouse, receiving in return a receipt, which he could sell if he saw +fit and could find a purchaser. Or he could send his tobacco direct to +an English agent to be sold. + +If a great planter and particularly if situated upon navigable water, +this last was the course he was apt to follow. He would have his own +wharf to which once or twice a year a ship would come bringing the +supplies he had ordered months before and taking away the great staple. +If brought from a distance, the tobacco was rarely hauled to the wharf +in wagons--the roads were too wretched for that--instead it was packed +in a great cylindrical hogshead through which an iron or wooden axle was +put. Horses or oxen were then hitched to the axle and the hogshead was +rolled to its destination. + +By the ship that took away his tobacco the planter sent to the English +factor a list of the goods he would require for the next year. It was an +unsatisfactory way of doing business, for time and distance conspired to +put the planter at the factor's mercy. The planter was not only unlikely +to obtain a fair price for his product, but he had to pay excessive +prices for poor goods and besides could never be certain that his order +would be properly filled. + +Washington's experiences with his English agents were probably fairly +typical. Near the close of 1759 he complained that Thomas Knox of +Bristol had failed to send him various things ordered, such as half a +dozen scythes and stones, curry combs and brushes, weeding and grubbing +hoes, and axes, and that now he must buy them in America at exorbitant +prices. Not long afterward he wrote again: "I have received my goods +from the Recovery, and cant help again complaining of the little care +taken in the purchase: Besides leaving out half and the most material +half too! of the Articles I sent for, I find the Sein is without Leads, +corks and Ropes which renders it useless--the crate of stone ware don't +contain a third of the Pieces I am charged with, and only two things +broken, and everything very high Charged." + +In September of the same year he ordered, among other things, busts of +Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charles XII of Sweden, Frederick the +Great, Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough; also of two wild +beasts. The order was "filled" by sending him a group showing Aeneas +bearing his father from Troy, two groups with two statues of Bacchus and +Flora, two ornamental vases and two "Lyons." + +"It is needless for me to particularise the sorts, quality, or taste I +woud choose to have them in unless it is observd," he wrote a year later +to Robert Gary & Company of London apropos of some articles with which +he was dissatisfied, "and you may believe me when I tell you that +instead of getting things good and fashionable in their several kind, +we often have articles sent us that coud only have been used by our +Forefathers in the days of yore--'Tis a custom, I have some reason to +believe, with many Shop keepers, and Tradesmen in London when they know +Goods are bespoke for Transportation to palm sometimes old, and +sometimes very slight and indifferent goods upon us taking care at the +same time to advance 10, 15, or perhaps 20 pr. Ct. upon them." + +To his London shoemaker he wrote, November 30, 1759, that the last two +pairs of dog leather pumps scarce lasted twice as many days. To his +tailor he complained on another occasion of exorbitant prices. "I shall +only refer you generally to the Bills you have sent me, particularly for +a Pompadour Suit forwarded last July amounting to L16.3.6 without +embroidery, Lace or Binding--not a close fine cloth neither--and only a +gold Button that woud not stand the least Wear." + +Another time he mentions that his clothes fit poorly, which is not +strange considering that measurements had to be sent three thousand +miles and there, was no opportunity to try the garments on with a view +to alterations. We may safely conclude, therefore, that however elegant +Virginia society of that day may have been in other respects, it was +not distinguished for well fitting clothes! + +Most Virginia planters got in debt to their agents, and Washington was +no exception to the rule. When his agents, Robert Gary & Company, called +his attention to the fact, he wrote them, that they seemed in a bit of a +hurry considering the extent of past dealings with each other. +"Mischance rather than Misconduct hath been the cause of it," he +asserted, explaining that he had made large purchases of land, that +crops had been poor for three seasons and prices bad. He preferred to +let the debt stand, but if the agents insisted upon payment now he would +find means to discharge the obligation. + +Not all planters could speak so confidently of their ability to find +means to discharge a debt, for the truth is that the profits of tobacco +culture were by no means so large as has often been supposed. A recent +writer speaks of huge incomes of twenty thousand to eighty thousand +pounds a year and asserts that "the ordinary planter could count on an +income of from L3,000 to L6,000." The first figures are altogether +fabulous, "paper profits" of the same sort that can be obtained by +calculating profits upon the geometrical increase of geese as +illustrated in a well known story. Even the last mentioned sums were +realized only under the most favorable conditions and by a few planters. +Much of the time the price of the staple was low and the costs of +transportation and insurance, especially in time of war, were +considerable. Washington himself had a consignment of tobacco captured +by the French. + +The planters were by no means so prosperous as is often supposed and +neither was their life so splendid as has often been pictured. Writers +seem to have entered into a sort of conspiracy to mislead us concerning +it. The tendency is one to which Southern writers are particularly prone +in all that concerns their section. If they speak of a lawyer, he is +always a profound student of the law; of a soldier, he is the bravest +tenderest knight that ever trod shoe leather; of a lady, she is the most +beautiful that ever graced a drawing-room. + +The old Virginia life had its color and charm, though its color and +charm lay in large part in things concerning which the writers have +little or nothing to say. It is true that a few planters had their +gorgeous coaches, yet Martha Washington remembered when there was only +one coach in the whole of Virginia, and throughout her life the roads +were so wretched that those who traveled over them in vehicles ran in +imminent danger of being overturned, with possible dislocation of limbs +and disjointing of necks. Virginians had their liveried servants, +mahogany furniture, silver plate, silks and satins; an examination of +the old account books proves that they often had these and many other +expensive things, along with their Madeira and port wine. But the same +books show that the planter was chronically in debt and that bankruptcy +was common, while accounts left by travelers reveal the fact that many +of the mansion houses were shabby and run down, with rotting roofs, +ramshackle doors, broken windows into which old hats or other garments +had been thrust to keep the wind away. In a word, a traveler could find +to-day more elegance in a back county of Arkansas than then existed in +tidewater Virginia. + +The tobacco industry was a culture that required much labor. In the +spring a pile of brush was burned and on the spot thus fertilized and +made friable the seed were sowed. In due course the ground was prepared +and the young plants were transplanted into rows. Later they must be +repeatedly plowed, hoed and otherwise cultivated and looked after and +finally the leaves must be cut or gathered and carried to the dry +house to be dried. One man could care for only two or three acres, hence +large scale cultivation required many hands--result, the importation of +vast numbers of indentured servants and black slaves, with the blighting +effects always consequent upon the presence of a servile class in a +community. + +[Illustration: _By permission of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association_ +The Mount Vernon Kitchen (restored)] + +Although tobacco was the great staple, some of the Virginia planters had +begun before the Revolution to raise considerable crops of wheat, and +most of them from the beginning cultivated Indian corn. From the wheat +they made flour and bread for themselves, and with the corn they fed +their hogs and horses and from it also made meal for the use of their +slaves. In the culture of neither crop were they much advanced beyond +the Egyptians of the times of the Pyramids. The wheat was reaped with +sickles or cradles and either flailed out or else trampled out by cattle +and horses, usually on a dirt floor in the open air. Washington +estimated in 1791 that the average crop of wheat amounted to only eight +or ten bushels per acre, and the yield of corn was also poor. + +So much emphasis was laid upon tobacco that many planters failed to +produce food enough. Some raised none at all, with the result that +often both men and animals were poorly fed, and at best the cost of food +and forage exhausted most of the profits. A somewhat similar condition +exists in the South to-day with regard to cotton. + +Almost no attention was paid to conserving the soil by rotation of +crops, and even those few planters who attempted anything of the sort +followed the old plan of allowing fields to lie in a naked fallow and to +grow up in noxious weeds instead of raising a cover crop such as clover. +Washington wrote in 1782: "My countrymen are too much used to corn +blades and corn shucks; and have too little knowledge of the profit of +grass land." And again in 1787: + +"The general custom has been, first to raise a crop of Indian corn +(maize) which, according to the mode of cultivation, is a good +preparation for wheat; then a crop of wheat; after which the ground is +respited (except for weeds, and every trash that can contribute to its +foulness) for about eighteen months; and so on, alternately, without any +dressing, till the land is exhausted; when it is turned out, without +being sown with grass-seeds, or reeds, or any method taken to restore +it; and another piece is ruined in the same manner. No more cattle is +raised than can be supported by lowland meadows, swamps &c. and the +tops and blades of Indian corn; as very few persons have attended to +growing grasses, and connecting cattle with their crops. The Indian corn +is the chief support of the labourers and their horses." + +As for the use of fertilizer, very little was attempted, for, as +Jefferson explained, "we can buy an acre of new land cheaper than we can +manure an old one." It was this cheapness of land that made it almost +impossible for the Virginians to break away from their ruinous +system--ruinous, not necessarily to themselves, but to future +generations. Conservation was then a doctrine that was little preached. +Posterity could take care of itself. Only a few persons like Washington +realized their duty to the future. + +In the matter of stock as well as in pure agriculture the Virginians +were backward. They showed to best advantage in the matter of horses. +Virginia gentlemen were fond of horses, and some owned fine animals and +cared for them carefully. A Randolph of Tuckahoe is said to have had a +favorite dapple-gray named "Shakespeare" for whom he built a special +stable with a sort of recess next the stall in which the groom slept. +Generally speaking, however, even among the aristocracy the horses were +not so good nor so well cared for as in the next century. + +Among the small farmers and poorer people the horses were apt to be +scrubs, often mere bags of bones. A scientific English agriculturist +named Parkinson, who came over in 1798, tells us that the American +horses generally "leap well; they are accustomed to leap from the time +of foaling; as it is not at all uncommon, if the mare foal in the night, +for some part of the family to ride the mare, with the foal following +her, from eighteen to twenty miles next day, it not being customary to +walk much. I think that is the cause of the American horse having a sort +of amble: the foal from its weak state, goes pacing after the dam, and +retains that motion all its life. The same is the case with respect to +leaping: there being in many places no gates, the snake or worm-fence +(which is one rail laid on the end of another) is taken down to let the +mare pass through, and the foal follow: but, as it is usual to leave two +or three rails untaken down, which the mare leaps over, the foal, +unwilling to be left behind, follows her; so that, by the time it is one +week old, it has learned to leap three feet high; and progressively, as +it grows older, it leaps higher, till at a year old, it will leap its +own height." + +Sheep raising was not attempted to any great extent, partly because of +the ravages of wolves and dogs and partly because the sheep is a +perverse animal that often seems to prefer dying to keeping alive and +requires skilled care to be made profitable. The breeds were various and +often were degenerated. Travelers saw Holland or rat-tailed sheep, West +Indian sheep with scant wool and much resembling goats, also a few +Spanish sheep, but none would have won encomiums from a scientific +English breeder. The merino had not yet been introduced. Good breeds of +sheep were difficult to obtain, for both the English and Spanish +governments forbade the exportation of such animals and they could be +obtained only by smuggling them out. + +In 1792 Arthur Young expressed astonishment when told that wolves and +dogs were a serious impediment to sheep raising in America, yet this was +undoubtedly the case. The rich had their foxhounds, while every poor +white and many negroes had from one to half a dozen curs--all of which +canines were likely to enjoy the sport of sheep killing. Mr. Richard +Peters, a well informed farmer of Pennsylvania, said that wherever the +country was much broken wolves were to be found and bred prodigiously. +"I lay not long ago at the foot of South Mountain, in York county, in +this State, in a country very thickly settled, at the house of a Justice +of the Peace. Through the night I was kept awake by what I conceived to +be a jubilee of dogs, assembled to bay the moon. But I was told in the +morning, that what disturbed me, was _only_ the common howling of +wolves, which nobody there regarded. When I entered the _Hall of +Justice_, I found the 'Squire giving judgment for the reward on two wolf +whelps a countryman had taken from the bitch. The _judgment-seat_ was +shaken with the intelligence, that the wolf was coming--_not to give +bail_--but to devote herself or rescue her offspring. The animal was +punished for this _daring contempt_, committed in the face of the court, +and was shot within a hundred yards of the tribunal." + +Virginians had not yet learned the merits of grass and pasture, and +their cattle, being compelled to browse on twigs and weeds, were often +thin and poor. Many ranged through the woods and it was so difficult to +get them up that sometimes they would not be milked for two or three +days. Often they gave no more than a quart of milk a day and were +probably no better in appearance than the historian Lecky tells us were +the wretched beasts then to be found in the Scottish Highlands. + +Hogs received even less care than cattle and ran half wild in the woods +like their successors, the famous Southern razor-backs of to-day, being +fed only a short period before they were to be transformed into pork. +Says Parkinson: + +"The real American hog is what is termed the wood-hog: they are long in +the leg, narrow on the back, short in the body, flat on the sides, with +a long snout, very rough in their hair, in make more like a fish called +a perch than anything I can describe. You may as well think of stopping +a crow as those hogs. They will go a distance from a fence, take a run, +and leap through the rails, three or four feet from the ground, turning +themselves sidewise. These hogs suffer such hardships as no other animal +could endure. It is customary to keep them in the woods all winter, as +there is no thrashing or fold-yards; and they must live on the roots of +trees, or something of that sort, but they are poor beyond any creature +that I ever saw. That is probably the cause why American pork is so +fine. They are something like forest-sheep. I am not certain, with +American keeping and treatment, if they be not the best: for I never saw +an animal live without food, except this; and I am pretty sure they +nearly do that. When they are fed, the flesh may well be sweet: it is +all young, though the pig be ten years old." + +"The aim of the farmers in this country (if they can be called +farmers)," wrote Washington to Arthur Young in 1791, "is, not to make +the most they can from the land, which is or has been cheap, but the +most of the labour, which is dear; the consequence of which has been, +much ground has been _scratched_ over and none cultivated or improved as +it ought to have been: whereas a farmer in England, where land is dear, +and labour cheap, finds it his interest to improve and cultivate highly, +that he may reap large crops from a small quantity of ground." + +No clearer statement of the differences between American and European +agriculture has ever been formulated. Down to our own day the object of +the American farmer has continued to be the same--to secure the largest +return from the expenditure of a given amount of labor. But we are on +the threshold of a revolution, the outcome of which means intensive +cultivation and the realization of the largest possible return from a +given amount of land. + +That Washington saw the distinction so clearly is of itself sufficient +proof that he pondered long and deeply upon agricultural problems. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +WASHINGTON'S PROBLEM + +"No estate in United America," wrote Washington to Arthur Young in 1793, +"is more pleasantly situated than this. It lies in a high, dry, and +healthy country, 300 miles by water from the sea, and, as you will see +by the plan, on one of the finest rivers in the world. Its margin is +washed by more than ten miles of tide water; from the beds of which and +the innumerable coves, inlets, and small marshes, with which it abounds, +an inexhaustible fund of mud may be drawn as a manure, either to be used +separately or in a compost.... + +"The soil of the tract of which I am speaking is a good loam, more +inclined, however, to clay than sand. From use, and I might add, abuse, +it is become more and more consolidated, and of course heavier +to work.... + +"This river, which encompasses the land the distance above mentioned, is +well supplied with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year; +and, in the spring, with great profusion of shad, herring, bass, carp, +perch, sturgeon, etc. Several fisheries appertain to the estate; the +whole shore, in short, is one entire fishery." + +The Mount Vernon estate, amounting in the end to over eight thousand +acres, was, with the exception of a few outlying tracts, subdivided into +five farms, namely, the Mansion House Farm, the Union Farm, the Dogue +Run Farm, Muddy Hole Farm and the River Farm. + +On the Mansion House Farm stood the owner's residence, quarters for the +negroes and other servants engaged upon that particular estate, and +other buildings. The land in general was badly broken and poor in +quality; much of it was still in woodland. + +The River Farm lay farthest up the Potomac, being separated from the +others by the stream known as Little Hunting Creek. Visitors to Mount +Vernon to-day, traveling by trolley, cross this farm and stream. It +contained more tillable ground than any other, about twelve hundred +acres. In 1793 it had an "overlooker's" house of one large and two small +rooms below and one or two rooms above, quarters for fifty or sixty +negroes, a large barn and stables gone much to decay. + +Muddy Hole Farm lay across Little Hunting Creek from the River Farm and +back of the Mansion House Farm and had no frontal upon the Potomac. It +contained four hundred seventy-six acres of tillable soil and had in +1793 a small overlooker's house, "covering for about 30 negroes, and a +tolerable good barn, with stables for the work-horses." + +Union Farm lay just below the Mansion House Farm and contained nine +hundred twenty-eight acres of arable land and meadow. In 1793 it had, in +Washington's words, "a newly erected brick barn, equal, perhaps, to any +in America, and for conveniences of all sorts, particularly for +sheltering and feeding horses, cattle, &c. scarcely to be exceeded any +where." A new house of four rooms was building, and there were quarters +for fifty odd negroes. On this farm was the old Posey fishery and ferry +to Maryland. + +Dogue Run Farm, of six hundred fifty acres, lay back of Union Farm and +upon it in 1793 stood the grist mill and later a distillery and the +famous sixteen-sided "new circular barn, now finishing on a new +construction; well calculated, it is conceived, for getting grain out +of the straw more expeditiously than the usual mode of threshing." It +had a two-room overseer's house, covering for forty odd negroes, and +sheds sufficient for thirty work horses and oxen. Washington considered +it much the best of all his farms. It was this farm that he bequeathed +to Nelly Custis and her husband, Lawrence Lewis, and upon it they +erected "Woodlawn," which is shown in the photograph herewith +reproduced. + +Not long since I rambled on foot over the old estate and had an +opportunity to compare the reality, or what remains of it, with +Washington's description. I left the Mansion House, often visited +before, and strolled down the long winding drive that runs between the +stunted evergreens and oaks through the old lodge gate and passed from +the domain, kept trim and parklike by the Association, out upon the +unkempt and vastly greater part of the old Mount Vernon. + +It was early morning, about the hour when in the long past the master of +the estate used to ride out on his tour of inspection. The day was one +of those delicious days in early autumn when earth and sky and air and +all things in nature seem kindly allied to help the heart of man leap up +in gladness and to enable him to understand how there came to be a poet +called Wordsworth. Meadow-larks were singing in the grass, and once in +an old hedgerow over-grown with sweet-smelling wild honeysuckle I saw a +covey of young quails. These hedgerows of locust and cedar are broken +now, but along the old road to the mill and Pohick Church and between +fields the scattered trees and now and then a bordering ditch are +evidences of the old owner's handiwork. + +Then and later I visited all the farms, the site of the old mill, of +which only a few stones remain, the mill stream, the fishery and old +ferry landing. I walked across the gullied fields and examined the soil, +I noted the scanty crops they bear to-day and gained a clearer idea of +what Washington's problem had been than I could have done from a +library of books. + +Truly the estate is "pleasantly situated," though even to-day it seems +out of the world and out of the way. One must go far to find so +satisfying a view as that from the old Mansion House porch across the +mile of shining water to the Maryland hills' crowned with trees +glorified by the Midas-touch of frost. The land does lie "high" and +"dry," but we must take exception to the word "healthy." In the summer +and fall the tidal marshes breed a variety of mosquito capable of biting +through armor plate and of infecting the devil himself with malaria. In +the General's day, when screens were unknown, a large part of the +population, both white and black, suffered every August and September +from chills and fever. The master himself was not exempt and once we +find him chronicling that he went a-hunting and caught a fox and +the ague. + +What he says as regards the fisheries is all quite true and in general +they seem to have been very productive. Herring and shad were the chief +fish caught and when the run came the seine was carried well out into +the river in a boat and then hauled up on the shelving beach either by +hand or with a windlass operated by horse-power. There were warehouses +and vats for curing the fish, a cooper shop and buildings for sheltering +the men. The fish were salted down for the use of the family and the +slaves, and what surplus remained was sold. Now and then the landing and +outfit was rented out for a money consideration, but this usually +happened only when the owner was away from home. + +At the old Posey fishery on Union Farm the industry is still carried on, +though gasoline engines have been substituted for the horse-operated +winch used in drawing the seines. Lately the industry has ceased to be +very productive, and an old man in charge told me that it is because +fishermen down the river and in Chesapeake Bay are so active that +comparatively few fish manage to get up so far. + +The Mount Vernon estate in the old days lacked only one quality +necessary to make it extremely productive, namely, rich soil! Only +ignorance of what good land really is, or an owner's blind pride in his +own estate, can justify the phrase "a good loam." On most of the estate +the soil is thin, varying in color from a light gray to a yellow red, +with below a red clay hardpan almost impervious to water. To an observer +brought up on a farm of the rich Middle West, Mount Vernon, except for a +few scattered fields, seems extremely poor land. For farming purposes +most of it would be high at thirty dollars an acre. Much of it is so +broken by steep hills and deep ravines as scarcely to be tillable at +all. Those tracts which are cultivated are very susceptible to erosion. +Deep gullies are quickly worn on the hillsides and slopes. At one time +such a gully on Union Farm extended almost completely across a large +field and was deep enough to hide a horse, but Washington filled it up +with trees, stumps, stones, old rails, brush and dirt, so that scarcely +a trace of it was left. In places one comes upon old fields that have +been allowed to revert to broom sedge, scrub oak and scrub pine. One is +astonished at the amount that has never been cleared at all. Only by the +most careful husbandry could such an estate be kept productive. It never +could be made to yield bumper crops. + +The situation confronting "Farmer Washington" was this: He had a great +abundance of land, but most of it on his home estate was mediocre in +quality. Some of that lying at a distance was more fertile, but much of +it was uncleared and that on the Ohio was hopelessly distant from a +market. With the exception of Mount Vernon even those plantations in +Virginia east of the Blue Ridge could not be looked after in person. He +must either rent them, trust them to a manager, or allow them to lie +idle. Even the Mount Vernon land was distant from a good market, and the +cost of transportation was so great that he must produce for selling +purposes articles of little bulk compared with value. Finally, he had an +increasing number of slaves for whom food and clothing must be provided. + +His answer to the problem of a money crop was for some years the old +Virginia answer--tobacco. His far western lands he left for the most +part untenanted. Those plantations in settled regions but remote from +his home he generally rented for a share of the crop or for cash. The +staple articles that he produced to feed the slaves were pork and corn, +eked out by herring from the fishery. + +From his accounts we find that in 1759 he made thirty-four thousand one +hundred sixty pounds of tobacco; the next year sixty-five thousand +thirty-seven pounds; in 1763, eighty-nine thousand seventy-nine pounds, +which appears to have been his banner tobacco crop. In 1765 the quantity +fell to forty-one thousand seven hundred ninety-nine pounds; in 1771, to +twenty-nine thousand nine hundred eighty-six pounds, and in 1773 to only +about five thousand pounds. Thereafter his crop of the weed was +negligible, though we still find occasional references to it even as +late as 1794, when he states that he has twenty-five hogsheads in the +warehouses of Alexandria, where he has held it for five or six years +because of low prices. + +[Illustration: Looking across part of Dogue Run Farm to "Woodlawn," the +Home of Nelly Custis Lewis] + +[Illustration: Gully on a Field of Union Farm, Showing Susceptibility to +Erosion] + +He tried to raise a good quality and seems to have concentrated on +what he calls the "sweet scented" variety, but for some reason, perhaps +because his soil was not capable of producing the best, he obtained +lower prices than did some of the other Virginia planters, and grumbled +at his agents accordingly. + +He early realized the ruinous effects of tobacco on his land and sought +to free himself from its clutches by turning to the production of wheat +and flour for the West India market. Ultimately he was so prejudiced +against the weed that in 1789 we find him in a contract with a tenant +named Gray, to whom he leased a tract of land for ten pounds, +stipulating that Gray should make no more tobacco than he needed for +"chewing and smoaking in his own family." + +Late in life he decided that his land was not congenial to corn, in +which he was undoubtedly right, for the average yield was only about +fifteen bushels per acre. In the corn country farmers now often produce +a hundred. He continued to raise corn only because it was essential for +his negroes and hogs. In 1798 he contracted with William A. Washington +to supply him with five hundred barrels annually to eke out his own +crop. Even this quantity did not prove sufficient, for we find him next +year trying to engage one hundred barrels more. + +Before this time his main concern had come to be to conserve his soil +and he had turned his attention largely to grass and live stock. Of +these matters more hereafter. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +THE STUDENT OF AGRICULTURE + +Washington took great pains to inform himself concerning any subject in +which he was interested and hardly was he settled down to serious +farming before he was ordering from England "the best System now extant +of Agriculture," Shortly afterward he expressed a desire for a book +"lately published, done by various hands, but chiefly collected from the +papers of Mr. Hale. If this is known to be the best, pray send it, but +not if any other is in high esteem." Another time he inquires for a +small piece in octavo, "a new system of Agriculture, or a speedy way to +grow rich." + +Among his papers are preserved long and detailed notes laboriously taken +from such works as Tull's _Horse-Hoeing Husbandry_, Duhamel's _A +Practical Treatise of Husbandry, The Farmer's Compleat Guide,_ Home's +_The Gentleman Farmer_, and volumes of Young's _Annals of Agriculture_. + +The abstracts from the _Annals_ were taken after the Revolution and +probably before he became President, for the first volume did not appear +until 1784. From the handwriting it is evident that the digests of +Tull's and Duhamel's books were made before the Revolution and probably +about 1760. In the midst of the notes on chapter eight of the _Compleat +Guide_ there are evidences of a long hiatus in time--Mr. Fitzpatrick of +the manuscript division of the Library of Congress thinks perhaps as +much as eight or ten years. A vivid imagination can readily conceive +Washington's laying aside the task for the more important one of +vindicating the liberties of his countrymen and taking it up again only +when he had sheathed the sword. But all we can say is that for some +reason he dropped the work for a considerable time, the evidence being +that the later handwriting differs perceptibly from that which +precedes it. + +As most of Washington's agricultural ideas were drawn from these books, +it is worth while for us to examine them. I have not been able to put my +hands on Washington's own copies, but in the library of the Department +of Agriculture I have examined the works of Tull, Duhamel and Young. + +Tull's _Horse-Hoeing Husbandry_ was an epoch-making book in the history +of English agriculture. It was first published in 1731 and the third +edition, the one I have seen and probably the one that Washington +possessed, appeared in 1751. Possibly it was the small piece in octavo, +"a new system of Agriculture, or a speedy way to grow rich" concerning +which he wrote to his agent. It deals with a great variety of subjects, +such as of roots and leaves, of food of plants, of pasture, of plants, +of weeds, of turnips, of wheat, of smut, of blight, of St. Foin, of +lucerne, of ridges, of plows, of drill boxes, but its one great thesis +was the careful cultivation by plowing of such annuals as potatoes, +turnips, and wheat, crops which hitherto had been tended by hand or left +to fight their battle unaided after having once been planted. + +Duhamel's book was the work of a Frenchman whose last name was Monceau. +It was based in part upon Tull's book, but contained many reflections +suggested by French experience as well as some additions made by the +English translator. The English translation appeared in 1759, the year +of Washington's marriage. It dealt with almost every aspect of +agriculture and stock raising, advocated horse-hoeing, had much to say +in favor of turnips, lucerne, clover and such crops, and contained +plates and descriptions of various plows, drills and other kinds of +implements. It also contained a detailed table of weather observations +for a considerable time, which may have given Washington the idea of +keeping his meteorological records. + +Young's _Annals_ was an elaborate agricultural periodical not unlike in +some respects publications of this sort to-day except for its lack of +advertising. It contains records of a great variety of experiments in +both agriculture and stock raising, pictures and descriptions of plows, +machines for rooting up trees, and other implements and machines, plans +for the rotation of crops, and articles and essays by experimental +farmers of the day. Among its contributors were men of much eminence, +and we come upon articles by Mr. William Pitt on storing turnips, Mr. +William Pitt on deep plowing; George III himself contributed under the +pen name of "Ralph Robinson." The man who should follow its directions +even to-day would not in most matters go far wrong. + +As one looks over these publications he realizes that the scientific +farmers of that day were discussing many problems and subjects that +still interest those of the present. The language is occasionally +quaint, but the principles set down are less often wrong than might be +supposed. To be sure, Tull denied that different plants require +different sorts of food and, notes Washington, "gives many unanswerable +Reasons to prove it," but he combats the notion that the soil ever +causes wheat to degenerate into rye. This he declares "as ridiculous as +it would be to say that an horse by feeding in a certain pasture will +degenerate into a Bull." And yet it is not difficult to discover farmers +to-day who will stubbornly argue that "wheat makes cheat." Tull also +advocated the idea that manure should be put on green and plowed under +in order to obtain anything like its full benefit, as well as many other +sound ideas that are still disregarded by many American farmers. + +Washington eagerly studied the works that have been mentioned, and much +of his time when at Mount Vernon was devoted to experiments designed to +ascertain to what extent the principles that were sound in England could +be successfully applied in an American environment. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +A FARMER'S RECORDS AND OTHER PAPERS + +Washington was the most methodical man that ever lived. He had a place +for everything and insisted that everything should be kept in its place. +There was nothing haphazard about his methods of business. He kept exact +accounts of financial dealings. + +His habit of setting things down on paper was one that developed early. +He kept a journal of his surveying experiences beyond the Blue Ridge in +1748, another of his trip to Barbadoes with his brother Lawrence in +1751-52, another of his trip to Fort Le Boeuf to warn out the French, +and yet another of his Fort Necessity campaign. The words are often +misspelled, many expressions are ungrammatical, but the handwriting is +good and the judgments expressed, even those set down when he was only +sixteen, are the mature judgments of a man. + +A year after his marriage he began a formal diary, which he continued +until June 19, 1775, the time of his appointment to command the army of +the Revolution. He called it his _Diary_ and later _Where, & how my time +is Spent_. In it he entered the happenings of the day, his agricultural +and other experiments, a record of his guests and also a detailed +account of the weather. + +His attention to this last matter was most particular. Often when away +from home he would have a record kept and on his return would +incorporate it into his book. Exactly what advantages he expected to +derive therefrom are not apparent, though I presume that he hoped to +draw conclusions as to the best time for planting crops. In reading it I +was many times reminded of a Cleveland octogenarian who for fifty-seven +years kept a record twice a day of the thermometer and barometer. Near +the end of his life he brought the big ledgers to the Western Reserve +Historical Society, and I happened to be present on the occasion. "You +have studied the subject for a long time," I said to him. "Are there any +conclusions you have been able to reach as a result of your +investigation?" He thought a minute and passed a wrinkled hand across a +wrinkled brow. "Nothing but this," he made answer, "that Cleveland +weather is only constant in its inconstancy." + +We would gladly exchange some of these meteorological details for +further information about Washington's own personal doings and feelings. +Of the latter the diaries reveal little. Washington was an objective +man, above all in his papers. He sets down what happens and says little +about causes, motives or mental impressions. When on his way to Yorktown +to capture Cornwallis he visited his home for the first time in six +weary years, yet merely recorded: "I reached my own Seat at Mount Vernon +(distant 120 Miles from the Hd. of Elk) where I staid till the 12th." + +Not a word of the emotions which that visit must have roused! + +For almost six years after 1775 there is a gap in the diary, though for +some months of 1780 he sets down the weather. On May I, 1781, he begins +a new record, which he calls a _Journal_, and he expresses regret that +he has not had time to keep one all the time. The subjects now +considered are almost wholly military and the entries reveal a different +man from that of 1775. The grammar is better, the vocabulary larger, the +tone more elevated, the man himself is bigger and broader with an +infinitely wider viewpoint. + +From November 5, 1781, for more than three years there is another +blank, except for the journal of his trip to his western lands already +referred to. But on January 1, 1785, he begins a new _Diary_ and +thenceforward continues it, with short intermissions, until the day of +his last ride over his estate. + +A few of the diaries and journals have been lost, but most are still in +existence. Some are in the Congressional Library and there also is the +Toner transcript of these records. The transcript makes thirty-seven +large volumes. The diary is one of the main sources from which the +material for this book is drawn. + +The original of the record of events for 1760 is a small book, perhaps +eight or ten inches long by four inches wide and much yellowed by age. +Part of the first entry stands thus: + +"January 1, Tuesday + +"Visited my Plantations and received an Instance of Mr. French's great +Love of Money in disappointing me of some Pork because the price had +risen to 22.6 after he had engaged to let me have it at 20 s." + +On his return from his winter ride he found Mrs. Washington "broke out +with the Meazles." Next day he states with evident disgust that he has +taken the pork on French's own terms. + +The weather record for 1760 was kept on blank pages of _The Virginia +Almanac_, a compendium that contains directions for making "Indico," for +curing bloody flux, for making "Physick as pleasant as a Dish of +Chocolate," for making a striking sun-dial, also "A Receipt to keep +one's self warm a whole Winter with a single Billet of Wood." To do this +last "Take a Billet of Wood of a competent Size, fling it out of the +Garret-Window into the Yard, run down Stairs as hard as ever you can +drive; and when you have got it, run up again with it at the same +Measure of Speed; and thus keep throwing down, and fetching up, till the +Exercise shall have sufficiently heated you. This renew as often as +Occasion shall require. _Probatum est_." + +This receipt would seem worth preserving in this day of dear fuel. As +Washington had great abundance of wood and plenty of negroes to cut it, +he probably did not try the experiment--at least such a conclusion is +what writers on historical method would call "a safe inference." + +[Illustration: First Page of Washington's Digest of Duhamel's Husbandry] + +There is in the almanac a rhyme ridiculing physicians and above the +March calendar are printed the touching verses: + + "Thus of all Joy and happiness bereft, + And with the Charge of Ten poor Children left: + A greater Grief no Woman sure can know, + Who,--with Ten Children--who will have me now." + +Also there are some other verses, very broad and "not quite the proper +thing," as Kipling has it. But it must not be inferred that Washington +approved of them. + +Washington also kept cash memorandum books, general account books, mill +books and a special book in which he recorded his accounts with the +estate of the Custis children. These old books, written in his neat +legible hand, are not only one of our chief sources of information +concerning his agricultural and financial affairs, but contain many +sidelights upon historical events. It is extremely interesting, for +example, to discover in one of the account books that in 1775 at Mount +Vernon he lent General Charles Lee--of Monmouth fame--L15, and "to Ditto +lent him on the Road from Phila to Cambridge at different times" L9.12 +more, a total of L24.12. In later years Lee intrigued against Washington +and said many spiteful things about him, but he never returned the loan. +The account stood until 1786, when it was settled by Alexander White, +Lee's executor. + +In the Cash Memorandum books we can trace Washington's military +preparations at the beginning of the Revolution. Thus on June 2, 1775, +being then at Philadelphia, he enters: "By Expences bringing my Horses +from Baltimore," L2.5. Next day he pays thirty pounds for "Cartouch +Boxes &c. for Prince Wm. Comp." June 6, "By Covering my Holsters," +L0.7.6; "By a Cersingle," L0.7.6; "By 5 Books--Military," L1.12.0. He +was preparing for Gage and Howe and Cornwallis and whether the knowledge +contained in the books was of value or not he somehow managed for eight +years to hold his opponents at bay and ultimately to win. At Cambridge, +July tenth, he spends three shillings and four pence for a "Ribbon to +distinguish myself," that is to show his position as commander; also +L1.2.6 for "a pair of Breeches for Will," his colored body servant. + +A vast number of papers bear witness to his interest in agriculture and +with these we are particularly concerned. He preserved most of the +letters written to him and many of these deal with farming matters. +During part of his career he had a copying press and kept copies of his +own important letters, while many of the originals have been preserved, +though widely scattered. When away from home he required his manager to +send him elaborate weekly reports containing a meteorological table of +each day's weather, the work done on each farm, what each person did, +who was sick, losses and increases in stock, and other matters of +interest. Scores of these reports are still in existence and are +invaluable. He himself wrote--generally on Sunday--lengthy weekly +letters of inquiry, direction, admonition and reproof, and if the +manager failed in the minutest matter to give an account of some phase +of the farm work, he would be sure to hear of it in the proprietor's +next letter. + +Washington's correspondence on agricultural matters with Arthur Young +and Sir John Sinclair, eminent English agriculturists, was collected +soon after his death in a volume that is now rare. In it are a number of +letters written by other American farmers, including Thomas Jefferson, +relative to agriculture in their localities. These letters were the +result of inquiries made of Washington by Young in 1791. In order to +obtain the facts desired Washington sent out a circular letter to some +of the most intelligent farmers in the Middle States, and the replies +form perhaps our best source of information regarding agricultural +conditions in that period. + +Because of this service and of his general interest in agricultural +matters Washington was elected a foreign honorary member of the English +Board of Agriculture and received a diploma, which is still preserved +among his papers. + +Some of Washington's other agricultural papers have been printed in one +form and another, but a great number, and some the most interesting, can +still be consulted only in manuscript. + +Washington bequeathed his books and papers, along with his Mansion +House, to his nephew, Bushrod Washington, an associate justice of the +Federal Supreme Court. Judge Washington failed to appreciate fully the +seriousness of the obligation thus incurred and instead of safeguarding +the papers with the utmost jealousy gave many, including volumes of the +diary, to visitors and friends who expressed a desire to possess +mementoes of the illustrious patriot. In particular he permitted +Reverend William Buel Sprague, who had been a tutor in the family of +Nelly Custis Lewis, to take about fifteen hundred papers on condition +that he leave copies in their places. The judge also intrusted a +considerable portion to the historian Jared Sparks, who issued the first +considerable edition of Washington's writings. Sparks likewise was +guilty of giving away souvenirs. + +Bushrod Washington died in 1829 and left the papers and letter books for +the most part to his nephew John Corbin Washington. In 1834 the nation +purchased of this gentleman the papers of a public character, paying +twenty-five thousand dollars. The owner reserved the private papers, +including invoices, ciphering book, rules of civility, etc., but in 1849 +sold these also to the same purchaser for twenty thousand dollars. The +papers were kept for many years in the Department of State, but in the +administration of Theodore Roosevelt most of them were transferred to +the Library of Congress, where they could be better cared for and would +be more accessible. + +Bushrod Washington gave to another nephew, John Augustine Washington, +the books and relics in the dining-room of the Mansion House. In course +of time these were scattered, some being bought for the Boston +Athenaeum, which has decidedly the larger part of Washington's library; +others were purchased by the state of New York, and yet others were +exhibited at the Centennial Exposition and were later sold at auction. +Among the relics bought by New York was a sword wrongly said to have +been sent to the General by Frederick the Great. + +One hundred and twenty-seven of his letters, mostly to William Pearce, +his manager at Mount Vernon during a portion of his presidency, were +bought from the heirs of Pearce by the celebrated Edward Everett and now +belong to the Long Island Historical Society. These have been published. +His correspondence with Tobias Lear, for many years his private +secretary, are now in the collection of Thomas K. Bixby, a wealthy +bibliophile of St. Louis. These also have been published. The one +greatest repository of papers is the Library of Congress. Furthermore, +through the unwearying activities of J. M. Toner, who devoted years to +the work, the Library also has authenticated copies of many papers of +which it does not possess the originals. + +All told, according to Mr. Gaillard Hunt, who has them in charge, the +Washington manuscripts in the Library of Congress is the largest +collection of papers of one person in the world. The collection contains +about eighteen thousand papers in his own hand, press copies, or drafts +in the writing of his secretaries, and many times that number of others. +As yet all except a small part are merely arranged in chronological +order, but soon it is to be sumptuously bound in royal purple levant. +The color, after all, is fitting, for he was a King and he reigns still +in the hearts of his countrymen. + +Benjamin Franklin knew the great men of earth of his time, the princes +and kings of blood royal. Near the close of his life he wrote in his +will: "My fine crabtree walking-stick with a gold head, curiously +wrought in the form of a cap of Liberty, I give to my friend, and the +friend of mankind, General Washington. If it was a sceptre, he has +merited it, and would become it." + +And thus Thackeray, who knew the true from the false, the dross from +pure gold: "Which was the most splendid spectacle ever witnessed, the +opening feast of Prince George in London or the resignation of +Washington? Which is the noble character for ages to admire--yon fribble +dancing in lace and spangles, or yonder hero who sheathes his sword +after a life of spotless honor, a purity unreproached, a courage +indomitable, and a consummate victory? Which of these is the true +gentleman? What is it to be a gentleman? Is it to have lofty aims, to +lead a pure life, to keep your honor virgin; to have the esteem of your +fellow-citizens, and the love of your fireside; to bear good fortune +meekly; to suffer evil with constancy; and through evil or good to +maintain truth always? Show me the happy man whose life exhibits these +qualities, and him will we salute as gentleman, whatever his rank may +be; show me the prince who possesses them, and he may be sure of our +love and loyalty." + +'Tis often distance only that lends enchantment, but it is Washington's +proud pre-eminence that he can bear the microscope. Having read +thousands of his letters and papers dealing with almost every +conceivable subject in the range of human affairs, I yet feel inclined, +nay compelled, to bear witness to the greatness of his heart, soul and +understanding. He was human. He had his faults. He made his mistakes. +But I would not detract a line from any eulogium of him ever uttered. +Words have never yet been penned that do him justice. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION + +A detailed account of all of Washington's agricultural experiments would +require several hundred pages and would be tedious reading. All that I +shall attempt to do is to give some examples and point the way for any +enthusiast to the mass of his agricultural papers in the Library of +Congress and elsewhere. + +At the outset it should be stated that he worked under extremely +different conditions from those of to-day. Any American farmer of the +present who has a problem in his head can have it solved by writing to +the nearest government experiment station, a good farm paper, an +agricultural college, the department of agriculture, or in some favored +districts by consulting the local county "agent." Washington had no such +recourse. There was not an agricultural college or agricultural paper in +the whole country; the department of agriculture was not created until +near the end of the next century; county "agents" were as unthought of +as automobiles or electric lights; there was not a scientific farmer in +America; even the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture +was not founded until 1785. In his later years our Farmer could and did +write to such foreign specialists as Arthur Young and Sir John Sinclair, +but they were Englishmen unfamiliar with American soils and climate and +could rarely give a weighty answer propounded to them by an American. If +Washington wished to know a thing about practical farming, he usually +had to find it out for himself. + +This state of affairs accounts for his performing some experiments that +seem absurd. Thus in the fall of 1764 we find him sowing "a few Oats to +see if they would stand the winter." Any country boy of to-day could +tell him that ordinary oats sown under such conditions in the latitude +of Mount Vernon would winter kill too badly to be of much use, but +Washington could not know it till he had tried. + +In another category was his experiment in March, 1760, with lucerne. +Lucerne is alfalfa. It will probably be news to most readers that +alfalfa--the wonderful forage crop of the West, the producer of more +gold than all the mines of the Klondike--was in use so long ago, for the +impression is pretty general that it is comparatively new; the fact is +that it is older than the Christian era and that the name alfalfa comes +from the Arabic and means "the best crop." Evidently our Farmer had been +reading on the subject, for in his diary he quotes what "Tull speaking +of lucerne, says." He tried out the plant on this and several other +occasions and had a considerable field of it in 1798. His success was +not large with it at any time, for the Mount Vernon soil was not +naturally suited to alfalfa, which thrives best in a dry and pervious +subsoil containing plenty of lime, but the experiment was certainly +worth trying. + +In this same year, 1760, we find him sowing clover, rye, grass, hope, +trefoil, timothy, spelt, which was a species of wheat, and various other +grasses and vegetables, most of them to all intents and purposes unknown +to the Virginia agriculture of that day. + +He also recorded an interesting experiment with fertilizer. April 14, +1760, he writes in his diary: + +"Mixed my composts in a box with the apartments in the following +manner, viz. No. 1 is three pecks of earth brought from below the hill +out of the 46 acre field without any mixture. In No. 2 is two pecks of +sand earth and one of marle taken out of the said field, which marle +seemed a little inclined to sand. 3 has 2 pecks of sd. earth and 1 of +river sand. + +"4 has a peck of Horse Dung + +"5 has mud taken out of the creek + +"6 has cow dung + +"7 has marle from the Gulleys on the hillside, wch. seem'd to be purer +than the other + +"8 sheep dung + +"9 Black mould from the Gulleys on the hill side, wch. seem'd to be +purer than the other + +"10 Clay got just below the garden + +"All mixed with the same quantity and sort of earth in the most +effective manner by reducing the whole to a tolerable degree of fineness +and rubbing them well together on a cloth. In each of these divisions +were planted three grains of wheat, 3 of oats, and as many of barley, +all of equal distances in Rows and of equal depth done by a machine made +for the purpose. The wheat rows are next the numbered side, the oats in +the middle, and the barley on the side next the upper part of the +Garden. Two or three hours after sowing in this manner, and about an +hour before sunset I watered them all equally alike with water that had +been standing in a tub abt two hours exposed to the sun." + +Three weeks later he inspected the boxes and concluded that Nos. 8 and 9 +gave the best results. + +The plows of the period were cumbersome and did their work poorly. +Consequently in March, 1760, Washington "Fitted a two Eyed Plow instead +of a Duck Bill Plow", and tried it out, using his carriage horses in the +work. But this new model proved upon the whole a failure and a little +later he "Spent the greater part of the day in making a new plow of my +own Invention." Next day he set the new plow to work "and found She +answerd very well." + +A little later he "got a new harrow made of smaller and closer teethings +for harrowing in grain--the other being more proper for preparing the +ground for sowing." + +Much of his attention in the next few years was devoted to wheat +growing, for, as already related, he soon decided gradually to +discontinue tobacco and it was imperative for him to discover some +other money crop to take its place. We find him steeping his seed wheat +in brine and alum to prevent smut and he also tried other experiments to +protect his grain from the Hessian fly and rust. Noticing how the +freezing and thawing of the ground in spring often injured the wheat by +lifting it out of the ground, he adopted the practice of running a heavy +roller over the wheat in order to get the roots back into the ground and +he was confident that when the operation was performed at the proper +time, that is when the ground was soft and the roots were still alive, +it was productive of good results. + +In June, 1763, he "dug up abt. a load of Marle to spread over Wheat Land +for experiment." In 1768 he came to the conclusion that most farmers +began to cut their wheat too late, for of course cradling was a slow +process--scarcely four acres per day per cradler--and if the acreage was +large several days must elapse before the last of the grain could be +cut, with the result that some of it became so ripe that many of the +kernels were shattered out and lost before the straw could be got to the +threshing floor. By careful experiments he determined that the grain +would not lose perceptibly in size and weight if the wheat were cut +comparatively green. In wheat-growing communities the discussion as to +this question still rages--extremists on one side will not cut their +wheat till it is dead ripe, while those on the other begin to harvest it +when it is almost sea-green. + +In 1763 Washington entered into an agreement with John Carlyle and +Robert Adams of Alexandria to sell to them all the wheat he would have +to dispose of in the next seven years. The price was to be three +shillings and nine pence per bushel, that is, about ninety-one cents. +This would not be far from the average price of wheat to-day, but, on +the one side, we should bear in mind that ninety-one cents then had much +greater purchasing power than now, so that the price was really much +greater, and, on the other, that the cost of raising wheat was larger +then, owing to lack of self-binders, threshing machines and other +labor-saving devices. + +The wheat thus sold by Washington was to be delivered at the wharf at +Alexandria or beside a boat or flat on Four Mile Run Creek. The delivery +for 1764 was 257-1/2 bushels; for 1765, 1,112-3/4 bushels; for 1766, +2,331-1/2 bushels; for 1767--a bad year--1,293-1/2 bushels; for 1768, +4,994-1/2 bushels of wheat and 4,304-1/2 bushels of corn; for 1769, +6,241-1/2 bushels of wheat. + +Thereafter he ground a good part of his wheat and sold the flour. He +owned three mills, one in western Pennsylvania, already referred to, a +second on Four Mile Run near Alexandria, and a third on the Mount Vernon +estate. This last mill had been in operation since his father's day. It +was situated near the mouth of the stream known as Dogue Run, which was +not very well suited for the purpose as it ran from the extreme of low +water in summer to violent floods in winter and spring. Thus his miller, +William A. Poole, in a letter that wins the sweepstakes in phonetic +spelling, complains in 1757 that he has been able to grind but little +because "She fails by want of Water." At other times the Master sallies +out in the rain with rescue crews to save the mill from floods and more +than once the "tumbling dam" goes by the board in spite of all efforts. +The lack of water was partly remedied in 1771 by turning the water of +Piney Branch into the Run, and about the same time a new and better mill +was erected, while in 1797 further improvements were made. During the +whole period flatboats and small schooners could come to the wharf to +take away the flour. Corn and other grains were ground, as well as +wheat, and the mill had considerable neighborhood custom, the toll +exacted being one-eighth. Only a few stones sticking in a bank now +remain of the mill. + +Washington divided his flour into superfine, fine, middlings and ship +stuff. It was put into barrels manufactured by the plantation coopers +and much of it ultimately found its way to the West India market. A +tradition--much quoted--has it that barrels marked "George Washington, +Mount Vernon," were accepted in the islands without any inspection, but +Mr. J.M. Toner, one of the closest students of Washington's career, +contended that this was a mistake and pointed to the fact that the +Virginia law provided for the inspection of all flour before it was +exported and the placing of a brand on each barrel. However this may be, +we have Washington's own word for it, that his flour was as good in +quality as any manufactured in America--and he was no boaster. + +[ILLUSTRATION: Dogue Run below the Site of the Mill] + +[ILLUSTRATION: On the Road to the Mill and Pohick Church] + +That his flour was so good was in large measure due to the excellent +quality of the wheat from which it was made. By careful attention to his +seed and to cultivation he succeeded in raising grain that often +weighed upward of sixty pounds to the bushel. After the Revolution he +wrote: "No wheat that has ever yet fallen under my observation exceeds +the wheat which some years ago I cultivated extensively." + +His idea of good cultivation in these years was to let his fields lie +fallow at certain intervals, though he also made use of manure, marl, +etc., and in 1772 tried the experiment of sowing two bushels of salt per +acre upon fallow ground, dividing the plot up into strips eight feet in +width and sowing the alternate strips in order that he might be able to +determine results. + +He imported from England an improved Rotheran or patent plow, and, +having noticed in an agricultural work mention of a machine capable of +pulling up two or three hundred stumps per day, he expressed a desire +for one, saying: "If the accounts are not greatly exaggerated, such +powerful assistance must be of vast utility in many parts of this wooden +country, where it is impossible for our force (and laborers are not to +be hired here), between the finishing of one crop and preparations for +another, to clear ground fast enough to afford the proper changes, +either in the planting or farming business." + +These were his golden days. He was not so rich as he was later nor so +famous, but he was strong and well and young, he had abundant friends, +and his neighbors thought well enough of him to send him to the +Burgesses and to make him a vestryman of old Pohick Church; if he felt +the need of recreation he went fishing or fox-hunting or attended a +horse race or played a game of cards with his friends, and he had few +things to trouble him seriously. But fussy kings and ministers overseas +were meddling with the liberties of subjects and were creating a +situation out of which was to come a mighty burden--a burden so +Atalantean that it would have frightened most men, but one that he was +brave enough and strong enough to shoulder and with it march down to +immortality. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +CONSERVING THE SOIL + +The Revolution rudely interrupted Washington's farming experiments, and +for eight long years he was so actively engaged in the grim business of +checkmating Howe and Clinton and Cornwallis that he could give little +time or thought to agriculture. For more than six years, in fact, he did +not once set foot upon his beloved fields and heard of his crops, his +servants and his live stock only from family visitors to his camps or +through the pages of his manager's letters. + +Peace at last brought him release. He had left Mount Vernon a simple +country gentleman; he came back to it one of the most famous men in the +world. He wasted no time in contemplating his laurels, but at once threw +himself with renewed enthusiasm into his old occupation. His observation +of northern agriculture and conversations with other farmers had +broadened his views and he was more than ever progressive. He was now +thoroughly convinced of the great desirability of grass and stock for +conserving the soil and he was also wide awake to the need of better +tools and methods and wished to make his estate beautiful as well +as useful. + +Much of his energy in 1784-85 was devoted to rebuilding his house and +improving his grounds, and to his trip to his Ohio lands--all of which +are described elsewhere. No diary exists for 1784 except that of the +trip to the Ohio, but from the diary of 1785 we learn that he found time +to experiment with plaster of Paris and powdered stone as fertilizers, +to sow clover, orchard grass, guinea grass and peas and to borrow a scow +with which to raise rich mud from the bed of the Potomac. + +The growing poverty of his soil, in fact, was a subject to which he gave +much attention. He made use of manure when possible, but the supply of +this was limited and commercial fertilizers were unknown. As already +indicated, he was beginning the use of clover and other grasses, but he +was anxious to build up the soil more rapidly and the Potomac muck +seemed to him a possible answer to the problem. There was, as he said, +"an inexhaustible fund" of it, but the task of getting it on the land +was a heavy one. Having heard of a horse-power dredge called the +_Hippopotamus_ that was in use on the Delaware River, he made inquiries +concerning it but feared that it would not serve his purpose, as he +would have to go from one hundred to eight hundred or a thousand yards +from high water-mark for the mud--too far out for a horse to be +available. Mechanical difficulties and the cost of getting up the mud +proved too great for him--as they have proved too great even down to the +present--but he never gave up the idea and from time to time tried +experiments with small plots of ground that had been covered with the +mud. His enthusiasm on the subject was so great that Noah Webster, of +dictionary fame, who visited him in this period, says that the standing +toast at Mount Vernon was "Success to the mud!" + +Every scientific agriculturist knows that erosion is one of the chief +causes of loss in soil fertility and that in the basins and deltas of +streams and rivers there is going to waste enough muck to make all of +our land rich. But the cost of getting this fertility back to the soil +has thus far proved too great for us to undertake the task of +restoration. It is conceivable, however, that the time may come when we +shall undertake the work in earnest and then the dream of Washington +will be realized. + +The spring and summer of 1785 proved excessively dry, and the crops +suffered, as they always do in times of drought. The wheat yield was +poor and chinch bugs attacked the corn in such myriads that our Farmer +found "hundreds of them & their young under the blades and at the lower +joints of the Stock." By the middle of August "Nature had put on a +melancholy look." The corn was "_fired_ in most places to the Ear, with +little appearance of yielding if Rain should now come & a certainty of +making nothing if it did not." + +Like millions of anxious farmers before and after him, he watched +eagerly for the rain that came not. He records in his diary that on +August 17th a good deal of rain fell far up the river, but as for his +fields--it tantalizingly passed by on the other side, and "not enough +fell here to wet a handkerchief." On the eighteenth, nineteenth and +twenty-second clouds and thunder and lightning again awakened hopes but +only slight sprinkles resulted. On the twenty-seventh nature at last +relented and, to his great satisfaction, there was a generous downpour. + +The rain was beneficial to about a thousand grains of Cape of Good Hope +wheat that Washington had just sown and by the thirty-first he was able +to note that it was coming up. For several years thereafter he +experimented with this wheat. He found that it grew up very rank and +tried cutting some of it back. But the variety was not well adapted to +Virginia and ultimately he gave it up. + +In this period he also tried Siberian wheat, put marl on sixteen square +rods of meadow[4], plowed under rye, and experimented with oats, +carrots, Eastern Shore peas, supposed to be strengthening to land, also +rib grass, burnet and various other things. He planted potatoes both +with and without manure and noted carefully the difference in yields. At +this time he favored planting corn in rows about ten feet apart, with +rows of potatoes, carrots, or peas between. He noted down that his +experience showed that corn ought to be planted not later than May +15th, preferably by the tenth or perhaps even as early as the first, in +which his practice would not differ much from that of to-day. But he +came to an erroneous conclusion when he decided that wheat ought to be +sown in August or at the latter end of July, for this was playing into +the hands of his enemy, the Hessian fly, which is particularly +destructive to early sown wheat. Later he seems to have changed his mind +on that point, for near the end of his life he instructed his manager to +get the wheat in by September 10th. Another custom which he was +advocating was that of fall and winter plowing and he had as much of it +done as time and weather would permit. All of his experiments in this +period were painstakingly set down and he even took the trouble in 1786 +to index his agricultural notes and observations for that year. + +[4] "On sixteen square rod of ground in my lower pasture, I put 140 +Bushels of what we call Marle viz on 4 of these, No. Wt. corner were +placed 50 bushels--on 4 others So. Wt. corner 30 bushels--on 4 others +So. Et. corner 40 bushels--and on the remaining 4-20 bushels. This Marle +was spread on the rods in these proportions--to try first whether what +we have denominated to be Marie possesses any virtue as manure--and +secondly--if it does, the quantity proper for an acre." His ultimate +conclusion was that marl was of little benefit to land such as he owned +at Mount Vernon. + +Many of his experiments were made in what he called his "Botanical +Garden," a plot of ground lying between the flower garden and the +spinner's house. But he had experimental plots on most or all of his +plantations, and each day as he made the rounds of his estate on +horseback he would examine how his plants were growing or would start +new experiments. + +The record of failures is, of course, much greater than of successes, +but that is the experience of every scientific farmer or horticulturist +who ventures out of the beaten path. Even Burbank, the wizard, has his +failures--and many of them. + +One of Washington's successes was what he called a "barrel plough." At +that time all seed, such as corn, wheat and oats had to be sown or +dropped by hand and then covered with a harrow or a hoe or something of +the kind. Washington tried to make a machine that would do the work more +expeditiously and succeeded, though it should be said that his plans +were not altogether original with him, as there was a plan for such a +machine in Duhamel and another was published by Arthur Young about this +time in the _Annals of Agriculture_, which Washington was now perusing +with much attention. Richard Peters also sent yet another plan. + +Washington's drill, as we should call it to-day, consisted of a barrel +or hollow cylinder of wood mounted upon a wheeled plow and so arranged +that as the plow moved forward the barrel turned. In the barrel, holes +were cut or burnt through which the corn or other seed could drop into +tubes that ran down to the ground. By decreasing or increasing the +number of holes the grain could be planted thicker or thinner as +desired. To prevent the holes from choking up he found it expedient to +make them larger on the outside than on the inside, and he also found +that the machine worked better if the barrel was not kept too full of +seed. Behind the drills ran a light harrow or drag which covered the +seed, though in rough ground it was necessary to have a man follow after +with a hoe to assist the process. A string was fastened to this harrow +by which it could be lifted around when turning at the ends of the rows, +the drill itself being managed by a pair of handles. + +Washington wrote to a friend that the drill would not "work to good +effect in land that is very full either of stumps, stones, or large +clods; but, where the ground is tolerably free from these and in good +tilth, and particularly in light land, I am certain you will find it +equal to your most sanguine expectation, for Indian corn, wheat, barley, +pease, or any other tolerably round grain, that you may wish to sow or +plant in this manner. I have sown oats very well with it, which is among +the most inconvenient and unfit grains for this machine.... A small bag, +containing about a peck of the seed you are sowing, is hung to the nails +on the right handle, and with a small tin cup the barrel is replenished +with convenience, whenever it is necessary, without loss of time, or +waiting to come up with the seed-bag at the end of the row." + +As Washington says, the drill would probably work well under ideal +conditions, but there were features of it that would incline, I have no +doubt, to make its operator swear at times. There was a leather band +that ran about the barrel with holes corresponding to those in the +barrel, the purpose of the band being to prevent the seeds issuing out +of more than one hole at the same time. This band had to be "slackened +or braced" according to the influence of the atmosphere upon the +leather, and sometimes the holes in the band tended to gape and admit +seed between the band and the barrel, in which case Washington found it +expedient to rivet "a piece of sheet tin, copper, or brass, the width of +the band, and about four inches long, with a hole through it, the size +of the one in the leather." + +Washington was, however, very proud of the drill, and it must have +worked fairly well, for he was not the man to continue to use a +worthless implement simply because he had made it. He even used it to +sow very small seed. In the summer of 1786 he records: "Having fixed a +Roller to the tale of my drill plow, & a brush between it and the +barrel, I sent it to Muddy Hole & sowed turnips in the intervals +of corn[5]." + +[5] Another passage from his papers in which he mentions using his drill +plow is also illustrative of the emphasis he placed upon having the seed +bed for a crop properly prepared. The passage describes his sowing some +spring wheat and is as follows: "12th [of April, 1785].--Sowed sixteen +acres of Siberian wheat, with eighteen quarts, in rows between corn, +eight feet apart. This ground had been prepared in the following manner: +1. A single furrow; 2. another in the same to deepen it; 3. four furrows +to throw the earth back into the two first, which made ridges of five +furrows. These, being done some time ago, and the sowing retarded by +frequent rains, had got hard; therefore, 4. before the seed was sown, +these ridges were split again by running twice in the middle of them, +both times in the same furrow; 5. after which the ridges were harrowed; +and, 6. where the ground was lumpy, run a spiked roller with a harrow at +the tail of it, which was found very efficacious in breaking the clods +and pulverizing the earth, and would have done it perfectly, if there +had not been too much moisture remaining from the late rains. After +this, harrowing and rolling were necessary, the wheat was sown with the +drill plough on the reduced ridges eight feet apart, as above mentioned, +and harrowed in with the small harrow belonging to the plough. But it +should have been observed, that, after the ridges were split by the +middle double furrows, and before they were closed again by the harrow, +a little manure was sprinkled in." + +No man better understood the value of good clean seed than did he, but +he had much trouble in satisfying his desires in this respect. Often the +seed he bought was foul with weed seeds, and at other times it would not +grow at all. Once he mentions having set the women and "weak hands" to +work picking wild onions out of some Eastern Shore oats that he +had bought. + +He advocated planting the largest and finest potatoes instead of the +little ones, as some farmers out of false ideas of economy still make +the mistake of doing, and he followed the same principle that "the best +will produce the best" in selecting all seed. + +He also appreciated the importance of getting just the right stand of +grain--not too many plants and not too few--upon his fields and +conducted investigations along this line. He laboriously calculated the +number of seed in a pound Troy of various seeds and ascertained, for +example, that the number of red clover was 71,000, of timothy 298,000, +of "New River Grass" 844,800 and of barley 8,925. Knowing these facts, +he was able to calculate how much ought to be sowed of a given seed +to the acre. + +The spectacle of the former Commander of the Armies of a Continent +engaging in such minute labor is ridiculous or sublime, according to the +viewpoint! + +In the spring of the year that he helped to frame the Federal +Constitution he "Sowed the squares No. 2 & 4 at this place [Dogue Run] +with oats in the following manner--viz--the East half of No. 2 with +half a Bushel of Oats from George Town--and the west half with a Bushel +of Poland Oats--The east half of No. 4 with half a bushel of the Poland +Oats and the west half with a bushel of the George Town Oats. The +objects, and design of this experiment, was to ascertn. 3 things--1st. +which of these two kinds of Oats were best the George Town (which was a +good kind of the common Oats)--2d. whether two or four bushels to the +Acre was best--and 3d. the difference between ground dunged at the Rate +of 5 load or 200 bushels to the Acre and ground undunged." + +This experiment is typical of a great many others and it resulted, of +course, in better yields on the manured ground and showed that two +bushels of seed were preferable to four. But if he ever set down the +result of the experiment as regards the varieties, the passage has +escaped me. + +While at Fredericksburg this year visiting his mother and his sister +Betty Lewis he learned of an interesting method of raising potatoes +under straw and wrote down the details in his diary. A little later when +attending the Federal Convention he kept his eyes and ears open for +agricultural information. He learned how the Pennsylvanians cultivated +buckwheat and visited the farm of a certain Jones, who was getting good +results from the use of plaster of Paris. With his usual interest in +labor-saving machinery he inspected at Benjamin Franklin's a sort of +ironing machine called a mangle, "well calculated," he thought, "for +Table cloths & such articles as have not pleats & irregular foldings & +would be very useful in large families." + +This year he had in wheat seven hundred acres, in grass five hundred +eighty acres, in oats four hundred acres, in corn seven hundred acres, +with several hundred more in buckwheat, barley, potatoes, peas, beans +and turnips. + +In 1788 he raised one thousand eighty-eight bushels of potatoes on one +plantation, but they were not dug till December and in consequence some +were badly injured by the frost. An experiment that year was one of +transplanting carrots between rows of corn and it was not successful. + +He worked hard in these years, but, as many another industrious farmer +has discovered, he found that he could do little unless nature smiled +and fickle nature persisted in frowning. In 1785 the rain seemed to +forget how to fall, and in 1786 how to stop falling. Some crops failed +or were very short and soon he was so hard up that he was anxious to +sell some lands or negroes to meet debts coming due. In February, 1786, +in sending fifteen guineas to his mother, he wrote: + +"I have now demands upon me for more than L500, three hundred and forty +odd of which is due for the tax of 1786; and I know not where or when I +shall receive one shilling with which to pay it. In the last two years I +made no crops. In the first I was obliged to buy corn, and this year +have none to sell, and my wheat is so bad I can neither eat it myself +nor sell it to others, and tobacco I make none. Those who owe me money +cannot or will not pay it without suits, and to sue is to do nothing; +whilst my expenses, not from any extravagance, or an inclination on my +part to live splendidly, but for the absolute support of my family and +the visitors who are constantly here, are exceedingly high." + +To bad crops were joined bad conditions throughout the country +generally. The government of the Confederation was dying of inanition, +America was flooded with depreciated currency, both state and +Continental. In western Massachusetts a rebellion broke out, the rebels +being largely discouraged debtors. A state of chaos seemed imminent and +would have resulted had not the Federal Convention, of which Washington +was a member, created a new government. Ultimately this government +brought order and financial stability, but all this took time and +Washington was so financially embarrassed in 1789 when he traveled to +New York to be inaugurated President that he had to borrow money to pay +the expenses of the journey. + +After having set the wheels of government in motion he made an extended +trip through New England and whenever public festivities would permit he +examined into New England farm methods and took copious notes. On the +first day up from New York he saw good crops of corn mixed with pumpkins +and met four droves of beef cattle, "some of which were very fine--also +a Flock of Sheep.... We scarcely passed a farm house that did not abd. +in Geese." His judgment of New England stock was that the cattle were +"of a good quality and their hogs large, but rather long legged." The +shingle roofs, stone and brick chimneys, stone fences and cider making +all attracted his attention. The fact that wheat in that section +produced an average of fifteen bushels per acre and often twenty or +twenty-five was duly noted. On the whole he seems to have considered +the tour enjoyable and profitable in spite of the fact that on his +return through Connecticut the law against Sabbath traveling compelled +him to remain over Sunday at Perkins' Tavern and to attend church twice, +where he "heard very lame discourses from a Mr. Pond." + +About 1785 Washington had begun a correspondence with Arthur Young and +also began to read his periodical called the _Annals of Agriculture_. +The _Annals_ convinced him more than ever of the superiority of the +English system of husbandry and not only gave him the idea for some of +the experiments that have been mentioned, but also made him very +desirous of adopting a regular and systematic course of cropping in +order to conserve his soil. Taking advantage of an offer made by Young, +he ordered (August 6, 1786) through him English plows, cabbage, turnip, +sainfoin, rye-grass and hop clover seed and eight bushels of winter +vetches; also some months later, velvet wheat, field beans, spring +barley, oats and more sainfoin seed. He furthermore expressed a wish for +"a plan of the most complete and useful farmyard, for farms of about 500 +acres. In this I mean to comprehend the barn, and every appurtenance +which ought to be annexed to the yard." + +Young was as good as his word. Although English law forbade the +exportation of some of these things--a fact of which Washington was not +aware--he and Sir John Sinclair prevailed upon Lord Grenville to issue a +special permit and in due course everything reached Mount Vernon. Part +of the seeds were somewhat injured by being put into the hold of the +vessel that brought them over, with the result that they overheated--a +thing that troubled Washington whenever he imported seeds--but on the +whole the consignment was in fair order, and our Farmer was +duly grateful. + +The plows appeared excessively heavy to the Virginians who looked them +over, but a trial showed that they worked "exceedingly well." + +To Young's plan for a barn and barnyard Washington made some additions +and constructed the barn upon Union Farm, building it of bricks that +were made on the estate. He later expressed a belief that it was "the +largest and most convenient one in this country." It has now disappeared +almost utterly, but Young's plan was subsequently engraved in +the _Annals_. + +In return for the exertions of Young and Sinclair in his behalf +Washington sent over some American products and also took pains to +collect information for them as to the state of American agriculture. +His letters show an almost pathetic eagerness to please these good +friends and it is evident that in his farming operations he regarded +himself as one of Young's disciples. He was no egotist who believed that +because he had been a successful soldier and was now President of the +United States he could not learn anything from a specialist. The trait +was most commendable and one that is sadly lacking in many of his +countrymen, some of whom take pride in declaring that "these here +scientific fellers caint tell me nothin' about raisin' corn!" + +Young and Sir John Sinclair were by no means his only agricultural +correspondents. Even Noah Webster dropped his legal and philological +work long enough in 1790 to propound a theory so startlingly modern in +its viewpoint that it is worthy of reproduction. Said he: + +"While therefore I allow, in its full extent, the value of stable +manure, marl, plaster of Paris, lime, ashes, sea-weed, sea-shells & +salt, in enriching land, I believe none of them are absolutely +necessary, but that nature has provided an inexhaustible store of +manure, which is equally accessible to the rich and the poor, & which +may be collected & applied to land with very little labor and expense. +This store is the _atmosphere_, & the process by which the fertilizing +substance may be obtained is vegetation." + +He added that such crops as oats, peas, beans and buckwheat should be +raised and plowed under to rot and that land should never be left bare. +As one peruses the letter he recalls that scientists of to-day tell us +that the air is largely made up of nitrogen, that plants are able to +"fix it," and he half expects to find Webster advocating "soil +innoculation" and speaking of "nodules" and "bacteria." + +Throughout the period after the Revolution our Farmer's one greatest +concern was to conserve and restore his land. When looking for a new +manager he once wrote that the man must be, "above all, Midas like, one +who can convert everything he touches into manure, as the first +transmutation toward gold; in a word, one who can bring worn-out and +gullied lands into good tilth in the shortest time." He saved manure as +if it were already so much gold and hoped with its use and with +judicious rotation of crops to accomplish his object. "Unless some such +practice as this prevails," he wrote in 1794, "my fields will be growing +worse and worse every year, until the Crops will not defray the expense +of the culture of them." + +He drew up elaborate plans for the rotation of crops on his different +farms. Not content with one plan, he often drew up several alternatives; +calculated the probable financial returns from each, allowing for the +cost of seed, cultivation and other expenses, and commented upon the +respective advantages from every point of view of the various plans. The +labor involved in such work was very great, but Washington was no +shirker. He was always up before sunrise, both in winter and summer, and +seems to have been so constituted that he was most contented when he had +something to do. Perhaps if he had had to engage in hard manual toil +every day he would have had less inclination for such employment, but he +worked with his own hands only intermittently, devoting his time mostly +to planning and oversight. + +One such plan for Dogue Run Farm is given on the next page. To +understand it the reader should bear in mind that the farm contained +five hundred twenty-five arable acres divided into seven fields, each of +which contained about seventy-five acres. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + No. of | | | | | | | | + Fields | 1793 | 1794 | 1795 | 1796 | 1797 | 1798 | 1799 | +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + | Corn | |Buckwheat | Clover | Clover | Clover | + 3 | and | Wheat | for | Wheat | or | or | or | + |Potatoes| | Manure | | Grass | Grass | Grass | +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + | Clover | Corn | |Buckwheat | Clover | Clover | + 4 | or | and | Wheat | for | Wheat | or | or | + | Grass |Potatoes| | Manure | | Grass | Grass | +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + | Clover | Clover | Corn | |Buckwheat | Clover | + 5 | or | or | and | Wheat | for | Wheat | or | + | Grass | Grass |Potatoes| | Manure | | Grass | +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + | Clover | Clover | Clover | Corn | |Buckwheat | + 6 | or | or | or | and | Wheat | for | Wheat | + | Grass | Grass | Grass |Potatoes| | Manure | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + | | Clover | Clover | Clover | Corn | |Buckwheat + 7 | Wheat | or | or | or | and | Wheat | for | + | | Grass | Grass | Grass |Potatoes| | Manure | +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + |Buckwheat | Clover | Clover | Clover | Corn | | + 1 | for | Wheat | or | or | or | and | Wheat | + | Manure | | Grass | Grass | Grass |Potatoes| | +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + | |Buckwheat | Clover | Clover | Clover | Cornr | + 2 | Wheat | for | Wheat | or | or | or | and | + | | Manure | | Grass | Grass | Grass |Potatoes| +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Of this rotation he noted that it "favors the land +very much; inasmuch as there are but three corn +crops [i.e. grain crops] taken in seven years from +any field, & the first of the wheat crops is followed +by a Buck Wheat manure for the second Wheat +Crop, wch. is to succeed it; & which by being laid +to Clover or Grass & continued therein three years +will a ford much Mowing or Grassing, according as +the Seasons happen to be, besides being a restoration +to the Soil--But the produce of the sale of the +Crops is small, unless encreased by the improving +state of the fields. Nor will the Grain for the use of +the Farm be adequate to the consumption of it in +this Course, and this is an essential object to attend to." + +In a second table he estimated the amount of work that would be required +each year to carry out this plan of rotation, assuming that one plow +would break up three-fourths of an acre per day. This amount is hardly +half what an energetic farmer with a good team of horses will now turn +over in a day with an ordinary walking plow, but the negro farmer +lacked ambition, the plows were cumbersome, and much of the work was +done with plodding oxen. The table follows: + +[ILLUSTRATION (TABLE): PLANTING CHART] + +He estimated that seventy-five acres of corn would yield, at twelve and +a half bushels per acre, 937-1/2 bushels, worth at two shillings and +sixpence per bushel L117.3.9. In this field potatoes would be planted +between the rows of corn and would produce, at twelve and a half bushels +per acre, 937-1/2 bushels, worth at one shilling per bushel L46.17.6. +Two fields in wheat, a total of one hundred fifty acres, at ten bushels +per acre, would yield one thousand five hundred bushels, worth at five +shillings per bushel three hundred seventy-five pounds. Three fields in +clover and grass and the field of buckwheat to be turned under for +manure would yield no money return. In other words the whole farm would +produce three thousand three hundred seventy-five bushels of grain and +potatoes worth a total of L539.1.3. + +A second alternative plan would yield crops worth L614.1.3; a third, +about the same; a fourth, L689.1.3; a fifth, providing for two hundred +twenty-five acres of wheat, L801.11.0; a sixth, L764. Number five would +be most productive, but he noted that it would seriously reduce the +land. Number six would be "the 2d. most productive Rotation, but the +fields receive no rest," as it provided for neither grass nor pasture, +while the plowing required would exceed that of any of the other plans +by two hundred eighty days. + +On a small scale he tried growing cotton, Botany Bay grass, hemp, white +nankeen grass and various other products. He experimented with deep soil +plowing by running twice in the same furrow and also cultivated some +wheat that had been drilled in rows instead of broadcasted. + +In 1793 he built a new sixteen-sided barn on the + +[ILLUSTRATION: Part of Washington's Plan for His Sixteen-Sided Barn] + +Dogue Run Farm. The plan of this barn, drawn by Washington himself, is +still preserved and is reproduced herewith. He calculated that one +hundred and forty thousand bricks would be required for it and these +were made and burnt upon the estate. The barn was particularly notable +for a threshing floor thirty feet square, with interstices one and a +half inches wide left between the floor boards so that the grain when +trodden out by horses or beat out with flails would fall through to the +floor below, leaving the straw above. + +This floor was to furnish an illustration of what Washington called "the +almost impossibility of putting the overseers of this country out of the +track they have been accustomed to walk in. I have one of the most +convenient barns in this or perhaps any other country, where thirty +hands may with great ease be employed in threshing. Half the wheat of +the farm was actually stowed in this barn in the straw by my order, for +threshing; notwithstanding, when I came home about the middle of +September, I found a treading yard not thirty feet from the barn-door, +the wheat again brought out of the barn, and horses treading it out in +an open exposure, liable to the vicissitudes of the weather." + +I think we may safely conclude that this was one of those rare +occasions when George lost his temper and "went up in the air!" + +Under any conditions treading or flailing out wheat was a slow and +unsatisfactory process and, as Washington grew great quantities of this +grain, he was alert for a better method. We know that he made inquiries +of Arthur Young concerning a threshing machine invented by a certain +Winlaw and pictured and described in volume six of the _Annals_, and in +1790 he watched the operation of Baron Poelnitz's mill on the Winlaw +model near New York City. This mill was operated by two men and was +capable of threshing about two bushels of wheat per hour--pretty slow +work as compared with that of a modern thresher. And the grain had to be +winnowed, or passed through a fan afterward to separate it from +the chaff. + +Finally in 1797 he erected a machine on plans evolved by William Booker, +who came to Mount Vernon and oversaw the construction. Next April he +wrote to Booker that the machine "has by no means answered your +expectations or mine," At first it threshed not quite fifty bushels per +day, then fell to less than twenty-five, and ultimately got out of +order before five hundred bushels had been threshed, though it had used +up two bands costing between eight and ten pounds. Booker replied that +he had now greatly improved his invention and would come to Mount Vernon +and make these additions, but whether or not he ever did so I have +failed to discover. + +By 1793 the burden of the estate had become so heavy that Washington +decided to rent all of it except the Mansion House Farm and accordingly +he wrote to Arthur Young telling his desire in the hope that Englishmen +might be found to take it over. One man, Parkinson, of whom more +hereafter, came to America and looked at one of the farms, but decided +not to rent it. Washington's elaborate description of his land in his +letter to Young, with an accompanying map, forms one of our best sources +of information regarding Mount Vernon, so that we may be grateful that +he had the intention even though nothing came of it. The whole of Mount +Vernon continued to be cultivated as before until the last year of his +life when he rented Dogue Run Farm to his nephew, Lawrence Lewis. + +As a public man he was anxious to improve the general state of American +agriculture and in his last annual message to Congress recommended the +establishment of a board of agriculture to collect and diffuse +information and "by premiums and small pecuniary aids to encourage and +assist a spirit of discovery and improvement." In this recommendation +the example of the English Board of Agriculture and the influence of his +friend Arthur Young are discernible. It would have been well for the +country if Congress had heeded the advice, but public opinion was not +then educated to the need of such a step and almost a century passed +before anything of much importance was done by the national government +to improve the state of American agriculture. + +In farming as in politics Washington was no standpatter. Notwithstanding +many discouragements, he could not be kept from trying new things, and +he furnished his farms with every kind of improved tool and implement +calculated to do better work. At his death he owned not only threshing +machines and a Dutch fan, but a wheat drill, a corn drill, a machine for +gathering clover seed and another for raking up wheat. Yet most of his +countrymen remained content to drop corn by hand, to broadcast their +wheat, to tread out their grain and otherwise to follow methods as old +as the days of Abel for at least another half century. + +He was the first American conservationist. He realized that man owes a +duty to the future just as he owes a debt to the past. He deplored the +already developing policy of robber exploitation by which our soil and +forests have been despoiled, for he foresaw the bitter fruits which such +a policy must produce, and indeed was already producing on the fields of +Virginia. He was no misanthropic cynic to exclaim, "What has posterity +ever done for us that we should concern ourselves for posterity?" His +care for the lands of Mount Vernon was evidence of the God-given trait +imbedded in the best of men to transmit unimpaired to future generations +what has been handed down to them. + +His agricultural career has its lessons for us, even though we should +not do well to follow some of his methods. The lessons lie rather in his +conception of farming as an honorable occupation capable of being put on +a better and more scientific basis by the application of brains and +intelligence; in his open-minded and progressive seeking after better +ways. Many of his experiments failed, it is true, but for his time he +was a great Farmer, just as he was a great Patriot, Soldier and +Statesman. Patient, hard-working, methodical, willing to sacrifice his +own interests to those of the general good, he was one of those men who +have helped raise mankind from the level of the brute and his whole +career reflects credit upon human nature. + +Peace hath its victories no less renowned than war, and the picture of +the American Cincinnatus striving as earnestly on the green fields of +Mount Vernon as he did upon the scarlet ones of Monmouth and Brandywine, +is one that the world can not afford to forget. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE STOCKMAN + +A various times in his career Washington raised deer, turkeys, hogs, +cattle, geese, negroes and various other forms of live stock, but his +greatest interest seems to have been reserved for horses, sheep +and mules. + +From his diaries and other papers that have come down to us it is easy +to see that during his early married life he paid most attention to his +horses. In 1760 he kept a stallion both for his own mares and for those +of his neighbors, and we find many entries concerning the animal. +Successors were "Leonidas," "Samson," "Steady," "Traveller" and +"Magnolia," the last a full-blooded Arabian and probably the finest +beast he ever owned. When away from home Washington now and then +directed the manager to advertise the animal then reigning or to exhibit +him in public places such as fairs. Mares brought to the stallion were +kept upon pasture, and foal was guaranteed. Many times the General +complained of the difficulty of collecting fees. + +During the Revolution he bought twenty-seven worn-out army mares for +breeding purposes and soon after he became President he purchased at +Lancaster, Pennsylvania, thirteen fine animals for the same use. These +last cost him a total of L317.17.6, the price of the highest being +L25.7.6 and of the cheapest L22.10. These mares were unusually good +animals, as an ordinary beast would have cost only five or six pounds. + +In November, 1785, he had on his various Mount Vernon farms a total of +one hundred thirty horses, including the Arabian already mentioned. +Among the twenty-one animals kept at the Mansion House were his old war +horses "Nelson" and "Blewskin," who after bearing their master through +the smoke and dangers of many battles lived in peace to a ripe old age +on the green fields of Virginia. + +In his last days he bought two of the easy-gaited animals known as +Narragansetts, a breed, some readers will recall, described at some +length by Cooper in _The Last of the Mohicans._ A peculiarity of these +beasts was that they moved both legs on a side forward at the same time, +that is, they were pacers. Washington's two proved somewhat skittish, +and one of them was responsible for the only fall from horseback that we +have any record of his receiving. In company with Major Lewis, Mr. +Peake, young George Washington Custis and a groom he was returning in +the evening from Alexandria and dismounted for a few moments near a fire +on the roadside. When he attempted to mount again the horse sprang +forward suddenly and threw him. The others jumped from their horses to +assist him, but the old man got up quickly, brushed his clothes and +explained that he had been thrown only because he had not yet got +seated. All the horses meanwhile had run away and the party started to +walk four miles home, but luckily some negroes along the road caught the +fugitives and brought them back. Washington insisted upon mounting his +animal again and rode home without further incident. This episode +happened only a few weeks before his death. + +Like every farmer he found that his horses had a way of growing old. +Those with which he had personal associations, like "Blueskin" and +"Nelson," he kept until they died of old age. With others he sometimes +followed a different course. In 1792 we find his manager, Whiting, +writing: "We have several Old Horses that are not worth keeping thro +winter. One at Ferry has not done one days work these 18 Months. 2 at +Muddy hole one a horse with the Pole evil which I think will not get +well the other an Old Mare was not capable of work last summer. Likewise +the Horse called old Chatham and the Lame Horse that used to go in the +Waggon now in a one horse Cart. If any thing could be Got for them it +might be well but they are not worth keeping after Christmas." No doubt +a sentimental person would say that Washington ought to have kept these +old servants, but he had many other superannuated servants of the human +kind upon his hands, so he replied that Whiting might dispose of the old +horses "as you judge best for my interest." + +Now and then his horses met with accidents. Thus on February 22, 1760, +his horse "Jolly" got his right foreleg "mashed to pieces," probably by +a falling limb. "Did it up as well as I could this night." "Saturday, +Feb. 23d. Had the Horse Slung upon Canvas and his leg fresh set, +following Markleham's directions as well as I could." Two days later the +horse fell out of the sling and hurt himself so badly that he had to +be killed. + +Of Washington's skill as a trainer of horses his friend De Chastellux +writes thus: "The weather being fair, on the 26th, I got on horseback, +after breakfasting with the general--he was so attentive as to give me +the horse he rode, the day of my arrival, which I had greatly +commended--I found him as good as he is handsome; but above all, +perfectly well broke, and well trained, having a good mouth, easy in +hand, and stopping short in a gallop without bearing the bit--I mention +these minute particulars, because it is the general himself who breaks +all his own horses; and he is a very excellent and bold horseman, +leaping the highest fences, and going extremely quick, without standing +upon his stirrups, bearing on the bridle, or letting his horse run +wild,--circumstances which young men look upon as so essential a part of +English horsemanship, that they would rather break a leg or an arm than +renounce them." + +Comparatively few farmers in Virginia kept sheep, yet as early as 1758 +Washington's overseer at Mount Vernon reported sixty-five old sheep and +forty-eight lambs; seven years later the total number was one hundred +fifty-six. The next year he records that he "put my English Ram Lamb to +65 Ewes," so that evidently he was trying to improve the breed. What +variety this ram belonged to he does not say. Near the end of his career +he had some of Bakewell's breed, an English variety that put on fat +rapidly and hence were particularly desirable for mutton. + +During his long absences from home his sheep suffered grievously, for +sheep require a skilled care that few of his managers or overseers knew +how to give. But sheep were an important feature of the English +agriculture that he imitated, and he persisted in keeping them. In 1793 +he had over six hundred. + +"Before I left home in the spring of 1789," he wrote to Arthur Young, "I +had improved that species of my stock so much as to get 5-1/4 lbs of +Wool as the average of the fleeces of my whole flock,--and at the last +shearing they did not yield me 2-1/2 lbs.--By procuring (if I am able) +good rams and giving the necessary attention, I hope to get them up +again for they are with me, as you have declared them to be with you, +that part of my stock in which I most delight." + +In 1789, by request, he sent Young "a fleece of a midling size and +quality." Young had this made up into cloth and returned it to +the General. + +In 1793 we find our Farmer giving such instructions to Whiting as to +cull out the unthrifty sheep and transform them into mutton and to +choose a few of the best young males to keep as rams. Whiting, however, +did not manage the flock well, for the following February we find +Pearce, the new manager, writing: + +"I am sorry to have to inform you that the stock of sheep at Both Union +and Dogue Run farms are Some of them Dicing Every Week--& a great many +of Them will be lost, let what will be done--Since I came I have had +shelters made for them & Troughs to feed them In & to give them salt--& +have attended to them myself & was In hopes to have saved those that I +found to be weak, but they were too far gone--and Several of the young +Cattle at Dogue Run was past all Recovery when I come & some have died +already & several more I am afraid must die before spring, they are so +very poor and weak." + +Washington, according to his own account, was the first American to +attempt the raising of mules. Soon after the Revolution he asked our +representative in Spain to ascertain whether it would be possible "to +procure permission to extract a Jack ass of the best breed." At that +time the exportation of these animals from Spain was forbidden by law, +but Florida Blanca, the Spanish minister of state, brought the matter +to the attention of the king, who in a fit of generosity proceeded to +send the American hero two jacks and two jennets. One of the jacks died +on the way over, but the other animals, in charge of a Spanish +caretaker, reached Boston, and Washington despatched an overseer to +escort them to Mount Vernon, where they arrived on the fifth of +December, 1785. An interpreter named Captain Sullivan was brought down +from Alexandria, and through him the General propounded to the caretaker +many grave inquiries regarding the care of the beasts, the answers being +carefully set down in writing. + +[ILLUSTRATION: Bill of Lading for "Royal Gift"] + +"Royal Gift," as he was duly christened, probably by the negro groom, +Peter, who seems to have considered it beneath his dignity to minister +to any but royalty, was a large animal. According to careful +measurements taken on the porch at Mount Vernon he was fifteen hands +high, and his body and limbs were very large in proportion to his +height; his ears were fourteen inches long, and his vocal cords were +good. He was, however, a sluggish beast, and the sea voyage had affected +him so unfavorably that for some time he was of little use. In letters +to Lafayette and others Washington commented facetiously upon the +beast's failure to appreciate "republican enjoyment." Ultimately, +however, "Royal Gift" recovered his strength and ambition and proved a +valuable piece of property. He was presently sent on a lour of the +South, and while in South Carolina was in the charge of Colonel William +Washington, a hero of the Cowpens and many other battles. The profits +from the tour amounted to $678.64, yet poor "Royal Gift" seems to have +experienced some rough usage on the way thither, arriving lame and thin +and in a generally debilitated condition. The General wrote to the +Colonel about it thus: + +"From accounts which I have received from some gentlemen in Virginia he +was most abominably treated on the journey by the man to whom he was +entrusted;--for, instead of moving him slowly and steadily along as he +ought, he was prancing (with the Jack) from one public meeting or place +to another in a gate which could not but prove injurious to an animal +who had hardly ever been out of a walk before--and afterward, I presume, +(in order to recover lost time) rushed him beyond what he was able to +bear the remainder of the journey." + +No doubt the beast aroused great curiosity along the way among people +who had never before set eyes upon such a creature. We can well believe +that the cry, "General Washington's jackass is coming!" was always +sufficient to attract a gaping crowd. And many would be the sage +comments upon the animal's voice and appearance. + +In 1786 Lafayette sent Washington from the island of Malta another jack +and two jennets, besides some Chinese pheasants and partridges. The +animals landed at Baltimore in November and reached Mount Vernon in good +condition later in the month. To Campion, the man who accompanied them, +Washington gave "30 Louis dores for his trouble." The new jack, the +"Knight of Malta," as he was called, was a smaller beast than "Royal +Gift," and his ears measured only twelve inches, but he was well formed +and had the ferocity of a tiger. + +By crossing the two strains Washington ultimately obtained a jack called +"Compound," who united in his person the size and strength of the "Gift" +with the courage and activity of the "Knight." The General also raised +many mules, which he found to be good workers and more cheaply kept in +condition than horses. + +Henceforward the peaceful quiet of Mount Vernon was broken many times a +day by sounds which, if not musical or mellifluous, were at least +jubilant and joyous. + +Evidently the sounds in no way disturbed the General, for in 1788 we +find him describing the acquisitions in enthusiastic terms to Arthur +Young. He called the mules "a very excellent race of animals," cheap to +keep and willing workers. Recalling, perhaps, that a king's son once +rode upon a mule, he proposes to breed heavy ones from "Royal Gift" for +draft purposes and lighter ones from the "Knight" for saddle or +carriage. He adds: "Indeed in a few years, I intend to drive no other in +my carriage, having appropriated for the sole purpose of breeding them, +upwards of twenty of my best mares." + +Ah, friend George, what would the world not give to see thee and thy +wife Martha driving in the Mount Vernon coach down Pennsylvania Avenue +behind four such long-eared beasts! + +In all his stock raising, as in most other matters, Washington was +greatly hampered by the carelessness of his overseers and slaves. It is +notorious that free negroes will often forget or fail to water and feed +their own horses, and it may easily be believed that when not influenced +by fear, slaves would neglect the stock of their master. Among the +General's papers I have found a list of the animals that died upon his +Mount Vernon estate from April 16, 1789, to December 25, 1790. In that +period of about twenty months he lost thirty-three horses, thirty-two +cattle and sixty-five sheep! Considering the number of stock he had, a +fifth of that loss would have been excessive. During most of the period +he was away from home looking after the affairs of the nation and in his +absence his own affairs suffered. + +Hardly a report of his manager did not contain some bad news. Thus one +of January, 1791, states that "the Young black Brood Mare, with a long +tail, which Came from Pennsylvania, said to be four Years old next +spring ... was found with her thigh broke quite in two." This happened +on the Mansion House farm. On another farm a sheep was reported to have +been killed by dogs while a second had died suddenly, perhaps from +eating some poisonous plant. + +Dogs, in fact, constituted an ever present menace to the sheep and it +was only by constant watchfulness that the owner kept his negroes from +overrunning the place with worthless curs. In 1792 he wrote to his +manager: "I not only approve of your killing those Dogs which have been +the occasion of the late loss, & of thinning the Plantations of others, +but give it as a positive order that after saying what dog, or dogs +shall remain, if any negro presumes under any pretence whatsoever, to +preserve, or bring one into the family, that he shall be severely +punished, and the dog hanged.--I was obliged to adopt this practice +whilst I resided at home, and from the same motive, that is for the +preservation of my Sheep and Hogs.... It is not for any good purpose +Negroes raise, and keep dogs; but to aid them in their night robberies; +for it is astonishing to see the command under which the dogs are." + +After the Revolution, in imitation of English farmers, he made use of +hurdles in pasturing sheep and milk cows. Thereby he secured more even +distribution of the manure, which was one of his main objects in +raising stock. + +Washington's interest in cattle seems to have been less intense than was +the case with some other kinds of stock. He always had a great number of +cows, bulls, oxen and calves upon his farms--in 1793 over three hundred +"black cattle" of all sorts. He was accustomed to brand his cattle with +the letters "G.W.," the location of the brand on the body indicating +the farm on which the beast was raised. To what extent he endeavored to +improve the breed of his cattle I am unable to say, but I have found +that as early as 1770 he owned an English bull, which in July he killed +and sold to the crew of the British frigate _Boston_, which lay in the +Potomac off his estate. In 1797 he made inquiries looking toward the +purchase of an improved bull calf from a cattle breeder named Gough, but +upon learning that the price was two hundred dollars he decided not to +invest. Gough, however, heard of Washington's interest in his animals, +and being an admirer of the General, gave him a calf. An English farmer, +Parkinson, who saw the animal in 1798, describes him in terms the +reverse of enthusiastic, and of this more hereafter. + +A large part of the heavy work on all the farms was done by oxen. In +November, 1785, there were thirteen yoke of these beasts on the Mount +Vernon estate and the number was sometimes still larger. In 1786 +Washington recorded putting "a Collar on a large Bull in order to break +him to the draft.--at first he was sulky and restive but came to by +degrees." The owner always aimed to have enough oxen broken so that none +would have to be worked too hard, but he did not always succeed in his +aim. When they attained the age of eight years the oxen were usually +fattened and killed for beef. + +The management of the milk cows seems to have been very poor. In May, +1793, we find the absent owner writing to his manager: "If for the sake +of making a little butter (for which I shall get scarcely anything) my +calves are starved, & die, it may be compared to stopping the spigot, +and opening the faucit." Evidently the making of butter was almost +totally discontinued, for in his last instructions, completed only a few +days before his death, he wrote: "And It is hoped and will be expected, +that more effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another +year; for it is almost beyond belief, that from 101 Cows actually +reported on a late enumeration of the Cattle, that I am obliged to _buy +butter_ for the use of my family." + +In his later years he became somewhat interested in the best methods of +feeding cattle and once suggested that the experiment be tried of +fattening one bullock on potatoes, another on corn, and a third on a +mixture of both, "keeping an exact account of the time they are fatting, +and what is eaten of each, and of hay, by the different steers; that a +judgment may be formed of the best and least expensive mode of stall +feeding beef for market, or for my own use." + +During his early farming operations his swine probably differed little +if at all from the razor-backs of his neighbors. They ranged half wild +in the woods in summer and he once expressed the opinion that fully half +the pigs raised were stolen by the slaves, who loved roast pork fully as +well as did their master. In the fall the shoats were shut up to fatten. +More than a hundred were required each year to furnish meat for the +people on the estate; the average weight was usually less than one +hundred forty pounds. Farmers in the Middle West would to-day have their +Poland Chinas or Durocs of the same age weighing two hundred fifty to +three hundred pounds. Still the smallness of Washington's animals does +not necessarily indicate such bad management as may at first glance +appear. Until of considerable size the pigs practically made their own +living, eating roots and mast in the woods, and they did not require +much grain except during fattening time. And, after all, as the story +has it, "what's time to a hawg?" + +In his later years he seems to have taken more interest in his pigs. By +1786 he had decided that when fattening they ought to be put into +closed pens with a plank floor, a roof, running water and good troughs. +A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1798 says that he had "about 150 of the +Guinea kind, with short legs and hollow back," so it is evident that he +was experimenting with new breeds. These Guinea swine were red in color, +and it is said that the breed was brought to America from west Africa by +slave traders. It was to these animals that Washington fed the +by-products of his distillery. + +In the slaughtering of animals he tried experiments as he did in so many +other matters. In 1768 he killed a wether sheep which weighed one +hundred three pounds gross. He found that it made sixty pounds of meat +worth three pence per pound, five and a half of tallow at seven and a +half pence, three of wool at fifteen pence, and the skin was worth one +shilling and three pence, a total of L1.3.5. One object of such +experiments was to ascertain whether it was more profitable to butcher +animals or sell them on the hoof. + +Washington also raised chickens, turkeys, swans, ducks, geese and +various other birds and beasts. In 1788 Gouverneur Morris sent him two +Chinese pigs and with them "a pair of Chinese geese, which are really +the foolishest geese I ever beheld; for they choose all times for +setting but in the spring, and one of them is even now [November] +actually engaged in that business." Of some golden pheasants that had +been brought from China the General said that before seeing the birds he +had considered that pictures of them must be "only works of fancy, but +now I find them to be only Portraits." + +The fact is that his friends and admirers sent him so many feathered or +furred creatures that toward the end of his life he was the proprietor +of a considerable zoo. + +Notwithstanding mismanagement by his employees and slaves, Washington +accumulated much valuable domestic stock. In his will, made the year of +his death, he lists the following: "1 Covering horse, 5 Cob. horses--4 +Riding do--Six brood mares--20 working horses and mares,--2 Covering +jacks & 3 young ones 10 she asses--42 working mules--15 younger ones. +329 head of horned cattle. 640 head of Sheep, and the large stock of +hogs, the precise number unknown." He further states that his manager +believes the stock worth seven thousand pounds, but he conservatively +sets it down at fifteen thousand six hundred fifty-three dollars. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE HORTICULTURIST AND LANDSCAPE GARDENER + +Washington's work as a horticulturist prior to the educating influences +of the Revolution was mostly utilitarian. That he had a peach orchard as +early as 1760 is proven by an entry in his diary for February 22: "Laid +in part, the Worm of a fence round the Peach orchard." Just where this +orchard stood I am not quite certain, but it was probably on the slope +near the old tomb. + +He learned how to propagate and "wed" his own trees and in 1763 was +particularly active. On March 21st he recorded that he had "Grafted 40 +cherries, viz 12 Bullock Hearts, 18 very fine May Cherry, 10 Coronation. +Also grafted 12 Magnum Bonum Plums. Also planted 4 Nuts of the +Mediterranean Pame in the Pen where the Chestnut grows--sticks by East. +Note, the Cherrys and Plums came from Collo. Masons Nuts from Mr. +Gr[een's.] Set out 55 cuttings of the Madeira Grape." + +A little later he grafted quinces on pear and apple stocks; also he +grafted "Spanish pairs," "Butter pears," "Bergamy Pears," "Newtown +Pippins," "43 of the Maryland Red Strick," etc., and transplanted +thirty-five young crab scions. These scions he obtained by planting the +pumice of wild crab apples from which cider had been made. They were +supposed to make hardier stocks than those grown from ordinary seeds. + +He grafted many cherries, plums, etc., in March, 1764, and yet again in +the spring of 1765, when he put English mulberry scions on wild mulberry +stocks. In that year "Peter Green came to me a Gardener." In 1768 and +1771 he planted grapes in the inclosure below the vegetable garden and +in March, 1775, he again grafted cherries and also planted peach seeds +and seeds of the "Mississippi nut" or pecan. + +Long before this he had begun to gather fruits from his early trees and +vines. Being untroubled by San Jose scale and many other pests that now +make life miserable to the fruit grower, he grew fine products and no +doubt enjoyed them. + +His esthetic sense was not yet fully developed, but he was always +desirous of having his possessions make a good appearance, and by 1768 +was beginning to think of beautifying his grounds. In that year he +expressed a wish that he later carried out, namely to have about his +mansion house every possible specimen of native tree or shrub noted for +beauty of form, leaf or flower. + +Even amid the trials of the Revolution this desire was not forgotten. In +1782 he directed Lund Washington, his manager, to plant locusts and +other ornamental trees and shrubs at the ends of the house. He wrote +that such trees would be more likely to live if taken from the open +fields than from the woods because the change of environment would be +less pronounced. To what extent the work was carried I have been unable +to ascertain, for, as elsewhere stated, very little of his +correspondence with his manager during these years survives. + +He returned from the Revolution with a strong desire to beautify his +estate, a desire in part due no doubt to seeing beautiful homes +elsewhere and to contact with cultured people, both Americans and +foreigners. One of his first tasks was to rebuild and enlarge his house. +From a small house of eight rooms he transformed Mount Vernon into the +present large mansion, ninety-six feet and four inches long by +thirty-two feet in depth, with two floors and an attic, an immense +cellar and the magnificent portico overlooking the Potomac. The plans +and specifications he drew with his own hands, and those who have +visited the place will hardly deny that the mansion fits well into its +setting and that, architects tell us, is a prime consideration. The +flagstones for the floor of the portico he imported from Whitehaven, +England, and these still remain in place, though many are cracked +or broken. + +The portico runs the entire length of the house, is over fourteen feet +deep and its floor is one hundred twenty-four feet ten and one-half +inches above high water-mark, according to calculations made by +Washington himself. From it one commands miles of the Potomac and of the +Maryland shore and there are few such noble prospects in America. +Washington owned a telescope and spy glasses and with them could watch +the movements of ships and boats on the river. The portico was a sort of +trysting place for the family and visitors on summer afternoons and +evenings, and some of the thirty or so Windsor chairs bought for it are +still in existence. + +[Illustration: West Front of Mansion House, Showing Bowling Green and +Part of Serpentine Drive] + +[Illustration: Experimental Plot, with Servants' Quarters (restored) in +Background] + +This was the second time our Farmer reconstructed his house, as in +1758-60 he had made numerous alterations[6]. In 1758 he paid John +Patterson L328.0.5 for work done upon it, and the whole house was pretty +thoroughly renovated and remodeled in preparation for the reception of a +new mistress. In March, 1760, we find the owner contracting with William +Triplett "to build me two houses in front of my house (plastering them +also) and running walls to them from the great house and from the great +house to the washouse and kitchen also." By the "front" he means the +west front, as that part toward the river is really the rear of the +mansion. Hitherto the house had stood detached and these walls were the +originals of the colonnades, still a noticeable feature of the building. + +[6] In 1775 a Frenchman was engaged to panel the main hall and apply +stucco ornaments to the ceilings of the parlor and dining-room. + +Owing to the absence of a diary of his home activities during 1784 we +can not trace in detail his work that year upon either his house or +grounds, but we know such facts as that he was ordering materials for +the house and that he had his French friend Malesherbes and others +collecting vines and plants for him. + +With January 1, 1785, he began a new diary, and from it we ascertain +that on the twelfth, on a ride about his estate, he observed many trees +and shrubs suitable for transplanting. Thereafter he rarely rode out +without noticing some crab, holly, magnolia, pine or other young tree +that would serve his purpose. He was more alive to the beauties of +nature than he had once been, or at least more inclined to comment upon +them. On an April day he notes that "the flower of the Sassafras was +fully out and looked well--an intermixture of this and Red bud I +conceive would look very pretty--the latter crowned with the former or +vice versa." He was no gushing spring poet, but when the sap was +running, the flowers blooming and the birds singing he felt it all in +his heart--perhaps more deeply than do some who say more about it. + +On January 19th of this year he began laying out his grounds on a new +plan. This plan, as completed, provided for sunken walls or "Haw has!" +at the ends of the mansion, and on the west front a large elliptical +lawn or bowling green such as still exists there. Along the sides of the +lawn he laid out a serpentine drive or carriage way, to be bordered with +a great variety of shade trees on each side and a "Wilderness" on the +outside. At the extreme west, where the entrance stood, the trees were +omitted so that from the house one could see down a long vista, cut +through the oaks and evergreens, the lodge gate three-quarters of a mile +away. On each side of the opening in the lawn stood a small artificial +mound, and just in front of the house a sun-dial by which each day, when +the weather was clear, he set his watch. A sun-dial stands on the same +spot now but, alas, it is not the original. That was given away or sold +by one of the subsequent owners. + +This same spring our Farmer records planting ivy, limes and lindens sent +by his good friend Governor Clinton of New York; lilacs, mock oranges, +aspen, mulberries, black gums, berried thorns, locusts, sassafras, +magnolia, crabs, service berries, catalpas, papaws, honey locusts, a +live oak from Norfolk, yews, aspens, swamp berries, hemlocks, twelve +horse chestnut sent by "Light Horse Harry" Lee, twelve cuttings of tree +box, buckeye nuts brought by him the preceding year from the mouth of +Cheat River, eight nuts from a tree called "the Kentucke Coffee tree," a +row of shell bark hickory nuts from New York, some filberts from "sister +Lewis." His brother John sent him four barrels of holly seeds, which he +sowed in the semicircle north of the front gate; in the south +semicircle, from the kitchen to the south "Haw ha!"; and from the +servants' hall to the north "Haw ha!" + +Nor did he neglect more utilitarian work, for in April he grafted many +cherries, pears and other fruit trees. Such work was continued at +intervals till his death. + +In raising fruit, as in many other things, he was troubled by the +thieving propensities of the slaves. September tenth of this year he +records that because of the scarcity of apples and the depredations that +were being committed "every Night upon the few I have, I found it +necessary (tho much too early) to gather and put them up for +Winter use." + +The spring of 1785 proved an exceptionally dry one and he was forced to +be absent from home several days, leaving the care of the trees and +shrubs to his careless lazy servants. He records that they _said_ that +they watered them according to directions, but he seems to doubt it. At +all events, "Most of my transplanted trees have a sickly look.--The +small Pines in the Wilderness are entirely dead.--The larger ones in the +Walks, for the most part appear to be alive (as yet)--almost the whole +of the Holly are dead--many of the Ivy, wch. before looked healthy & +well seem to be declining--few of the Crab trees had put forth leaves; +not a single Ash tree has unfolded its buds; whether owing to the trees +declining or any other cause, I know not.... The lime trees, which had +some appearance of Budding when I went away, are now withering--and the +Horse chestnut & Tree box from Colo. Harry Lee's discover little signs +of shooting.--the Hemlock is almost entirely dead, & bereft of their +leaves;--and so are the live Oak.--In short half the Trees in the +Shrubberies & many in the Walk are dead & declin[in]g." + +Nevertheless he refused to be discouraged and proceeded to plant +forty-eight mahogany tree seeds brought by his nephew, George A. +Washington, from the West Indies. He also set out a "Palmetto Royal" in +the garden and sowed or planted sandbox trees, palmettos, physic nuts, +pride of Chinas, live oaks, accacias, bird peppers, "Caya pepper," +privet, guinea grass, and a great variety of Chinese grasses, the names +of which, such as _"In che fa," "all san fa" "se lon fa,"_ he gravely +set down in his diary. + +The dry weather continued and presently he notes that all the poplars, +black gums and pines, most of the mulberries, all of the crab apples +and papaws, most of the hemlock and sassafras, and several of the cedars +are dead, while the tops of the live oaks are dead but shoots are coming +up from the trunks and roots. The Chinese grasses are in a bad way, and +those that have come up are almost entirely destroyed either by insects +or drought. None of this grass survived the winter, though he took the +trouble to cover it with straw. + +During the fall of 1785 and spring of 1786 he sowed the lawn with +English grass seeds, replaced the dead trees in the serpentine walks and +shrubberies, and sent two hundred and fifteen apple trees to his River +Plantation. He made the two low mounds already mentioned and planted +thereon weeping willows. He set out stocks of imported hawthorns, four +yellow jessamines, twenty-five of the Palinurus for hedges, forty-six +pistacia nuts and seventy-five pyramidical cypress, which last were +brought to him by the botanist Michaux from the King of France. As 1786 +was one of the wettest summers ever known, his plants and trees lived +better than they had done the preceding year. + +During this period and until the end of his life he was constantly +receiving trees and shrubs from various parts of the world. Thus in +1794 he sent to Alexandria by Thomas Jefferson a bundle of "Poccon +[pecan] or Illinois nut," which in some way had come to him at +Philadelphia. He instructed the gardener to set these out at Mount +Vernon, also to sow some seeds of the East India hemp that had been left +in his care. The same year thirty-nine varieties of tropical plants, +including the bread fruit tree, came to him from a well wisher in +Jamaica. At other times he sowed seeds of the cucumber tree, chickory +and "colliflower" and planted ivy and wild honeysuckle. Again he once +more planted pecans and hickory nuts. It can hardly be that at his +advanced age he expected to derive any personal good from either of +these trees, but he was very fond of nuts, eating great quantities for +dessert, and the liking inclined him to grow trees that produced them. +In this, as in many other matters, he planted for the benefit of +posterity. + +In order to care for his exotic plants he built adjoining the upper +garden a considerable conservatory or hothouse. In this he placed many +of the plants sent to him as presents and also purchased many others +from the collection of the celebrated botanist, John Bartram, at +Philadelphia. The structure, together with the servants' quarters +adjoining, was burned down in December, 1835, and when the historian +Lossing visited Mount Vernon in 1858 nothing remained of these buildings +except bare walls crumbling to decay. Of the movable plants that had +belonged to Washington there remained in 1858 only a lemon tree, a +century plant and a sago palm, all of which have since died. The +conservatory and servants' quarters have, however, been rebuilt and the +conservatory restocked with plants such as Washington kept in it. The +buildings probably look much as they did in his time. + +One of the sights to-day at Mount Vernon is the formal garden, which all +who have visited the place will remember. Strangely enough it seems +impossible to discover exactly when this was laid out as it now stands. +The guides follow tradition and tell visitors that Washington set out +the box hedge, the principal feature, after his marriage, and that he +told Martha that she should be mistress of this flower garden and he the +master of the vegetable garden. It is barely possible that he did set +out the hedges at that time, but, if so, it must have been in 1759, for +no mention is made of it in the diary begun in 1760. In April, 1785, we +find by his diary that he planted twelve cuttings of the "tree box" and +again in the spring of 1787 he planted in his shrubberies some holly +trees, "also ... some of the slips of the tree box." But of box hedges I +can find no mention in any of the papers I have seen. One guess is about +as good as another, and I am inclined to believe that if they were +planted in his time, it was done during his presidency by one of his +gardeners, perhaps Butler or the German, Ehler. They may have been set +out long after his death. At all events the garden was modeled after the +formal gardens of Europe and the idea was not original with him. + +East of the formal garden lies a plot of ground that he used for +agricultural experiments. The vegetable garden was south of the Bowling +Green and separated from it by a brick wall. Here utility was lord and a +great profusion of products was raised for the table. Washington took an +interest in its management and I have found an entry in his diary +recording the day that green peas were available for the first time that +year. Evidently he was fond of them. + +The bent of our Farmer's mind was to the practical, yet he took pride in +the appearance of his estate. "I shall begrudge no reasonable expense +that will contribute to the improvement and neatness of my farms," he +wrote one of his managers, "for nothing pleases me better than to see +them in good order, and everything trim, handsome, and thriving about +them; nor nothing hurts me more than to find them otherwise." + +Live hedges tend to make a place look well and it was probably this and +his passion for trees that caused Washington to go in extensively for +hedges about his farms. They took the place of wooden fences and saved +trees and also grew more trees and bushes. His ordinary course in +building a fence was to have a trench dug on each side of the line and +the dirt thrown toward the center. Upon the ridge thus formed he built a +post and rail fence and along it planted cedars, locusts, pines, briars +or thorn bushes to discourage cattle and other stock. The trenches not +only increased the efficiency of the fence but also served as ditches. +In many places they are still discernible. The lines of the hedges are +also often marked in many places by trees which, though few or none can +be the originals, are descended from the roots or seeds of those trees. +Cedar and locust trees are particularly noticeable. + +[Illustration: First page of the Diary for 1760] + +In 1794 our Farmer had five thousand white thorn sent from England for +hedge purposes, but they arrived late in the spring and few survived and +even these did not thrive very well. Another time he sent from +Philadelphia two bushels of honey locust seed to be planted in his +nursery. These are only instances of his activities in this direction. + +Much of what he undertook as a planter of trees failed for one reason or +another, most of all because he attended to the business of his country +at the expense of his own, but much that he attempted succeeded and +enough still remains to enable us to realize that by his efforts he made +his estate attractive. He was no Barbarian or Philistine. He had a sense +of beauty and it is only in recent years that his countrymen, absorbed +in material undertakings, have begun to appreciate the things that he +was enjoying so long ago. + +"The visitor at Mount Vernon still finds a charm no art alone could +give, in trees from various climes, each a witness of the taste that +sought, or the love that sent them, in fields which the desolating step +of war reverently passed by, in flowers whose root is not in graves, yet +tinged with the lifeblood of the heart that cherished them from +childhood to old age. On those acres we move beneath the shade or +shelter of the invisible tree which put forth whatever meets the eye, +and has left some sign on each object, large or small. Still planted +beside his river, he brings forth fruit in his season. Nor does his +leaf wither." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +WHITE SERVANTS AND OVERSEERS + +In colonial Virginia, as in most other new countries, one of the +greatest problems that confronted the settlers was that of labor. It +took human muscle to clear away the forest and tend the crops, and the +quantity of human muscle available was small. One solution of the +problem was the importation of black slaves, and of this solution as it +concerned Washington something will be said in a separate chapter. +Another solution was the white indentured servant. + +Some of these white servants were political offenders, such as the +followers of Monmouth, who were punished by transportation for a term of +years or for life to the plantations. Others were criminals or +unfortunate debtors who were sold in America instead of being sent to +jail. Others were persons who had been kidnapped and carried across the +sea into servitude. Yet others were men and women who voluntarily bound +themselves to work for a term of years in payment of their passage to +the colonies. By far the largest number of the white servants in +Washington's day belonged to this last-mentioned class, who were often +called "redemptioners." Some of these were ambitious, well-meaning +people, perhaps skilled artisans, who after working out their time +became good citizens and often prospered. A few were even well educated. +In favor of the convicts, however, little could be said. In general they +were ignorant and immoral and greatly lowered the level of the +population in the Southern States, the section to which most of them +were sent. + +Whether they came to America of their own free will or not such servants +were subjected to stringent regulations and were compelled to complete +their terms of service. If they ran away, they could be pursued and +brought back by force, and the papers of the day were full of +advertisements for such absconders. Owing to their color and the ease +with which they found sympathizers among the white population, however, +the runaways often managed to make good their escape. + +To give a complete list of Washington's indentured servants, even if it +were possible, would be tedious and tiresome. For the most part he +bought them in order to obtain skilled workmen. Thus in 1760 we find him +writing to a Doctor Ross, of Philadelphia, to purchase for him a joiner, +a brick-layer and a gardener, if any ship with servants was in port. As +late as 1786 he bought the time of a Dutchman named Overdursh, who was a +ditcher and mower, and of his wife, a spinner, washer and milker; also +their daughter. The same year he "received from on board the Brig Anna, +from Ireland, two servant men for whom I agreed yesterday--viz--Thomas +Ryan, a shoemaker, and Cavan Bowen a Tayler Redemptioners for 3 years +service by Indenture." These cost him twelve pounds each. The story of +his purchase of servants for his western lands is told in another place, +as is also that of his plan to import Palatines for the same purpose. + +On the day of Lexington and Concord, but before the news of that +conflict reached Virginia, two of his indentured servants ran away and +he published a lengthy advertisement of them in the Virginia _Gazette_, +offering a reward of forty dollars for the return of both or twenty +dollars for the return of either. They were described as follows: + +"THOMAS SPEARS, a joiner, born in _Bristol_, about 20 years of age, 5 +feet 6 inches and a half high, slender made. He has light grey or +blueish colored eyes, a little pock-marked, and freckled, with sandy +colored hair, cut short; his voice is coarse, and somewhat drawling. He +took with him a coat, waistcoat, and breeches, of light brown duffil, +with black horn buttons, a light colored cloth waistcoat, old leather +breeches, check and oznabrig shirts, a pair of old ribbed ditto, new +oznabrig trowsers, and a felt hat, not much the worse for wear. WILLIAM +WEBSTER, a brick maker, born in _Scotland_, and talks pretty broad. He +is about 5 feet six inches high and well made, rather turned of 30, with +light brown hair, and roundish face.... They went off in a small yawl, +with turpentine sides and bottom, the inside painted with a mixture of +tar and red lead." + +In the course of his business career Washington also employed a +considerable number of free white men, who likewise were usually skilled +workers or overseers. He commonly engaged them for the term of one year +and by written contracts, which he drew up himself, a thing he had +learned to do when a boy by copying legal forms. Many of these papers +still survive and contracts with joiners and gardeners jostle inaugural +addresses and opinions of cabinet meetings. + +As a rule the hired employees received a house, an allowance of corn, +flour, meat and perhaps other articles, the money payment being +comparatively small. + +Some of the contracts contain peculiar stipulations. That with a certain +overseer provided: "And whereas there are a number of whiskey stills +very contiguous to the said Plantations, and many idle, drunken and +dissolute People continually resorting the same, priding themselves in +debauching sober and well-inclined Persons the said Edd. Voilett doth +promise as well for his own sake as his employers to avoid them as +he ought." + +Probably most readers have heard of the famous contract with the +gardener Philip Bater, who had a weakness for the output of stills such +as those mentioned above. It was executed in 1787 and, in consideration +of Bater's agreement "not to be disguised with liquor except on times +hereinafter mentioned," provided that he should be given "four dollars +at Christmas, with which he may be drunk four days and four nights; two +dollars at Easter to effect the same purpose; two dollars at +Whitsuntide to be drunk for two days; a dram in the morning, and a drink +of grog at dinner at noon." + +Washington's most famous white servant was Thomas Bishop, who figures in +some books as a negro. He had been the personal servant of General +Braddock, and tradition says that the dying General commended him to +Washington. At all events Washington took him into his service at ten +pounds per year and, except for a short interval about 1760, Bishop +remained one of his retainers until death. It was Bishop and John Alton +who accompanied Washington on his trip to New York and Boston in +1756--that trip in the course of which, according to imaginative +historians, the young officer became enamored of the heiress Mary +Phillipse. Doubtless the men made a brave show along the way, for we +know that Washington had ordered for them "2 complete livery suits for +servants; with a spare cloak and all other necessary trimmings for two +suits more. I would have you choose the livery by our arms, only as the +field of arms is white, I think the clothes had better not be quite so, +but nearly like the inclosed. The trimmings and facings of scarlet, and +a scarlet waist coat. If livery lace is not quite disused, I should be +glad to have the cloaks laced. I like that fashion best, and two silver +laced hats for the above servants." + +When the Revolution came Bishop was too old to take the field and was +left at home as the manager of a plantation. He was allowed a house, for +he had married and was now the father of a daughter. He lived to a great +age, but on fair days, when the Farmer was at home, the old man always +made it a point to grasp his cane and walk out to the road to see his +master ride by, to salute him and to pass a friendly word. He seems to +have thought of leaving Mount Vernon with his daughter in 1794, for the +President wrote to Pearce: "Old Bishop must be taken care of whether he +goes or stays." He died the following January, while Washington was away +in Philadelphia. + +Custis tells an amusing story of Bishop's daughter Sally. Following the +Revolution two of Washington's aides-de-camp, Colonels Smith and +Humphreys, the latter a poet of some pretensions, spent considerable +time at Mount Vernon arranging the General's military papers. One +afternoon Smith strolled out from the Mansion House for relaxation and +came upon Sally, then in her teens and old enough to be interesting to +a soldier, milking a cow. When she started for the house with the pail +of milk the Colonel gallantly stepped forward and asked to be permitted +to carry it. But Sally had heard from her father dire tales of what +befell damsels who had anything to do with military men and the fact +that Smith was a fine-looking young fellow in no way lessened her sense +of peril. In great panic she flung down the pail, splashing the contents +over the officer, and ran screaming to the house. Smith followed, intent +upon allaying her alarm and ran plump into old Bishop, who at once +accused him of attempting to philander with the girl, turned a deaf ear +to all the Colonel's explanations, and declared that he would bring word +of the offense to his honor the General, nay more, to Mrs. Washington! + +In great alarm the Colonel betook himself toward the Mansion House +pondering upon some way of getting himself out of the scrape he had +fallen into. At last he bethought himself of Billy Lee, the mulatto body +servant, and these two old soldiers proceeded to hold a council of war. +Smith said: "It's bad enough, Billy, for this story to get to the +General's ears, but to those of the lady will never do; and then +there's Humphreys, he will be out upon me in a d--d long poem that will +spread my misfortunes from Dan to Beersheba!" At last it was decided +that Billy should act as special ambassador to Bishop and endeavor to +divert him from his purpose. Meanwhile Bishop had got out his old +clothes--Cumberland cocked hat and all--of the period of the French War, +had dressed with great care and, taking up his staff, had laid his line +of march straight to the Mansion House. Billy met him midway upon the +road and much skirmishing ensued, Billy taking two lines of attack: +first, that Smith was a perfect gentleman, and, second, that Bishop had +no business to have such a devilishly pretty daughter. Finally these +tactics prevailed, Bishop took the right about, and a guinea dropped +into the ambassador's palm completed the episode. + +In due time Sally lost her dreadful fear of men and married the +plantation carpenter, Thomas Green, with whose shiftless ways, described +elsewhere, Washington put up for a long time for the sake of "his +family." Ultimately Green quitted Washington's service and seems to have +deserted his wife or else died; at all events she and her family were +left in distressed circumstances. She wrote a letter to Washington +begging assistance and he instructed his manager to aid her to the +extent of L20 but to tell her that if she set up a shop in Alexandria, +as she thought of doing, she must not buy anything of his negroes. He +seems to have allowed her a little wood, flour and meat at killing time +and in 1796 instructed Pearce that if she and her family were really in +distress, as reported, to afford them some relief, "but in my opinion it +had better be in anything than money, for I very strongly suspect that +all that has, and perhaps all that will be given to her in that article, +is applied more in rigging herself, than in the purchase of real and +useful necessaries for her family." + +By his will Washington left Sally Green and Ann Walker, daughter of John +Alton, each one hundred dollars in "consideration of the attachment of +their father[s] to me." + +Alton entered Washington's service even before Bishop, accompanying him +as a body servant on the Braddock campaign and suffering a serious +illness. He subsequently was promoted to the management of a plantation +and enjoyed Washington's confidence and esteem. It was with a sad heart +that Washington penned in his diary for 1785: "Last night Jno. Alton an +Overseer of mine in the Neck--an old & faithful Servant who has lived +with me 30 odd years died--and this evening the wife of Thos. Bishop, +another old Servant who had lived with me an equal number of years +also died." + +The adoption of Mrs. Washington's two youngest grandchildren, Nelly +Custis and George Washington Custis, made necessary the employment of a +tutor. One applicant was Noah Webster, who visited Mount Vernon in 1785, +but for some reason did not engage. A certain William Shaw had charge +for almost a year and then in 1786 Tobias Lear, a native of New +Hampshire and a graduate of Harvard, was employed. It is supposed that +some of the lessons were taught in the small circular building in the +garden; Washington himself refers to it as "the house in the Upper +Garden called the School house." + +Lear's duties were by no means all pedagogical and ultimately he became +Washington's private secretary. In Philadelphia he and his family lived +in the presidential mansion. Washington had for him "a particular +friendship," an almost fatherly affection. His interest in Lear's little +son Lincoln was almost as great as he would have bestowed upon his own +grandson. Apropos of the recovery of the child from a serious illness he +wrote in 1793: "It gave Mrs. Washington, myself, and all who knew him +sincere pleasure to hear that our little favourite had arrived safe and +was in good health at Portsmouth--we sincerely wish him a long +continuance of the latter--that he may be always as charming and +promising as he now is--that he may live to be a comfort and blessing to +you--and an ornament to his Country. As a token of my affection for him +I send him a ticket in the lottery that's now drawing in the Federal +City; if it should be his fortune to draw the Hotel, it will add to the +pleasure I feel in giving it." + +Truly a rather singular gift for a child, we would think in these days. +Let us see how it turned out. The next May Washington wrote to Lear, +then in Europe on business for the Potomac Navigation Company, of which +he had become president: "Often, through the medium of Mr. Langdon, we +hear of your son Lincoln, and with pleasure, that he continues to be the +healthy and sprightly child he formerly was. He declared if his ticket +should turn up a prize, he would go and live in the Federal City. He did +not consider, poor little fellow, that some of the prizes would hardly +build him a baby house nor foresee that one of these small tickets would +be his lot, having drawn no more than ten dollars." + +Lear's first wife had died the year before of yellow fever at the +President's house in Philadelphia, and for his second he took the widow +of George A. Washington--Fanny--who was a niece of Martha Washington, +being a daughter of Anna Dandridge Bassett and Colonel Burwell Bassett. +This alliance tended to strengthen the friendly relations between Lear +and the General. In Washington's last moments Lear held his dying hand +and later penned a noble description of the final scene that reveals a +man of high and tender sentiments with a true appreciation of his +benefactor's greatness. Washington willed him the use of three hundred +sixty acres east of Hunting Creek during life. When Fanny Lear died, +Lear married Frances Dandridge Henley, another niece of Mrs. Washington. +Lear's descendants still own a quilt made by Martha Washington and given +to this niece. + +During part at least of Washington's absence in the French war his +younger brother John Augustine, described in the General's will as "the +intimate friend of my ripened age," had charge of his business affairs +and resided at Mount Vernon. The relations with this brother were +unusually close and Washington took great interest in John's eldest son +Bushrod, who studied law and became an associate justice of the Federal +Supreme Court. To Bushrod the General gave his papers, library, the +Mansion House Farm and other land and a residuary share in the estate. + +I am inclined to believe that during 1757-58 John Augustine did not have +charge, as Mount Vernon seems to have been under the oversight of a +certain Humphrey Knight, who worked the farm on shares. He was evidently +a good farmer, for in 1758 William Fairfax, who kept a friendly eye upon +his absent neighbor's affairs, wrote: "You have some of the finest +Tobacco & Corn I have seen this year," The summer was, however, +exceedingly dry and the crop was good in a relative sense only. Knight +tried to keep affairs in good running order and the men hard at work, +reporting "as to ye Carpentrs I have minded em all I posably could, and +has whipt em when I could see a fault." Knight died September 9, 1758, a +few months before Washington's marriage. + +Washington's general manager during the Revolution was Lund Washington, +a distant relative. He was a man of energy and ability and retired +against protests in 1785. Unfortunately not much of the correspondence +between the two has come down to us, as Lund destroyed most of the +General's letters. Why he did so I do not know, though possibly it was +because in them Washington commented freely about persons and sections. +In one that remains, for example, written soon after his assumption of +command at Cambridge, the General speaks disparagingly of some New +England officers and says of the troops that they may fight well, but +are "dirty fellows." When the British visited Mount Vernon in 1781 Lund +conciliated them by furnishing them provisions, thereby drawing down +upon himself a rebuke from the owner, who said that he would rather have +had his buildings burned down than to have purchased their safety in +such a way. Nevertheless the General appreciated Lund's services and the +two always remained on friendly terms. + +Lund was succeeded by Major George Augustine Washington, son of the +General's brother Charles. From his youth George Augustine had attached +himself to his uncle's service and fought under him in the Revolution, +a part of the time on the staff of Lafayette. The General had a strong +affection for him and in 1784 furnished him with money to take a trip to +the West Indies for his health. Contrary to expectations, he improved, +married Fanny Bassett, and for several years resided at Mount Vernon. +But the disease, consumption, returned and, greatly to his uncle's +distress, he died in 1792. Washington helped to care for the widow until +she became the wife of Tobias Lear. + +Two other nephews, Robert Lewis and Howell Lewis, were in turn for short +intervals in charge of affairs, but presently the estate was committed +to the care of an Englishman named Anthony Whiting, who was already +overseer of two of the farms. Like his predecessor he was a victim of +consumption and died in June, 1793. Washington showed him great +kindness, repeatedly urging him not to overexert, to make use of wines, +tea, coffee and other delicacies that had been sent for the use of +guests. As Whiting was also troubled with rheumatism, the President +dropped affairs of state long enough to write him that "Flannel next the +skin [is] the best cure for, & preventative of the Rheumatism I have +ever tried." Yet after Whiting's death the employer learned that he had +been deceived in the man--that he "drank freely--kept bad company at my +house in Alexandria--and was a very debauched person." + +William Pearce, who followed Whiting, came from the eastern shore of +Maryland, where he owned an estate called "Hopewell." His salary was a +hundred guineas a year. A poor speller and grammarian, he was +nevertheless practical and one of the best of all the managers. He +resigned in 1797 on account of rheumatism, which he thought would +prevent him from giving business the attention it deserved. Washington +parted from him with much regret and gave him a "certificate" in which +he spoke in the most laudatory terms of his "honesty, sobriety industry +and skill" and stated that his conduct had given "entire satisfaction." +They later corresponded occasionally and exchanged farm and family news +in the most friendly way. + +The last manager, James Anderson, was described by his employer as "an +honest, industrious and judicious Scotchman." His salary was one hundred +forty pounds a year. Though born in a country where slaves were unknown, +he proved adaptable to Virginia conditions and assisted the overseers +"in some chastisements when needful." As his employer retired from the +presidency soon after he took charge he had not the responsibility of +some who had preceded him, for Washington was unwilling to be reduced to +a mere cipher on his own estate. Seeing the great profusion of cheap +corn and rye, Anderson, who was a good judge of whisky, engaged the +General in a distillery, which stood near the grist mill. The returns +for 1798 were L344.12.7-3/4, with 755-1/4 gallons still unsold. + +Washington's letters to his managers are filled with exhortations and +sapient advice about all manner of things. He constantly urged them to +avoid familiarities with the blacks and preached the importance of +"example," for, "be it good or bad," it "will be followed by all those +who look up to you.--Keep every one in their place, & to their duty; +relaxation from, or neglect in small matters, lead to like attempts in +matters of greater magnitude." + +The absent owner was constantly complaining that his managers failed to +inform him about matters concerning which he had inquired. Hardly a +report reached him that did not fail to explain something in which he +was interested. This was one of the many disadvantages of farming at +long range. + +In 1793 Washington described his overseers to Pearce, who was just +taking charge, in great detail. Stuart is competent, sober and +industrious, but talkative and conceited. "If he stirs early and works +late ... his talkativeness and vanity may be humored." Crow is active +and possessed of good judgment, but overly fond of "visiting and +receiving visits." McKoy is a "sickly, slothful and stupid fellow." +Butler, the gardener, may mean well, but "he has no more authority over +the Negroes he is placed over than an old woman would have." Ultimately +he dismissed Butler on this ground, but as the man could find no other +job he was forced to give him assistance. The owner's opinions of Davy, +the colored overseer at Muddy Hole Farm, and of Thomas Green, the +carpenter, are given elsewhere. + +In the same letter he exhorted Pearce to see what time the overseers +"turn out of a morning--for I have strong suspicions that this, with +some of them, is at a late hour, the consequences of which to the +Negroes is not difficult to foretell. All these Overseers as you will +perceive by their agreements, which I here with send, are on standing +wages; and this with men who are not actuated by the principles of honor +or honesty, and not very regardful of their characters, leads naturally +to endulgences--as _their_ profits whatever may be _mine_, are the same +whether they are at a horse race or on the farm." + +From the above it will appear that he did not believe that the overseers +were storing up any large treasury of good works. In the Revolution he +wrote that one overseer and a confederate, "I believe, divide the +profits of my Estate on the York River, tolerably between them, for the +devil of anything do I get." Later he approved the course of George A. +Washington in depriving an overseer of the privilege of killing four +shoats, as this gave him an excuse when caught killing a pig to say that +it was one of those to which he was entitled. Even when honest, the +overseers were likely to be careless. They often knew little about the +stock under their charge and in making their weekly reports would take +the number from old reports instead of actually making the count, with +the result that many animals could die or disappear long before those in +charge became aware of it. + +[Illustration: Part of Manger's Weekly Report] + +Washington's carpenters were mostly slaves, but he usually hired a +white man to oversee and direct them. In 1768, for example, he engaged +for this purpose a certain Jonathan Palmer, who was to receive forty +pounds a year, four hundred pounds of meat, twenty bushels of corn, a +house to live in, a garden, and also the right to keep two cows. + +The carpenters were required not only to build houses, barns, sheds and +other structures, but also boats, and had to hew out or whipsaw many of +the timbers and boards used. + +The carpenter whose name we meet oftenest was Thomas Green, who married +Sally Bishop. I have seen a contract signed by Green in 1786, by which +he was to receive annually forty-five pounds in Virginia currency, five +hundredweight of pork, pasture for a cow, and two hundred pounds of +common flour. He also had the right to be absent from the plantation +half a day in every month. He did not use these vacations to good +advantage, for he was a drunken incompetent and tried Washington's +patience sorely. Washington frequently threatened to dismiss him and as +often relented and Green finally, in 1794, quit of his own accord, +though Washington thereafter had to assist his family. + +The employment of white day labor at Mount Vernon was not extensive. In +harvest time some extra cradlers were employed, as this was a kind of +work at which the slaves were not very skilful. Payment was at the rate +of about a dollar a day or a dollar for cutting four acres, which was +the amount a skilled man could lay down in a day. The men were also +given three meals a day and a pint of spirits each. They slept in the +barns, with straw and a blanket for a bed. With them worked the +overseers, cutting, binding and setting up the sheaves in stools +or shocks. + +Laziness in his employees gave our Farmer a vast deal of unhappiness. It +was an enemy that he fought longer and more persistently than he fought +the British. In his early career a certain "Young Stephens," son of the +miller, seems to have been his greatest trial. "Visited my Plantations," +he confides to his diary. "Severely reprimanded young Stephens for his +Indolence, and his father for suffering it." "Visited my Quarters & ye +Mill according to custom found young Stephens absent." "Visited my +Plantations and found to my great surprise Stephens constantly at work." +"Rid out to my Plantn. and to my Carpenters. Found Richard Stephens hard +at work with an ax--very extraordinary this!" + +To what extent the change proved permanent we do not know. But even +though the reformation was absolute, it mattered little, for each year +produces a new crop of lazybones just as it does "lambs" and "suckers." + +Enough has been said to show that our Farmer was impatient, perhaps even +a bit querulous, but innumerable incidents prove that he was also +generous and just. Thus when paper currency depreciated to a low figure +he, of his own volition, wrote to Lund Washington that he would not hold +him to his contract, but would pay his wages by a share in the crops, +and this at a time when his own debtors were discharging their +indebtedness in the almost worthless paper. + +If ever a square man lived, Washington was that man. He believed in the +Golden Rule and he practiced it--not only in church, but in business. It +was not for nothing that as a boy he had written as his one hundred +tenth "Rule of Civility": "Labor to keep alive in your Breast that +Little Spark of Celestial fire called Conscience." + +In looking through his later letters I came upon one, dated January 7, +1796, from Pearce stating that Davenport, a miller whom Washington had +brought from Pennsylvania, was dead. He had already received six +hundred pounds of pork and more wages than were due him as advances for +the coming year. What should be done? asked the manager. "His Wife and +Children will be in a most Distressed Situation." As I examined the +papers that followed I said to myself: "I will see if I know what his +answer will be." I thought I did, and so it proved. Back from +Philadelphia came the answer: + +"Altho' she can have no _right_ to the Meat, I would have none of it +taken from her.--You may also let her have middlings from the Mill,--and +until the house may become indispensably necessary for the succeeding +Miller, let her remain in it.--As she went from these parts she can have +no friends (by these I mean relations) where she is. If therefore she +wishes to return back to his, or her own relations, aid her in +doing so." + +Not always were his problems so somber as this. Consider, for example, +the case of William M. Roberts, an employee who feared that he was about +to get the sack. "In your absence to Richmond," writes anxious William, +November 25, 1784, "My Wife & I have had a Most Unhappy falling out +Which I Shall not Trouble you with the Praticlers No farther than This. +I hapened To Git to Drinking one Night as She thought Two Much. & From +one Cros Question to a nother Matters weare Carred to the Langth it has +been. Which Mr. Lund Washington will Inform you For My part I am +Heartily Sorry in my Sole My Wife appares to be the Same & I am of a +pinion that We Shall Live More Happy than We have Don for the fewter." + +In his dealings with servants Washington was sometimes troubled with +questions that worry us when we are trying to hire "Mary" or "Bridget." +Thus when Mrs. Washington's ill health necessitated his engaging in 1797 +a housekeeper he made the following minute and anxious inquiries of +Bushrod Washington at Richmond concerning a certain Mrs. Forbes: + +"What countrywoman is she? + +"Whether Widow or Wife? if the latter + +"Where her husband is? + +"What family she has? + +"What age she is? + +"Of what temper? + +"Whether active and spirited in the execution of her business? + +"Whether sober and honest? + +"Whether much knowledge in Cookery, and understands ordering and +setting out a Table? + +"What her appearance is? + +"With other matters which may occur to you to ask,--and necessary for me +to know. + +"Mrs. Forbes will have a warm, decent and comfortable room to herself, +to lodge in, and will eat of the victuals of our Table, but not set at +it, at any time _with us_, be her appearance what it may, for if this +was _once admitted_, no line satisfactory to either party, perhaps, +could be drawn thereafter.--It might be well for me to know however +whether this was admitted at Govr. Brookes or not." + +Considerate and just though he was, his deliberate judgment of servants +after a long and varied experience was that they are "necessary +plagues ... they baffle all calculation in the accomplishment of any +plan or repairs they are engaged in; and require more attention to and +looking after than can be well conceived." + +Perhaps the soundest philosophy upon this trying and much debated +servant question is that of Miles Standish, who proceeded, however, +straightway to violate it. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +BLACK SLAVES + +It is one of the strange inconsistencies of history that one of the +foremost champions of liberty of all time should himself have been the +absolute owner and master of men, women and children. + +Visitors at Mount Vernon saw many faces there, but only a few were white +faces, the rest were those of black slaves. On each farm stood a village +of wooden huts, where turbaned mammies crooned and piccaninnies gamboled +in the sunshine. The cooks, the house servants, the coachmen, the stable +boys, almost all the manual workers were slaves. Even the Mansion House +grounds, if the master was away, were apt to be overrun with black +children, for though only the progeny of a few house servants were +supposed to enter the precincts, the others often disregarded the +prohibition, to the destruction of the Farmer's flowers and rare shrubs. + +From his father Washington inherited ten or a dozen slaves and, as +occasion required or opportunity offered, he added to the number. By +1760 he paid taxes on forty-nine slaves, in 1770 on eighty-seven and in +1774 on one hundred thirty-five. Presently he found himself overstocked +and in 1778 expressed a wish to barter for land some "Negroes, of whom I +every day long more to get clear of[7]." Still later he declared that he +had more negroes than could be employed to advantage on his estate, but +was principled against selling any, while hiring them out was almost as +bad. "What then is to be done? Something or I shall be ruined." + +[7] In 1754 he bought a "fellow" for L40.5, another named Jack for L52.5 +and a woman called Clio for L50. Two years later he acquired two negro +men and a woman for L86, and from Governor Dinwiddie a woman and child +for L60. In 1758 he got Gregory for L60.9. Mount Vernon brought him +eighteen more. Mrs. Washington was the owner of a great many slaves, +which he called the "dower Negroes," and with part of the money she +brought him he acquired yet others. The year of his marriage he bought +Will for L50, another fellow for L60, Hannah and child for L80 and nine +others for L406. In 1762 he acquired two of Fielding Lewis for L115, +seven of Lee Massey for L300, also one-handed Charles for L30. Two years +later he bought two men and a woman of the estate of Francis Hobbs for +L128.10, the woman being evidently of inferior quality, for she cost +only L20. Another slave purchased that year from Sarah Alexander was +more valuable, costing L76. Judy and child, obtained of Garvin Corbin, +cost L63. Two mulattoes, Will and Frank, bought of Mary Lee in 1768, +cost L61.15 and L50, and Will became famous as a body servant; Adam and +Frank, bought of the same owner, cost L38. He bought five more slaves in +1772. Some writers say that this was his last purchase, but it is +certain that thereafter he at least took a few in payment of debts. + +In 1786 he took a census of his slaves on the Mount Vernon estate. On +the Mansion House Farm he had sixty-seven, including Will or Billy Lee, +who was his "val de Chambre," two waiters, two cooks, three drivers and +stablers, three seamstresses, two house maids, two washers, four +spinners, besides smiths, a waggoner, carter, stock keeper, knitters and +carpenters. Two women were "almost past service," one of them being "old +and almost blind." A man, Schomberg, was "past labour." Lame Peter had +been taught to knit. Twenty-six were children, the youngest being Delia +and Sally. At the mill were Miller Ben and three coopers. On the whole +estate there were two hundred sixteen slaves, including many +dower negroes. + +If our Farmer took any special pains to develop the mental and moral +nature of "My People," as he usually called his slaves, I have found no +record of it. Nor is there any evidence that their sexual relations were +other than promiscuous--if they so desired. Marriage had no legal basis +among slaves and children took the status of their mother. Instances +occurred in which couples remained together and had an affection for +their families, but the reverse was not uncommon. This state of affairs +goes far toward explaining moral lapses among the negroes of to-day. + +I have found only one or two lists of the increase of the slaves, one +being that transmitted by James Anderson, manager, in February, 1797, to +the effect that "there are 3 Negro Children Born, & one dead--at River +Farm 1; born at Mansion house, Lina 1; at Union Farm 1 born & one +dead--It was killed by Worms. Medical assistance was called--But the +mothers are very inattentive to their Young." + +Just why the managers, when they carefully mentioned the arrival of +calves, colts, lambs and mules, did not also transmit news of the advent +of the more valuable two-legged live stock, is not apparent. In many +reports, however, in accounting for the time of slaves, occur such +entries as: "By Cornelia in child bed 6 days." Occasionally the fact and +sex of the increase is mentioned, but not often. + +Washington was much more likely to take notice of deaths than of +increases. "Dorcas, daughter of Phillis, died, which makes 4 Negroes +lost this winter," he wrote in 1760. He strove to safeguard the health +of his slaves and employed a physician by the year to attend to them, +the payment, during part of the time at least, being fifteen pounds per +annum. In 1760 this physician was a certain James Laurie, evidently not +a man of exemplary character, for Washington wrote, April 9, 1760, +"Doctr. Laurie came here. I may add Drunk." Another physician was a +Doctor Brown, another Doctor William Rumney, and in later years it was +Washington's old friend Doctor Craik. I have noticed two instances of +Washington's sending slaves considerable distances for medical +treatment. One boy, Christopher, bitten by a dog, went to a "specialist" +at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, for treatment to avert madness, and another, +Tom, had an operation performed on his eyes, probably for cataract. + +When at home the Farmer personally helped to care for sick slaves. He +had a special building erected near the Mansion House for use as a +hospital. Once he went to Winchester in the Shenandoah region especially +to look after slaves ill with smallpox "and found everything in the +utmost confusion, disorder, and backwardness. Got Blankets and every +other requisite from Winchester, and settied things on the best footing +I could." As he had had smallpox when at Barbadoes, he had no fear of +contagion. + +Among the entries in his diary are: "Visited my Plantations and found +two negroes sick ... ordered them to be blooded." "Found that lightening +had struck my quarters and near 10 Negroes in it, some very bad but by +letting blood recovered." "Found the new negro Cupid ill of a pleurisy +at Dogue Run Quarter and had him brot home in a cart for better care of +him.... Cupid extremely ill all this day and night. When I went to bed I +thought him within a few hours of breathing his last." However, Cupid +recovered. + +In his contracts with overseers Washington stipulated proper care of the +slaves. Once he complained to his manager that the generality of the +overseers seem to "view the poor creatures in scarcely any other light +than they do a draught horse or ox; neglecting them as much when they +are unable to work; instead of comforting and nursing them when they lye +on a sick bed." Again he wrote: + +"When I recommended care of and attention to my negros in sickness, it +was that the first stage of, and the whole progress through the +disorders with which they might be seized (if more than a slight +indisposition) should be closely watched, and timely applications and +remedies be administered; especially in the pleurisies, and all +inflammatory disorders accompanied with pain, when a few day's neglect, +or want of bleeding might render the ailment incurable. In such cases +sweeten'd teas, broths and (according to the nature of the complaint, +and the doctor's prescription) sometimes a little wine, may be necessary +to nourish and restore the patient; and these I am perfectly willing to +allow, when it is requisite." + +Yet again he complains that the overseers "seem to consider a Negro much +in the same light as they do the brute beasts, on the farms, and often +times treat them as inhumanly." + +His slaves by no means led lives of luxury and inglorious ease. A +friendly Polish poet who visited Mount Vernon in 1798 was shocked by the +poor quarters and rough food provided for them. He wrote: + +"We entered some negroes' huts--for their habitations cannot be called +houses. They are far more miserable than the poorest of the cottages of +our peasants. The husband and his wife sleep on a miserable bed, the +children on the floor. A very poor chimney, a little kitchen furniture +amid this misery--a tea-kettle and cups.... A small orchard with +vegetables was situated close to the hut. Five or six hens, each with +ten or fifteen chickens, walked there. That is the only pleasure allowed +to the negroes: they are not permitted to keep either ducks or geese +or pigs." + +Yet all the slaves he saw seemed gay and light-hearted and on Sundays +played at pitching the bar with an activity and zest that indicated that +they managed to keep from being overworked and found some enjoyment +in life. + +To our Farmer's orderly and energetic soul his shiftless lazy blacks +were a constant trial. In his diary for February, 1760, he records that +four of his carpenters had only hewed about one hundred twenty feet of +timber in a day, so he tried the experiment of sitting down and watching +them. They at once fell to with such energy and worked so rapidly that +he concluded that each one ought to hew about one hundred twenty-five +feet per day and more when the days were longer. + +A later set of carpenters seem to have been equally trifling, for of +them he said in 1795: "There is not to be found so idle a set of +Rascals.--In short, it appears to me, that to make even a chicken coop, +would employ all of them a week." + +"It is observed by the Weekly Report," he wrote when President, "that +the Sowers make only Six Shirts a Week, and the last week Caroline +(without being sick) made only five;--Mrs. Washington says their usual +task was to make nine with Shoulder straps, & good sewing:--tell them +therefore from me, that what _has_ been done _shall_ be done by fair or +foul means; & they had better make a choice of the first, for their own +reputation, & for the sake of peace and quietness otherwise they will be +sent to the several Plantations, & be placed at common labor under the +Overseers thereat. Their work ought to be well examined, or it will be +most shamefully executed, whether little or much of it is done--and it +is said, the same attention ought to be given to Peter (& I suppose to +Sarah likewise) or the Stockings will be knit too small for those for +whom they are intended; such being the idleness, & deceit of +those people." + +"What kind of sickness is Betty Davis's?" he demands on another +occasion. "If pretended ailments, without apparent causes, or visible +effects, will screen her from work, I shall get no work at all from +her;--for a more lazy, deceitful and impudent huzzy is not to be found +in the United States than she is." + +"I observe what you say of Betty Davis &ct," he wrote a little later, +"but I never found so much difficulty as you seem to apprehend in +distinguishing between _real_ and _feigned_ sickness;--or when a person +is much _afflicted_ with pain.--Nobody can be very sick without having a +fever, nor will a fever or any other disorder continue long upon any one +without reducing them.--Pain also, if it be such as to yield entirely to +its force, week after week, will appear by its effects; but my people +(many of them) will lay up a month, at the end of which no visible +change in their countenance, nor the loss of an oz of flesh, is +discoverable; and their allowance of provision is going on as if nothing +ailed them." + +He not only deemed his negroes lazy, but he had also a low opinion of +their honesty. Alexandria was full of low shopkeepers who would buy +stolen goods from either blacks or whites, and Washington declared that +not more than two or three of his slaves would refrain from filching +anything upon which they could lay their hands. + +[Illustration: Spinning House--Last Building to the Right] + +[Illustration: The Butler's House and Magnolia Set out by Washington the +Year of his Death] + +He found that he dared not leave his wine unlocked, because the servants +would steal two glasses to every one consumed by visitors and then +allege that the visitors had drunk it all. + +He even suspected the slaves of taking a toll from the clover and +timothy seed given them to sow and adopted the practice of having the +seed mixed with sand, as that rendered it unsalable and also had the +advantage of getting the seed sown more evenly. + +Corn houses and meat houses had to be kept locked, apples picked early, +and sheep and pigs watched carefully or the slaves took full advantage +of the opportunity. Nor can we at this distant day blame them very much +or wax so indignant as did their master over their thieveries. They were +held to involuntary servitude and if now and then they got the better of +their owner and managed to enjoy a few stolen luxuries they merely did a +little toward evening the score. But it was poor training for +future freedom. + +The black picture which Washington draws of slavery--from the master's +standpoint--is exceedingly interesting and significant. The character +he gives the slaves is commended to the attention of those persons who +continually bemoan the fact that freedom and education have ruined +the negroes. + +One of the famous "Rules of Civility," which the boy Washington so +carefully copied, set forth that persons of high degree ought to treat +their inferiors "with affibility & Courtesie, without Arrogancy." There +is abundant evidence that when he came to manhood he was reasonably +considerate of his slaves, and yet he was a Master and ruled them in +martinet fashion. His advice to a manager was to keep the blacks at a +proper distance, "for they will grow upon familiarity in proportion as +you will sink in authority." The English farmer Parkinson records that +the first time he walked with General Washington among his negroes he +was amazed at the rough manner in which he spoke to them. This does not +mean that Washington cursed his negroes as the mate of a Mississippi +River boat does his roustabouts, but I suspect that those who have heard +such a mate can form an idea of the _tone_ employed by our Farmer that +so shocked Parkinson. Military officers still employ it toward +their men. + +Corporal punishment was resorted to on occasion, but not to extremes. +The Master writes regarding a runaway: "Let Abram get his deserts when +taken, by way of example; but do not trust to Crow to give it to +him;--for I have reason to believe he is swayed more by passion than by +judgment in all his corrections." Tradition says that on one occasion he +found an overseer brutally beating one of the blacks and, indignant at +the sight, sprang from his horse and, whip in hand, strode up to the +overseer, who was so affrighted that he backed away crying loudly: +"Remember your character, General, remember your character!" The General +paused, reprimanded the overseer for cruelty and rode off. + +Among his slaves were some that were too unruly to be managed by +ordinary means. In the early seventies he had such a one on a plantation +in York County, Will Shag by name, who was a persistent runaway, and who +whipped the overseer and was obstreperous generally. Another slave +committed so serious an offense that he was tried under state law and +>vas executed. When a bondman became particularly fractious he was +threatened with being sent to the West Indies, a place held in as much +dread as was "down the river" in later years. In 1766 Washington sent +such a fellow off and to the captain of the ship that carried the slave +away he wrote: + +"With this letter comes a negro (Tom) which I beg the favor of you to +sell in any of the islands you may go to, for whatever he will fetch, +and bring me in return for him + +"One hhd of best molasses + +"One ditto of best rum + +"One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap + +"One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 lbs. + +"Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 lbs. each. And the +residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this fellow is both a +rogue and a runaway (tho he was by no means remarkable for the former, +and never practiced the latter till of late) I shall not pretend to +deny. But that he is exceedingly healthy, strong, and good at the hoe, +the whole neighborhood can testify, and particularly Mr. Johnson and his +son, who have both had him under them as foreman of the gang; which +gives me reason to hope that he may with your good management sell well, +if kept clean and trim'd up a little when offered for sale." + +Another "misbehaving fellow" named Waggoner Jack was sent off in 1791 +and was sold for "one pipe and Quarter Cask" of wine. Somewhat later +(1793) Matilda's Ben became addicted to evil courses and among other +things committed an assault and battery on Sambo, for which he received +corporal punishment duly approved by our Farmer, whose earnest desire it +was "that quarrels be stopped." Evidently the remedy was insufficient, +for not long after the absent owner wrote: + +"I am very sorry that so likely a fellow as Matilda's Ben should addict +himself to such courses as he is pursuing. If he should be guilty of any +atrocious crime that would affect his life, he might be given up to the +civil authority for trial; but for such offenses as most of his color +are guilty of, you had better try further correction, accompanied by +admonition and advice. The two latter sometimes succeed where the first +has failed. He, his father and mother (who I dare say are his receivers) +may be told in explicit language, that if a stop is not put to his +rogueries and other villainies, by fair means and shortly, that I will +ship him off (as I did Waggoner Jack) for the West Indies, where he will +have no opportunity of playing such pranks as he is at present +engaged in." + +A few of the negroes occupied positions of some trust and +responsibility. One named Davy was for many years manager of Muddy Hole +Farm, and Washington thought that he carried on his work as well as did +the white overseers and more quietly than some, though rather negligent +of live stock. Each year at killing time he was allowed two or three +hundredweight of pork as well as other privileges not accorded to the +ordinary slave. Still his master did not entirely trust him, for in 1795 +we find that Washington suspected Davy of having stolen some lambs that +had been reported as "lost." + +The most famous of the Mount Vernon negroes was William Lee, better +known as Billy, whose purchase from Mary Lee has already been noticed. +Billy was Washington's valet and huntsman and served with him throughout +the Revolution as a body servant, rode with him at reviews and was +painted by Savage in the well-known group of the President and his +family. Naturally Billy put on airs and presumed a good deal upon his +position. On one occasion at Monmouth the General and his staff were +reconnoitering the British, and Billy and fellow valets gathered on an +adjoining hill beneath a sycamore tree whence Billy, telescope in hand, +surveyed the enemy with much importance and interest. Washington, with a +smile, called the attention of his aides to the spectacle. About the +same time the British, noticing the group of horsemen and unable to +distinguish the color of the riders, paid their respects to Billy and +his followers in the shape of a solid shot, which went crashing through +the top of the tree, whereupon there was a rapid recession of coat tails +toward the rear. + +Billy was a good and faithful servant and his master appreciated the +fact. In 1784 we find Washington writing to his Philadelphia agent: "The +mullatto fellow, William, who has been with me all the war, is attached +(married he says) to one of his own color, a free woman, who during the +war, was also of my family. She has been in an infirm condition for some +time, and I had conceived that the connexion between them had ceased; +but I am mistaken it seems; they are both applying to get her here, and +tho' I never wished to see her more, I can not refuse his request (if it +can be complied with on reasonable terms) as he has served me faithfully +for many years. After premising this much, I have to beg the favor of +you to procure her a passage to Alexandria." + +Next year while Billy and his master were engaged in surveying a piece +of ground he fell and broke his knee pan, with the result that he was +crippled ever after. When Washington started to New York in 1789 to be +inaugurated Billy insisted upon accompanying him, but gave out on the +way and was left at Philadelphia. A little later, by the President's +direction, Lear wrote to return Billy to Mount Vernon, "for he cannot be +of any service here, and perhaps will require a person to attend upon +him constantly ... but if he is still anxious to come on here the +President would gratify him, altho' he will be troublesome--He has been +an old and faithful Servant, this is enough for the President to gratify +him in every reasonable wish." + +When Billy was at Mount Vernon he worked as a shoemaker. He kept careful +note of visitors to the place and if one arrived who had served in the +Revolution he invariably received a summons to visit the old negro and +as invariably complied. Then would ensue a talk of war experiences which +both would enjoy, for between those who had experienced the cold at +Valley Forge and the warmth of Monmouth there were ties that reached +beyond the narrow confines of caste and color. And upon departure the +visitor would leave a coin in Billy's not unwilling palm. + +As later noted in detail, Washington made special provision for Billy +in his will, and for years the old negro lived upon his annuity. He was +much addicted to drink and now and then, alas, had attacks in which he +saw things that were not. On such occasions it was customary to send for +another mulatto named Westford, who would relieve him by letting a +little blood. There came a day when Westford arrived and proceeded to +perform his customary office, but the blood refused to flow. Billy +was dead. + +Washington's kindness to Billy was more or less paralleled by his +treatment of other servants. Even when President he would write letters +for his slaves to their wives and "Tel Bosos" and would inclose them +with his own letters to Mount Vernon. He appreciated the fact that +slaves were capable of human feelings like other men and in 1787, when +trying to purchase a mason, he instructed his agent not to buy if by so +doing he would "hurt the man's feelings" by breaking family ties. Even +when dying, noting black Cristopher by his bed, he directed him to sit +down and rest. It was a little thing, but kindness is largely made up of +little things. + +The course taken by him in training a personal servant is indicated by +some passages from his correspondence. Writing from the Capital to +Pearce, December, 1795, regarding a young negro, Washington says: + +"If Cyrus continues to give evidence of such qualities as would fit him +for a waiting man, encourage him to persevere in them; and if they +should appear to be sincere and permanent, I will receive him in that +character when I retire from public life if not sooner.--To be sober, +attentive to his duty, honest, obliging and cleanly, are the +qualifications necessary to fit him for my purposes.--If he possess +these, or can acquire them--he might become useful to me, at the same +time that he would exalt, and benefit himself." + +"I would have you again stir up the pride of Cyrus," he wrote the next +May, "that he may be the fitter for my purposes against I come home; +sometime before which (that is as soon as I shall be able to fix on +time) I will direct him to be taken into the house, and clothes to be +made for him.--In the meanwhile, get him a strong horn comb and direct +him to keep his head well combed, that the hair, or wool may grow long." + +Once when President word reached his ears that he was being criticized +for not furnishing his slaves with sufficient food. He hurriedly +directed that the amount should be increased and added: "I will not +have my feelings hurt with complaints of this sort, nor lye under the +imputation of starving my negros, and thereby driving them to the +necessity of thieving to supply the deficiency. To prevent waste or +embezzlement is the only inducement to allowancing them at all--for if, +instead of a peck they could eat a bushel of meal a week fairly, and +required it, I would not withold or begrudge it them." + +There is good reason to believe that Washington was respected and even +beloved by many of his "People." Colonel Humphreys, who was long at +Mount Vernon arranging the General's papers, wrote descriptive of the +return at the close of the Revolution: + + "When that foul stain of manhood, slavery, flowed, + Through Afric's sons transmitted in the blood; + Hereditary slaves his kindness shar'd, + For manumission by degrees prepared: + Return'd from war, I saw them round him press + And all their speechless glee by artless signs express." + +On the whole we must conclude that the lot of the Mount Vernon slaves +was a reasonably happy one. The regulations to which they had to conform +were rigorous. Their Master strove to keep them at work and to prevent +them from "night walking," that is running about at night visiting. +Their work was rough, and even the women were expected to labor in the +fields plowing, grubbing and hauling manure as if they were men. But +they had rations of corn meal, salt pork and salt fish, whisky and rum +at Christmas, chickens and vegetables raised by themselves and now and +then a toothsome pig sequestered from the Master's herd. When the annual +races were held at Alexandria they were permitted to go out into the +world and gaze and gabble to their heart's content. And, not least of +all, an inscrutable Providence had vouchsafed to Ham one great +compensation that whatever his fortune or station he should usually be +cheerful. The negro has not that "sad lucidity of mind" that curses his +white cousin and leads to general mental wretchedness and suicide. + +Some of the Mount Vernon slaves were of course more favored than were +others. The domestic and personal servants lived lives of culture and +inglorious ease compared with those of the field hands. They formed the +aristocracy of colored Mount Vernon society and gave themselves airs +accordingly. + +Nominally our Farmer's slaves were probably all Christians, though I +have found no mention in his papers of their spiritual state. But +tradition says that some of them at Dogue Run at least were Voudoo or +"conjuring" negroes. + +Washington owned slaves and lived his life under the institution of +slavery, but he loved it not. He was too honest and keen-minded not to +realize that the institution did not square with the principles of human +liberty for which he had fought, and yet the problem of slavery was so +vast and complicated that he was puzzled how to deal with it. But as +early as 1786 he wrote to John F. Mercer, of Virginia: "I never mean, +unless some particular circumstances should compel me to it, to possess +another slave by purchase, it being among my _first_ wishes to see some +plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law." +The running away of his colored cook a decade later subjected him to +such trials that he wrote that he would probably have to break his +resolution. He did, in fact, carry on considerable correspondence to +that end and seems to have taken one man on trial, but I have found no +evidence that he discovered a negro that suited him. + +In 1794, in explaining to Tobias Lear his reasons for desiring to sell +some of his western lands, he said: "_Besides these I have another +motive which_ makes me earnestly wish for these things--it is indeed +more powerful than all the rest--namely to liberate a certain species of +property which I possess very repugnantly to my own feelings; but which +imperious necessity compels, and until I can substitute some other +expedient, by which expenses, not in my power to avoid (however well I +may be disposed to do it) can be defrayed." + +Later in the same year he wrote to General Alexander Spotswood: "With +respect to the other species of property, concerning which you ask my +opinion, I shall frankly declare to you that I do not like even to +think, much less to talk of it.--However, as you have put the question, +I shall, in a few words, give _my ideas_ about it.--Were it not then, +that I am principled agt. selling negroes, as you would cattle at a +market, I would not in twelve months from this date, be possessed of one +as a slave.--I shall be happily mistaken, if they are not found to be a +very troublesome species of property ere many years pass over +our heads." + +"I wish from my soul that the Legislature of the State could see the +policy of a gradual abolition of slavery," he wrote to Lawrence Lewis +three years later. "It might prevent much future mischief." + +His ideas on the subject were in accord with those of many other great +Southerners of his day such as Madison and Jefferson. These men realized +the inconsistency of slavery in a republic dedicated to the proposition +that all men are created equal, and vaguely they foresaw the +irrepressible conflict that was to divide their country and was to be +fought out on a hundred bloody battle-fields. They did not attempt to +defend slavery as other than a temporary institution to be eliminated +whenever means and methods could be found to do it. Not until the cotton +gin had made slavery more profitable and radical abolitionism arose in +the North did Southerners of prominence begin to champion slavery as +praiseworthy and permanent. + +And yet, though Washington in later life deplored slavery, he was human +and illogical enough to dislike losing his negroes and pursued runaways +with energy. In October, 1760, he spent seven shillings in advertising +for an absconder, and the next year paid a minister named Green four +pounds for taking up a runaway. In 1766 he advertised rewards for the +capture of "Negro Tom," evidently the man he later sold in the West +Indies. The return of Henry in 1771 cost him L1.16. Several slaves were +carried away by the British during the Revolution and seem never to have +been recovered, though the treaty of peace provided for the return of +such slaves, and Washington made inquiries concerning them. In 1796, +apropos of a girl who had absconded to New England, he excused his +desire to recapture her on the ground that as long as slavery was in +existence it was hardly fair to allow some to escape and to hold others. + +A rather peculiar situation arose in 1791 with regard to some of his +"People," His attorney general, Randolph, had taken some slaves to +Philadelphia, and the blacks took advantage of the fact that under +Pennsylvania law they could not be forced to leave the state against +their will. Fearing that some of his own servants might do likewise, +Washington directed Lear to get the slaves back to Mount Vernon and to +accomplish it "under pretext that may deceive both them and the Public," +which goes to show that even George Washington had some of the guile of +the serpent. + +During this period he was loath to bring the fact that he was a +slaveholder too prominently before the public, for he realized the +prejudice already existing against the institution in the North. When +one of his men absconded in 1795 he gave instructions not to let his +name appear in any advertisement of the runaway, at least not north +of Virginia. + +His final judgment on slavery is expressed in his will. "Upon the +decease of my wife it is my will and desire," he wrote, "that all the +slaves which I hold _in my own right_ shall receive their freedom--To +emancipate them during her life, would tho earnestly wished by me, be +attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their +intermixture by marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the most +painful sensations,--if not disagreeable consequences from the latter, +while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor, it +not being in my power under the tenure by which the dower Negroes are +held to manumit them." + +The number of his own slaves at the time of his death was one hundred +twenty-four. Of dower negroes there were one hundred fifty-three, and +besides he had forty leased from a Mrs. French. + +He expressly forbade the sale of any slave or his transportation out of +Virginia, and made provision for the care of the aged, the young and +the infirm. He gave immediate freedom to his mulatto man, calling +himself William Lee, or if he should prefer it, being physically +incapacitated, he might remain in slavery. In either case he was to have +an annuity of thirty dollars and the "victuals and cloaths he has been +accustomed to receive." "This I give him as a testimony of my sense of +his attachment to me and for his faithful services during the +revolutionary War." + +As a matter of fact, Mrs. Washington preferred to free her own and the +General's negroes as soon as possible and it was accordingly done before +her death, which occurred in 1802. + +One of the servants thus freed, by name Cary, lived to the alleged age +of one hundred fourteen years and finally died in Washington City. He +was a personage of considerable importance among the colored population +of the Capital, and on Fourth of July and other parades would always +appear in an old military coat, cocked hat and huge cockade presented by +his Master. His funeral was largely attended even by white persons. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE FARMER'S WIFE + +Martha Dandridge's first husband was a man much older than herself and +her second was almost a year younger. Before she embarked upon her +second matrimonial venture she had been the mother of four children, and +having lost two of these, her husband, her father and mother, she had +known, though only twenty-seven, most of the vital experiences that life +can give. Perhaps it was well, for thereby she was better fitted to be +the mate of a man sober and sedate in disposition and created by Nature +to bear heavy burdens of responsibility. + +In view of the important places her husband filled, it is astonishing +how little we really know of her. Washington occasionally refers to her +in his letters and diaries, but usually in an impersonal way that gives +us little insight into her character or activities. She purposely +destroyed almost all the correspondence that passed between her and her +husband and very little else remains that she wrote. From the few +letters that do survive it is apparent that her education was slender, +though no more so than that of most women of her day even in the upper +class. She had a fondness for phonetic spelling, and her verbs and +subjects often indulged in family wrangles. She seems to have been +conscious of her deficiencies in this direction or at least to have +disliked writing, for not infrequently the General acted as her +amanuensis. But she was well trained in social and domestic +accomplishments, could dance and play on the spinet--in short, was +brought up a "gentlewoman." That she must in youth have possessed charm +of person and manners is indicated by her subjugation of Daniel Parke +Custis, a man of the world and of much greater fortune than herself, and +by her later conquest of Washington, for, though it be admitted in the +latter case that George may not have objected to her fortune, we can not +escape the conclusion that he truly loved her. + +In fact, the match seems to have been ideally successful in every +respect except one. The contracting parties remained reasonably devoted +to each other until the end and though tradition says that Martha would +sometimes read George a curtain lecture after they had retired from +company, there remains no record of any serious disagreement. Though not +brilliant nor possessed of a profound mind, she was a woman of much good +sense with an understanding heart. Nor did she lack firmness or public +spirit. Edmund Pendleton relates that when on his way to the Continental +Congress in 1774 he stopped at Mount Vernon, "She talked like a Spartan +mother to her son on going to battle. 'I hope you will all stand firm--I +know George will,' she said." + +The poorest artisan in Boston with nothing to lose but his life did not +embrace the patriot cause with any greater eagerness than did these +Washingtons with their broad acres and thousands of pounds on bond. + +There is every reason to believe that Martha Washington was helpful to +her husband in many ways. At home she was a good housewife and when +Washington was in public life she played her part well. No brilliant +sallies of wit spoken by her on any occasion have come down to us, but +we know that at Valley Forge she worked day and night knitting socks, +patching garments and making shirts for the loyal band of winter +patriots who stood by their leader and their cause in the darkest hour +of the Revolution. + +A Norristown lady who paid her a call in the little stone house that +still stands beside the Schuylkill relates that "as she was said to be +so grand a lady, we thought we must put on our best bibs and bands. So +we dressed ourselves in our most elegant ruffles and silks, and were +introduced to her ladyship. And don't you think we found her _knitting +with a specked apron on!_ She received us very graciously, and easily, +but after the compliments were over, she resumed her knitting." + +But the marriage was a failure in that there were no children. No doubt +both wanted them, for Washington was fond of young people and many +anecdotes are handed down of his interest in little tots. Some one has +remarked that he was deprived of offspring in order that he might become +the Father of His Country. + +Toward those near and dear to her Martha Washington was almost foolishly +affectionate. In one of her letters she tells of a visit "in +Westmoreland whare I spent a weak very agreabley. I carred my little +patt with me and left Jackey at home for a trial to see how well I coud +stay without him though we ware gon but won fortnight I was quite +impatiant to get home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or a +noise out, I thought thair was a person sent for me. I often fancied he +was sick or some accident had happened to him so that I think it is +impossible for me to leave him as long as Mr. Washington must stay when +he comes down." + +Any parent who has been absent from home under similar circumstances and +who has imagined the infinite variety of dreadful things that might +befall a loved child will sympathize with the mother's heart--in spite +of the poor spelling! + +Patty Custis was an amiable and beautiful girl who when she grew up came +to be called "the dark lady." But she was delicate in health. Some +writers have said that she had consumption, but as her stepfather +repeatedly called it "Fits," I think it is certain that it was some form +of epilepsy. Her parents did everything possible to restore her, but in +vain. Once they took her to Bath, now Berkeley Springs, for several +weeks and the expenses of that journey we find all duly set down by +Colonel Washington in the proper place. As Paul Leicester Ford remarks, +some of the remedies tried savored of quackery. In the diary, for +February 16, 1770, we learn that "Joshua Evans who came here last Night +put an iron Ring upon Patey and went away after Breakfast." Perhaps +Evans failed to make the ring after the old medieval rule from three +nails or screws that had been taken from a disinterred coffin. At any +rate the ring did poor Patty little good and a year later "Mr. Jno. +Johnson who has a nostrum for Fits came here in the afternoon." In the +spring of 1773 the dark lady died. + +Her death added considerably to Washington's possessions, but there is +every evidence that he gave no thought to that aspect of the matter. +"Her delicate health, or perhaps her fond affection for the only father +she had ever known, so endeared her to the 'general', that he knelt at +her dying bed, and with a passionate burst of tears prayed aloud that +her life might be spared, unconscious that even then her spirit had +departed." The next day he wrote to his brother-in-law: "It is an easier +matter to conceive than describe the distress of this Family: especially +that of the unhappy Parent of our Dear Patey Custis, when I inform you +that yesterday removed the Sweet Innocent Girl [who] Entered into a more +happy & peaceful abode than any she has met with in the afflicted Path +she hitherto has trod." + +Before this John Parke Custis, or "Jacky," had given his stepfather +considerable anxiety. Jacky's mind turned chiefly from study to dogs, +horses and guns and, in an effort, to "make him fit for more useful +purposes than horse races," Washington put him under the tutorship of an +Anglican clergyman named Jonathan Boucher, who endeavored to instruct +some of the other gilded Virginia youths of his day. But Latin and Greek +were far less interesting to the boy than the pretty eyes of Eleanor +Calvert and the two entered into a clandestine engagement. In all +respects save one the match was eminently satisfactory, for the Calvert +family, being descended from Lord Baltimore, was as good as any in +America, and Miss Nelly's amiable qualities, wrote Washington, had +endeared her to her prospective relations, but both were very young, +Jack being about seventeen, and the girl still younger. While consenting +to the match, therefore, Washington insisted that its consummation +should be postponed for two years and packed the boy off to King's +College, now Columbia. But Martha Washington was a fond and doting +mother and, as Patty's death occurred almost immediately, Jack's absence +in distant New York was more than she could bear. He was, therefore, +allowed to return home in three months instead of two years, and in +February, 1774, was wedded to the girl of his choice. Mrs. Washington +felt the loss of her daughter too keenly to attend, but sent this +message by her husband: + +"MY DEAR NELLY.--God took from me a Daughter when June Roses were +blooming--He has now given me another Daughter about her Age when Winter +winds are blowing, to warm my Heart again. I am as Happy as One so +Afflicted and so Blest can be. Pray receive my Benediction and a wish +that you may long live the Loving Wife of my happy Son, and a Loving +Daughter of + +"Your affectionate Mother, + +"M. WASHINGTON." + +The marriage, it may be added here, sobered John Custis. He and his +bride established themselves at Abingdon on the Potomac, not far from +Mount Vernon, and with their little ones were often visitors, especially +when the General was away to the war and Mrs. Washington was alone. +Toward the close of the war Jack himself entered the army, rose to the +rank of colonel and died of fever contracted in the siege of Yorktown. +Thus again was the mother's heart made sorrowful, nor did the General +himself accept the loss unmoved. He at once adopted the two youngest +children, Eleanor and George Washington Parke, and brought them up in +his own family. + +Eleanor Custis, or "Nelly," as she was affectionately called, grew up a +joyous, beautiful cultured girl, who won the hearts of all who saw her. +The Polish poet, Julian Niemcewicz, who visited Mount Vernon in 1798, +wrote of her as "the divine Miss Custis.... She was one of those +celestial beings so rarely produced by nature, sometimes dreamt of by +poets and painters, which one cannot see without a feeling of ecstacy." +As already stated, she married the General's nephew, Lawrence Lewis. In +September, 1799, Washington told the pair that they might build a house +on Grey's Heights on the Dogue Run Farm and rent the farm, "by all odds +the best and most productive I possess," promising that on his death the +place should go to them. Death came before the house was built, but +later the pair erected on the Heights "Woodlawn," one of the most +beautiful and pretentious places in Fairfax County. + +George Washington Parke Custis grew up much such a boy as his father +was. He took few matters seriously and neglected the educational +opportunities thrown in his way. Washington said of him that "from his +infancy I have discovered an almost unconquerable disposition to +indolence in everything that did not tend to his amusements." But he +loved the boy, nevertheless, and late in life Custis confessed, "we have +seen him shed tears of parental solicitude over the manifold errors and +follies of our unworthy youth." The boy had a good heart, however, and +if he was the source of worry to the great man during the great man's +life, he at least did what he could to keep the great man's memory +green. He wrote a book of recollections full of filial affection and +Latin phrases and painted innumerable war pictures in which Washington +was always in the foreground on a white horse "with the British +streaking it." Washington bequeathed to him a square in the City of +Washington and twelve hundred acres on Four Mile Run in the vicinity of +Alexandria. Upon land near by inherited from his father Custis built the +famous Arlington mansion, almost ruining himself financially in doing +so. Upon his death the estate fell to his daughter, Mrs. Robert E. Lee, +and it is now our greatest national cemetery. + +Mrs. Washington not only managed the Mount Vernon household, but she +looked after the spinning of yarn, the weaving of cloth and the making +of clothing for the family and for the great horde of slaves. At times, +particularly during the Revolution and the non-importation days that +preceded it, she had as many as sixteen spinning-wheels in operation at +once. The work was done in a special spinning house, which was well +equipped with looms, wheels, reels, flaxbrakes and other machinery. Most +of the raw material, such as wool and flax and sometimes even cotton, +was produced upon the place and never left it until made up into the +finished product. + +In 1768 the white man and five negro girls employed in the work produced +815-3/4 yards of linen, 365-1/4 yards of woolen cloth, 144 yards of +linsey and 40 yards of cotton cloth. With his usual pains Washington +made a comparative statement of the cost of this cloth produced at home +and what it would have cost him if it had been purchased in England, and +came to the conclusion that only L23.19.11 would be left to defray the +expense of spinning, hire of the six persons engaged, "cloathing, +victualling, wheels, &c." Still the work was kept going. + +A great variety of fabrics were produced: "striped woolen, wool plaided, +cotton striped, linen, wool-birdseye, cotton filled with wool, linsey, +M's and O's, cotton Indian dimity, cotton jump stripe, linen filled with +tow, cotton striped with silk, Roman M., janes twilled, huccabac, +broadcloth, counter-pain, birdseye diaper, Kirsey wool, barragon, +fustian, bed-ticking, herring-box, and shalloon." + +In non-importation days Mrs. Washington even made the cloth for two of +her own gowns, using cotton striped with silk, the latter being obtained +from the ravellings of brown silk stockings and crimson damask +chair covers. + +The housewife believed in good cheer and an abundance of it, and the +larders at Mount Vernon were kept well filled. Once the General +protested to Lund Washington because so many hogs had been killed, +whereupon the manager replied that when he put up the meat he had +expected that Mrs. Washington would have been at home and that he knew +there would be need for it because her "charitable disposition is in +the same proportion as her meat house." + +[Illustration: Weekly Report on the Work of the Spinners] + +She had a swarm of relatives by blood and marriage and they visited her +long and often. The Burwells, the Bassetts, the Dandridges and all the +rest came so frequently that hardly a week passed that at least one of +them did not sleep beneath the hospitable roof. Even her stepmother paid +her many visits and, what is more, was strongly urged by the General to +make the place her permanent home. When Mrs. Washington was at home +during the Revolution her son and her daughter-in-law spent most of +their time there. After the Revolution her two youngest grandchildren +resided at Mount Vernon, and the two older ones, Elizabeth and Martha, +were often there, as was their mother, who married as her second husband +Doctor Stuart, a man whom Washington highly esteemed. + +It would be foolish to deny that Mrs. Washington did not take pleasure +in the honors heaped upon her husband or that she did not enjoy the +consideration that accrued to her as First Lady of the Land. Yet public +life at times palled upon her and she often spoke of the years of the +presidency as her "lost days." New York and Philadelphia, she said, +were "not home, only a sojourning. The General and I feel like children +just released from school or from a hard taskmaster.... How many dear +friends I have left behind! They fill my memory with sweet thoughts. +Shall I ever see them again? Not likely unless they come to me, for the +twilight is gathering around our lives. I am again fairly settled down +to the pleasant duties of an old-fashioned Virginia-housekeeper, steady +as a clock, busy as a bee, and cheerful as a cricket." + +That she did not overdraw her account of her industry is borne out by a +Mrs. Carrington, who, with her husband, one of the General's old +officers, visited Mount Vernon about this time. She wrote: + +"Let us repair to the Old Lady's room, which is precisely in the style +of our good old Aunt's--that is to say, nicely fixed for all sorts of +work--On one side sits the chambermaid, with her knitting--on the other, +a little colored pet learning to sew, an old decent woman, with her +table and shears, cutting out the negroes' winter clothes, while the +good old lady directs them all, incessantly knitting herself and +pointing out to me several pair of nice colored stockings and gloves she +had just finished, and presenting me with a pair half done, which she +begs I will finish and wear for her. Her netting too is a great source +of amusement and is so neatly done that all the family are proud of +trimming their dresses with it." + +This domestic life was dear to the heart of our Farmer's wife, yet the +home-coming did not fail to awaken some melancholy memories. To Mrs. +George Fairfax in England she wrote, or rather her husband wrote for +her: "The changes which have taken place in this country since you left +it (and it is pretty much the case in all other parts of this State) +are, in one word, total. In Alexandria, I do not believe there lives at +this day a single family with whom you had the smallest acquaintance. In +our neighborhood Colo. Mason, Colo. McCarty and wife, Mr. Chickester, +Mr. Lund Washington and all the Wageners, have left the stage of human +life; and our visitors on the Maryland side are gone and going +likewise." + +How many people have had like thoughts! One of the many sad things about +being the "last leaf upon the tree" is having to watch the other leaves +shrivel and drop off and to be left at last in utter loneliness. + +Like her husband, Mrs. Washington was an early riser, and it was a habit +she seems to have kept up until the end. She rose with the sun and +after breakfast invariably retired to her room for an hour of prayer and +reading the Scriptures. Her devotions over she proceeded with the +ordinary duties of the day. + +She seems to have been somewhat fond of ceremony and to have had a +considerable sense of personal dignity. A daughter of Augustine +Washington, who when twelve years of age spent several weeks at Mount +Vernon, related when an old woman that every morning precisely at eleven +o'clock the mistress of the mansion expected her company to assemble in +the drawing-room, where she greeted them with much formality and kept +them an hour on their good behavior. When the clock struck twelve she +would rise and ascend to her chamber, returning thence precisely at one, +followed by a black servant carrying an immense bowl of punch, from +which the guests were expected to partake before dinner. Some of the +younger girls became curious to discover why her "Ladyship" retired so +invariably to her room, so they slipped out from where she was +entertaining their mothers, crept upstairs and hid under her bed. +Presently Lady Washington entered and took a seat before a large table. +A man-servant then brought a large empty bowl, also lemons, sugar, +spices and rum, with which she proceeded to prepare the punch. The young +people under the bed thereupon fell to giggling until finally she became +aware of their presence. Much offended, or at least pretending to be, +she ordered them from the room. They retired with such precipitancy that +one of them fell upon the stairway and broke her arm. + +Another story is to the effect that one morning Nelly Custis, Miss +Dandridge and some other girls who were visiting Nelly came down to +breakfast dressed dishabille and with their hair done up in curl papers. +Mrs. Washington did not rebuke them and the meal proceeded normally +until the announcement was made that some French officers of rank and +young Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, who was interested in Miss Custis, +had driven up outside, whereupon the foolish virgins sprang up to leave +the room in order to make more conventional toilets. But Mrs. Washington +forbade their doing so, declaring that what was good enough for General +Washington was good enough for any guest of his. + +She spoiled George Washington Custis as she had his father, but was +more severe with Eleanor or Nelly. Washington bought the girl a fine +imported harpsichord, which cost a thousand dollars and which is still +to be seen at Mount Vernon, and the grandmother made Nelly practise upon +it four or five hours a day. "The poor girl," relates her brother, +"would play and cry, and cry and play, for long hours, under the +immediate eye of her grandmother." For no shirking was allowed. + +The truth would seem to be that Lady Washington was more severe with the +young--always excepting Jacky and George--than was her husband. He would +often watch their games with evident enjoyment and would encourage them +to continue their amusements and not to regard him. He was the confidant +of their hopes and fears and even amid tremendous cares of state found +time to give advice about their love affairs. For he was a very human +man, after all, by no means the marble statue sculptured by some +historians. + +Yet no doubt Mrs. Washington's severity proceeded from a sense of duty +and the fitness of things rather than from any harshness of heart. The +little old lady who wrote: "Kiss Marie. I send her two handkerchiefs to +wipe her nose," could not have been so very terrible! + +She was beloved by her servants and when she left Mount Vernon for New +York in 1789 young Robert Lewis reported that "numbers of these poor +wretches seemed most affected, my aunt equally so." At Alexandria she +stopped at Doctor Stuart's, the home of two of her grandchildren, and +next morning there was another affecting scene, such as Lewis never +again wished to witness--"the family in tears--the children a-bawling--& +everything in the most lamentable situation." + +Although she was not the paragon that some writers have pictured, she +was a splendid home-loving American woman, brave in heart and helpful to +her husband, neither a drone nor a drudge--in the true Scriptural sense +a worthy woman who sought wool and flax and worked willingly with her +hands. As such her price was far beyond rubies. + +As has been remarked before, no brilliant sayings from her lips have +been transmitted to posterity. But I suspect that the shivering soldiers +on the bleak hillsides at Valley Forge found more comfort in the warm +socks she knitted than they could have in the _bon mots_ of a Madame de +Stael or in the grace of a Josephine and that her homely interest in +their welfare tied their hearts closer to their Leader and +their Country. + +It is not merely because she was the wife of the Hero of the Revolution +and the first President of the Republic that she is the most revered of +all American women. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +A FARMER'S AMUSEMENTS + +No one would ever think of characterizing George Washington as frivolous +minded, but from youth to old age he was a believer in the adage that +all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy--a saying that many an +overworked farmer of our own day would do well to take to heart. + +Like most Virginians he was decidedly a social being and loved to be in +the company of his kind. This trait was noticeable in his youth and +during his early military career, nor did it disappear after he married +and settled down at Mount Vernon. Until the end he and Mrs. Washington +kept open house, and what a galaxy of company they had! Scarcely a day +passed without some guest crossing their hospitable threshold, nor did +such visitors come merely to leave their cards or to pay fashionable +five-minute calls. They invariably stayed to dinner and most generally +for the night; very often for days or weeks at a time. After the +Revolution the number of guests increased to such an extent that Mount +Vernon became "little better than a well-resorted inn." + +Artists came to paint the great man's picture; the sculptor Houdon to +take the great man's bust, arriving from Alexandria, by the way, after +the family had gone to bed; the Marquis de Lafayette to visit his old +friend; Mrs. Macaulay Graham to obtain material for her history; Noah +Webster to consider whether he would become the tutor of young Custis; +Mr. John Fitch, November 4, 1785, "to propose a draft & Model of a +machine for promoting Navigation by means of a Steam"; Charles Thomson, +secretary of the Continental Congress, to notify the General of his +election to the presidency; a host of others, some out of friendship, +others from mere curiosity or a desire for free lodging. + +The visit of Lafayette was the last he made to this country while the +man with whose fame his name is inseparably linked remained alive. He +visited Mount Vernon in August, 1784, and again three months later. When +the time for a final adieu came Washington accompanied him to Annapolis +and saw him on the road to Baltimore. The generous young benefactor of +America was very dear to Washington, and the parting affected him +exceedingly. Soon after he wrote to the departed friend a letter in +which he showed his heart in a way that was rare with him. "In the +moment of our separation," said he, "upon the road as I travelled, and +every hour since, I have felt all the love, respect, and attachment for +you with which length of years, close connextion, and your merits have +inspired me. I have often asked myself, as our carriages separated, +whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you." + +It was a true foreboding. Often in times that followed Washington was to +receive tidings of his friend's triumphs and perilous adventures amid +the bloody turmoil of the French Revolution, was to entertain his son at +Mount Vernon when the father lay in the dark dungeons of Olmuetz, but was +never again to look into his face. Years later the younger man, +revisiting the grateful Republic he had helped to found, was to turn +aside from the acclaiming plaudits of admiring multitudes and stand +pensively beside the Tomb of his Leader and reflect upon the years in +which they had stood gloriously shoulder to shoulder in defense of a +noble cause. + +Even when Washington was at the seat of government many persons stopped +at Mount Vernon and were entertained by the manager. Several times the +absent owner sent wine and other luxuries for the use of such guests. +When he was at home friends, relatives, diplomats, delegations of +Indians to visit the Great White Father swarmed thither in shoals. In +1797 young Lafayette and his tutor, Monsieur Frestel, whom Washington +thought a very sensible man, made the place, by invitation, their home +for several months. In the summer of that year Washington wrote to his +old secretary, Tobias Lear: "I am alone at _present_, and shall be glad +to see you this evening. Unless some one pops in unexpectedly--Mrs. +Washington and myself will do what I believe has not been done within +the last twenty Years by us,--that is to set down to dinner by +ourselves." + +Washington was the soul of hospitality. He enjoyed having people in his +house and eating at his board, but there is evidence that toward the +last he grew somewhat weary of the stream of strangers. But neither then +nor at any other time in his life did he show his impatience to a +visitor or turn any man from his door. His patience, was sorely tried at +times. For example, we find in his diary under date of September 7, +1785: "At Night, a Man of the name of Purdie, came to offer himself to +me as a Housekeeper or Household Steward--he had some testimonials +respecting his character--but being intoxicated, and in other respects +appearing in an unfavorable light I informed him that he would not +answer my purpose, but that he might stay all night." + +No matter how many visitors came the Farmer proceeded about his business +as usual, particularly in the morning, devoting dinner time and certain +hours of the afternoon and evening to those who were sojourning with +him. He was obliged, in self-defense, to adopt some such course. He +wrote: "My manner of living is plain, and I do not mean to be put out by +it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready, and such as +will be content to partake of them are always welcome. Those who expect +more will be disappointed." + +After his retirement from the presidency he induced his nephew Lawrence +Lewis to come to Mount Vernon and take over some of the duties of +entertaining guests, particularly in the evening, as Washington had +reached an age when he was averse to staying up late. Lewis not only +performed the task satisfactorily, but found incidental diversion that +led to matrimony. + +Every visitor records that the Farmer was a kind and considerate host. +Elkanah Watson relates that one bitter winter night at Mount Vernon, +having a severe cold that caused him to cough incessantly, he heard the +door of his chamber open gently and there stood the General with a +candle in one hand and a bowl of hot tea in another. Doubtless George +and Martha had heard the coughing and in family council had decided that +their guest must have attention. + +Washington was a Cavalier, not a Puritan, and had none of the old New +England prejudice against the theater. In fact, it was one of his +fondest pleasures from youth to old age. In his Barbadoes journal he +records being "treated with a play ticket by Mr. Carter to see the +Tragedy of George Barnwell acted." In 1752 he attended a performance at +Fredericksburg and thereafter, whenever occasion offered, which during +his earlier years was not often, he took advantage of it. He even +expressed a desire to act himself. After his resignation and marriage +opportunities were more frequent and in his cash memorandum books are +many entries of expenditures for tickets to performances at Alexandria +and elsewhere. Thus on September 20, 1768, in his daily record of +_Where & how my time is Spent_ he writes that he "& Mrs. Washington & ye +two children were up to Alexandria to see the Inconstant or way to win +him acted." Next day he "Stayd in Town all day & saw the Tragedy of +Douglas playd." + +Such performances were probably given by strolling players who had few +accessories in the way of scenery to assist them in creating their +illusions. + +In September, 1771, when at Annapolis to attend the races, he went to +plays four times in five days, the fifth day being Sunday. Two years +later, being in New York City, he saw _Hamlet_ and _Cross Purposes_. + +On many occasions both in this period of his life and later he went to +sleight of hand performances, wax works, puppet shows, animal shows, "to +hear the Armonica," concerts and other entertainments. + +The "association" resolutions of frugality and self-denial by the +Continental Congress put an end temporarily to plays in the colonies +outside the British lines and put Washington into a greater play, "not, +as he once wished, as a performer, but as a character." There were +amateur performances at Valley Forge, but they aroused the hostility of +the puritanical, and Congress forbade them. Washington seems, however, +to have disregarded the interdiction after Yorktown. + +He had few opportunities to gratify his fondness for performances in the +period of 1784-89, but during his presidency, while residing in New York +and Philadelphia, he was a regular attendant. He gave frequent theater +parties, sending tickets to his friends. Word that he would attend a +play always insured a "full house," and upon his entrance to his box the +orchestra would play _Hail Columbia_ and _Washington's March_ amid great +enthusiasm. + +The _Federal Gazette_ described a performance of _The Maid of the Mill,_ +which he attended in 1792, as follows: + +"When Mr. Hodgkinson as Lord Ainsworth exhibited nobleness of mind in +his generosity to the humble miller and his daughter, Patty; when he +found her blessed with all the qualities that captivate and endear life, +and knew she was capable of adorning a higher sphere; when he had +interviews with her upon the subject in which was painted the +amiableness of an honorable passion; and after his connection, when he +bestowed his benefactions on the relatives, etc., of the old miller, the +great and good Washington manifested his approbation of this +interesting part of the opera by the tribute of a tear." + +Another amusement that both the Farmer and his wife enjoyed greatly was +dancing. In his youth he attended balls and "routs" whenever possible +and when fighting French and Indians on the frontier he felt as one of +his main deprivations his inability to attend the "Assemblies." After +his marriage he and his wife went often to balls in Alexandria, attired +no doubt in all the bravery of imported English clothes. He describes a +ball of 1760 in these terms: + +"Went to a ball at Alexandria, where Musick and dancing was the chief +entertainment, however, in a convenient room detached for the purpose +abounded great plenty of bread and butter, some biscuits, with tea and +coffee, which the drinkers of could not distinguish from hot water +sweet'ned--Be it remembered that pocket handkerchiefs served the +purposes of Table cloths & Napkins and that no apologies were made for +either. I shall therefore distinguish this ball by the stile and title +of the Bread & Butter Ball." + +A certain Mr. Christian conducted a dancing school which met at the +homes of the patrons, and the Custis children, John Parke and Martha, +were members, as were Elizabeth French of Rose Hill, Milly Posey and +others of the neighborhood young people. In 1770 the class met four +times at Mount Vernon and we can not doubt that occasionally the host +danced with some of the young misses and enjoyed it. + +An established institution was the election ball, which took place on +the night following the choice of the delegate to the Burgesses. +Washington often contributed to the expenses of these balls, +particularly when he was himself elected. No doubt they were noisy, +hilarious and perhaps now and then a bit rough. + +Much has been written of the dances by which Washington and his officers +and their ladies helped to while away the tedium of long winters during +the Revolution, but the story of these has been often told and besides +lies outside the limits of this book, as does the dancing at New York +and Philadelphia during his presidency. + +There is much conflicting evidence regarding Washington's later dancing +exploits. Some writers say that he never tripped the light fantastic +after the Revolution and that one of his last participations was at the +Fredericksburg ball after the capture of Cornwallis when he "went down +some dozen couple in the contra dance." It is certain, however, that +long afterward he would at least walk through one or two dances, even +though he did not actually take the steps. One good lady who knew him +well asserts that he often danced with Nelly Custis, and he seems to +have danced in 1796 when he was sixty-four. But to the invitation to the +Alexandria assembly early in 1799 he replied: + +"Mrs. Washington and myself have been honored with your polite +invitation to the assemblies of Alexandria this winter, and thank you +for this mark of your attention. But, alas! our dancing days are no +more. We wish, however, all those who have a relish for so agreeable and +innocent an amusement all the pleasure the season will afford them." + +Nor was he puritanical in respect to cards. From his account books we +find that he ordered them by the dozen packs, and his diaries contain +such entries as "At home all day over cards, it snowing." To increase +the interest he not infrequently played for money, though rarely for a +large amount. "Loo" and whist seem to have been the games played, but +not "bridge" or draw poker, which were then unknown. + +From entries in his cash memorandum books it is evident that he loved a +quiet game rather frequently. Thus in his memorandum for 1772 I find the +entry for September five: "To Cash won at cards" L1.5. Four days later +he writes: "To Cash won at Cards at Mrs. Calverts" ten shillings. But on +September 17th he lost L1.5; on September 30th, L2, and on October 5th, +six shillings. Two days later his luck changed and he won L2.5, while on +the seventh he won L12.8. This was the most serious game that I have +found a record of, and the cards must either have run well for him or +else he had unskilful opponents. The following March, when attending the +Burgesses at Williamsburg, he got into a game, probably at Mrs. +Campbell's tavern, where he took his meals, and dropped L7.10. + +In one of his account books I find two pages devoted to striking a +balance between what he won and what he lost from January 7, 1772, to +January 1, 1775. In that time he won L72.2.6 and lost L78.5.9. Hence we +find the entry: "By balance against Play from Jany. 1772 to this +date ... L6.3.3." But he must have had a lot of fun at a cost of that +six pounds three shillings and three pence! + +It should be remarked here that gaming was then differently regarded in +Virginia from what it is now. Many even of the Episcopal clergymen +played cards for money and still kept fast hold upon their belief that +they would go to Heaven. + +The same may also be said of lotteries, in which Washington now and then +took a flier. Many of the churches of that day, even in New England, +were built partly or wholly with money raised in that way. January 5, +1773, Washington states that he has received sixty tickets in the +Delaware lottery from his friend Lord Stirling and that he has "put 12 +of the above Sixty into the Hands of the Revd. Mr. Magowan to sell." And +"the Revd." sold them too! + +In his journal of the trip to Barbadoes taken with his brother Lawrence +we find that on his way home he attended "a Great Main of cks [cocks] +fought in Yorktown between Gloucester & York for 5 pistoles each battle +& 10 ye. odd." Occasionally he seems to have witnessed other mains, but +I have found no evidence that he made the practice in any sense a habit. + +As a counterweight to his interest in so brutal a sport I must state +that he was exceedingly fond of afternoon teas and of the social +enjoyments connected with tea drinking. Tea was regularly served at his +army headquarters and in summer afternoons on the Mount Vernon veranda. + +There is abundant evidence that he also enjoyed horse racing. In +September, 1768, he mentions going "to a Purse race at Accotinck," a +hamlet a few miles below Mount Vernon where a race track was maintained. +In 1772 he attended the Annapolis races, being a guest of the Governor +of Maryland, and he repeated the trip in 1773. In the following May he +went to a race and barbecue at Johnson's Ferry. George Washington Custis +tells us that the Farmer kept blooded horses and that his colt +"Magnolia" once ran for a purse, presumably losing, as if the event had +been otherwise we should probably have been informed of the fact. In +1786 Washington went to Alexandria "to see the Jockey Club purse run +for," and I have noticed a few other references to races, but I conclude +that he went less often than some writers would have us believe. + +Washington was decidedly an outdoor man. Being six feet two inches tall, +and slender rather than heavily made, he was well fitted for athletic +sports. Tradition says that he once threw a stone across the +Rappahannock at a spot where no other man could do it, and that he could +outjump any one in Virginia. He also excelled in the game of putting the +bar, as a story related by the artist Peale bears witness. + +Of outdoor sports he seems to have enjoyed hunting most. He probably had +many unrecorded experiences with deer and turkeys when a surveyor and +when in command upon the western border, but his main hunting adventure +after big game took place on his trip to the Ohio in 1770. Though the +party was on the move most of the time and was looking for rich land +rather than for wild animals, they nevertheless took some hunts. + +On October twenty-second, in descending the stretch of the Ohio near the +mouth of Little Beaver Creek and above the Mingo Town, they saw many +wild geese and several kinds of duck and "killed five wild turkeys." +Three days later they "saw innumerable quantities of turkeys, and many +deer watering and browsing on the shore side, some of which we killed." + +He does not say whether they shot this game from the canoe or not, but +probably on sighting the game they would put to shore and then one or +more would steal up on the quarry. Their success was probably increased +by the fact that they had two Indians with them. + +Few people are aware of the fact that what is now West Virginia and Ohio +then contained many buffaloes. Below the mouth of the Great Hockhocking +the voyagers came upon a camp of Indians, the chief of which, an old +friend who had accompanied him to warn out the French in 1753, gave +Washington "a quarter of very fine buffalo." A creek near the camp, +according to the Indians, was an especial resort for these great beasts. + +Fourteen miles up the Great Kanawha the travelers took a day off and +"went a hunting; killed five buffaloes and wounded some others, three +deer, &c. This country abounds in buffaloes and wild game of all kinds; +as also in all kinds of wild fowls, there being in the bottoms a great +many small grassy ponds, or lakes, which are full of swans, geese, and +ducks of different kinds." + +How many of the buffaloes fell to his gun Washington does not record, +but it is safe to assume that he had at least some shots at them. And +beyond question he helped to devour the delicious buffalo humps, these +being, with the flesh of the bighorn sheep, the _ne plus ultra_ of +American big game delicacies. + +The region in which these events took place was also notable for its big +trees. Near the mouth of the Kanawha they "met with a sycamore about +sixty yards from the river of a most extraordinary size, it measuring, +three feet from the ground, forty-five feet round [almost fifteen feet +through], lacking two inches; and not fifty yards from it was another, +thirty-one feet round." + +When at home, Washington now and then took a gun and went out after +ducks, "hairs," wild turkeys and other game, and occasionally he records +fair bags of mallards, teal, bald faces and "blew wings," one of the +best being that of February 18, 1768, when he "went a ducking between +breakfast and dinner & killed 2 mallards & 5 bald faces." It is doubtful +whether he was at all an expert shot. In fact, he much preferred chasing +the fox with dogs to hunting with a gun. + +Fox hunting in the Virginia of that day was a widely followed sport. It +was brought over from England and perhaps its greatest devotee was old +Lord Fairfax, with whom Washington hunted when still in his teens. +Fairfax, whose seat was at Greenway Court in the Shenandoah Valley, was +so passionately fond of it that if foxes were scarce near his home he +would go to a locality where they were plentiful, would establish +himself at an inn and would keep open house and welcome every person of +good character and respectable appearance who cared to join him. + +The following are some typical entries from Washington's _Where & how my +time is Spent_: "Jany. 1st. (1768) Fox huntg. in my own Neck with Mr. +Robt. Alexander and Mr. Colville--catchd nothing--Captn. Posey with us." +There were many similar failures and no successes in the next six weeks, +but on February twelfth he records joyfully, "Catchd two foxes," and on +the thirteenth "catch 2 more foxes." March 2, 1768, "Hunting again, & +catchd a fox with a bobd Tail & cut Ears, after 7 hours chase in wch. +most of the dogs were worsted." March twenty-ninth, "Fox Hunting with +Jacky Custis & Ld. [Lund] Washington--Catchd a fox after 3 hrs. chase." +November twenty-second, "Went a fox huntg. with Lord Fairfax & Colo. +Fairfax & my Br. Catchd 2 Foxes." For two weeks thereafter they hunted +almost every day with varying success. September 30, 1769, he records: +"catchd a Rakoon." + +On January 27, 1770, the dogs ran a deer out of the Neck and some of +them did not get home till next day. The finding of a deer was no +uncommon experience, but on no occasion does the chase seem to have been +successful, as, when hard pressed, the fugitive would take to the water +where the dogs could not follow. January 4, 1772, the hunters "found +both a Bear and a Fox but got neither." + +Bear and deer were still fairly plentiful in the region, and the fact +serves to indicate that the country was not yet thickly settled, nor is +it to this day. + +In November, 1771, Washington and Jack Custis went to Colonel Mason's at +Gunston Hall, a few miles below Mount Vernon, to engage in a grand deer +drive in which many men and dogs took part. Mason had an estate of ten +thousand acres which was favorably located for such a purpose, being +nearly surrounded by water, with peninsulas on which the game could be +cornered and forced to take to the river. On the first day they killed +two deer, but on the second they killed nothing. No doubt they had a +hilarious time of it, dogs baying, horsemen dashing here and there +shouting at the top of their voices, and with plenty of fat venison and +other good cheer at the Hall that night. + +Washington's most remarkable hunting experience occurred on the +twenty-third of January, 1770, when he records: "Went a hunting after +breakfast & found a Fox at Muddy hole & killed her (it being a Bitch) +after a chase of better than two hours & after treeing her twice the +last of which times she fell dead out of the Tree after being therein +sevl. minutes apparently well." Lest he may be accused of nature faking, +it should be explained that the tree was a leaning tree. Occasionally +the foxes also took refuge in hollow trees, up which they could climb. + +The day usually ended by all the hunters riding to Mount Vernon, +Belvoir, Gunston Hall, or some other mansion for a bountiful dinner. +Mighty then were the gastronomic feats performed, and over the Madeira +the incidents of the day were discussed as Nimrods in all ages are +wont to do. + +Being so much interested in fox hunting, our Farmer proceeded, with his +usual painstaking care, to build up a pack of hounds. The year 1768 was +probably the period of his greatest interest in the subject and his +diary is full of accounts of the animals. Hounds were now, in fact, his +hobby, succeeding in interest his horses. He did his best to breed +according to scientific principles, but several entries show that the +dogs themselves were inclined blissfully to ignore the laws of eugenics +as applied to hounds. + +Among his dogs in this period were "Mopsey," "Taster," "Tipler," "Cloe," +"Lady," "Forester" and "Captain." August 6, 1768, we learn that "Lady" +has four puppies, which are to be called "Vulcan," "Searcher," "Rover," +and "Sweetlips." + +Like all dog owners he had other troubles with his pets. Once we find +him anointing all the hounds that had the mange "with Hogs Lard & +Brimstone." Again his pack is menaced by a suspected mad dog, which +he shoots. + +The Revolution broke rudely in upon the Farmer's sports, but upon his +return to Mount Vernon he soon took up the old life. Knowing his bent, +Lafayette sent him a pack of French hounds, two dogs and three bitches, +and Washington took much interest in them. According to George +Washington Custis they were enormous brutes, better built for grappling +stags or boars than chasing foxes, and so fierce that a huntsman had to +preside at their meals. Their kennel stood a hundred yards south of the +old family vault, and Washington visited them every morning and evening. +According to Custis, it was the Farmer's desire to have them so evenly +matched and trained that if one leading dog should lose the scent, +another would be at hand to recover it and thus in full cry you might +cover the pack with a blanket. + +The biggest of the French hounds, "Vulcan," was so vast that he was +often ridden by Master Custis and he seems to have been a rather +privileged character. Once when company was expected to dinner Mrs. +Washington ordered that a lordly ham should be cooked and served. At +dinner she noticed that the ham was not in its place and inquiry +developed that "Vulcan" had raided the kitchen and made off with the +meat. Thereupon, of course, the mistress scolded and equally, of course, +the master smiled and gleefully told the news to the guests. + +Billy Lee, the colored valet who had followed the General through the +Revolution, usually acted as huntsman and, mounted on "Chinkling" or +some other good steed, with a French horn at his back, strove hard to +keep the pack in sight, no easy task among the rough timber-covered +hills of Fairfax County. + +On a hunting day the Farmer breakfasted by candlelight, generally upon +corn cakes and milk, and at daybreak, with his guests, Billy and the +hounds, sallied forth to find a fox. Washington always rode a good horse +and sometimes wore a blue coat, scarlet waistcoat, buckskin breeches, +top boots and velvet cap and carried a whip with a long thong. When a +fox was started none rode more gallantly or cheered more joyously than +did he and as a rule he was in at the death, for, as Jefferson asserts, +he was "the best horseman of his age, and the most magnificent figure +that could be seen on horseback." + +The fox that was generally hunted was the gray fox, which was indigenous +to the country. After the Revolution the red fox began to be seen +occasionally. They are supposed to have come from the Eastern Shore, and +to have crossed Chesapeake Bay on the ice in the hard winter of 1779-80. +Custis tells of a famous black fox that would go ten or twenty miles +before the hounds and return to the starting-point ready for another run +next day. After many unsuccessful chases Billy recommended that the +black reynard be let alone, saying he was near akin to another sable +and wily character. Thereafter the huntsman was always careful to throw +off the hounds when he suspected that they were on the trail of the +black fox. This story may or may not be true; all that I can say is that +I have found no confirmation of it in Washington's own writings. + +Neither have I found there any confirmation of the story that Mrs. +Washington and other ladies often rode out to see the hunts. Washington +had avenues cut through some of his woods to facilitate the sport and +possibly to make the riding easier for the ladies. Upon the whole, +however, I incline to the opinion that generally at least Martha stayed +at home visiting with lady friends, attending to domestic concerns and +superintending the preparation of delectable dishes for the hungry +hunters. I very much doubt whether she would have enjoyed seeing a +fox killed. + +The French hounds were, at least at first, rather indifferent hunters. +"Went out after Breakfast with my hounds from France, & two which were +lent me, yesterday, by Mr. Mason," says the Farmer the day of the first +trial; "found a Fox which was run tolerably well by two of the Frh. +Bitches & one of Mason's Dogs--the other French dogs shewed but little +disposition to follow--and with the second Dog of Mason's got upon +another Fox which was followed slow and indifferently by some & not at +all by the rest until the sent became so cold it cd. not be followed +at all." + +Two days later the dogs failed again and the next time they ran two +foxes and caught neither, but their master thought they performed better +than hitherto, December 12th: + +"After an early breakfast [my nephew] George Washington, Mr. Shaw and +Myself went into the Woods back of the Muddy hole Plantation a hunting +and were joined by Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. William Peake. About half +after ten O'clock (being first plagued with the Dogs running Hogs) we +found a fox near Colo Masons Plantation on little Hunting Creek (West +fork) having followed on his Drag more than half a Mile; and run him +with Eight Dogs (the other 4 getting, as was supposed after a Second +Fox) close and well for an hour. When the Dogs came to a fault and to +cold Hunting until 20 minutes after when being joined by the missing +Dogs they put him up afresh and in about 50 Minutes killed up in an open +field of Colo Mason's every Rider & every Dog being present at +the Death." + +Eight days later the pack chased two foxes, but caught neither. The next +hunt is described as follows: + +"Went a Fox hunting with the Gentlemen who came here yesterday with +Ferdinando Washington and Mr. Shaw, after a very early breakfast.--found +a Fox just back of Muddy hole Plantation and after a Chase for an hour +and a quarter with my Dogs, & eight couple of Doctor Smiths (brought by +Mr. Phil Alexander) we put him into a hollow tree, in which we fastened +him, and in the Pincushion put up another Fox which, in an hour and 13 +Minutes was killed--We then after allowing the Fox in the hole half an +hour put the Dogs upon his Trail & in half a Mile he took to another +hollow tree and was again put out of it but he did not go 600 yards +before he had recourse to the same shift--finding therefore that he was +a conquered Fox we took the Dogs off, and came home to dinner." + +[Illustration: The Flower Garden, By permission of the Mount Vernon +Ladies' Association] + +Custis asserts that Washington took his last hunt in 1785, but in the +diary under date of December 22, 1787, I find that he went out with +Major George A. Washington and others on that day, but found nothing, +and that he took still another hunt in January, 1788, and chased a fox +that had been captured the previous month. This, however, is the last +reference that I have discovered. No doubt he was less resilient than in +his younger days and found the sport less delightful than of yore, while +the duties of the presidency, to which he was soon called, left him +little leisure for sport. He seems to have broken up his kennels and to +have given away most or all of his hounds. + +Later he acquired a pair of "tarriers" and took enough interest in them +to write detailed instructions concerning them in 1796. + +Washington's fishing was mostly done with a seine as a commercial +proposition, but he seems to have had a mild interest in angling. +Occasionally he took trips up and down the Potomac in order to fish, +sometimes with a hook and line, at other times with seines and nets. He +and Doctor Craik took fishing tackle with them on both their western +tours and made use of it in some of the mountain streams and also in the +Ohio. While at the Federal Convention in 1787 he and Gouverneur Morris +went up to Valley Forge partly perhaps to see the old camp, but +ostensibly to fish for trout. They lodged at the home of a widow named +Moore. On the trip the Farmer learned the Pennsylvania way of raising +buckwheat and, it must be confessed, wrote down much more about this +topic than about trout. A few days later, with Gouverneur Morris and Mr. +and Mrs. Robert Morris, he went up to Trenton and "in the evening +fished," with what success he does not relate. When on his eastern tour +of 1789 he went outside the harbor of Portsmouth to fish for cod, but +the tide was unfavorable and they caught only two. More fortunate was a +trip off Sandy Hook the next year, which was thus described by a +newspaper: + +"Yesterday afternoon the President of the United States returned from +Sandy Hook and the fishing banks, where he had been for the benefit of +the sea air, and to amuse himself in the delightful recreation of +fishing. We are told he has had excellent sport, having himself caught a +great number of sea-bass and black fish--the weather proved remarkably +fine, which, together with the salubrity of the air and wholesome +exercise, rendered this little voyage extremely agreeable." + +Our Farmer was extremely fond of fish as an article of diet and took +great pains to have them on his table frequently. At Mount Vernon there +was an ancient black man, reputed to be a centenarian and the son of an +African King, whose duty it was to keep the household supplied with +fish. On many a morning he could be seen out on the river in his skiff, +beguiling the toothsome perch, bass or rock-fish. Not infrequently he +would fall asleep and then the impatient cook, who had orders to have +dinner strictly upon the hour, would be compelled to seek the shore and +roar at him. Old Jack would waken and upon rowing to shore would inquire +angrily: "What you all mek such a debbil of a racket for hey? I wa'nt +asleep, only noddin'." + +Another colored factotum about the place was known as Tom Davis, whose +duty it was to supply the Mansion House with game. With the aid of his +old British musket and of his Newfoundland dog "Gunner" he secured many +a canvasback and mallard, to say nothing of quails, turkeys and +other game. + +After the Revolution Washington formed a deer park below the hill on +which the Mansion House stands. The park contained about one hundred +acres and was surrounded by a high paling about sixteen hundred yards +long. At first he had only Virginia deer, but later acquired some +English fallow deer from the park of Governor Ogle of Maryland. Both +varieties herded together, but never mixed blood. The deer were +continually getting out and in February, 1786, one returned with a +broken leg, "supposed to be by a shot." Seven years later an English +buck that had broken out weeks before was killed by some one. The +paddock fence was neglected and ultimately the deer ran half wild over +the estate, but in general stayed in the wooded region surrounding the +Mansion House. The gardener frequently complained of damage done by them +to shrubs and plants, and Washington said he hardly knew "whether to +give up the Shrubs or the Deer!" The spring before his death we find him +writing to the brothers Chickesters warning them to cease hunting his +deer and he hints that he may come to "the disagreeable necessity of +resorting to other means." + +George Washington Custis, being like his father "Jacky" an enthusiastic +hunter, long teased the General to permit him to hunt the deer and at +last won consent to shoot one buck. The lad accordingly loaded an old +British musket with two ounce-balls, sallied forth and wounded one of +the patriarchs of the herd, which was then chased into the Potomac and +there slain. Next day the buck was served up to several guests, and +Custis long afterward treasured the antlers at Arlington House, the +residence he later built across the Potomac from the Federal City. + +Upon the whole we must conclude that Washington was one of the best +sportsmen of all our Presidents. He was not so much of an Izaak Walton +as was one of his successors, nor did he pursue the lion and festive +bongo to their African lairs as did another, but he had a keen love of +nature and the open country and would have found both the Mighty Hunter +and the Mighty Angler kindred spirits. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +A CRITICAL VISITOR AT MOUNT VERNON + +About thirty miles down the river Potomac, a gentleman, of the name of +Grimes, came up to us in his own boat[8]. He had some little time +before shot a man who was going across his plantation; and had been +tried for so doing, but not punished. He came aboard, and behaved very +politely to me: and it being near dinner time, he would have me go +ashore and dine with him: which I did. He gave me some grape-juice to +drink, which he called Port wine, and entertained me with saying he made +it himself: it was not to my taste equal to our Port in England, nor +even strong beer; but a hearty welcome makes everything pleasant, and +this he most cheerfully gave me. He showed me his garden; the produce of +which, he told me, he sold at Alexandria, a distance of thirty miles. +His garden was in disorder: and so was everything else I saw about the +place; except a favourite stallion, which was in very good condition--a +pretty figure of a horse, and of proper size for the road, about fifteen +hands high. He likewise showed me some other horses, brood-mares and +foals, young colts, &c. of rather an useful kind. His cattle were small, +but all much better than the land. + +[8] This chapter is taken from _A Tour of America in 1798, 1799, and +1800_, by Richard Parkinson, who has already been several times quoted. +Parkinson had won something of a name in England as a scientific +agriculturist and had published a book called the _Experienced Farmer_. +He negotiated by letter with Washington for the rental of one of the +Mount Vernon farms, and in 1798, without having made any definite +engagement, sailed for the Potomac with a cargo of good horses, cattle +and hogs. His plan for renting Washington's farm fell through, by his +account because it was so poor, and ultimately he settled for a time +near Baltimore, where he underwent such experiences as an opinionated +Englishman with new methods would be likely to meet. Soured by failure, +he returned to England, and published an account of his travels, partly +with the avowed purpose of discouraging emigration to America. His +opinion of the country he summed up thus: "If a man should be so +unfortunate as to have married a wife of a capricious disposition, let +him take her to America, and keep her there three or four years in a +country-place at some distance from a town, and afterwards bring her +back to England; if she do not act with propriety, he may be sure there +is no remedy." I have rearranged his account in such a way as to make it +consecutive, but otherwise it stands as originally published. + +He praised the soil very highly. I asked him if he was acquainted with +the land at Mount Vernon. He said he was; and represented it to be rich +land, but not so rich as his. Yet his I thought very poor indeed; for +it was (as is termed in America) _gullied_; which I call broken land. +This effect is produced by the winter's frost and summer's rain, which +cut the land into cavities of from ten feet wide and ten feet deep (and +upwards) in many places; and, added to this, here and there a hole, +which makes it look altogether like marlpits, or stone-quarries, that +have been carried away by those hasty showers in the summer, which no +man who has not seen them in this climate could form any idea of or +believe possible.... + +In two days after we left this place, we came in sight of Mount Vernon; +but in all the way up the river, I did not see any green fields. The +country had to me a most barren appearance. There were none but +snake-fences; which are rails laid with the ends of one upon another, +from eight to sixteen in number in one length. The surface of the earth +looked like a yellow-washed wall; for it had been a very dry summer; and +there was not any thing that I could see green, except the pine trees in +the woods, and the cedars, which made a truly picturesque view as we +sailed up the Potomac. It is indeed a most beautiful river. + +When we arrived at Mount Vernon, I found that General Washington was at +Philadelphia; but his steward[9] had orders from the General to receive +me and my family, with all the horses, cattle, &c. which I had on board. +A boat was, therefore, got ready for landing them; but that could not be +done, as the ship must be cleared out at some port before anything was +moved: so, after looking about a few minutes at Mount Vernon, I returned +to the ship, and we began to make way for Alexandria.... + +[9] No doubt Anderson, Washington's last manager. + +When I had been about seven days at Alexandria, I hired a horse and went +to Mount Vernon, to view my intended farm; of which General Washington +had given me a plan, and a report along with it--the rent being fixed at +eighteen hundred bushels of wheat for twelve hundred acres, or money +according to the price of that grain. I must confess that if he would +have given me the inheritance of the land for that sum, I durst not have +accepted it, especially with the incumbrances upon it; viz. one hundred +seventy slaves young and old, and out of that number only +twenty-seven[10] in a condition to work, as the steward represented to +me. I viewed the whole of the cultivated estate--about three thousand +acres; and afterward dined with Mrs. Washington and the family. Here I +met a Doctor Thornton, who is a very pleasant agreeable man, and his +lady; with a Mr. Peters and his lady, who was a grand-daughter of Mrs. +Washington. Doctor Thornton living at the city of Washington, he gave me +an invitation to visit him there: he was one of the commissioners of +the city. + +[10] Most certainly a mistake. + +I slept at Mount Vernon, and experienced a very kind and comfortable +reception; but did not like the land at all. I saw no green grass there, +except in the garden: and this was some English grass, appearing to me +to be a sort of couch-grass; it was in drills. There were also six +saintfoin plants, which I found the General valued highly. I viewed the +oats which were not thrashed, and counted the grains upon each head; but +found no stem with more than four grains, and these a very light and bad +quality, such as I had never seen before: the longest straw was of about +twelve inches. The wheat was all thrashed, therefore I could not +ascertain the produce of that: I saw some of the straw, however, and +thought it had been cut and prepared for the cattle in the winter; but I +believe I was mistaken, it being short by nature, and with thrashing out +looked like chaff, or as if chopped with a bad knife. The General had +two thrashing machines, the power given by horses. The clover was very +little in bulk, and like chaff; not more than nine inches long, and the +leaf very much shed from the stalk. By the stubbles on the land I could +not tell which had been wheat, or which had been oats or barley; nor +could I see any clover-roots where the clover had grown. The weather was +hot and dry at that time; it was in December. The whole of the different +fields were covered with either the stalks of weeds, corn-stalks, or +what is called sedge--something like spear-grass upon the poor limestone +in England; and the steward told me nothing would eat it, which is true. +Indeed, he found fault with everything, just like a foreigner; and even +told me many unpleasant tales of the General, so that I began to think +he feared I was coming to take his place. But (God knows!) I would not +choose to accept of it: for he had to superintend four hundred slaves, +and there would be more now. This part of his business especially would +have been painful to me; it is, in fact, a sort of trade of itself. + +I had not in all this time seen what we in England call a corn-stack, +nor a dung-hill. There were, indeed, behind the General's barns, two or +three cocks of oats and barley; but such as an English broad-wheeled +waggon would have carried a hundred miles at one time with ease. Neither +had I seen a green plant of any kind: there was some clover of the first +year's sowing: but in riding over the fields I should not have known it +to be clover, although the steward told me it was; only when I came +under a tree I could, by favour of the shade, perceive here and there a +green leaf of clover, but I do not remember seeing a green root. I was +shown no grass-hay of any kind; nor do I believe there was any. + +The cattle were very poor and ordinary, and the sheep the same; nor did +I see any thing I liked except the mules, which were very fine ones, and +in good condition. Mr. Gough had made a present to General Washington of +a bull calf. The animal was shown to me when I first landed at Mount +Vernon, and was the first bull I saw in the country. He was large, and +very strong-featured; the largest part was his head, the next his legs. +The General's steward was a Scotchman, and no judge of animals--a better +judge of distilling whiskey. + +I saw here a greater number of negroes than I ever saw at one time, +either before or since. + +The house is a very decent mansion: not large, and something like a +gentleman's house in England, with gardens and plantations; and is very +prettily situated on the banks of the river Potowmac, with extensive +prospects.... The roads are very bad from Alexandria to Mount Vernon. + +The General still continuing at Philadelphia, I could not have the +pleasure of seeing him; therefore I returned to Alexandria. + +I returned [to Mount Vernon some weeks later] ... to see General +Washington. I dined with him; and he showed me several presents that had +been sent him, viz. swords, china, and among the rest the key of the +Bastille. I spent a very pleasant day in the house, as the weather was +so severe that there were no farming objects to see, the ground being +covered with snow. + +Would General Washington have given me the twelve hundred acres I would +not have accepted it, to have been confined to live in that country; and +to convince the General of the cause of my determination, I was +compelled to treat him with a great deal of frankness. The General, who +had corresponded with Mr. Arthur Young and others on the subject of +English farming and soils, and had been not a little flattered by +different gentlemen from England, seemed at first to be not well +pleased with my conversation; but I gave him some strong proofs of his +mistakes, by making a comparison between the lands in America and those +of England in two respects. + +First, in the article of sheep. He supposed himself to have fine sheep, +and a great quantity of them. At the time of my viewing his five farms, +which consisted of about three thousand acres cultivated, he had one +hundred sheep, and those in very poor condition. This was in the month +of November. To show him his mistake in the value and quality of his +land, I compared this with the farm my father occupied, which was less +than six hundred acres. He clipped eleven hundred sheep, though some of +his land was poor and at two shillings and sixpence per acre--the +highest was at twenty shillings; the average weight of the wool was ten +pounds per fleece, and the carcases weighed from eighty to one hundred +twenty pounds each: while in the General's hundred sheep on three +thousand acres, the wool would not weigh on an average more than three +pounds and a half the fleece, and the carcases at forty-eight pounds +each. Secondly, the proportion of the produce in grain was similar. The +General's crops were from two to three[11] bushels of wheat per acre; +and my father's farm, although poor clay soil, gave from twenty to +thirty bushels. + +[11] A misstatement, of course. + +During this conversation Colonel Lear, aide-de-camp to the General, was +present. When the General left the room, the Colonel told me he had +himself been in England, and had seen Arthur Young (who had been +frequently named by the General in our conversation); and that Mr. Young +having learnt that he was in the mercantile line, and was possessed of +much land, had said he thought he was a great fool to be a merchant and +yet have so much land; the Colonel replied, that if Mr. Young had the +same land to cultivate, it would make a great fool of _him_. The Colonel +did me the honour to say I was the only man he ever knew to treat +General Washington with frankness. + +The General's cattle at that time were all in poor condition: except his +mules (bred from American mares), which were very fine, and the Spanish +ass sent to him as a present by the king of Spain. I felt myself much +vexed at an expression used at dinner by Mrs. Washington. When the +General and the company at table were talking about the fine horses and +cattle I had brought from England, Mrs. Washington said, "I am afraid, +Mr. Parkinson, you have brought your fine horses and cattle to a bad +market; I am of opinion that our horses and cattle are good enough for +our land." I thought that if every old woman in the country knew this, +my speculation would answer very ill: as I perfectly agreed with Mrs. +Washington in sentiment; and wondered much, from the poverty of the +land, to see the cattle good as they were. + +The General wished me to stay all night; but having some other +engagement, I declined his kind offer. He sent Colonel Lear out after I +had parted with him, to ask me if I wanted any money; which I +gladly accepted. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +PROFIT AND LOSS + +A biographer whose opinions about Washington are usually sound concludes +that the General was a failure as a farmer. With this opinion I am +unable to agree and I am inclined to think that in forming it he had in +mind temporary financial stringencies and perhaps a comparison between +Washington and the scientific farmers of to-day instead of the juster +comparison with the farmers of that day. For if Washington was a +failure, then nine-tenths of the Southern planters of his day were also +failures, for their methods and results were much worse than his. + +It must be admitted, however, that comparatively little of his fortune, +which amounted at his death to perhaps three-quarters of a million +dollars, was made by the sale of products from his farm. Few farmers +have grown rich in that way. Washington's wealth was due in part to +inheritance and a fortunate marriage, but most of all to the increment +on land. Part of this land he received as a reward for military +services, but much of it he was shrewd enough to buy at a low rate and +hold until it became more valuable. + +The task of analyzing his fortune and income in detail is an impossible +one for a number of reasons. We do not have all the facts of his +financial operations and even if we had there are other difficulties. A +farmer, unlike a salaried man, can not tell with any exactness what his +true income is. The salaried man can say, "This year I received four +thousand dollars," The farmer can only say--if he is the one in a +hundred who keeps accounts--"Last year I took in two thousand dollars or +five thousand dollars," as the case may be. From this sum he must deduct +expenses for labor, wear and tear of farm machinery, pro rata cost of +new tools and machinery, loss of soil fertility, must take into account +the fact that some of the stock sold has been growing for one, two or +more years, must allow for the butter and eggs bartered for groceries +and for the value of the two cows he traded for a horse, must add the +value of the rent of the house and grounds he and his family have +enjoyed, the value of the chickens, eggs, vegetables, fruit, milk, meat +and other produce of the farm consumed--as he proceeds the problem +becomes infinitely more complex until at last he gives it up +as hopeless. + +This much, however, is plain--a farmer can handle much less money than a +salaried man and yet live infinitely better, for his rent, much of his +food and many other things cost him nothing. + +In Washington's case the problem is further complicated by a number of +circumstances. As a result of his marriage he had some money upon bond. +For his military services in the French war he received large grants of +land and the payment during the Revolution of his personal expenses, and +as President he had a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year. + +Yet another difficulty discloses itself when we come to examine his cash +accounts. We find, for example, that from August 3, 1775, to September, +1783, leaving out of the reckoning his military receipts, he took in a +total of about eighty thousand one hundred sixty-seven pounds. What then +more simple than to divide this sum by seven and ascertain his average +receipts during the years of the Revolution? But when we come to examine +some of the details more closely we are brought to pause. We discover +such facts as that in 1780 a small steer, supposed to weigh about three +hundred pounds, brought five hundred pounds in money! A sheep sold for +one hundred pounds; six thousand five hundred sixty-nine pounds of +dressed beef brought six thousand five hundred sixty-nine pounds; the +stud fee for "Steady" was sixty pounds. In other words, the accounts in +these years were in depreciated paper and utterly worthless for our +purposes. Washington himself gave the puzzle up in despair toward the +end of the war and paid his manager in produce, not money. + +We of to-day have, in fact, not the faintest conception of the blessing +we enjoy in a uniform and fairly stable monetary system. Even before the +days of the "Continentals" there was depreciated paper afloat that had +been issued by the colonial governments and, unless the fact is +definitely stated, when we come upon figures of that period we can never +be sure whether they refer to pounds sterling or pounds paper, or, if +the latter, what kind of paper. People had to be constantly figuring the +real value of Pennsylvania money, or Virginia money or Massachusetts +money, and one meets with many such calculations on the blank leaves of +Washington's account books. Even metallic money was a Chinese puzzle +except to the initiated, there were so many kinds of it afloat. Among +our Farmer's papers I have found a list of the money that he took with +him to Philadelphia on one occasion--6 joes, 67 half joes, 2 +one-eighteenth joes, 3 doubloons, 1 pistole, 2 moidores, 1 half moidore, +2 double louis d'or, 3 single louis d'or, 80 guineas, 7 half guineas, +besides silver and bank-notes. + +The depreciation of the paper currency during the Revolution proved +disastrous to him in several ways. When the war broke out much of the +money he had obtained by marriage was loaned out on bond, or, as we +would say to-day, on mortgage. "I am now receiving," he soon wrote, "a +shilling in the pound in discharge of Bonds which ought to have been +paid me, & would have been realized before I left Virginia, but for my +indulgences to the debtors." In 1778 he said that six or seven thousand +pounds that he had in bonds upon interest had been paid in depreciated +paper, so that the real value was now reduced to as many hundreds. Some +of the paper money that came into his hands he invested in government +securities, and at least ten thousand pounds of these in Virginia money +were ultimately funded by the federal government for six thousand two +hundred and forty-six dollars in three and six per cent. bonds. + +And yet, by examining Washington's accounts, one is able to estimate in +a rough way the returns he received from his estate, landed and +otherwise. We find that in ten months of 1759 he took in L1,839; from +January 1, 1760, to January 10, 1761, about L2,535; in 1772, L3,213; +from August 3, 1775, to August 30, 1776, L2,119; in 1786, L2,025; in +1791, about L2,025. Included in some of these entries, particularly the +earlier ones, are payments of interest and principal on his wife's share +of the Custis estate. Of the later ones, that for 1786--a bad farming +year--includes rentals on more than a score of parcels of land amounting +to L282.15, L25 rental on his fishery, payments for flour, stud +fees, etc. + +Upon the average, therefore, I am inclined to believe that his annual +receipts were roughly in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars to +fifteen thousand dollars a year from his estate. + +As regards Mount Vernon alone, he sometimes made estimates of what the +crop returns ought to be; in other words, counted his chickens before +they were hatched. Thus in 1789 he drew up alternative plans and +estimated that one of these, if adopted, ought to produce crops worth a +gross of L3,091, another L3,831, and a third L4,449, but that from these +sums L1,357, L1,394 and L1,445 respectively would have to be deducted +for seed, food for man and beasts, and other expenses. + +A much better idea of the financial returns from his home estate can be +obtained from his actual balances of gain and loss. One of these, namely +for 1798, which was a poor year, was as follows: + +BALANCE OF GAIN AND LOSS, 1798 + +DR. GAINED CR. LOST + +Dogue Run Farm 397.11.2 Mansion House .. 466.18. 2-1/2 +Union Farm .... 529.10.11-1/2 Muddy Hole Farm 60. 1. 3-1/2 +River Farm .... 234. 4.11 Spinning ....... 51. 2. 0 +Smith's Shop .. 34.12.09-1/2 Hire of Head +Distillery .... 83.13. 1 overseer ..... 140. 0. 0 +Jacks ......... 56.1 +Traveler ...... 9.17 + (stud horse) +Shoemaker ..... 28.17. 1 +Fishery ....... 165.12. 0-1/4 By clear gain on +Dairy ......... 30.12. 3 the Estate.....L898.16. 4-1/4 + +Mr. Paul Leicester Ford considered this "a pretty poor showing for an +estate and negroes which had certainly cost him over fifty thousand +dollars, and on which there was live stock which at the lowest +estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more." In some respects it +was a poor showing. Yet the profit Washington sets down is about seven +per cent. upon sixty-five thousand dollars, and seven per cent. is more +than the average farmer makes off his farm to-day except through the +appreciation in the value of the land. The truth is, however, that Mount +Vernon, including the live stock and slaves, was really worth in 1798 +nearer two hundred thousand dollars than sixty-five thousand, so that +the actual return would only be about two and a fourth per cent. + +But Washington failed to include in his receipts many items, such as the +use of a fine mansion for himself and family, the use of horses and +vehicles, and the added value of slaves and live stock by +natural increase. + +Besides in some other years the profits were much larger. + +And lastly, in judging a man's success or failure as a farmer, allowance +must be made for the kind of land that he has to farm. The Mount Vernon +land was undoubtedly poor in quality, and it is probable that Washington +got more out of it than has ever been got out of it by any other person +either before or since. Much of it to-day must not pay taxes. + +Washington died possessed of property worth about three-quarters of a +million, although he began life glad to earn a doubloon a day surveying. +The main sources of this wealth have already been indicated, but when +all allowance is made in these respects, the fact remains that he was +compelled to make a living and to keep expenses paid during the forty +years in which the fortune was accumulating, and the main source he drew +from was his farms. Not much of that living came from the Custis estate, +for, as we have seen, a large part of the money thus acquired was lost. +During his eight years as Commander-in-Chief he had his expenses--no +more. Of the eight years of his presidency much the same can be said, +for all authorities agree that he expended all of his salary in +maintaining his position and some say that he spent more. Yet at the end +of his life we find him with much more land than he had in 1760, with +valuable stocks and bonds, a house and furniture infinitely superior to +the eight-room house he first owned, two houses in the Federal City that +had cost him about $15,000, several times as many negroes, and live +stock estimated by himself at $15,653 and by his manager at upward of +twice that sum. + +Such being the case--and as no one has ever ventured even to hint that +he made money corruptly out of his official position--the conclusion is +irresistible that he was a good business man and that he made farming +pay, particularly when he was at home. + +It is true that only three months before his death he wrote: "The +expense at which I live, and the unproductiveness of my estate, will not +allow me to lessen my income while I remain in my present situation. On +the contrary, were it not for occasional supplies of money in payment +for lands sold within the last four or five years, to the amount of +upwards of fifty thousand dollars, I should not be able to support the +former without involving myself in debt and difficulties," This must be +taken, however, to apply to a single period of heavy expense when +foreign complications and other causes rendered farming unprofitable, +rather than to his whole career. Furthermore, his landed investments +from which he could draw no returns were so heavy that he had approached +the condition of being land poor and it was only proper that he should +cut loose from some of them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +ODDS AND ENDS + +In an age when organized charity was almost unknown the burden of such +work fell mainly upon individuals. Being a man of great prominence and +known to be wealthy, the proprietor of Mount Vernon was the recipient of +many requests for assistance. Ministers wrote to beg money to rebuild +churches or to convert the heathen; old soldiers wrote to ask for money +to relieve family distresses or to use in business; from all classes and +sections poured in requests for aid, financial and otherwise. + +It was inevitable that among these requests there should be some that +were unusual. Perhaps the most amusing that I have discovered is one +written by a young man named Thomas Bruff, from the Fountain Inn, +Georgetown. He states that this is his second letter, but I have not +found the first. In the letter we have he sets forth that he has lost +all his property and desires a loan of five hundred pounds. His need is +urgent, for he is engaged to a beautiful and "amiable" young lady, +possessed of an "Estate that will render me Independent. Whom I cannot +Marry in my present situation.... All my Happyness is now depending upon +your Goodness and without your kind assistance I must be forever +miserable--I should have never thought of making application to you for +this favor had it not been in Consequence of a vision by Night since my +Fathers Death who appeared to me in a Dream in my Misfortunes three +times in one Night telling me to make applycation to you for Money and +that you would relieve me from my distresses. He appeared the other +night again and asked me if I had obeyed his commands I informed him +that I had Wrote to you some time ago but had Received no answer nor no +information Relative to the Business he then observed that he expected +my letter had not come to hand and toald me to Write again I made some +Objections at first and toald him I thought it presumption in me to +trouble your Excellency again on the subject he then in a Rage drew his +Small Sword and toald me if I did not he would run me through. I +immediately in a fright consented." + +One might suppose that so ingenious a request, picturing the deadly +danger in which a young man stood from the shade of his progenitor, +especially a young man who was thereby forced to keep a young lady +waiting, would have aroused Washington's most generous impulses and +caused him to send perhaps double the amount desired. Possibly he was +hard up at the time. At all events he indorsed the letter thus: + +"Without date and without success." + +Many times, however, our Farmer was open-handed to persons who had no +personal claim on him. For example, he loaned three hundred and two +pounds to his old comrade of the French War--Robert Stewart--the purpose +being to buy a commission in the British army. So far as I can discover +it was never repaid; in fact, I am not sure but that he intended it as a +gift. Another advance was that made to Charles L. Carter, probably the +young man who later married a daughter of Washington's sister, Betty +Lewis. Most of the story is told in the following extract from a letter +written by Carter from Fredericksburg, June 2, 1797: + +"With diffidence I now address you in consequence of having failed after +my first voyage from China, to return the two hundred Dollars you +favored me with the Loan of. Be assured Dr. Sir that I left goods unsold +at the time of my Departure from Philadelphia on the second voyage, & +directed that the money arising therefrom should be paid to you, but the +integrity of my agent did not prove to be so uncorrupted as I had +flattered myself. I have, at this late period, sent by Mr. G. Tevis the +sum of two hundred Dollars with interest therefrom from the 15th of +March 1795 to the 1st June, 1797. That sum has laid the foundation of a +pretty fortune, for which I shall ever feel myself indebted to you." + +He added that he had been refused the loan by a near relation before +Washington had so kindly obliged him and that his mother, who was +evidently acquainted with Washington, joined in hearty thanks for the +benefit received. + +Washington had experienced enough instances of ingratitude to be much +pleased with the outcome of this affair. He replied in the kindest +terms, but declined to receive the interest, saying that he had not made +the loan as an investment and that he did not desire a profit from it. + +Another recipient of Washington's bounty was his old neighbor, Captain +John Posey. Posey sold Washington not only his Ferry Farm but also his +claim to western lands. He became financially embarrassed, in fact, +ruined; his family was scattered, and he made frequent applications to +Washington for advice and assistance. Washington helped to educate a +son, St. Lawrence, who had been reduced to the hard expedient of tending +bar in a tavern, and he also kept a daughter, Milly, at Mount Vernon, +perhaps as a sort of companion to Mrs. Washington. The Captain +once wrote: + +"I could [have] been able to [have] Satisfied all my old Arrears, some +months AGoe, by marrying [an] old widow woman in this County. She has +large soms [of] cash by her, and Prittey good Est.--She is as thick as +she is high---And gits drunk at Least three or foure [times] a +weak---which is Disagreable to me--has Viliant Sperrit when Drunk--its +been [a] great Dispute in my mind what to Doe,--I beleave I shu'd Run +all Resks--if my Last wife, had been [an] Even temper'd woman, but her +Sperrit, has Given me such [a] Shock--that I am afraid to Run the +Resk again." + +Evidently the Captain did not find a way out of his troubles by the +matrimonial route, for somewhat later he was in jail at Queenstown, +presumably for debt, and we find in one of Washington's cash memorandum +books under date of October 15, 1773: "By Charity--given Captn. Posey," +four pounds. One of the sons later settled in Indiana, and the "Pocket" +county is named after him. + +Another boy toward whose education Washington contributed was the son of +Doctor James Craik--the boy being a namesake. Doctor Craik was one of +Washington's oldest and dearest friends. He was born in Scotland two +years before Washington saw the light at Wakefield, graduated from +Edinburgh University, practised medicine in the West Indies for a short +time and then came to Virginia. He was Washington's comrade in arms in +the Fort Necessity campaign, was subsequently surgeon general in the +Continental Army, and accompanied Washington to the Ohio both in 1770 +and 1784. He married Mariane Ewell, a relative of Washington's mother, +and resided many years in Alexandria. He was a frequent visitor at Mount +Vernon both as a friend and in a professional capacity, and Washington +declared that he would rather trust him than a dozen other doctors. Few +men were so close to the great man as he, and he was one of the few who +in his letters ventured to tell chatty matters of gossip. Thus, in +August, 1791, he wrote a letter apropos of the bad health of George A. +Washington and added: "My daughter Nancy is there [Mt. Vernon] by way of +Amusement awhile. She begins to be tired of her Fathers house and I +believe intends taking an old Batchelor Mr. Hn. for a mate shortly." +Another young lady, Miss Muir, who had recently gone to Long Island for +the benefit of the sea baths was "pursued" by a Mr. Donaldson and the +latter now writes that "he shall bring back a wife with him." Craik was +a thorough believer in Washington's destiny, and in the dark days of the +Revolution would hearten up his comrades by the story of the Indian +chieftain met upon the Ohio in 1770 who had vainly tried to kill +Washington in the battle of the Monongahela and had finally desisted in +the belief that he was invulnerable. + +To friends, family, church, education and strangers our Farmer was +open-handed beyond most men of his time. His manager had orders to fill +a corn-house every year for the sole use of the poor in the neighborhood +and this saved numbers of poor women and children from extreme want. He +also allowed the honest poor to make use of his fishing stations, +furnishing them with all necessary apparatus for taking herring, and if +they were unequal to the task of hauling the seine, assistance was +rendered them by the General's servants. + +To Lund Washington he wrote from the camp at Cambridge: "Let the +hospitality of the house, with respect to the poor, be kept up. Let no +one go hungry away. If any of this kind of people should be in want of +corn, supply their necessaries, provided that it does not encourage them +to idleness; and I have no objection to you giving my money in charity +to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a year, when you think it well +bestowed. What I mean by having no objection is, that it is my desire it +should be done. You are to consider that neither _myself nor wife_ is +now in the way to do these good offices." + +His relations with his own kindred were patriarchal in character. His +care of Mrs. Washington's children and grandchildren has already been +described. He gave a phaeton and money to the extent of two thousand +five hundred dollars to his mother and did not claim possession of some +of the land left him by his father's will. To his sister Betty Lewis he +gave a mule and many other presents, as well as employment to several of +her sons. He loaned his brother Samuel (five times married) +considerable sums, which he forgave in his will, spent "near five +thousand dollars" on the education of two of his sons, and cared for +several years for a daughter Harriot, notwithstanding the fact that she +had "no disposition ... to be careful of her cloaths." To his nephew, +Bushrod Washington, he gave money and helped him to obtain a legal +education, and he assisted another nephew, George A. Washington, and his +widow and children, in ways already mentioned. Over forty relatives were +remembered in his will, many of them in a most substantial manner. + +In the matter of eating and drinking Washington was abstemious. For +breakfast he ordinarily had tea and Indian cakes with butter and perhaps +honey, of which he was very fond. His supper was equally light, +consisting of perhaps tea and toast, with wine, and he usually retired +promptly at nine o'clock. Dinner was the main meal of the day at Mount +Vernon, and was served punctually at two o'clock. One such meal is thus +described by a guest: + +"He thanked us, desired us to be seated, and to excuse him a few +moments.... The President came and desired us to walk in to dinner and +directed us where to sit, (no grace was said).... The dinner was very +good, a small roasted pigg, boiled leg of lamb, roasted fowls, beef, +peas, lettice, cucumbers, artichokes, etc., puddings, tarts, etc. etc. +We were desired to call for what drink we chose. He took a glass of wine +with Mrs. Law first, which example was followed by Dr. Croker Crakes and +Mrs. Washington, myself and Mrs. Peters, Mr. Fayette and the young lady +whose name is Custis. When the cloth was taken away the President gave +'all our Friends.'" + +The General ordinarily confined himself to a few courses and if offered +anything very rich would reply, "That is too good for me." He often +drank beer with the meal, with one or two glasses of wine and perhaps as +many more afterward, often eating nuts, another delicacy with him, as he +sipped the wine. + +He was, in fact, no prohibitionist, but he was a strong believer in +temperance. He and the public men of his time, being aristocrats, were +wine drinkers and few of them were drunkards. The political revolution +of 1830, ushered in by Jackson, brought in a different type--Westerners +who drank whisky and brandy, with the result that drunkenness in public +station was much more common. Many of the Virginia gentlemen of +Washington's day spent a fourth or even a third of their income upon +their cellars. He was no exception to the rule, and from his papers we +discover many purchases of wine. One of the last bills of lading I have +noticed among his papers is a bill for "Two pipes of fine old London +particular Madeira Wine," shipped to him from the island of Madeira, +September 20, 1799. One wonders whether he got to toast "All our +Friends" out of it before he died. + +[Illustration: One of Washington's Tavern Bills] + +His sideboard and table were well equipped with glasses and silver wine +coolers of the most expensive construction. As in many other matters, +his inventive bent turned in this direction. Having noticed the +confusion that often arose from the passing of the bottles about the +table he designed when President a sort of silver caster capable of +holding four bottles. They were used with great success on state +occasions and were so convenient that other people adopted the +invention, so that wine _coasters_, after the Washington design, became +a part of the furniture of every fashionable sideboard. + +To cool wine, meat and other articles, Washington early adopted the +practice of putting up ice, a thing then unusual. In January, 1785, he +prepared a dry well under the summer house and also one in his new +cellar and in due time had both filled. June fifth he "Opened the well +in my Cellar in which I had laid up a store of Ice, but there was not +the smallest particle remaining.--I then opened the other Repository +(call the dry Well) in which I found a large store." Later he erected an +ice house to the eastward of the flower garden. + +His experience with the cellar well was hardly less successful than that +of his friend, James Madison, on a like occasion. Madison had an ice +house filled with ice, and a skeptical overseer wagered a turkey against +a mint julep that by the fourth of July the ice would all have +disappeared. The day came, they opened the house, and behold there was +enough ice for exactly _one_ julep! Truly a sad situation when there +were _two_ Virginia gentlemen. + +Mention of Madison in this connection calls to mind the popular notion +that it was his wife Dolly who invented ice-cream. I believe that her +biographers claim for her the credit of the discovery. The role of the +iconoclast is a thankless one and I confess to a liking for Dolly, but I +have discovered in Washington's cash memorandum book under date of May +17, 1784, the entry: "By a Cream Machine for Ice," L1.13.4--that is an +ice-cream freezer. The immortal Dolly was then not quite twelve +years old. + +Washington seems to have owned three coaches. The first he ordered in +London in 1758 in preparation for his marriage. It was to be +fashionable, genteel and of seasoned wood; the body preferably green, +with a light gilding on the mouldings, with other suitable ornaments +including the Washington arms. It was sent with high recommendations, +but proved to be of badly seasoned material, so that the panels shrunk +and slipped out of the mouldings within two months and split from end to +end, much to his disgust. Such a chariot was driven not with lines from +a driver's box, but by liveried postillions riding on horseback, one +horseman to each span. + +The second coach he had made in Philadelphia in 1780 at a cost of two +hundred and ten pounds in specie. It was decidedly better built. + +The last was a coach, called "the White Chariot," bought second hand +soon after he became President. It was built by Clarke, of Philadelphia, +and was a fine vehicle, with a cream-colored body and wheels, green +Venetian blinds and the Washington arms painted upon the doors. In this +coach, drawn by six horses, he drove out in state at Philadelphia and +rode to and from Mount Vernon, occasionally suffering an upset on the +wretched roads. It was strong and of good workmanship and its maker +heard with pride that it had made the long southern tour of 1791 without +starting a nail or a screw. This coach was purchased at the sale of the +General's effects by George Washington Parke Custis and later in a +curious manner fell into the possession of Bishop Meade, who ultimately +made it up into walking sticks, picture frames, snuff boxes and such +mementoes. + +At Mount Vernon to-day the visitor is shown a coach which the official +Handbook states is vouched for as the original "White Chariot." In +reality it seems to be the coach once owned by the Powell family of +Philadelphia. It is said to have been built by the same maker and on the +same lines, and Washington may have ridden in it, but it never +belonged to him. + +Most people think of Washington as a marble statue on a pedestal rather +than as a being of flesh and blood with human feelings, faults and +virtues. He was self-contained, he was not voluble, he had a sense of +personal dignity, but underneath he was not cold. He was really +hot-tempered and on a few well-authenticated occasions fell into +passions in which he used language that would have blistered the steel +sides of a dreadnaught. Yet he was kind-hearted, he pitied the weak and +sorrowful, and the list of his quiet benefactions would fill many pages +and cost him thousands of pounds. He was even full of sentiment in some +matters; on more than one occasion he provided positions that enabled +young friends or relatives to marry, and I shrewdly suspect that he +engineered matters so that the beloved Nelly Custis obtained a good +husband in the person of his nephew, Lawrence Lewis. I might say much +more tending to show his human qualities, but I shall add only this: +Having for many years studied his career from every imaginable point of +view, I give it as my deliberate opinion that perhaps no man ever lived +who was more considerate of the rights and feelings of others. Not even +Lincoln had a bigger heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +THE VALE OF SUNSET + +Washington looked forward to the end of his presidency as does "the +weariest traveler, who sees a resting-place, and is bending his body to +lay thereon." "Methought I heard him say, 'Ay.' I am fairly out, and you +are fairly in; see which of us is the happiest," wrote John Adams to his +wife Abigail. And from Mount Vernon Nelly Custis informed a friend that +"grandpapa is very well and much pleased with being once more Farmer +Washington." + +The eight years of toilsome work, which had been rendered all the harder +by much bitter criticism, had aged him greatly and this helped to make +him doubly anxious to return to the peace and quiet of home for his +final days. And yet he was affected by his parting from his friends and +associates. A few partisan enemies openly rejoiced at his departure, but +there were not wanting abundant evidences of the people's reverence and +love for him. It is a source of satisfaction to us now that his +contemporaries realized he was one of the great figures of history and +that they did not withhold the tribute of their praise until after his +death. As we turn the thousands of manuscripts that make up his papers +we come upon scores of private letters and public resolutions in which, +in terms often a bit stilted but none the less sincere, a country's +gratitude is laid at the feet of its benefactor. + +The Mount Vernon to which he returned was perhaps in better condition +than was that to which he retired at the end of the Revolution, for he +had been able each summer to give the estate some personal oversight; +nevertheless it was badly run down and there was much to occupy his +attention. In April he wrote: "We are in the midst of litter and dirt, +occasioned by joiners, masons, painters, and upholsterers, working in +the house, all parts of which, as well as the outbuildings, are much out +of repair." + +Anderson remained with him, but Washington gave personal attention to +many matters and exercised a general oversight over everything. Like +most good farmers he "began his diurnal course with the sun," and if +his slaves and hirelings were not in place by that time he sent "them +messages of sorrow for their indisposition." Having set the wheels of +the estate in motion, he breakfasted. "This being over, I mount my horse +and ride around my farms, which employs me until it is time for dinner, +at which I rarely miss seeing strange faces.... The usual time of +sitting at table, a walk, and tea bring me within the dawn of +candlelight; previous to which, if not prevented by company, I resolve +that, as soon as the glimmering taper supplies the place of the great +luminary, I will retire to my writing table and acknowledge the letters +I have received, but when the lights are brought I feel tired and +disinclined to engage in this work, conceiving that the next night will +do as well. The next night comes, and with it the same causes of +postponement, and so on.... I have not looked into a book since I came +home; nor shall I be able to do it until I have discharged my workmen, +probably not before the nights grow longer, when possibly I may be +looking in Doomsday Book." + +He had his usual troubles with servants and crops, with delinquent +tenants and other debtors; he tried Booker's threshing machine, +experimented with white Indian peas and several varieties of wheat, +including a yellow bearded kind that was supposed to resist the fly, and +built two houses, or rather a double house, on property owned in the +Federal City--he avoided calling the place "Washington." + +A picture of the Farmer out upon his rounds in these last days has been +left us by his adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis. Custis +relates that one day when out with a gun he met on the forest road an +elderly gentleman on horseback who inquired where he could find the +General. The boy told the stranger, who proved to be Colonel Meade, once +of Washington's staff, that the General was abroad on the estate and +pointed out what direction to take to come upon him. "You will meet, +sir, with an old gentleman riding alone in plain drab clothes, a +broad-brimmed white hat, a hickory switch in his hand, and carrying an +umbrella with a long staff, which is attached to his saddle-bow--that +person, sir, is General Washington." + +Those were pleasant rides the old Farmer took in the early morning +sunshine, with the birds singing about him, the dirt lanes soft under +his horse's feet, and in his nostrils the pure air fragrant with the +scent of pines, locust blossoms or wild honeysuckle. When he grew +thirsty he would pause for a drink at his favorite gum spring, and as he +made his rounds would note the progress of the miller, the coopers, the +carpenters, the fishermen, and the hands in the fields, how the corn was +coming up or the wheat was ripening, what fences needed to be renewed or +gaps in hedges filled, what the increase of his cattle would be, whether +the stand of clover or buckwheat was good or not. He was the owner of +all this great estate, he was proud of it; it was his home, and he was +glad to be back on it once more. For he had long since realized that +there are deeper and more satisfying pleasures than winning battles or +enjoying the plaudits of multitudes. + +An English actor named John Bernard who happened to be in Virginia in +this period has left us a delightfully intimate picture of the Farmer on +his rounds. Bernard had ridden out below Alexandria to pay a visit and +on his return came upon an overturned chaise containing a man and a +woman. About the same time another horseman rode up from the opposite +direction. The two quickly ascertained that the man was unhurt and +managed to restore the wife to consciousness, whereupon she began to +upbraid her husband for carelessness. + +"The horse," continues Bernard, "was now on his legs, but the vehicle +was still prostrate, heavy in its frame and laden with at least half a +ton of luggage. My fellow-helper set me an example of activity in +relieving it of internal weight; and when all was clear we grasped the +wheel between us and to the peril of our spinal columns righted the +conveyance. The horse was then put in and we lent a hand to help up the +luggage. All this helping, hauling and lifting occupied at least half an +hour under a meridian sun, in the middle of July, which fairly boiled +the perspiration out of our foreheads." + +After the two Samaritans had declined a pressing invitation to go to +Alexandria and have a drop of something, the unknown, a tall man past +middle age, wearing a blue coat and buckskin breeches, exclaimed +impatiently at the heat and then "offered very courteously," says +Bernard, "to dust my coat, a favor the return of which enabled me to +take a deliberate survey of his person." + +The stranger then called Bernard by name, saying that he had seen him +play in Philadelphia, and asked him to accompany him to his house and +rest, at the same time pointing out a mansion on a distant hill. Not +till then did Bernard realize with whom he was speaking. + +"Mt. Vernon!" he exclaimed. "Have I the honor of addressing General +Washington?" + +With a smile Washington extended his hand and said: "An odd sort of +introduction, Mr. Bernard; but I am pleased to find that you can play so +active a part in private and without a prompter." + +Then they rode up to the Mansion House and had a pleasant chat[12]. + +[12] This anecdote is accepted by Mr. Lodge in his life of Washington, +but doubt is cast upon it by another historian. All that can be said is +that there is nothing to disprove it and that it is not inherently +improbable. + +Upon his retirement from the presidency our Farmer had told Oliver +Wolcott that he probably would never again go twenty miles from his own +vine and fig tree, but the troubles with France resulted in a quasi-war +and he was once more called from retirement to head an army, most of +which was never raised. He accepted the appointment with the +understanding that he was not to be called into the field unless his +presence should be indispensable, but he found that he must give much +of his time to the matter and be often from home, while a quarrel +between his friends Knox and Hamilton over second place joined with +Republican hostility to war measures to add a touch of bitterness to the +work. Happily war was avoided and, though an adjustment of the +international difficulties was not reached until 1800, Washington was +able to spend most of the last months of his life at Mount Vernon +comparatively undisturbed. + +Yet things were not as once they were. Mrs. Washington had aged greatly +and was now a semi-invalid often confined to her bed. The Farmer himself +came of short-lived stock and realized that his pilgrimage would not be +greatly prolonged. Twice during the year he was seriously ill, and in +September was laid up for more than a week. His brother Charles died and +in acknowledging the sad news he wrote: + +"I was the first, and am, now, the last of my father's children by the +second marriage, who remain. + +"When I shall be _called upon to follow them_ is known only to the Giver +of Life. When the summons comes, I shall endeavor to obey it with +good grace." + +And yet there were gleams of joy and gladness. "About candlelight" on +his birthday in 1799 Nelly Custis and his nephew, Lawrence Lewis, were +wedded. The bride wished him to wear his gorgeous new uniform, but when +he came down to give her away he wore the old Continental buff and blue +and no doubt all loved him better so. Often thereafter the pair were at +Mount Vernon and there on November twenty-seventh a little daughter came +as the first pledge of their affection. As always there was much +company. In August came a gallant kinsman from South Carolina, once +Colonel but now General William Washington of Cowpens fame, and for +three days the house was filled with guests and there was feasting and +visiting. November fifteenth Washington "Rode to visit Mr. now Lord +Fairfax," who was back from England with his family, and the renewal of +old friendships proved so agreeable that in the next month the families +dined back and forth repeatedly. + +Nor did the Farmer cease to labor or to lay plans for the future. He +entered into negotiations for the purchase of more land to round out +Mount Vernon and surveyed some tracts that he owned. On the tenth of +December he inclosed with a letter to Anderson a long set of +"Instructions for my manager" which were to be "most strictly and +pointedly attended to and executed." He had rented one of the farms to +Lawrence Lewis, also the mill and distillery, and was desirous of +renting the fishery in order to have less work and fewer hands to attend +to; in fact, "an entire new scene" was to be enacted. The instructions +were exceedingly voluminous, consisting of thirty closely written folio +pages, and they contain plans for the rotation of crops for several +years, as well as specific directions regarding fencing, pasturage, +composts, feeding stock, and a great variety of other subjects. In them +one can find our Farmer's final opinions on certain phases of +agriculture. To draw them up must have cost him days of hard labor and +that he found the task wearing is indicated by the fact that in two +places he uses the dates 1782 and 1783 when he obviously meant 1802 +and 1803. + +There was no hunting now nor any of those other active outdoor sports in +which he had once delighted and excelled, while "Alas! our dancing days +are no more." Happily he was able to ride and labor to the last, yet +more and more of his time had to be spent quietly, much of it, we may +well believe, upon the splendid broad veranda of his home. + +Unimaginative and unromantic though he was, what visions must sometimes +have swept through the brain of that simple farmer as he gazed down upon +the broad shining river or beyond at the clustered Maryland hills +glorified by the descending sun. Perchance in those visions he saw a +youthful envoy braving hundreds of miles of savage wilderness on an +errand from which the boldest might have shrunk without disgrace. Then +with a handful of men in forest green it is given to that youth to put a +Continent in hazard and to strike on the slopes of Laurel Hill the first +blow in a conflict that is fought out upon the plains of Germany, in far +away Bengal and on most of the Seven Seas. For an instant there rises +the delirium of that fateful day with Braddock beside the ford of the +Monongahela when + + "Down the long trail from the Fort to the ford, + Naked and streaked, plunge a moccasined horde: + Huron and Wyandot, hot for the bout; + Shawnee and Ottawa, barring him out. + + "'Twixt the pit and the crest, 'twixt the rocks and the grass, + Where the bush hides the foe and the foe holds the pass, + Beaujeu and Pontiac, striving amain; + Huron and Wyandot, jeering the slain," + +The years pass and the same figure grown older and more sedate is taking +command of an army of peasantry at war with their King. Dorchester +Heights, Brooklyn, Fort Washington, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, +Valley Forge, Monmouth, Morristown, the sun of Yorktown; Green, Gates, +Arnold, Morgan, Lee, Lafayette, Howe, Clinton, Cornwallis--what +memories! Lastly, a Cincinnatus grown bent and gray in service leaves +his farm to head his country's civil affairs and give confidence and +stability to an infant government by his wisdom and character. + +Here, with bared heads, let us take leave of him--a farmer, but "the +greatest of good men and the best of great men." + +THE END + + + + +INDEX + +Adams, Abigail, letter of husband to about Washington's retirement, 306. +Adams, John: believes Washington was made by marriage with Custis money, + 16; on Washington's retirement, 306. +Ague, prevalence of along the Potomac, 65. +Alfalfa, _see "Lucerne"_. +Alton, John, a servant of Washington's, 170, 174, 175. +Anderson, James: manager of Mount Vernon, 181, 182; sends list of the + increase of slaves, 194; mentioned by Parkinson, 276; remains with + Washington, 307; final instructions to, 315. +_Anna_, brings indentured servants from Ireland, 167. +_Annals of Agriculture_ used by Washington, 71, 72; nature of, 74; + plan of drill published in, 107; Washington begins to read, 116; + plan of barn in, 117; threshing machine described in, 126. +_A Practical Treatise of Husbandry_: used by Washington, 71; its + author, 73. + +Barrel plough: Washington makes one, 107; operation of, 108-110. +Bartram, John, Washington obtains plants from, 159. +Bassett, Fanny, matrimonial adventures of, 177, 180. +Bater, Philip, Washington agrees to let him get drunk on certain days, 169. +Bath (Berkeley Springs): Washington's land at, 28; Patty Custis taken to, + 223. +Bear, one chased by the hounds, 257. +Belvoir, fox hunting dinners at, 258. +Bernard, John, peculiar meeting of with Washington, 310-312. +Bishop, Sally: Custis' story of, 171-173; marries Thomas Green, 173; + later history of, 174. +Bishop, Thomas, history of, 170-173. +Bixby, Thomas K., owns the Lear papers, 86. +"Blueskin," one of Washington's war horses, 132, 133. +Board of Agriculture: Washington elected honorary member + of, 84; he is influenced by example of, 128. +Booker, William: makes threshing machine for Washington, + 126, 127; mentioned, 308. +Boston Athenaeum, buys Washington relics, 86. +_Boston_, British frigate, Washington sells bull to, 144. +"Botanical Garden": used for experimental purposes, 106; + location of, 161. +Boucher, Jonathan, teaches John Parke Custis, 225. +Bowen, Cavan, indentured servant, bought, 167. +Bowling Green: laid out by Washington, 154; mentioned, 161. +Box hedge, doubtful history of, 160, 161. +Braddock, Gen. Edward: Washington joins staff of, 4, 5; + Bishop his servant, 170; mentioned, 12, 316. +Brents, Washington purchases, 17. +Bruff, Thomas, amusing request for a loan, 291-293. +Bullskin Plantation, Washington patents, 9. +Burbank, Luther, mentioned, 107. +Burnes, David, quizzes Washington about his marriage, 16. +Butler,--: a gardener, 161; dismissed, 183. + +Calvert, Eleanor: love affair with John Parke Custis, 225; + letter of Martha Washington to, 226; for second husband + marries Doctor Stuart, 231. +Campbell's tavern, Washington in card game at, 250. +Campion,--, brings "Knight of Malta," 140. +Cape of Good Hope wheat, Washington experiments with, 105. +Carrington, Mrs. Edward, describes Martha Washington's + sewing activities, 232, 233. +Carroll, Charles, interested in Nelly Custis, 235. +Carter, Charles H., returns a loan, 293, 294. +Gary, freedman, death of at great age, 218. +Cattle: poor quality of, 56, 57; number lost in twenty months, + 142; Washington's experiences with, 143 et seq.; number + owned in 1799, 148; Parkinson's poor opinion of, + 276, 279. +Chastellux, Marquis de: Washington describes to him the + delights of his retirement, 5; letter of Washington to + about inland navigation, 26; on Washington's horsemanship, + 235. +Chinch bugs, a bad year for, 104. +Chinese geese, Gouverneur Morris sends some to Washington, 147. +Chinese pigs, a gift to Washington, 147. +Christian, Mr., dancing master, 247, 248. +Cincinnatus: Washington did not affect role of, 6; + picture of the American at Mount Vernon, 131; + mentioned, 317. +Clifton,--, fails to abide by a bargain with Washington, 17. +Clinton, George: in partnership with Washington in a land speculation, 26; + sends young trees and vines to Washington, 155. +Coaches: Washington's experiences with, 303, 304; + mentioned, 141. +Compost, Washington experiments with, 92-94. +"Compound," a jackass, 140. +Congress, Washington recommends establishment of a board of agriculture + to, 127, 128. +Conservationist, Washington the first, 129. +Copy-book, Washington's, verses quoted from, 5. +Corn: some raised in Virginia, 51, 52; + chief food of laborers and horses, 53; + Washington's experience growing, 69; + his opinion as to the proper time for planting, 105. +Craik, Dr. James: tours western country with Washington, 20 et seq., 27 + et seq.; physician to Mount Vernon, 195; fishes with Washington, + 265; relations of Washington with, 296, 297. +Craik, William, accompanies Washington on western trip of 1784, 28. +Crawford, Captain William: Washington's western agent, 19; + descends the Ohio with Washington, 20; + locates lands for Washington, 22; + trouble of with squatters, 23; + burnt at stake, 23; + buys Great Meadows for Washington, 29. +_Cross Purposes_, Washington sees performance of, 245. +Crow,--: overseer, 183; + not to be trusted with punishing slaves, 203. +Cupid, near death of pleurisy, 196. +Custis children: Washington guardian of, 14, 15; + his accounts with the estate of, 81. +Custis, Daniel Parke, first husband of Martha Washington, 12, 220. +Custis, Elizabeth, frequent visitor at Mount Vernon, 231. +Custis, George Washington Parke: sees Washington fall from a horse, 133; + story of Sally Bishop, 171; + adopted, 175; + biography of, 227-229; + spoiled by his grandmother, 236; + says "Magnolia" ran in a race, 252; + account of French hounds, 259 et seq.; + slays a stag, 268; + story of a black fox, 262; + in error as to Washington's last hunt, 264; + leaves word picture of Washington out on his + rounds, 309. +Custis, John Parke: biography of, 225, 226; member of + dancing class, 248; fox hunting with Washington, 256; + deer hunting at Mason's, 257. +Custis, Martha (Patty): hairpin of mended, 15; taken to + Bath for her health, 28; biography of, 222-225; member + of dancing class, 248. +Custis, Martha, a frequent visitor at Mount Vernon, 231. +Custis, Nelly: builds "Woodlawn," 63; adopted by Washington, + 175; is given Dogue Run Farm, 227; rebuked by + grandmother, 235; compelled to practise music, 236; + Washington dances with, 249; mentioned, 300; secures + a good husband, 305; says Washington is pleased with + being once more a farmer, 306; marriage of, 314. +Cyrus, to be made a waiting man, 210. + +Dandridge, Martha, _see "Martha Washington"_ 219. +Darrell,--: Washington buys land from, 9; mentioned, 17. +Davenport,--, dies and leaves family in distress, 187, 188. +Davis, Betty, a lazy impudent huzzy, 199, 200. +Davis, Tom, Mount Vernon hunter, 267. +Davy: colored overseer of Muddy Hole Farm, 183; suspected + of stealing lambs, 206. +Deer: Washington's tame animals, 131, 267; deer seen on + Ohio, 253; deer hunt at George Mason's, 257, 258; + Custis shoots a buck, 268, 269. +Dismal Swamp Company, Washington's interest in, 19, 33. +Dogs, kill sheep, 55, 142, 143. _See also "Hounds_." +Dogue Run, used as a mill stream, 97. +Dogue Run Farm: described, 62, 63; rotation plans for, 120; + sixteen-sided barn built upon, 124; excellent threshing + floor of this barn, 125; rented to Lawrence Lewis, 127; + conjuring negroes at, 213; given to Lawrence Lewis + and his wife, 227; financial return from in 1798, 287. +Dower negroes: belong to Custis estate, 14; number of in 1799, 218. +Drill, _see "Barrel Plough_." +Duhamel du Monceau, Henri Louis, his treatise on husbandry + abstracted by Washington, 71, 73, 74. +Dunmore, Lord, issues a land patent to Washington, 25. +Dutch fan, one owned by Washington at the time of his death, 128. + +Eastern Shore oats, wild onions picked out of, 111. +Eastern Shore peas, experiment with, 105. +Evans, Joshua, puts iron ring on Patty Custis, 224. +Everett, Edward, buys the Pearce papers, 86. + +Fairfax, Anne: wife of Lawrence Washington, 10; + marries George Lee and sells her life interest in Mount Vernon + to George Washington, 11. +Fairfax, Lord Thomas: employs George Washington as a surveyor, 9; + vast land holdings of, 38; + fondness of fox hunting, 255; + hunts with Washington, 256. +Fairfax, Sir William, father of wife of Lawrence Washington, 11. +_Farmer's Compleat Guide_: used by Washington, 71; + abstracts from, 72. +_Federal Gazette_, + describes theatrical performance witnessed by Washington, 246. +Ferry, bought of Posey, 17. +Ferry Farm, bought by Washington, 17, 295. +Fertilizer: experiments with marl, 95, 99, 105; + with mud, 102-104; + experiment fertilizing oats, 112; + Noah Webster's advanced ideas regarding, 118, 119; + Washington wants a manager who can convert everything he + touches into manure, 119; + _see also "Compost" and "Rotation of Crops"_. +Fishery: bought of Posey, 17; + description of, 65, 66; + returns from in 1798, 287. +Fitch, John, visits Washington to interest him in steam navigation, 240. +Fitzpatrick, John C, on handwriting of the + digest from the _Compleat Guide,_ 72. +Florida Blanca, helps Washington obtain a jackass, 137, 138. +Flour: Washington's classification of, 98; + excellent quality of, 98. +Forbes, Mrs., Washington's inquiries about, 189, 190. +Ford, Paul Leicester: + opinion of remedies tried on Patty Custis, 223; + on Washington's success as a farmer, 287. +Fox hunting: account of Washington's experiences at, 255-265; + mentioned, 100. +Franklin, Benjamin: gives Washington a cane, 87; + Washington inspects mangle belonging to, 113. +Frederick the Great, mythical story of his sending a sword to + Washington, 86. +French, Daniel, breaks contract for sale of corn, 79, 80. +French, Mrs. Daniel, Washington hires slaves from, 217. +French, Elizabeth, member of dancing class, 248. +Frestel, Monsieur, accompanies George W. Lafayette to Mount Vernon, 242. + +Garden: doubtful history of part of the flower garden, 160; the + vegetable garden, 161. +_Gentleman Farmer_, used by Washington, 71. +_George Barnwell_, Washington sees tragedy of acted, 244. +George, Prince, compared with Washington by Thackeray, 88. +George III, contributes to _Annals of Agriculture_ under pen + name of "Ralph Robinson," 74. +George Town oats, sown, 112. +Golden pheasants, Washington astonished by, 148. +Gough,--: gives Washington a bull calf, 144; Parkinson thinks it a poor + animal, 276. +Graham, Mrs. Macaulay, visits Mount Vernon, 240. +Great Kanawha: Washington visits, 21; land of upon, 21; hunts buffaloes + near, 254, 255. +Great Meadows, owned by Washington, 29. +Greer, Thomas: marries Sally Bishop, 173; his laziness, 185; mentioned, + 183. +Grenville, Lord, issues special permit for sending seeds to Washington, + 117. +Guinea swine, some owned by Washington, 147. +"Gunner," a hunting dog, 267. +Gunston Hall, fox hunting dinners at, 258. + +_Hamlet_, Washington sees performance of, 245. +Haw has: constructed at ends of Mansion House, 154; mentioned, 156. +Hedgerows, lines of still visible, 64. +Hedges: traces of still discernible, 64, 162; history of, 162, 163; + _see also "Box hedge_." +Henley, Frances Dandridge, marries Tobias Lear, 177. +Hessian fly: Washington experiments to protect his wheat from, 95; + plays into hands of by early sowing, 106. +_Hippopotamus_, dredge used on Delaware River, 103. +Hogs: described by Parkinson, 57, 58; Washington's, 131, 145-147; large + stock of in 1798, 148. +Home,--, his book on farming digested by Washington, 71. +_Horse-Hoeing Husbandry_: used by Washington, 71; an epoch-making + work, 73. +Horses: in Virginia, 53, 54; American described by Parkinson, 54, 55; + Washington's stallions, 131; brood mares bought by him, 132; + his war horses, 132; thrown from a Narragansett, 133; + his worn-out animals, 134; accidents to, 134; + his skill as a trainer of described by De Chastellux, 134, 135; + losses of in twenty months, 142; number of in 1799, 148. +Horticulture, Washington's activities in, 149 et seq. +Hounds: Washington builds up a pack of, 258 et seq.; names of some of + them, 259; the French hounds, 259 et seq. +Humphreys, Colonel: at Mount Vernon, 171; Smith fears he will write a + poem, 173; poem of about Washington's slaves quoted, 211. +Hunt, Gaillard, on Washington manuscripts in the Library of Congress, 87. + +Ice house, Washington's, 301, 302. +Indentured servants: classes of, 165; Washington's dealings with, 166-168. + +Jack, Mount Vernon fisherman, 267. +Jackasses: Washington's, 137 et seq., 148; stud fees of in 1798, 287. +Jackson, Andrew, ushers in an era of whisky drinkers, 300. +Jefferson, Thomas: explains why land is misused, 53; agricultural + correspondence with Washington, 83; carries bundle of pecan trees + to Alexandria for Washington, 159; opposed to slavery, 215. +Johnson, John, brings nostrum for fits, 224. +Johnston, George, sells land to Washington, 9. +"Jolly," a horse, gets leg broken, 134. +Jones,--, Washington visits farm of, 113. + +Knight, Humphrey, manages Mount Vernon, 178. +"Knight of Malta," a jackass, his history, 140, 141. +Knox, Thomas, one of Washington's English agents, 45, 46. + +"Lady," has four puppies, 259. +Lafayette, George W., stay of at Mount Vernon, 241, 242, 300. +Lafayette, Marquis de: visits Washington, 27; Washington's letter to + regarding "Royal Gift," 138; sends Washington a jackass and two + jennets, 140; last visit to Washington, 240; sends Washington some + hounds, 259. +Lame Peter, taught to knit, 193. +Laurie, Dr. James, comes to Mount Vernon drunk, 195. +Lear, Lincoln, Washington's interest in, 175-177. +Lear, Tobias: correspondence of with Washington published, 86; + biography of, 175-177; marries widow of George A. Washington, 177, + 180; writes directions about Billy Lee, 208; Washington explains + to him his desire for selling western lands, 213; directed to get + slaves out of Pennsylvania, 216; letter of Washington to, 242; + Parkinson's conversation with, 279; gives Parkinson money, 280. +Lee, General Charles: story of Washington's loans to, 81, 82; + mentioned, 317. +Lee, George, marries widow of Lawrence Washington, 11. +Lee, Henry: sends Washington cuttings of the tree box, 155; they show + little signs of growing, 157. +Lee, Robert E., Jr., administrator _de bonis non_ of Washington's + estate, 35. +Lee, William (Billy): accompanies Washington to the Ohio, 20; breeches + bought for, 82; helps get Colonel Smith out of a scrape, 172-174; + val de chambre, 193; history of, 206-209; freed, 218; acts as + huntsman, 260, 261. +"Leonidas," a stallion, 131. +Lewis, Betty: visit of Washington to, 112; sends brother some filberts, + 155; Washington gives her a mule, 298; mentioned, 293. +Lewis, Howell, manages Mount Vernon, 180. +Lewis, Lawrence: builds "Woodlawn," 63; rents Dogue Run Farm, 127, 315; + with uncle on a ride, 133; Washington expresses wish to that + Virginia would abolish slavery, 215; helps Washington entertain + guests, 243, 244; possible part of Washington in furthering love + affair of, 305; marriage of, 314. +Lewis, Nelly Custis, _see "Nelly Custis"_. +Lewis, Robert: manages Mount Vernon, 180; describes tearful scenes on + departure of Martha Washington, 237. +Library of Congress, Washington papers in, 5, 85, 87, 90. +Little Miami River, history of Washington's lands upon, 34-36. +Long Island Historical Society, Pearce-Washington papers in, 86. +Lossing, Benson J., visit of to Mount Vernon, 160. +Lucerne, Washington experiments with, 91, 92. + +McCracken, Washington buys land from, 9. +McKoy,--, overseer, 183. +Madison, Dolly, did not invent ice cream, 302, 303. +Madison, James: story of his ice house, 302; opposed to slavery, 215. +"Magnolia": a blooded Arabian stallion, 131, 132; in a race, 252. +Magowan, Rev. Mr., sells lottery tickets, 251. +_Maid of the Mill_, Washington witnesses performance of, 246. +Mansion House: view from porch of, 64; bequeathed to + Bushrod Washington, 84; Bishop starts for, 172; + grounds of overrun with negro children, 191; hospital + for slaves built near, 195; mentioned, 63, 267, 268; Bernard + visits, 312. +Mansion House Farm: described, 61; Washington will not + rent, 127; bequeathed to Bushrod Washington, 178; + financial loss on in 1798, 287. +Manure, _see "Fertilizer"_. +Marl, Washington experiments with, 95, 99, 105. +Mason, George: description of industry upon estate of, 40-43; + is dead, 233; deer hunting at, 257, 258. +Matilda's Ben, misbehavior of, 205. +Meade, Colonel, visits Washington, 309. +Mercer, John F., Washington's letter to about slavery, 213. +Meteorological table, manager required to keep, 83. +Michaux, Andre, botanist, brings pyramidical cypress from + the king of France, 158. +Military Company of Adventurers, Washington a member of, 19. +Mill: Washington's mill on the Youghiogheny, 24, 30; his + mill on Four Mile Run, 97; that on Dogue Run, 97, 98, 182. +Mississippi Company, Washington interested in, 10. +Morgan, General Daniel: talks over inland waterways question + with Washington 28; mentioned, 317. +Morris, Gouverneur: sends Washington Chinese pigs and + geese, 146, 147; goes fishing with him, 265. +Mosquitoes, prevalence of about Mount Vernon, 65. +Mount Vernon: Washington retires to, 4; given to Lawrence Washington, + 8; George Washington spends part of youth at, 9; early history of, + 10; life interest of Anne Lee in bought by Washington, 11; estate, + 16, 17, 20, 32; bequeathed to Bushrod Washington, 33; description + of, 60 et seq.; visit of owner in 1781, 78; seeds sent by Young + reach, 117; Booker builds threshing machine at, 126, 127; + Washington attempts to rent, 127; Washington's care for the lands + of, 129; number of horses on in 1785, 132; number of sheep on, + 135; resounds with jubilant sounds, 140; number of oxen on, 144, + 208; house rebuilt, 151-153; successive managers of, 178-182; + employment of white labor at, 186; slaves seen at, 191; number of + slaves on in 1786, 193; lot of slaves at, 211, 212; Edmund + Pendleton at, 221; managed by Mrs. Washington, 229; larders of + kept well filled, 230; Custis grandchildren reside at, 231; + visitors at, 240-242; dancing class meets at, 248; tea served on + portico of, 252; fox hunting dinners at, 258; the fisherman of, + 267; described by Parkinson, 271 et seq., 291; Washington's + estimate of probable crops on, 286; land of poor, 288; value of in + 1798, 288; coach shown there to-day not Washington's, 304; Nelly + Custis writes from, 306; condition of on Washington's retirement, + 307; last months of owner's life spent at, 313; mentioned, 75, 78, + 97, 101, 103, 130, 208, 244, 291, 312, 314. +Mount Vernon Association, 63. +Muddy Hole Farm: described, 62; barrel plough used at, 110; its colored + overseer, 183, 205; loss on in 1798, 287. +Mules: Washington raises, 137 et seq.; proposes to drive them to his + carriage, 139; number of in 1799, 148. + +Narragansetts, two bought by Washington, 132. +Negroes, _see "Slaves."_ +"Nelson," one of Washington's war horses, 132, 133. +New England, Washington's observations of agriculture in, 115. +Niemcewicz, Julian: describes condition of negroes at Mount Vernon, + 197, 198; opinion of Nelly Custis, 227. + +"Old Chatham," a worn-out horse, 134. +Overdursh,--, Dutch redemptioner bought with his family, 167. +Oxen: used in farm work, 122; number of in 1785, 144; fattened and + killed when eight years old, 145. + +Palatines: Washington considers importing, 24, 30; mentioned, 167. +Palmer, Jonathan, overseer, contract of, 185. +Parkinson, James: description of American live stock, 54-58; considers + renting one of Washington's farms, 127; on Washington's tone toward + his slaves, 202; his account of Mount Vernon and Washington's + farming operations, 270-280. +Patterson, John, paid for carpenter work, 153. +Peaches, Washington raises, 149. +Pearce, William: letters of Washington to, 86; describes poor condition + of the sheep, 137; letter to about Bishop, 171; manages Mount + Vernon, 181; overseers described to, 183; letter from about the + dead miller's family, 187; direction to about Cyrus, 209. +Perkins' Tavern, Washington stays over Sunday at, 116. +Peters, Richard: quoted regarding wolves, 56; sends plan of drill to + Washington, 107. +Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, founded, 91. +Phillipse, Mary, Washington's alleged infatuation with, 170. +Piney Branch, turned into Dogue Run, 97. +Pitt, William, a contributor to the _Annals of Agriculture, _74. +Plow: Washington invents one, 94; buys a Rotheran, 99. +Poelnitz, Baron, Washington inspects threshing machine belonging to, 126. +Pohick Church, Washington a vestryman of, 100. +Poland oats, sown in experimental plot, 112. +Pond, Rev., "lame discourses" of, 116. +Poole, William, letter of regarding want of water in mill stream, 97. +Posey, Captain John: fox hunting with Washington, 256; Washington's + relations with, 294; bankrupt and in jail, 295, 296. +Posey, Milly: member of dancing class, 248; stays at Mount Vernon, 295. +Posey, St. Lawrence, Washington helps to educate, 295. +Posey plantation, bought by Washington, 17. +Potatoes: method of growing under straw, 112; quantity raised in 1788, + 113. + +Randolph, Edmund, slaves of in Pennsylvania refuse to return to + Virginia, 216. +Redemptioners, a class of indentured servants, 166. +Richey, Matthew, Washington sells part of his western lands to, 32. +River Farm: described, 61, 62; financial return from in 1798, 287. +Robert Gary & Company: English agents of Washington, 46, 47; Washington + falls in debt to, 48. +Roberts, William M., amusing letter of, 188. +Roosevelt, Theodore, transfers Washington papers to Library of + Congress, 85. +Ross, Doctor, Washington asks him to buy him some white servants, 167. +Rotation of crops: how practised in America, 52; Washington's elaborate + plans for, 120 et seq. +"Royal Gift," a jackass, his history, 138-141. +"Rules of Civility," quoted, 202. +Rumney, Dr. William, physician to Mount Vernon, 195. +Ryan, Thomas, indentured servant, bought, 167. + +"Samson," a stallion, 131. +Seed: Washington anxious to have the best, 110; counts number of grains + in a pound of several varieties, 111; obtains some from England, + 116, 117. +Serpentine drive, laid out by Washington, 154. +Shag, Will, a runaway, 203. +Shaw, William, tutor to the Custis children, 175. +Sheep: raising of not much attempted, 55; breeds of, 55; much troubled + by wolves and dogs, 55, 56; Washington's, 135 et seq.; number lost + in twenty months, 142; he suspects an overseer of stealing lambs, + 206; Parkinson's opinion of, 278, 279. +Siberian wheat, experiment with, 105. +Simpson, Gilbert, one of Washington's western agents, 23, 24, 29, 30, + 31. +Sinclair, Sir John: Washington corresponds with, 83, 91: helps obtain + seeds for Washington, 117; Washington sends some American products + to, 118. +Sixteen-sided barn, mentioned, 62. +Slaves: Washington inherits from his father, 8; some sent to the west + to Simpson's, 23, 25; steal fruit, 156; as solution of labor + problem, 165; detailed account of Washington's, 191-218. +Smith, Colonel, adventure with Sally Bishop, 171-174. +Smith, Thomas, Washington's attorney in case against the squatters, 32. +Spears, Thomas, indentured servant, runs away, 168. +Spotswood, Gen. Alexander, + Washington's letter to apropos of slavery, 214. +Sprague, William B., is given some of the Washington papers, 85. +Squatters: on Washington's western land, 22, 23; delegation from meet + Washington at Simpson's, 31; dispossessed, 32. +Stallions, list of those kept by Washington, 131. +"Steady," a stallion, 131, 284. +Stephens, Richard, his laziness, 186. +Stewart, Robert, Washington's loan to, 293. +Stuart, overseer, 183. +Sullivan, Captain, interpreter of directions regarding "Royal Gift," + 138. +Swearingen, Captain van, accompanies Washington on mission to + squatters, 31. +Sycamores, enormous ones measured by Washington, 22, 255. + +Thackeray, William M., quoted regarding Washington, 87, 88. +Thomson, Charles, notifies Washington of his election to the + presidency, 240. +Threshing machine: Washington experiments with, 126, 127; owns one at + time of death, 128; Parkinson says General has two, 275; uses one + of Booker's model, 308. +Tobacco: place of in Virginia agriculture, 42-52; Washington's + experience with, 68; discontinues growing of, 69. +Tom, sent to West Indies, 204, 216. +Toner, J.M.: his transcripts of Washington papers, 79, 86; opinion of + regarding inspection of Washington's flour in the West Indies, 98. +"Traveler": a stallion, 131; stud fee of, 287. +Triplett, William, constructs outbuildings, 153. +Tull, Jethro: his book on horse-hoeing abstracted by Washington, 71, + 73; some of his ideas, 75; quoted by Washington, 92. +Turkeys: Washington raises, 131, 147; wild variety mentioned, 253. + +Union Farm: described, 61, 62; fishery on, 65; gully upon, 66; new + brick barn after Young's plans built upon, 117; financial return + from in 1798, 287. + +Virginia, agriculture and life in, 37-59. +_Virginia Almanac,_ weather record kept by Washington in, 80. +_Virginia Gazette,_ Washington advertises escaped servants in, + 167. +Voilett, Edward, agrees to avoid stills, 169. +"Vulcan," raid of on kitchen, 260. + +Waggoner Jack, sold in West Indies, 204. +Walker, Ann, daughter of John Alton, receives a bequest from Washington, + 174. +Walpole Grant, Washington interested in, 10. +Washington, Augustine, bequests of to George, 8. +Washington, Augustine, Jr., daughter of describes Martha Washington's + activities, 234, 235. +Washington, Bushrod: accompanies Washington on western trip, 28; + inherits Mansion House and papers, 84; fails to safeguard papers + properly, 85; educated by his uncle, 178; asked to make inquiries + about Mrs. Forbes, 189; assisted by his uncle, 299. +Washington, George A.: brings mahogany seeds from West Indies, 157; + widow of marries Tobias Lear, 177; manages Mount Vernon, 179, 180; + course of approved, 184; fox hunting, 263, 264; ill health of, + 297; aided by his uncle, 299. +Washington, Harriot, helped by her uncle, 299. +Washington, John A., manages Mount Vernon, 177, 178. +Washington, John A., inherits books and relics of Washington, 85. +Washington, John C, sells Washington papers to the nation, 85. +Washington, Lawrence: inherits Mount Vernon, 8; influence of upon + George, 9; biography of, 10; mentioned, 76. +Washington, Lund: directed to set out trees at end of Mansion House, + 151; manages Mount Vernon during the Revolution, 179; Washington's + generous dealings with, 187; will inform owner of delinquencies of + Roberts, 189; opinion of Washington's charity, 230, 231; is dead, + 233; fox hunting with Washington, 256, 263; instructions to + concerning the poor, 298. +Washington, Martha: marriage of Washington to, 12, 13; family of by + first husband, 14; her financial affairs, 14, 15; remembers when + there was but one coach in Virginia, 49; "broke out with the + Meazles," 79; tradition concerning her authority over the flower + garden, 160; Bishop threatens to tell of Colonel Smith's escapade, + 172; gives a quilt to her niece, 177; on the required work of the + sewing servants, 199; chapter about, 219-238; keeps open house, + 239; "Vulcan" steals one of her hams, 260; Parkinson's mention of, + 274, 279, 280; her husband's care of her grandchildren, 298; + drinks a glass of wine, 300. +Washington, Mary: death of, 33; son visits, 112; son sends money to, + 114, 298. +Washington, Samuel, financial assistance received by from General + Washington, 299. +Washington, William: has charge of "Royal Gift" in South Carolina, 139, + 140; visits Mount Vernon, 314. +Washington, William A., George Washington buys corn from, 69, 70. +Watson, Elkanah, anecdote of visit to Mount Vernon, 244. +Weather record, kept by Washington, 77, 80. +Webster, Noah: says toast at Mount Vernon was "Success to the mud," + 103; explains how fertility can be obtained from the air, 118, + 119; visit of mentioned, 175, 240. +Webster, William, indentured servant, runs away, 168. +Western Lands, history of Washington's, 18-36. +Wheat: how reaped and threshed, 51; Washington turns to cultivation of, + 69; Washington rolls in spring, 95; his sales of before the + Revolution, 96, 97; grinds into flour, 97; excellent quality of + Washington's wheat before the Revolution, 99; experiments with + Cape of Good Hope and Siberian, 105; opinion as to proper time for + sowing, 106; acreage in 1787, 113. +White, Alexander, pays General Lee's debt to Washington, 82. +White Chariot, history of, 303, 304. +Whiting, Anthony: writes concerning worn-out horses, 133, 134; + instructed to cull out the unthrifty sheep, 136, 137; manager of + Mount Vernon, 180. +"Wilderness": Washington sets out, 154; many trees dead in, 156. +Wine coasters, invented by Washington, 301. +Witherspoon, John, Washington describes his western lands to, 25. +"Woodlawn," home of Nelly Custis, 63, 227. + +Young, Arthur: letters of Washington to about his interest in farming, + 1, 2; astonished that wolves and dogs hinder sheep raising in + America, 55; Washington explains differences between American and + European agriculture to, 58; describes his estate to, 60 et seq., + 127; his _Annals of Agriculture_ used by Washington, 71, 74; + Washington's correspondence with, 83, 85, 91; sends inquiries + regarding American agriculture, 84; obtains seeds for Washington, + 116, 117; sends plan for barn, 117; Washington sends agricultural + information to, 118; Washington inquires of regarding a threshing + machine, 126; influence of upon Washington, 128; letter of + Washington to about his sheep, 136; about his mules, 141; + mentioned by Parkinson, 277. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WASHINGTON: FARMER*** + + +******* This file should be named 11858.txt or 11858.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/8/5/11858 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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