Washington sentinel., 1854-04-02
Washington,s Fisherman and Hunter.

From Custis's "Recollections and Private
Memoirs of the Life and Character of Washing
ton" we extract the following
Washington ceased to be sportsman after
1887, when he gave up the hunting establish
ment True, he bred the blood horse and Q
tayorite colt of his, named Magnolia, was en-
tered and run for purse; but this was more
to encourage the breeding of fine horses thar
from any attachment to the sports of the turf
All the time that he could spare for active ex
ercise in his latter days was devoted to riding
about his farm and inspecting his improve
ments. In this he was ably assisted by several
of his stewards and managers, who were Euro
peans, and who had brought from their own
countries habits of industry and a knowledge
of improved agriculture and rural affairs Sc
that had the farmer of Mount Vernon been
spared but few years longer, his estate would
have exhibited a series of model farms, exam.
pies to neighboring improvers and to the coun.
try at large.
Mount Vernon in the olden time, was cee.
brated for the luxuries of the table. The fields
the forest and the river, each in their respec
tive seasons, furnished the most abundant re-
sources for good living. Among the pictu.
rescue objects on the Potomac to be seen from
the eastern portico of the mansion-house, was
the light canoe of Father Jack, the fisherman
to the establishment. Father Jack was an AT
rican negro, hundred years of age; and al
though greatly enfeebled in body by such a
vast weight OF years, his mind possessed un-
common vigor. And he would tell of days
long past, Of Afric's cline, and of Afric's wars,
in which he (of course the son of king) was
made captive, and of the terrible battle in which
his royal sire was slain, the village consigned
to the flames, and he to the slaye-ship.
Father Jack possessed in an eminent de-
gree the leading quality of all his race, SOM
nolency. BY looking through a spy-glass you
would see the old fisherman, bent nearly double,
enjoying nap, which which was only dis
turbed by the hard jerking of the white perch
that became entangled by his hook.
"But the slumbers of Father Jack were oc-
casionally attended bv some inconvenience.
The domestic duties at Mount Vernon were
governed by clock time. Now, the cook re.
quired that the fish should be forthcoming at q
certain period, SO that they might be served
smoking on the board precisely at o'clock.
He would repair to the river bank and make
the accustomed signals; but, alas, there would
be no response; and the old fisherman was
seen quietly reposing in his canoe, rocked by
the gentle undulations of the stream, and
dreaming no doubt of events long time ago
The unfortunate artist of the culinary depart.
ment, grown furious by delay, would now rush
down to the waters edge, and, by dint of loud
shouting, at length the canoe would be seen to
turn to the shore. Father Jack, indignant at
its being even supposed that he was asleep on
his boat, would rate those present on his landing
with what you all meek such debil offs noise
for, hey; want sleep, only noddin.'
" Poor Faber Jack No more at early
dawn will he be seen, as with withered arms he
padded his light canoe on the broad surface
of the Potomac, to return with the fnny spoils
and boat of famous fish taken on his own
hook His canoe has long since rotted on
the shore, his paddle hangs idly in his cabin
his occupations gone, and father Jack, the
old fisherman of Mount Vernon, sleeps the
sleep that knows no waking
"a hunter too was attached to the house
hold establishment. Tom Davis and his great
Newfoundland dog, Gunner, we're as important
characters in the department for furnishing
game and wild fowl as Father Jack in that Of
fish. So vast were the numbers of the can
vass-back duck on the Potomac in the ancient
time, that single discharge of Tom Davis's
old British musket would procure as many of
those delicious birds as would supply the larder
for week"