Butte record., 1854-08-12
wasAiugton's Fisherman and Hunter.

i -Dlu INT NuSA1e tAtCb44tcAlOu> dilL
Private Memoirs Of the Life and Char
acter of Washington, we extract the
following:
" Washington ceased to be a sports
man after 1877, when he gave up the
/ hunting establishment True, he bred
the blooa horse, and fayoTite colt OF
bis, named Magnolia, was entered and
ran for purse; bat this was more to
I encourage the breeding of the horse,
than from any attachment to The sports
Of the turf. All the time that he could
splre for active exercise in his latter
DAY, was devoted to riding about his
farm and inspecting his Improvements.
In this he was ably assisted by several
Of his stewards and managers, who were
Europeans, and who had brought from
their own countries habits Of md ,stry
md knowledge of improved agriculture
and raral affairs; 50 that, had the Farm
er OF Mount Vernon been spared but d
few years longes, his estate would have
exhibited a series of model farms, ex-
amples to neighboring improvers and to
the country at large
" Mount Vernon in the olden time,
was celebrated for the laxuries of the
table. The fields, the forest, and the
river, each in their respective seasons,
furnished the most abundant resources
for good living. Amor 2 the picturesque
objects on the Potomac 10 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 African negro, hundred
years of age, and although greatly en-
feebled in body by such vast weight
of years, his mind possessed uncommon
vigor. And he would tell of days long
past, Of Afric's cline, and of Aires
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
fame, and he TO the slave-ship.
:" Father Jack possessed in an emf
neat degree the leading quality of all
his race, somnolency BY looking
through spy-glass you would see the
old fisherman, bent nearly double, en-
joyIng nap, which was only disturbed
by the hard jerking of the white perch,
that would become entangled by his
hook
But the slumbers of Father Jack
were occasionally attended BY some in
convenience The domestic duties of
Mount Vernon were governed by clock
time. Now, the cook required that the
fish should be forthcoming at certain
period, 50 that they might be served
smoking on the board precisely at three
O'Clock He wonld 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 "lone
time ago" " The unfortunate artistic of
the culinary department, grown furious
by delay, would now rush down to the
waters edge, and by dint of loud shout
ing, at length the canoe would be seen
turning towards the shore. Father Jack.
indignant at lis being supposed that he
was asleep on his post. woulG rate those
present on his landing with, "What you
all meek such debil of a noise for hey,
I want sleep, only noddin.n
Poor Father Jack No more early
dawn will he be seen, as with withered
arm, he padded his eight canoe on
the broad surface of the Potomac, to
return with the fancy spoils, and boast
of fimous fish taken "on his own hook"
His canoe has long since rotted on the
shore, his paddle hangs idly in his cabin.
bis occupaiion's gone" and Father
Jack, the old fisherman of Mount Yer
non, sleep the sleep that knows no
waking"
A hunter, too, was attached to the
household establishment Tom Davis
and his great New Fonndland dog, Gun
ner, were as important characters in the
department of furnishing game and wild
fowl, as Father Jack in that of fish. So
vast were the numbers of the canvass
back ducks on the Potomac in the an
cient tlme, that a single discharge of
Tom Davis old British musket would
procure as many of those delicious birds
as would supply the larder for week. u