Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1855-06-13

Washington's Love Affairs.
In one of those manuscript memorials of lis
practical studies and exercises, we have core up
ON some documents singularly in contrast with all
j that we have just cited and with his apparently
unromantic character. In word, there are eyi-
dences in his own handwriting that, before he
was fifteen years of age, he had conceived a pas
sion fur some Unknown beauty so serious as tods-
inrb his otherwise well regulated mind and Ia
make him really unhappy. Why This juvenile
attachment was source OF unhappness. we have
no positive means of ascerlalnIng. Perhaps The
object of it may have considered him mere
school boy aud treated him as such; or his own
shyness may have been in his way, and his 'mles
for behavior and conversation" may as yet have
sat awkwardly on him and rendered him formal
and ungainIy when he most sought 10 please
Even in later years he was apt To be silent and
embarrassed in female society. "He was very
bashful young man, said an old lady whom he
used to sit when they were both in their homage.
II used often to wish that he would talk more. ~
Whatever may have been the reason, this ear
| " attachment seems TO have been source OF
poignant discomfort TO him. 1t clung to him az
Ter he took final leave of school in the autumn
of l747 and went to reside with his brother Law
renee at Mount Vernon. Here he continued his
mathematical studies and his practice in survey
| ing, disturbed at times bv occurrences of his un-
lucky passion. Though by no means of poeticaI
tenn perament, the waste pages of his journal be-
tray several attempts to pour forth his amorous
sorrows in verse. They are mere common place
rhymes, such as lovers at his age are apt to write,
in which he bewals his '.poor restless heart,
wounded by Cupid's DART" and bleeding for one
wh0 remains piuless of his griels and woes"
The tenor Of some OF hisv verses induces us to
believe that he never told his 1--we, but as we
have already surmised was prevented by his bash
lulness.
ss"Ah, wo is nc, that should love and couceal;
Long have wished and never dars reveal"
It is difficult to reconcile ones self to the idea
of the cool and sedate Washington, the great
champion of American liberty, wOe-worn lover
in his youthful days, '.sghing like furnace
and inditing plainIlve verses abont the grOves oil
Mount Vernon. We eare glad Of an opportunity,
however, Of penetrating To his native ieelings,and
finding that under his steady decQrum and reserve
he had heart Of flesh, throbbing with the warm
impulses Of human nature.
The merits of Washington were known and
appreciated by the Fairfax family. Though not
quite sixteen years OF age he no longer seemed
| boy, NOR was he lrfated as such. Tall, athletic
and manly for his years, his early splftrainlDg
and the cude of conduct he had devised. gave
gravity and decision to his conduct; his lrankness
aud III desty inspired cordial regard. and the mel
ancholy Of which he speaks may lave produced
softness in his manner calculated W win favor IN
ladies' eyes. According to his own account, The
female society by which he was surrounded had
soulhing effect On that melancholy. The charms
Of Miss Carey, the sister Of the BRIDE, seem even
| II 4 a -
to have caused slight fluitering IN his bosom;
which, however, was constantly rebuked by The
remembrance of his former passon-so at least re
Judge rum letters to his youthful cUnfldants rough
drafts of which are still 10 be in his tell-ale
JOURNAL.
TO one whom he addresses as his dear friend
Robin, he writes :'"hly residence is at present al
his lordship's, where might, was MY heart dis
engaged, pass my time very pleasantly, las there's
very agreeable young lady lives in the same
house (Col. George FairlaX's wife's sister, but
as that's only adding fuel 10 fire, it makes me the
more uneasy, for by often and unavoidably being
| in company with her, revives my former passion
| for your Luwland Beauty whereas, was tOlive
more retired from young women, might in some
measure alleviate my sorrows by burylng that
chas,e aod troublesome passion in the grave of OBJ
liviun," Sc.
| Similar avowals he makes to another of his
Young correspondents, whom he styles ''Dear
friend John. as also to female confdant, sty led
dear Sally" to whom he acknowledges that
the company Of the "very agreeable young lady,
ssler-in law of Colonel George FairiaA," in
great measure cheers his sorrow and dejectsd
The object Of his early passion Is not positively
known. Tradition states that the ''low land beau
lty" was Miss Grimes, Of WeSlmoreland, afer-
wards Mrs. Lee, aud mother of General Henry
Lee, who figured in revolutionary history as
Light Horse Harry" aud was always iavorite
with Washington, probably from the recollectlons
of his early tenderness f1r The mother.
Whatever may have been the sooIhing effect Of
,he female society by which he was surrounded
at Belvuir, the youth found nore elleclual rem
edy for his love melancholy in the COMPANY OF
Lord Fairfax His lordship was staunch fox
hunter, and kept horses and hounds in the Eng
lish style The hunting seasun had arrived -
The neighborhoud abuunded with sport; but fox
nting 10 Virginia required bold and skilllul hurse
manship. He found Washington as bold as him
self in The saddle, and as eager to follow the
hounds. He forthwith took him into peculiar Ia
vor made him his hunting companion; and it
was probably under the tuition OF this hard riding
old nobleman that the youth imbibed that fondness
for the chase for which he was afterwards remark
ed.
-
Tradition gives very different motives from
i I'LL