New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-01-10
Traits and Personal Attributes Of the
"E'ather OF his Country"
By q. W. z. CUsTIs.

| One afternoon several young gentlemen, visit
ors at Mount Vernon, were engaged in pitching
the bar, one Of the athletic sports common IN
those days, when suddenly the Colonel appeared
among us. He requested to be shown the pegs
that marked the bounds Of our efforts !; then,
smiling and without pulling off his cost, held
out his hand for the missile Z. No sooner OBJ
served the narrator, with emphasis, did the
heavy iron bar feel the grasp Of his mighty
hand, than il lost the power of gravitation and
Whizzed through the air, striking the ground
far, very far, beyond our utmost limits We
were indeed amazed, as we stood around, all
stripped to the buff, with shirt sleeves rolled Up,
and having thought ourselves very clever fel-
lows, while the Colonel on retiring pleasantly
observed, -, when you beat my pitch, young gem
| tlemen, I'll try again 2 nd '3s ss5s- 3S5
In giving graphic description Of the stature
and form Of Washington, we give not only the
result Of personal observation and experience Of
many years, but information derived from the
highest authoril y-a faverite nephew.
Major Lawrence Lewis asked his uncle what
was his height in the prime of life He replied.
In my best days, Lawrence, stood six feet
ana TWO inches IN ordinary shoes" We know
that ne measured bya standard precisely six
feet when laid out in death OF his weight we
are an evidence, having heard him say to CraW-
ford, Governor of Canada, in 1893 2. MY weight
IN my best days, Sir, never exceeded from two
hundred and ten to tWentF.', His fora was
unique, unlike most athletic frames that expand
at the shoulders and then gather in at the hips
The form Of W ashington deviated from The
general rule, since it descended from the shouI-
ders to the hips in perpendicular lines, the
breadth Of the trunk being nearly as great at
the one as the other. His limbs were long,
large and sinewy Id his lower limbs, he was
what is usually called straight -Iimbed. His
4 joints, feet end hands were large, and could a
cast have been made Of his right hand, SO far
did its dimensions exceed natures model that it
would have been preserved in museums for ages,
as the anatomical wonder Of the eighteenth CEN
1 tury. La Fayette remembered this remarkable
hand, when, during his triumph in America, he
| said to us in the portico at Mount Vernon, SIT
was here in 1874 [ was first introduced to you
by the good General; it is long while ago ;
you were den q very little gentleman, rigged
out in cap and feather, and held by one finger
Of the Generals mighty hand It was all you
could do at dat time, my dear sir. z l$
The eyes Of the chief were light grayish
blue, deep sunken in their sockets, giving the
expression Of gravity and thought. Stuart
painted those eyes deeper blue, saying, in q
hundred years they will have faded TO their
1 right color. His hair was of hazel brown,
and very thin in his latter days In his move
ments he preserved in remarkable degree, and
to advantage, the elastic step that he had &C
auired in service on the frontier. 9 ##
Being ordered one morning very early into
the library at Mount Vernon, o spot that none
entered without orders, the weather being warm,
We found the chief very much undressed, and
while looking at his manly frame, we discovered
the centre of his chest was indented. This is
| en- exception to the general rule laid down by
anatomists, that where the human frame pos
sesses great muscular power the chest should
rather be rounded out and protuberant than in
dented. We were equally surprised to find how
thin he was in person, being, with the absence O.
flesh, literally q man of sstheWs and sinews.' FH
wore around his neck the miniature portrait o
his wife. This he had worn through all th
vicissitudes of his eventful career, from the pc
riod Of his marriage to the sslast days at Noun
! Vernon
In the appearance Of Washington there wa
nothing Of bulkiness, but there was united al
/ that was dgnifed and graceful, while his al
} and manner were at once noble and command
, ing. No one approached him that did not fee
for him, as Lord Erskine observed, s'a degre
) of awful reverence" He wore sword with
, peculiar grace. The Viscompte de Neuille
said it was because 'sthe man was made for tn
| sword, and not the sword for the man"
= La Fayette, not long after the war of tb,
Revolution, wrote letter to Col. Trumbull
urging him to paint an equestrian portrait o
the Chief as he appeared on the field Of Mon
mouth. The illustrious Frenchman, America
great benefactor, said to US: &c was very
young Major General on that memorable day
and had great deal to do, but took time, amid
the heat and fury Of the fight, to gaze upon and
admire Washington, as, mounted on splendid
charger covered with foam, he rallied our line
with words never to be forgotten. Stand fast,
my boys, and receive your enemy; the Southern
troops are advancing to support you!' thought
then as l now do" continued the good La
Fayette, 'sthat never have / seen 30 superb q
man. .. - @ 2
When this noble Empire shall have achieved
its high destiny, and embracing Continent,
attained power end grandeur unexampled in
| the history of nations, the future American,
from the topmost height of his greatness, will
look back upon the early days Of his country
and call up the &c time -honored - memories Of
the heroic ere and the age of Washington and,
when contemplating the image of the Pater Pa
tre, perpetuated by the mellowed tints of the
canvas and freshness Of time enduring bronze,
with honest pride of ancestery he will exclaim,
my forefather was the associate Of that great
man in the perils and glories Of the struggle for
American independence. Let there be undying
honor to the memory Of Washington.
Ever green be the laurels that deck his
trophied tomb; ever living be the homage in
the hearts of his countrymen and mankind for
the patriot, the hero and the sage who, under
Providence, with humble means so much con-
tributed to raise his native land from the depths
| Of dependence and to place her in the rank Of
nations; who presided over her civic destinies
in the dawn Of the great experiment of self
| government; and who, after an illustrious life
spent in the service of liberty and mankind, and
without cloud to dim the luster Of his fame,
descended to the grave with the august title Of
the Father Of his Country.
The COURIER DEs ErATs UN1s.-This French
journal, published in the city of New York,
prefxes to an account of the detention of the
steamer Northern Light on Monday, the follow
ing remarks:
I'VE are once more called upon to assist at
one of these pitiable struggles, which manifest
| at the time both the impotence of the Federal
| Government to cause the law to be respected,
and the contempt into which the law itself falls
from day to day in the United States''
| Shame on the mingled impudence, meanness
and mendaoity of this foreign calumniator OF
the United States! In what fact has this in
solently imputed s'impotence of the Federal
Government to cause the law to be respected p
appeared? We challenge the proof This for
| eign libeller Of the American Government, its
people and its institutions, dishonors his own
country while he insults this, where he happens
to possess q freedom of speech that he could not
enjoy in France. Washington Union.
| HARD FOR THE DoG--The Pittsfield EARLE