M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1858-11-25
StIrtttO gtlisttIlm.
WASHINGTON AS A FARMER.

! Life Of Washington showing his love
for country life, and his habits as 6
farmer, will interest our readers, i
> they love their farms as he did his.
In his letter from Mount Vernon
, ne writes: 81 am now, believe
hxed in this seat, and hope to fine
more happiness in retirement than
ever experienced in the wide and bust
ling world.n
This was q deliberate purpose with
h;m-the result of enduring inclina,
tions, Throughout the whole course
of his career, agricultural life appears
to have been his beau ideal of exist.
ence, which haunted his thoughts,
even amid the stern duties of the field,
and to which he recurred with unhag-
ging interest, whenever enabled to in.
dulge his natural bias. Mount Yer.
non was his harbor of repose where
be repeatedly furled his sail, and fan
cied himself anchored for life. No
impulse Of ambition tempted him
thence; nothing but tho call of his
country, and his devotion to the pub
lie. The place was endeared to him
by the remembrance of his brother,
and of the happy days be had passed
here with that brother in the days Of
his boyhood; but it was delightful
place in itself, and well calculated to
inspire the rural feeling.
The mansion was beautifully situa.
ted on swelling hight, crowned with
wood, and commanding magnificent
view up and down the Potomac. The
grounds Immediately about it were
laid out somewhat in the English
taste. The estate was apportioned
into separate farms, devoted to differ
ent kinds of culture. Much, howev-
er, was still covered with wild woods
and iDdented with inlets; haunts of
deer and lurking-places Of foxes. "No
estate in United America" observed
he in one Of his letters, "is more pleas
antly situated. In high and heal
thy country, in latitude between the
Extremes Of heat and cold; on one OF
| the finest rivers in the world-a river
well stocked with various kinds OF
fish at all seasons of the year, and in
the sprinp with shad herring. bass.
carp, sturgeon, &C., in great abund-
ance. The borders Of the estate are
washed by more than ten miles of
t:de'water; the whole shore, in fact, is
one entire fishery"
Washington carried into his rural
affairs the same method, activity and
circumspection that had distinguished
him in military life. lie kept his own
accounts, posted up his books, and
balanced them with mercantile exact
ness. The produces of his estate, al
so, became so noted for the faithful.
ness, as to quality and quantity, with
which they were put up, that it is said
any barrel of flour that bore the brand
of George Washington, Mount Vern-
on, was exempt from the customary
inspection in the West India ports.
He was an early riser-often before
daybreak in the winter, when the
nights were long. On such occasions
he lit his own fire, and wrote and read
by candle light. lie breakiasted at
seven in the summer and at eight in
winter. Two small cups of tea and
three or four cakes of Indian meal
(called hoe-cakes) formed his frugal
repast. Immediately after breakfast
he mounted his horse and visited
those parts of his estate where any
work was going on, seeing to every
thing with his own eyes, and often
aiding with his own hands. Dinner
was served at two. He ate heartily,
but was no epicure, nor critical about
| his food. His beverage was small.
beer or cider, and two glasses of old
Madeira. He took tea, of which he
was very fond, early in the evening
and retired for the night about nine
o'clock.
We find him working for part oI
two days with Peter, his smith, to
make a plow on new invention
This, after two or three failures, he &C,
complished. Then, with less than
his usual Judgment, he put his two
chariot horses to the plow, and ran q
risk of spelling them in giving his
new invention a trial over ground
thickly swarded. Anon, during a
thunder storm, a frightened negro
alarms the house with word that the
mill is giving way, upon which there
is a general turnout of all the forces,
with Washington at their head, wheel
ing and shoveling gravel, during
pelting rain, to stop the rushing wat
er.
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