Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1866-12-21
GENERAL WASHINGTON AT HONE.
DY JAMES PARTON.

General Washington stood six feet three
IN l''s slippers, and in the prime of his
HE waS rather s|en'l"r than otherwise, but
"s straight as an arrow. His form WAS
well r'orori"ncd ard evenly deve!uped
10 that he alried his taincss gracefully and
Looked s'rkiaSlv well on horseback. There
Las never been Il more active, sinewv fig
nre than his when he was young ,.an.;
it was only in LATER life that hi, movements
became Sow and 'iiyniGed HIS wit. WA;
ap'ump, pretty little women. very sprisht.
" and gay III her young days, aul uni..
AS t"nd OF har.n" her own way us ladies
''sn"!ly are. She srt led down into -
Eool, plain, domestic wife. who Io,,,t
sharply alter her servants, and was seldom
Seen Without Ecr knitting needles in fuM
play. She was far from being what we
Hhoull now call an educated woman
Scarcely any Of the ladies Of that day
k"e:" much more than to read their prayer.
uo"k and al'"ana', anil keep the simp!,.
accounts. Mrs. Washington probably
never read book through in her lie and
as to her spelling-tie less said Of it the
better.
Washington himself, before he became a
public man, was a.bad spcler.' People were
not SO particular then as they are now
and brsides, there really was no settled
system Of spelling 81 hundred years ago.
When the General wrote for 'rheam Of
paper Il beaver 'hatt,' suit of .cloa:hs' >
and pair Of satin shoes, there was no
Webster unabridged to keep peoples spell.
ing within bounds. Nor was he much of
areader Of books. lIa read little of the
History of England now and then, and a
paper from the Spectator occasionally on
rainy days, but he had very little literary
taste. lie was essentially an out.of-doors
man, and few things were more isagreea-
bic to him than confinement at the desk
There WAS nothing il his house which
could be called a library; he had few
olG-t;Ishioned books, which he seldom
disturbed and never read long at n
time.
The General and his wife lived happily
together, but it is evident that, like most
ieresses, she was little exactins, and it
is highly probable that the groat Washing.
ton was sometimes favored with ''curtain
lecture. The celebrated au,lorcss. Miss
Bremen, is our authority for this surmise.
She relates, that gentleman once slept at
Mount Vernon in the room mex. to that oc.
cupied by tho master and mistress of the
mansion; and when all the inmates were
in bed, and the house was still, he over.
heard, through the thin partition, tho voice
of Mrs. Washington. lie could not but
listen, and it was curtain lecture which
she was giving her lord. He had done
something during the day which, she
thought ought to have done differently,
and she WAS giving him her opinion in
somewhat animated and quite decided
tones. The great man listened in SILENCE
.i she had doue, and then, without re.
mark npon the subject in hand, said:
Nov, good sleep to you, my DEAR"
What 10 ex ample 70 husbands!
When Washington was appointed to
Command the revolutionary armies, it il
plain from his letters home that ono of
his greatest objections "a accepting the ap-
pointment was, the 'uneasinasst a. Ne term.
ed lit, that il would cause his Msss to have
him absent from bome.
General Washington was a vsry rich
man; bis wife was very rich, and her tbre'
ohildien we're heirs to great wealth. H
bad little principality to govern. Beside
the farms about his own residence on th1
Potomac, with several hundred slaves up