The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-01-21
MEMORIES OF WASHINGTON
HOW BE BLOCKED, TALKED AND LIVED
III ALEXANDRIA.
Personal R~ecOllcctiOms of the First
Presidcnt-His Domestic Rcla-
tiOnS-Daily Life ut Mount Vernon.

tiOnS-Daily Lie at Mount y ernon
have spent much time IN the gras:
grown streets of Alexandria, Va, chat
ting with the old citizens about George
Washington, and gathering together
such traditions of him as have come
down to them from their fathers, writes
the Washington correspondent of tho
Cleveland Leader. Washington died in
1899, and there arc hone living in Alex
andria old enough to have known him,
but Alexandria was his business place
for years. He lived at Mount Yer.
non, only nine miles away, and his mark
citing, buying and general business was
done at Alexandria. lie voted there. He
had a little office built on a lot which he
bought when he was a young man, and
it was only a few years ago that it was
torn down. Alexandria was, in TACT, his
nearest town, and here he came to dance
at the hotel parties, trade at the stores,
and to talk politics on the street corners.
Mr.. William Carne, the youngest man
talked with, was perhaps fifty years old.
ar. Carne said: THE last of the old
men who remembered Washington per.
sonally passed away about twenty
years ago, and it is very late
to attempt to get authentic information
about him. | was born in Alexandria,
and l have been engaged all my life in
studying Washington's character, and
have talked with all the old citizens OF
Alexandria, for the past thirty years and
more, in regard to him. He would take
his stand on the steps of the City Hotel
and would begin to address the crowd
on the greatness of Washington and tell
them anecdotes and gossip concerning
him. | have made an especial study OF
Washington as Il young man The ira
ditions of Alexandria represent him as a
very proper young fellow, six feet tall,
rather stately in carriage, and exceedingly
fond of horses. He liked to try new
horses, and it IS said that during a single
dav he rode ten different horses into
Alexandria. Every one tells me he made
q t%ine-looking figure on horseback. He
sat straight and had thorough command
of his steed. This straightncss he kept
until the last. He is said to have danced
q good deal as q young man, and to have
been very fond of balls.
have no doubt hat he danced some.
| what, but | do not think he ever unbent
himself to any extent. The dance OF
a~nte-rcvolution days was far different
from the waltz and the fantastic german
of the present. The minuet, for in
stance, is more like a funeral tread than
a ballroom skip, and Washington could
easily move through this without appear
ing anything but cminently respectable.
| have no doubt that he drank a. glass of
wine or whisky o and then, as was the
custom in those days, but l don't think
he ever f%requented the taverns or gos,
slipped at the doggeries.
AS to his circumstances as a young
man, they were rather poor, and he
learned habits of business which stood
him we'll in later years. He did not
begin to make money until he became a
surveyor, and then he made it very fast,
earning twenty-five dollars a day. AS
to his business contracts, I believe he
was very liberal in making q contract,
but he was very rigid in ~exacting its
fulillmrnt. He wanted everything set
down in the agreement. and l have seen
n contract of his employing an overseer
in which he stipulates that the overSeer
shall nave the right to be drunk for a
week at Christmas. He probably knew
the man we'll enough to know that he
would get drunk anyhow, and not wish
ing to have any trouble with him, made
this stipulation in his contract.
"Ilave you heard anything of his re-
lations with his wife,"
"Nothing, save that they were Of the
most amicable nature. His marriage, you
know. was a case of love at first sight,
and IN one of the few love letters which
now exists of those he wrote her after
his marriage, he speaks very tenderly of
her, and addresses her as My Dear Patsy
Mr.. Gusts said Washington wore his
wife's picuture in a locket tied around
his neck to the day of his death. He
managed most of the details of the house
himself, and during his life took most of
the care off Mrs. W~ashington's shoulders.
Martha Washington was, however, thor
oughly domestic. She prided herself on
her knitting and spinning. and when her
husband was inaugurated as the first
President, the suit he wore had been
made by his own servants at Mount Yer
non. Mrs. Washington wove many of
her own dresses, and there are two
spoken of which were made of cotton
with silk stripes of red and brown. The
silk came from the rawlings Of brown
silk stockings and worn out chair covers
of red silk. 1t is said by some that Mrs.
Washington became insane before she
died, but | do not think this is so. 1t
is true she shut herself up alone in q
ROOM, and remained there until her death,
but you must remember she was an old
woman, and there is q wide difference
between the ~crankiness of age and in
sanity. 1t is possible she may have been
parsimonious, as is charged, but there
arc no traditions to that effect"
An old gentleman whom | met above
the Braddock hotel told me he had for
wears heard George Washington Gusts
talk of his adopted father. Said he:
''Custis looked up to Washington as II
god. lie described him as straight as an
American Indian, and as free i'll his walk
as a savage. From the stories | have
heard of Washington, l have tried to
picture him in my minds eye. He was a
tall man. padded with muscle. He was
six feet two in his shoes, and he weighed
21O pounds in his prime. He wore about
number eleven shoes and had gloves
three times as large as the average. His
hands were so large that they were a
curiosity, and his whole frame was bony
and largc-iointed. He had a broad
chest, but not a full one. 1t was rather
hollow, and he was troubled in his last
days with a cough. His mouth was
firm; his lower jaw gripped the upper
with Il determined grip. In later years
he lost his teeth, and the false ones he
got did not fit we'll, and pushed out his
lower lip. He had eyes of cold light
gray, which could look stern and angry
upon occasion, and which seldom
smiled. lie was as wide at the hips as
at the shoulders, and kept his straight
ness of stature to the last. He ha9
large legs and was a good rider
n runner. You nave Acdlu
the stories of his wonderful
strength of arm, and how he
threw stones wide distances. His nose
was rather thick and coarse. l have
never heard that it had a blossom on 1t.
He was rather fastidious as to his dress,
though he wore plain clothes when not
on military duty. He always shaved
himself. but had q servant to comb and
tie his hair every morning. Ihavc heard
Mr.. Gusts say that he rose very carly
an Mount Vernon, often before day
break, and as early as 4 \. NJ. He would
at sunrise go to his stables and look at
his blooded horses. When he came back
he had n light breakfast of corn cakes
honey and tea, or something of that sort,
and then he ate nothing more until din
ncr. l am speaking of his later years.
After breakfast he rode over his estate,
and at three had returned and was dressed
for dinner. Dinner was Il big meal at
Mt. Vernon, and Washington ate moth
ing after it. He usually drank five
glasses of Madeira wine at dessert, but
have never heard of his being drunk.
- xlo ~,o1orofn ,,cn