Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1885-01-02
MEMORIES OF WASHINGTON.
HOW HELooKHD,T TALKED AND LIVED
IN ALEXANDRIA,.
Personal RecOIIectiOns of the First
President-His Domestic Rela-
IIOns-DaiIY Life az Mount Vernon.

have spent much time in the grass
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 the
Cleveland Leader. Washington died in
1893, and there are none living in Alex
audria 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, buving and general business was
done at Alexandria. He voted there. He
had little Office built on a lot which he
bought when he was young man, and
it was only 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 Came, the youngest man l
talked with, was perhaps fifty years old.
Mr.. Carne said: 1.-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. l 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 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 single
day he rode ten different horses into
Alexandria. Every one tells me he made
a tine-loolling figure on horseback. He
sat straight and had thorough command
of his steed, This straightness he kept
until the last. He is said to have danced
a good deal as young man, and to have
been very fond of balls. =:
| have no doubt that he danced some
what, but do not think he ever unbent
himself to any extent. The dance of
ante-revolution days was far different
from the waltz and the fantastic german
of the present. The minuet, for in
stance, is more like funeral tread than
a ballroom skip, and Washington could
easily move through this without appear
ing anything but eminently respectable.
l have no doubt that he drank glass of
wine or whisky now and then, as was the
custom in those days, but l don't think
he ever frequeuted the taverns or Cos
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 well 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 a contract,
but he was very rigid in exacting its
fulfllment. He wanted everything set
down in the agreement. and have seen
a contract of his employing an overseer
in which he stipulates that the overseer
shall have the right to be drunk for a
week at Christmas. He probably knew
the man well 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.
"Have 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 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. Washington's shoulders.
Martha Washington was, however, thor.
oughly domestic. She prided herself or
her knitting and spinning, and when heI
husband was inaugurated as the first
President, the suit he wore had been
made by his own servants at Mount Yer
non. Mrs. Washington woye 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 l do not think this is so.
is true she shut herself up alone in {
room, and remained there until her death
but you must remember she was an ole
woman, and. there is wide difference
between the -Grankiness of age and in
sanity. 1t is possible she may have beer
parsimonious, as is charged, but there
are no traditions to that effect"
An old gentleman whom / met above
the Braddock hotel told me he had fo
years heard George Washington Gusts
talk, of his adopted father Said he
''Custis looked up to Washington as
god. He described him as straight as al
American Indian, and as free in his wall
as savage. From the stories | have
heard of Washington, have tried t,
picture him in my minds eye. He was
tall man. padded with muscle. He wa
six feet two in his shoes, and he weighed
210 pounds in his prime. He wore abou
number eleven shoes and had glove
three times as large as the average. Hi
' hands were so large that they were
curiosity, and his whole frame was bon
and large iointed He had broac
chest, but not full one. 1t was rattle
hollow, and he was troubled in his las
E days with cough. His mouth wa
n firm; his lower jaw gripped the uppe
II with determined grip. In later yeaI
o he lost his teeth, and the false ones h
), got did not fit we'll, and pushed out h
lower lip. He had eyes of cold ligh
II urav which couId look stern and amor