The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1889-04-21

Mount vernon, and became, in l799, the
vile OF Major Lewis, Washington's sisters
son. The boy was the well known George
Washington Parke Gusts.
| The interesting family circle at Mount
| Vernon is represented in our illustration,
which, with its quaint, old.fashioned title,
Is from an old plate by the artist and en-
graver Il. Savage, who painted the famous
portrait OF Washington now owned by /
Harvard University.
Golden days and perfect peace seemed |
now TO have settled upon the secluded |
home OF the victorious chief. He became |
a farmer, like Cincinnatus; cultivated his |
many thousand acres beside the Patomac;
was clad in the course wooden OF the coun- |
try, and rode every day eighteen miles |
around his vast estate, inspecting his |
fences and arranging his crops. He had
several hundred slaves to care for. He
rose always at o'clock in the morning. as
he had done all his life, and retired to rest
at 8 o'clock His wife, too, awoke at day
break and began her daily labors. Gin
cinnatus and Racilia were not as indus
trious as this American pair. They dined
at oclock, and left no hour OF the day
without its regular employment. Among
the wealthiost and most cultivated OF the
time, they were also the least indolent and
frivolous. Mrs. Washington knit fine
woollen socks for her family and friends,
cared for her servants and provided
their plain but ample meals, while
her husband fulfilled his endless duties.
The amusements OF Mount Vernon were
drives, rides and hunting Three times
week the horns rang out through the
merry glades, ladies and gentlemen in
scarlet coats and dresses followed the bay
ing hounds, the gray fox doubled through
the may woods, and Washington, with
; shouts and cheers mounted on his feetest
horse, was always, We are told, in at the
/ death. He.had paths cut through the for
est whore the ladies might follow the chase.
/, but for himself, no bars nor stream could
stop him. Later he closed n deerpark and
hunted deer. At last, q few years before
{ he died, he ceased hisfavorite amusement
Dances, races, athletic games, and various
, sports made up the rural round OF pleasure;
= and these early Virginians werea bold and
: manly race, children OF nature, TO whom
0 cities seemed prisons.
i. To Mount Vernon came crowd OF
y strangers and visitors. In 1884 Lafayette
!, and Washington met, for the last time, on
:, the banks OF the Potomac; and here when
u his father was imprisoned at 0lmutz,
d George Washington Lafayette was re-
: ceived as q son, child OF tho family.
a Louis Philippe, Due dOrleans, and his
. two brothers, the Due de Liancourt, Tai
: leyrand, many literary and scientific men,
old soldiers and officers OF the Revolution,
u many curious inquirers, friends, relatives,
@ connections, found all at Mount Vernon a
e true Virginia welcome. They found sim
!. plicity, regularity aid strict order. WASH
: ington enforced punctualty; every meal
y was served at its appointed hour, and no
+ one WIS suffered TO cause delay. Every
h thing moved on at Mount Vernon with
/. almost military precision. Each servant
II knew his duties; each member OF tho fam
o ily his appointed tasks and studies, and
r the master and mistress OF the household
4 set the example OF obedience 10 their own
l. rules. Chaslelleux, French philosopher
O and noble, was charmed with the scene;
o lac found the hero, clad in homespun,
, tending his farm, and his wife simply
), dressed and Of gentle manners. llo had
recently been shocked at the pretension
n and foreign iancies OF n ball at Philadel-
., phia, but at Mount Vernon lac found re-
ST publican simplicity.
ID Yet, il was in the midst Of this apparent
10 repose that Washington's mind was most
u agitated by the lesser and some OF the
5 most weighty cares Of life. Poverty and
"a almost bankruptcy had come upon him,
Of and for the first time since he was fifteen,
s. he says he felt the want OF money. His
m expenses were large; his estate yielded him
As little. The Sheriff threatened him with q
~ distress: he was anxious TO sell part oil las
Iit land, but could find no purchaser the
OF bonds and paper paid him by Congress
ld were nearly worthless. 81 know no
m where" he wrote to his aged mother, ''tS
:. look for shilling" Ills difficulties
nj increased each day until at last he wal
IA forced to borrow, and writes 10 a NOR,
~ fortunate ncighbor for the loam Of few
as hundred pounds. 81 have put of III,
of sheriff Of the county three tines" he sal,
% TO debtor In l7SS; "if he comes again
&c must suffer him TO make distress" Iii
id health, too, was now no longer strong; hi
in lungs had always been dclicate--the veal
a. point OF his powerful frame. Ills chcs
n iccedcd; "a pulmonary complaint" Gust
st relates, always affected his throat, AM
nj prevented him from speaking with ease
80 In 1851 the pains Of life seem 10 hav
o. como upon him thickly. For six month
is he had suffered with "a rheumatic com
plant" aud Tor ten days he carried hi
W. arm in n sling. A brother whom he Loves
ge tcndcrly he had Jus. buried, when he wa
n called to what seemed the death beds Q
ie. his mother and his only sister. The
,al lived some time longer, but his generous
AT tender heart must hrvo felt these success
IA; siye blows, and lent before them.
MI hut the chief care that weighed upo
lly him In his brief retirement at Mount Vel
10 non was the condition Of his country.
TO seemed fallen into anarchy and ruin. A
or their only escape from disunion aud civ
u. war In 1887 men openly talked {
nd n King "Shall We have a King2" wroi
,ht Jay. "Not until every other cxpcdior
or. has been tried" TO Washington IN
nm prospect was appalling. Was Il for ihi
he he cried, only 10 bring back the shadow
RS tynnnics and vain distinctions OF the pa
in that We have fought, endured, conquered
at lie throw himself once moro into th
We. fierce political contest, aud with infnii
len labor founded Republic. But for him IL
nc, Union and the Constitution could new,
or. have been accepted by tile people. II
tho raro strategy, his coaselcss appeals, i
adj wide correspondence, the power Of h
/ Il great name, founded and enforced fl
int government for all future ages lie pr
Zoe sided over the debates Of the Conyontio
ors of 1877 that formed the Constitution, VIC
,di. the consent OF the chict political lcadc
he 10 is adoption. was chosen unanimous
~. the first President, and amidst glad n
,nd joicing. shouts, cheers, triumphal archie
his fowofs tears Of Joy, and tho trust OF
Leo united people, IN April, 1889, passed
'iih tho sacred way from Mount Vernon
the New York.
An exile In cities, no sighed for his far
a A. l. 4. l.. a.