Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-19

IL
Warrington. 1T shall never he said that
my table sets such an example Of luxury
| and extravagance.'' -
And so the g fish was taken from the
| room, to be devoured by the servants
The Richest Maa ~f HE Time.
As the years went on washington's lands
| Increased in value. and when he died he
was one OF the richest men OF his time.
| He owned lands and stock and negroes,
and his estates amounted TO thousands OF
| acres. He had houses In Alexandria and
| property I'm Washington. He had valuable
| lands near the present site of Pittsburg
He was throughout his life a money maker
and was told at Alexandria that when he
WAS boy he got s. a day and upward for
his surveying. He put his surplus money
into lands. and an advertisement In a Rai-
tlmore paper OF 1113 states that ne had
| 10000 acres OF land for sale on the Ohio
| river. His will gives a detailed statement
| OF every article possessed down to the
| calves and sheep His personal estate
vas then put down at S52c.ooo and this
Included vast amount OF tobacco large
numbers of cattle. sheep and horses near
| ly all of which he willed to his wife
| This viii is now kept in n wooden box
the top of which is covered with glass.
III was torn in two some time ago by
some careless sightseer. and since then
| no one has been allowed To handle H.
The account books which are kept here i'm
the state Department show that Washing
| ton was very careful about keeping "A rec
ord of his expenditures. He put down
everything. and among other items you see
here and there the amounts which he lost
at cards. In April. 1112. he lost 500 I'm this
way at the house of Rev. Bouscher, and a
little further on there is an item stating
Paid for toddy for self. Walker and 9TH
ers, at little jamboree near the Drum
mond lake. five pounds During the time
ne was candidate for the house OF bur
gesses of Virginia. when he bought the
whisky above spoken of. his losses at cards
and at the horse races are frequent The
curious thing about his accounts is that
there was almost always a deficiency at
the end OF the year which he could not ac-
count Tor. This made no difference, how
ever, with his starting the new year with
fresh account, for one item at this time
is as follows: by cash, either lost stolen
or neglected TO charge. la pounds, shi-
lings and IL pence" In other words he
was short that year over 500.
Economical, hut Not stinyy
Through his letters now owned by tho
government you see here and there cor
respondence which shows that he was very
hard up at times. In 17S5 he wrote that he
could set no wheat on credit, and that he
had no cash to pay for it. Three years
later he urges a man to pay the $1,000
which he owes him. and says he has put
on the sheriff three times already and that
ne needs this money TO pay his taxes lie
was not afraid to dun his debtors and he IS
said TO have been one of the shrewdcst
dealers among the planters of his time
lie was always preaching economy TO his
servants, but on the whole somewhat
!eniehi, as, for instance. he employed one
man, carpenter, making a contract with
hi:n Tor year and providing therein he
was 10 nave four DAYS in which he might
get drunk about Christmas Washington
was economical. but not stingy He could
liot ehhufe waste of any kind, and he went
about over his estate doing his best to stop
Inc leaks. In one of his letters home he
urges that the greatest economy be used in
Feeding the hay at the mansion house He
writes:
II enjoin upon YOU to particularly guard
against Mrs. l.. Washington's Charles and
her boy in the stables. both OF whom are
impudent and Self-wilicd and car. not how
cXtravaSan;ly they feed or even waste. for
l have caught the boy several times litter
ing his horses with hay. I see no sort of
necessity for feeding the horses either grain
or hay when they are not used or any horse
that is at liberty and able to provide for
itself L can plainly perceive that In a lit
tie time there VIII be nothing either for my
regroes or horses TO eat without buying it
which viii neither comport with my inter-
est or inclination. BY Stuart's report / find
he still continues 10 feed horses with corn
instead of cut oats, as | directed What
Two saddle horses are those which stand in
me mansion house report? l know of none
but the one Mr.. Whiting used to ride"
The planter who demanded reports like that
must have been a good business man.
Speaking Of Washington as farmer
from an almanac of 1890 comes the fol-
lowing.
Gen. Washington possesses 10000 acres
of land where he lives. He employees 80
hands and keeps twenty-four ploughs go
ing all the year when the weather Will
permit In 1877 he sowed Goo bushels of
oats, 100 acres OF wheat and a large guam
tity of corn, barley and potatoes He
has $50 acres in turnips 500 acres in grass
fields haan In
visits his farms every day unless the
weather fs stormy, and he is making ex-
tensive experiments toward the improve
ment or agriculture. In 1856 he killed
80 hogs. weighing 1880 pounds, for his
family use. which was made into bacon"
How Washington Was SIandered.
From the above ii will be seen that
Washington had by no means an EASY life
He had many troubles outside of those
connected with his estate. He had as
many enemies as our leading politicians
have today and he was accused Of all
kinds of crimes and misdemeanors The
Philadelphia Aurora charged him with
having committed murder during his cam
paign with Braddock Griswold, in his re-
publican court. states that an attempt
was made to poison Washington when he
was President and it was John Randolph
OF Roanoke who during a dinner at Alex
andria rose and proposed the toast
George washington, may he be d."
W men MS birthday was first celebrated,
In 1IS3. there was a great deal OF criu-
cism on the part of hts enemies. and the
Aurora, one Of the opposition newspapers
of Philadelphia, published long poems de-
scr1bing him as the worst of men. He was
nicknamed the American Caesar and
the stepfathcr Of his country The House
OF Representatives was asked to adjourn
for half an hour on the I'D of February,
1875, to pay its respects to President
Washington on the occasion of his birth
day This practice had been In vogue
since Washington was first inaugurated
Tho ''0--~a H~cv---or refused to adjourn
on the ground that il was the duty Of
Congress to attend to legislative business
and not to pay foolish compliments
When Washington delivered his farewell
address he was reviled by the opposite
party. All sorts of hbels were uttered
against him, and the Aurora said there
ought to be a jubilee in the United States
because the Washingtonian administra-
lions were at end. Notwithstanding
all this, the character of Washington shines
brighter today than ever before. With his
little weaknesses, which historians have
done their best to hide, he is, taking him