Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-20

than thick for person of that highth,
with pretty long arms and thighs. BY
the time he was ffty-one his weight had
increased to 21o or 30 pounds over what
he carr led at the time of his marriage.
He was pock-marked n addition to hav
ing defective teeth. His attack of the
awful disease which marked him for life
was contracted at the age of nineteen,
while with his invalid brother in Barba-
dos. When fifty-seven, IN the year of
his first inauguration, Senator Maclay.
describing him las he really is said he
of urexceptionable make. but lax
appearance" and complained that "his
frame would seem to want filling up"
that his complex on was pale nay almost
cadaverous. and that his voice was "hol-
low and indistinct, owing. as l believe. to
artificial teeth before his upper jaw,
which occasions a fatness.
projection of the lower jaw was men
TONED a year later as one of his pecu-
liarities. as was thick nose. too coarse
ly and strongly formed and several crit
les note that his head was small. Gill
bert Stuart. the eminent painter of his
portrait, said that the sockets of his eyes
were larger than any that he had seen be-
fore. land the upper part of his nose
broader When he was siXty-flve he was
described as still of his natural erectness.
but without the soldierly air which
might be expected" Yet even his severest
CIR tics speak with enthusiasm of the maj
esty of his exterior. his commanding
presence, the benign dignity of his coun-
tenance. his expression of benevolence,
nobility and possession In the win
ter of his life he was described as having
"pensive eyes and settled aspect of
melancholy
That portraiture has failed to show US
the real Washington is the opinion of
several writer's who studied him after he
became President and who lamented that
there are few portraits which resemble
him. that his face had an expression
which mo painter had succeeded in taxi
O.
sembles him in the minute traits of his
person." He writes of himself that while
posing for the Peale portrait he was in
a grave and Sullen mood. and part Of the
time asleep. And when Stuart was paint
ing the most famous of his portraits lie
sat with his lips padded out with cotton
to hide defects caused by the bad fit of
his front pair of false teeth. But later
he got better teeth, of hppopotamus tusk
which he wore while sitting for mnia-
ture by Sharpless. which was regarded
by many as his best likeness.
That he spelled like gentleman" is
revealed by these letters in the vast
government collection. Thus he wrote
"extravagence.' ''winder," "latten' for
Latin), etc. But his education was fin
ished only at a little village school in
Fredericksburg. whence he departed a
poor grammarian, although a fair hand
dt diitiuietic. his SitHlliiei, Ho"eNel, lie
improved in later life, until he had mas
tered an elegance of style. His penman-
Ship always uniform, graceful and dis
tinct, followed closely the stereotyped
copies in The Young Mans Companion
which he studied industriouSly and which
contained instruction in great variety
of subjects. from carpentry to etiquette,
and from ciphering to .doctoring.
But throughout his life Washington
read but little and what books he die
peruse were chiefly on agriculture and
military science. A complete catalogue