The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-05-20

| had given him the fine self-potse men
/ noted in him now.
He had been bred in strict school
of manners at Belvoir and Greenway
! court. and here at his own Mount
Vernon in the old days, and the place
must have seemed to him full of the
traditions OF whatsoever was just and
| honest and lovely and of good report
as he looked back to the time Of his
gentle brother. 1t was still dangerous
| to cross or thwart him, indeed. Poach-
ers might look to be caught and
soundly thrashed by the master him.
self IL he CHANGED their way. Negli-
gent oyerseers might expect sharp
penalties, and unfaithful contractors
a strict accounting. IL necessary work
went wrong by their fault.
Always Open to Conviction.
He was exacting almost to the point
of harshness in every matter of just
right or authority. But he was open
and wholesome as the day, and rea-
sonable to the point of pity in every
affair Of humanity, through it all.
Now 1t was my rascally overseer,
Hardwick," in his diary, when certain
mares were sent home scarce able to
highlone. much less to assist in the
business of the plantations;" but not
month later it was my worthy
overseer, Hardwick, lying in Win
chester of a broken leg" 1t was not
in his way to add anything to the
penalties of nature.
A quiet simplicity of life and a
genuine love Of real sport rid him of
morbid humors. All up and down the
English world. while the eighteenth
century lasted, gentlemen were COM
monty to be found drunk after dinner
outside New England. where the eff
ficient Puritan church had fastened so
singular discipline in manners upon
whole society-and Virginian gen
tlemen had a reputation for deep
drinking which they had been at some
pains to deserve.
A rural society Graves excitement,
and can get it very simply by such
practices. There is always leisure to
sleep afterwards, even though your
dinner came in the middle of the day.
and there Is good reason you should
be thirsty if you have been since day
break in the saddle.
Not a Hard Drinker.
To ride hard and to drink hard
seemed to go together in Virginia as
inevitably as the rhymes in a song.
and twas famous hard riding after
the. fox over the rough fields and
through the dense thickets. If Wash
ington drank only small beer or cider
and couple of glasses of Madeira at
dinner, it was no doubt because he
had found his quick blood tonic
enough, and had set himself a hard
regimen as soldier
He did not scruple to supply drink
enough for the thirstiest gathering
when he presented himself to the vot-
ers of the countryside as candidate
for the house of burgesses. "a hogs
head and barrel of punch, thirty
five gallons of wine, forty-three gal
Ions Of strong cider and dinner for
his friends" was what he cheerfully
paid for at his first election. and the
poll footed but a few hundred votes
all told.
Mount Vernon saw as much COM
pany and as constant merriment and
good cheer as any house in Virginia:
and the master was no martinez to his
guests, even though they came upon |
professional errands Doctor Laurie |
came here, / may add, drunk" says
his quiet diary. without comment,
though the doctor had come upon |
summons to attend Mrs. Washington, !
and was next morning suffered to use
his lancet for her relief. No doubt a !
good fellow when sober, and not to be
lightly chided when drunk, like many
a gallant horseman and gentleman |
who joined the meet of the country
side at the hospitable place to follow
the hounds when the hunting was
good.
Fox Hunting Winter and Summer.
There was fox hunting winter and /
summer, in season and out, but the
sport was best in the frosty days of |
January and February, when the year
was young and the gentlemen of the
country round gathered at Belvoir or
Gunston Hall or Mount Vernon two
or three times week to warm their
blood in the hale sport, and dine to-
gether Afterwards cordial company
of neighbors, with as many topics of
good talk as foxes TO run to cover.
The hunt went fastest and most in
cessantly when Lord Fairfax came
down from his lodge in~t the valley and
Joined them for days together in the
field and at the table
Washington loved horses and dogs
with the heartiest sportsman of them
ALL
He had great gusto for stalking
deer with George Mason on the broad
forested tracts round Gunston Hall,
and liked often to take gun or rod
after lesser game when the days fell
dull; but best of all he loved horses
back, and the hard ride for hours to-
gether after the dogs and a crafty
quarry-a horse it put a man to his