The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1913-04-19
Always Open to Conviction.

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 az the day, and res
sonable to the point Of pity in every
affair Of humanity, through it all
Now it 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 mol
a month later it was my worthy
overseer, Hardwick, lying in Win
chester of broken leg" It 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 Of
ficient Puritan church had fastened SO
singular discipline in manners upon
a whole society-and Virginian gen
tlemen had 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 Hard Drunken.
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, 1t was no doubt because he
had found his quick blood tonic
enough, and had set himself a hard
regimen as a 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 q 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 como upon
summons to attend Mrs. Washington
and was next morning suffered to use
his lancet for her relief. No doubt
good fellow when sober, and not to be
lightly ch1ded when drunk, like many
a gallant horseman and gentleman
who joined the meet Of the country
side at tho hcspitable place to follow
Inc 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 a week to warm their
blood In the hale sport, and dine to-
gether afterWards-a 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 the valley and
joined them for days together in the
field and at the table.
Washington loved horses and dopa
with the heartiest sportsman of them
all
He had a great gusto for stalking
neer 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
duh; but best of all he loved a horse,s
back, and the hard ride for hours to-
gether after the dogs and a crafty
Quarry-a horse It put man to his
points to ride, a country where the
running was only for those who dared.
A Judge Of Horsef7esh.
His own mounts could nowhere ba
bettered il Virginia. There was full
blood of Araby in his noble Magnolia.
and as good hunting blood as was to
be found in the colony in his Blue.
skin and Ajax, Valiant and Climbing.
His hounds he bred 80 flew'd. so
sanded," SO matched In speed and
habit, that they kept always tune and
pace together in the field. "A crv
more tuneable was never holla'd to.
nor cheered with horn," than their
when they were let spend their
mouths till echo replied "as If an,
other chase was in the SKIES" 'Twaa