The Washington herald., 1913-02-16
Washington Was Virginia Planter
of Colonial, Patriarchal Type

Washington's devotion to his mother. But
the fact seems to be that he did not
| get along with her very well. and their
/, relations after he grew to manhood
were of formal character. II will be
| noticed that. in writing, he always ad-
dressed her as "IIonored Madam" She
lacked education. was untidy in her dress
and made such constant complaints abou,
being poor that the Virginia Legislature
at one time proposed to give her a PEN
| sion-an offer which. as may well be
| imagined, greatly enraged her son. who
supplied her literally with money.
Washington was a superb horseman.
and rode frequently to hounds. For other
sport there was fishing and f1rst-rate
shooting for ducks and other birds in
the Potomac marshes. Wild turkeys
were so plentiful in the woods that one
could buy them in the Alexandria mar
kets for 25 cents apiece. and Of deer
there was no lack.
The master of Mount Vernon and his
wife used regularly to attend the assem-
bly, balls at Alexandria. to which all
the great families of the northern neck
OF Virginia subscribed. and on such oc-
casions he danced with the prettiest OF
the women. History records that he was
an enthusiastic admirer of feminine
beauty, and that he was exceedingly fond
of dancing. Up u within three years
of the time of his death he tripped with
zest what modern society writers are
fond of calling the light fantastic"
From the midst Of these cheerful sur
roundings and harmonious circumstances
Washington was summoned to fight for
his country. and to take command of
her armies in what was destined to prove
a prolonged struggle for freedom. When
he left Mount Vernon. he could have
had little notion of the length OF time
that was to elapse before he should re-
turn. On coming back, he wrote:
THE scene is at last closed. On the
eve of Christmas I entered these doors.
an older man by nine years than when
l left them. l am just beginning to ex-
perience that ease and freedom from
public cares which, however desirable,
takes some time to realize"
At about the same time he wrote to
Lafayette:
Il called to mind that I was now de-
scendIng the hill 1 had been ffty-two
years in climbing; and that. though I
was blessed with a good constitution. j
was of a short-lived family. and might
soon expect to be entombed In the man.
sion of my fathers. But will not repine.
1 have had my day"
teen years to live. eight of which were
to be occupied in administering the af-
fairs of the nation as its President.
At this period of his life, in later mid
die age. the Father of His Country had
become quite gray. But this did not
matter much. for his hair. worn in a
queue after the manner of the day, was
customarily powdered. He had grown
rather deaf, and had lost most of his
teeth-these having been defective even
when he was young man.
He must have suffered a great deal
from the latter cause, Judging from the
fact that after his death a set of dental
instruments was found in making up an
inventory Of his personal belongings.
The false teeth that he wore for a long
while gave him much discomfort (con-
trivances of the sort being rather primi-
tive in those days.. but later on he got
a new set. of hippopotamus ivory, which
proved more satisfactory.
When he sat for the famous Gilbert
Stuart portrait. he had his upper lip
padded out with a wad of cotton. 1t
was kind of performance he always
dislikcd. In one of his letters he writes:
Il am so hackneyed to the touches Of
the painters pencil that I am now alto
gether at their beck. and sit like Patti
ence on a monument whilst they are
delineatinC the lines OF my face"
Many of his contemporaries declared
that none Of his portraits gave a salts
factory notion of his appearance. But
posterity must congratulate itself upon
its possession of the Houdon bust (made
by a sculptor Of that name whom Frank
lin brought from France for this pur-
pose). which. being actually q life mask
II G.. an impression taken directly from