Evening star., 1925-02-15

[. VA.
| sense ever said he did it. I have told
you that when George was about two
or three years old mis- parents moved
| from the farm on the Potomac to that
on the Rappahannock, opposite Fred
ericksburg. The river is narrow there.
l don't know how wide it is, or how
wide it was when George lived there
| 1t was told during his life that as a
| boy or youth he threw stones across
| the Rappahannock. l do not know
when the silver dollar story came into
| circulation, and / believe that some
ball players could throw from the
Washington farm to the Fredericks-
| burg side Of the Rappahannock
Parson Weems tells that Col. Lewis
Willis. playmate and relative of Wash
| tngton, said that he Iewis Willis) had
| often seen George throw stone across
the Rappahannock at the lower ferry at
Fredericksburg. Col Willis is also
| quoted as saying: ut would be no
easy matter to find a man nowadays
| who could do that"
| The Rambler does not assure YOU that
| George Washington, when perhaps IA
| or 10 years old. threw stones across the
| narrow Rappahannocll River. What he
wants to show you is that in the first
published biography of George Wash
| ington the story was not that he threw
| a silver dollar across the Potomac
River
George Washington must have been
an athletic boy. He used to visit rela-
tives on the Potomac side of the
Northern Neck" which Is the penin-
sula between the Potomac and Rappa
| hammock Rivers. Some of these kindred
| were the Fitzhughs of Chotank. One of
| these was John Fitzhugh of Chotank
and Parson Weems quotes John as say
ing I'VE had nobody hereabouts that
could come near him (Washington) in
running matches. There was young
Langhorn Dade of Westmoreland. a
confounded clean made. tight young fell
low and mighty swift runner, too.
but then he was no match for George
Langy did not like to give it up, and
ne would brag that he sometimes
| brought George to a tie, but 1 believe
| ne was mistaken, for | have seen them
run together many time and George
always beat him, easy enough
"hen George was a little boy he
| went to an "old field school" on or
| near the Rappahannock farm, kept
by man whose name was Hobby.
| nave not the full name of this man
and an account / have read has il
that he was tenant on Augustine g
| WaShlngtons farm. ParSon Weems
| says of him: He was an honest.
| poor old man, who acted in the double
/ character of sexton and schoolmas-
ter. On his skill as grave digger
tradition is silent, but for a teacher
or youth his qualifications were GER
talnly of the humber sort, making
what is generally called an A B c.
| schoolmaster"
The Rambler infers that MIR. Hobbv
was the sexton of the church the
| Washingtons attended in Freder;cks. 9.
burg 1t is said that he drank to
excess and lived to great age.
| Excess in drinking Is an elastic
word, but as Mr.. Hobby lived to a
great age the inference may be that
he was hard drinker.
| The father, Augustine Washineton.
died when George was about 10
years old, and after that George
spent some time at his birthplace, on
.ne fotomac, then in possession of
| MS uncle. He attended a school in
the Popes Creek neighborhood kept
by Mr.. Williams, and there he
| seems to have been very good, com
| pared with the other boys, at jump
ing with long pole, heaving
! weights and running.
| Parson Weems says that Washing
ton never learned a syllable of Latin,
| and 1T is quite impressive how many
Americans achieve greatness without
! that handicap. 1t is said that
! george was very good at reading,
spelling, arithmetic, bookkeeping and
| geography. There are those who
have read George washington's let
ters, written when he was a world
| character, who say that he was not
very good at spelling. Whether he
| learned surveying at the Williams
school the Rambler cannot tell you
but he was not at school after his
| nfteenth year, and he was between
10 and Is when he began running
lines with surveyors instrument
through wild lands in the upper
Potomac and the Shenandoah coun-
tries included in the patent to Lord
Colepeper which had come to Thomas
| Lord Fairfax
Parson Weems married Fanny
Ewell. daughter of Col. Jesse Ewell
| in 1875. Col. Jesse Ewell lived in a
| big brick house on plantation of
| considerably more than a thousand
acres, and the name of the estate was
Bel Air. The house stands today a
mile off the county road leading
from Occoquan to Brentsville and
Manassas, seven miles west of the
old town of Occoquan, and in Prince
William county. To make the pic
lures on this page the Rambler lef!
the county road at Minnieville and
was guided through mile OF
snowy and slushy woods and muddy
fields by ]. Winfield Dewey and
Charlie Dewey, who live three OF
| four miles from Bel Air. At the
house they were joined by F. M
| Pearson, whose farm was a part OF
the Bel Air tract and who was born
on the place.
Parson Weems died at Beaufort
South Carolina, in May, 1925, and his
| body was inferred in the Ewell bury
ing ground, within 200 yards of Bel
| Air mansion. His grave is un-
| marked unless marked by one Of the
bits of country rock which mark
many other graves there. Mr.. Pear
son and Mr.. Dewey, shown in the
picture, are standing close to what
they believe to be the grave Of Par