Part 42 (1/2)
”That you may have a more perfect idea of the landed property I have bequeathed to you and Nelly in my will, I transmit a plan of it, every part of which is correctly laid down and accurately measured, showing the number of fields, lots, meadows, &c., with the contents and relative situation of each; all of which, except the mill and swamp, which has never been considered as a part of Dogue-run farm, and is retained merely for the purpose of putting it into a better state of improvement, you may have on the terms before-mentioned.
”With every kind wish for you and Nelly, in which your aunt, who is still much indisposed, unites,
”I remain your affectionate uncle,
”GEO. WAs.h.i.+NGTON.”
Little did any of the parties concerned then suppose that in less than three months the hand that penned this letter would be paralyzed by death; and that the Will, so lately written by that hand, would so soon call for executors.
During the autumn, Was.h.i.+ngton digested a complete system of management for his estate for several succeeding years, in which were tables designating the rotation of crops. The doc.u.ment occupied thirty folio pages, all written in his clear and peculiar style. It was completed only four days before his death, and was accompanied by a letter to James Anderson, the manager of his farms, dated on the same day (December 10th), in which he gave him some special directions, as if the master was about to depart on a journey. This appears the more singular, as Was.h.i.+ngton expected to reside at home, and exercise a personal supervision of the whole. In his letter to Anderson, Was.h.i.+ngton remarked:--
”Economy in all things is as commendable in the manager as it is beneficial and desirable to the employer; and, on a farm, it shows itself in nothing more evidently or more essentially than in not suffering any provender to be wasted, but, on the contrary, in taking care that every atom of it be used to the best advantage; and likewise in not permitting the ploughs, harness, and other implements of husbandry, and the gears belonging to them, to be unnecessarily exposed, trodden under foot, run over by carts, and abused in other respects. More good is derived from attending to the minutiae of a farm than strikes people at first view; and examining the farmyard fences, and looking into the fields to see that nothing is there but what is allowed to be there, is oftentimes the means of producing more good, or at least of avoiding more evil, than can be accomplished by riding from one working-party or overseer to another. I have mentioned these things, not only because they have occurred to me, but because, although apparently trifles, they prove far otherwise in the result.”
During the year, Was.h.i.+ngton had conducted the preparations of the provisional army for the field almost wholly through the medium of letters. These were numerous and sometimes voluminous, and exhibit his constant watchfulness and care. One of his later letters to the secretary of war was in reference to a plan of Hamilton's for _hutting_ the troops then in the field; and the last letter which, it is believed, he ever wrote--having been penned on the day when he was attacked by fatal disease--was to General Hamilton, on a topic of public interest.
Hamilton had communicated to the secretary of war his views concerning the establishment of a military academy. A copy of this paper he transmitted to the commander-in-chief, with a request that he would give it his consideration. To this Was.h.i.+ngton replied:--
”The establishment of an inst.i.tution of this kind, upon a respectable and extensive basis, has ever been considered by me as an object of primary importance to this country; and, while I was in the chair of government, I omitted no proper opportunity of recommending it, in my public speeches and otherwise, to the attention of the legislature. But I never undertook to go into a detail of the organization of such an academy; leaving this task to others, whose pursuit in the path of science, and attention to the arrangement of such inst.i.tutions, had better qualified them for the execution of it. For the same reason, I must now decline making any observations on the details of your plan; and, as it has already been submitted to the secretary of war, through whom it will naturally be laid before Congress, it might be too late for alterations, if any should be suggested. I sincerely hope that the subject will meet with due attention, and that the reasons for its establishment, which you have so clearly pointed out in your letter to the secretary, will prevail upon the legislature to place it upon a permanent and respectable footing.”
FOOTNOTES:
[130] The young man alluded to was the late George Was.h.i.+ngton Parke Custis, of Arlington House, Virginia, who lived to become the last surviving executor of Was.h.i.+ngton's will, and who died at his seat, on the tenth of October, 1857, when in the seventy-seventh year of his age.
Mr. Custis prepared for the press a series of articles concerning the public and private life of his foster-father, which the present writer arranged, annotated, and published, under the t.i.tle of ”Recollections and Private Memoirs of Was.h.i.+ngton, by his Adopted Son.” In that work is given a series of letters, composing portions of a correspondence between Was.h.i.+ngton and young Custis, during the period when the latter was in college, first at Princeton, in New Jersey, and then at Annapolis, in Maryland. From Was.h.i.+ngton's letters the following extracts have been taken, to show the parental solicitude which he felt for this talented but somewhat wayward boy, who was the idol of his grandmother, Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton:--
”PHILADELPHIA, _15th November, 1796._
”DEAR WAs.h.i.+NGTON: Yesterday's mail brought me your letter of the twelfth instant, and under cover of this letter you will receive a ten dollar bill, to purchase a gown, &c., if proper. But as the cla.s.ses may be distinguished by a different insignia, I advise you not to provide these without first obtaining the approbation of your tutors; otherwise you may be distinguished more by folly than by the dress.
”It affords me pleasure to hear that you are agreeably fixed; and I receive still more from the a.s.surance you give of attending closely to your studies. It is you yourself who is to derive immediate benefit from these. Your country may do it hereafter. The more knowledge you acquire, the greater will be the probability of your succeeding in both, and the greater will be your thirst for more.
”I rejoice to hear you went through your examination with propriety, and have no doubt but that the president has placed you in the cla.s.s which he conceived best adapted to the present state of your improvement. The more there are above you, the greater your exertions should be to ascend; but let your promotion result from your own application, and from intrinsic merit, not from the labors of others. The last would prove fallacious, and expose you to the reproach of the daw in borrowed feathers. This would be inexcusable in you, because there is no occasion for it, forasmuch as you need nothing but the exertion of the talents you possess, with proper directions, to acquire all that is necessary; and the hours allotted for study, if properly improved, will enable you to do this. Although the confinement may feel irksome at first, the advantages resulting from it, to a reflecting mind, will soon overcome it.
”Endeavor to conciliate the good will of _all_ your fellow-students, rendering them every act of kindness in your power. Be particularly obliging and attentive to your chamber-mate, Mr. Forsyth; who, from the account I have of him, is an admirable young man, and strongly impressed with the importance of a liberal and finished education. But, above all, be obedient to your tutors, and in a particular manner respect the president of the seminary, who is both learned and good.
”For any particular advantages you may derive from the attention and aid of Mr. Forsyth, I shall have a disposition to reward. One thing more, and I will close this letter. Never let an indigent person ask, without receiving _something_, if you have the means; always recollecting in what light the widow's mite was viewed.”
PHILADELPHIA, _Nov_. 28, 1796.
”The a.s.surances you give me of applying diligently to your studies, and fulfilling those obligations which are enjoined by your Creator and due to his creatures, are highly pleasing and satisfactory to me. I rejoice in it on two accounts: first, as it is the sure means of laying the foundation of your own happiness, and rendering you, if it should please G.o.d to spare your life, a useful member of society hereafter: and, secondly, that I may, if I live to enjoy the pleasure, reflect that I have been, in some degree, instrumental in effecting these purposes.
”You are now extending into that stage of life when good or bad habits are formed; when the mind will be turned to things useful and praiseworthy, or to dissipation and vice. Fix on whichever it may, it will stick by you; for you know it has been said, and truly, that 'as the twig is bent so it will grow.' This, in a strong point of view, shows the propriety of letting your inexperience be directed by maturer advice, and in placing guard upon the avenues which lead to idleness and vice. The latter will approach like a thief, working upon your pa.s.sions--encouraged, perhaps, by bad examples--the propensity to which will increase in proportion to the practice of it, and your yielding. This admonition proceeds from the purest affection for you; but I do not mean by it that you are to become a stoic, or to deprive yourself, in the intervals of study, of any recreations or manly exercise which reason approves.
”'Tis well to be on good terms with all your fellow-students, and I am pleased to hear you are so; but while a courteous behavior is due to all, select the most deserving only for your friends.h.i.+ps, and, before this becomes intimate, weigh their dispositions and character _well_. True friends.h.i.+p is a plant of slow growth; to be sincere, there must be a congeniality of temper and pursuits.
Virtue and vice can not be allied; nor can idleness and industry.
Of course, if you resolve to adhere to the two former of these extremes, an intimacy with those who incline to the latter of them would be extremely embarra.s.sing to you: it would be a stumbling-block in your way, and act like a millstone hung to your neck, for it is the nature of idleness and vice to obtain as many votaries as they can.
”I would guard you, too, against imbibing hasty and unfavorable impressions of any one. Let your judgment always balance well before you decide; and even then, where there is no occasion for expressing an opinion, it is best to be silent, for there is nothing more certain than that it is at all times more easy to make enemies than friends. And besides, to speak evil of any one, unless there are unequivocal proofs of their deserving it, is an injury for which there is no adequate reparation. For, as Shakespeare says, 'He that robs me of my good name enriches not himself, but renders me poor indeed,' or words to that effect. Keep in mind that scarcely any change would be agreeable to you at _first_, from the sudden transition, and from never having been accustomed to s.h.i.+ft or rough it; and, moreover, that if you meet with collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain. My paper reminds me it is time to conclude.”
”MOUNT VERNON, 4_th June_, 1797.