George Washington | Page 3

Fairfax, agent for the large Fairfax estate. Fairfax
and he had served with the Colonial forces at Cartagena under Admiral
Vernon, from whom the Washington manor took its name. Lord Fairfax,
William's cousin and head of the family, offered George work on the
survey of his domain. George, then a sturdy lad of sixteen, accepted
gladly, and for more than two years he carried it on. The Fairfax estate
extended far into the west, beyond the immediate tidewater district,
beyond the fringe of sparsely settled clearings, into the wilderness itself.
The effect of his experience as surveyor lasted throughout George
Washington's life. His self-reliance and his courage never flagged.
Sometimes he went alone and passed weeks among the solitudes;
sometimes he had a companion whom he had to care for as well as for
himself. But besides the toughening of his character which this pioneer
life assured him, he got much information, which greatly influenced,
years later, his views on the development, not only of Virginia, but of
the Northwest. Perhaps from this time there entered into his heart the
conviction that the strongest bond of union must sometime bind
together the various colonies, so different in resources and in interests,
including his native commonwealth.
From journals kept during some of his expeditions we see that he was a
clear observer and an accurate reporter; far from bookish, but a careful
penman, and conscious of the obligation laid upon him to acquire at
least the minimum of polite knowledge which was expected of a
country gentleman such as he aspired to be.
Here is an extract in which he describes the squalid conditions under
which he passed some of his life as a woodsman and surveyor.
We got our suppers and was lighted into a Room and I not being so
good a woodsman as ye rest of my company, striped myself very

orderly and went into ye Bed, as they calld it, when to my surprize, I
found it to be nothing but a little straw matted together without sheets
or any thing else, but only one thread bare blanket with double its
weight of vermin, such as Lice, Fleas, etc. I was glad to get up (as soon
as ye light was carried from us). I put on my cloths and lay as my
companions. Had we not been very tired, I am sure we should not have
slep'd much that night. I made a Promise not to sleep so from that time
forward, chusing rather to sleep in ye open air before a fire, as will
appear hereafter.
Wednesday 16th. We set out early and finish'd about one o'clock and
then Travelled up to Frederick Town, where our Baggage came to us.
We cleaned ourselves (to get rid of ye game we had catched ye night
before), I took a Review of ye Town and then return'd to our Lodgings
where we had a good Dinner prepared for us. Wine and Rum Punch in
plenty, and a good Feather Bed with clean sheets, which was a very
agreeable regale.
The longest of Washington's early expeditions was the "Journey over
the Mountains, began Fryday the 11th of March 1747/8." The
mountains were the Alleghanies, and the trip gave him a closer
acquaintance than he had had with Indians in the wilds. On his return,
he stayed with his half-brother, Lawrence, at Mount Vernon, or with
Lord Fairfax, and enjoyed the country life common to the richer
Virginians of the time. Towns which could provide an inn being few
and far between, travellers sought hospitality in the homes of the
well-to-do residents, and every one was in a way a neighbor of the
other dwellers in his county. So both at Belvoir and at Mount Vernon,
guests were frequent and broke the monotony and loneliness of their
inmates. I think the reputation of gravity, which was fixed upon
Washington in his mature years, has been projected back over his youth.
The actual records are lacking, but such hints and surmises as we have
do not warrant our thinking of him as a self-centred, unsociable youth.
On the contrary, he was rather, what would be called now, a sport,
ready for hunting or riding, of splendid physical build, agile and strong.
He liked dancing, and was not too shy to enjoy the society of young
women; indeed, he wrote poems to some of them, and seems to have

been popular with them. And still, the legend remains that he was
bashful.
From our earliest glimpses of him, Washington appears as a youth very
particular as to his dress. He knew how to rough it as the extracts of his
personal journals which I have quoted show, and this passage confirms:
I seem to be in a place where no real satisfaction is