PIC
George Washington
CouldTiu. A Lie . After All
By Henry W. Lawrence
Professor of History. Connecticut College
.HERB] were a good hiany things
about George Washington to
make his contemporaries like
him, and to make us like him.
T
too; but these are so largely overlooked
or actually concealed In most of the
history books, that many of us have
about as much affection for him as we
have for Niagara Falls.
Take for instance the pious legend
that he could not tell a lie. That is a
most unfortunate way of putting an
Important fact about the character of
this great man. It would be more ac
curate. and also more complimentary,
to say he hated a lie.
This avoids bringing upon him the
suspicion of being mentally defective,
through an inability to invent, at need.
Examination of the diary kept by the father
of his country reveals a very human person,
and one who knew how to tell a fib, too, despite
all that has been written to the contrary
a plausible untruth. It also shows
fairly his attitude toward habitual
mendacity.
That he could and did, on rare occa
fiions. make statements that were inten
tionally deceptive, may be readily illus
trated from his own words.
For instance, at one place in his
diary he describes a more or less white
lie which he told in order to avoid
some inconvenience and discomfort dur
ing his journey through the south in
1791. The roads he was traveling over
were dusty, so he practiced a little de
ception in order that he might travel in
comfort.
fctTT AVING suffered very much by the
dust yesterday.” says the diary
(Volume IV. page 161), ‘‘and finding
that parties of Horse and a number ot
other Gentlemen were intending to at
tend me part of the way today. I
caused their enquiries respecting the
time of my setting out, to be answered
that I should endeavor to do it before
eight o’clock, but I did it a little after
five, by which means 1 avoided the in
conveniences above mentioned.”
Another instance of his mild unve
racity appears in the same year, when
he feared some of his slaves that hao
been taken with the family to Phila
delphia might claim their freedom
under the Pennsylvania laws. He wrote
his secretary to get them back into Vir
ginia by hook or by crook, or, as he ex
pressed it. “under pretext that may de
ceive both them and the public."
He was quoted as having said als<
that he once encountered mosquitoes so
efficient that they “used to bite through
the thickest boot.” This statement sc
disturbed President Timothy Dwight, ot
Yale, that he said Washington’s real
statement must have been that the mos
quitoes bit through his stockings above
his boots.
The abundant evidence that Wash
lngton was honest, brave, patriotic, and
• great many other splendid things, has
commonly crowded his pleasant vices
out of the picture.
.— ■—VS
IJ /Jl m 1 ■ 1 I
<‘Q&eK2i -
- JT
L A OX hunting was, of course, a per
*- fectly proper sport for a country
gentleman, and it was Washington's
favorite pastime while at home in
Mount Vernon. Several hundred such
hunts are mentioned in the diary, some
of them lasting six or seven hours, with
due credit given by name to each of
his numerous pedigreed hounds.
When away from Mount Vernon, he
often found diversions that were, per
haps, less invigorating and respectable
than fox hunting. He was fond of card
playing, and, like most of the gentle
men of his time and place, he played
I? flHfl mm ? A BHA .1
I f BP 9 Hlk # tBM||Bw^^^MBBB
The famous cherry tree incident, as depicted in an old-time sketch ... an
incident which gave Washington a reputation for unvarying veracity which
he himself would never have claimed.
To avoid the dust of horse
men who wanted to attend
his conch, Washington told
them he would leave at 8
o'clock—then got started at 5.
fo%money.
He was in no sense a plunger. His
accounts show losses for an evening as
high as $35, and winnings up to SGO.
In one of his account books he strikes
a balance between what he had won
and what he had lost during the pre
ceding three years. He was about S3O
in the hole.
A man so fond of good horses as he
was could hardly fail to enjoy seeing
them race. “Went up to Alexandria to
the Purse Race," says the diary. The
only surprising thing about this entry
is its date: May IG, 1799. He was
then 87 years old, and he died the fol
lowing December.
Sometimes one of his horses was in
the race. Sometimes he spent several
days at the races, spicing his enjoy
ment by theater parties and dancing.
Did Washington like to
dance? At ball held
during' the Revolutionary
War, he and General
Greene’s wife danced to
gether “upwards of three
hours” without stopping.
J
|llr
«•«! y I»vf,
PIC
Washington was a great card player,
hut tl*e stakes were never high.
His accounts show losses for an eve
ning up to !K:ts, and winnings up to
otiO.
and hy placing a few bets.
Cockfighting was probably the lowest
form of sport iu which Washington in
dulged. The fact that the diary men
tions this sport only once, and that once
when he was only 20 years of age, per
mits us to hope that this brutal diver
sion was not a habit with him.
Nevertheless, the great man, well
cognizant of all activities about him,
had this to say about the questionable
sport of cockfighting in 1752:
“A Great Main of cocks fought in
Yorktown ’tween Gloucester and York
for 5 pistoles each battle and 100 ye
odd. I left it with Colo. Lewis before
it was decided and had part of his
chariot to his house.”
/\NE diversion which was undoubtedly
a habit with him w r as dancing.
“Went with the family to a Ball in
Alexandria,” says the diary for Feb. 12,
1798,* its author being then G 6 years
young. Perhaps he did not take part
in the dancing on this occasion, though
he seems to have done so at a dance
only two years before.
The jolly dancing parties held by
Washington and his officers during the
Revolutionary War are too widely
known to need describing here. As a
sample of Washington’s enthusiastic
participation in these, the following
item from General Greene will suffice:
“We had a little dance at my quar
ters a few evenings past.” writes the
general. “His Excellency” (Washing
ton) “and Mrs. Greene danced upwards
of. three hours without once sitting
down.”
There is plenty of evidenc to show
that, in the midst of fair uames and
lively chatter, Washington was neither
near-sighted nor tongue-tied.
During his tour of New England in
1789, he mentions the beauty of the
ladies in only three of the numerous
places he visited, namely, Boston. Sa
lem, and Portsmouth. Os those he me»
in Boston, he wrote: “Their appearance
was elegant, and many of them very
handsome.”