General. The boy told the stranger, who proved to be Colonel Meade, once
of Washington's staff, that the General was abroad on the estate and
pointed out what direction to take to come upon him. "You will meet,
sir, with an old gentleman riding alone in plain drab clothes, a
broad-brimmed white hat, a hickory switch in his hand, and carrying an
umbrella with a long staff, which is attached to his saddle-bow--that
person, sir, is General Washington."

Those were pleasant rides the old Farmer took in the early morning
sunshine, with the birds singing about him, the dirt lanes soft under
his horse's feet, and in his nostrils the pure air fragrant with the
scent of pines, locust blossoms or wild honeysuckle. When he grew
thirsty he would pause for a drink at his favorite gum spring, and as he
made his rounds would note the progress of the miller, the coopers, the
carpenters, the fishermen, and the hands in the fields, how the corn was
coming up or the wheat was ripening, what fences needed to be renewed or
gaps in hedges filled, what the increase of his cattle would be, whether
the stand of clover or buckwheat was good or not. He was the owner of
all this great estate, he was proud of it; it was his home, and he was
glad to be back on it once more. For he had long since realized that
there are deeper and more satisfying pleasures than winning battles or
enjoying the plaudits of multitudes.

An English actor named John Bernard who happened to be in Virginia in
this period has left us a delightfully intimate picture of the Farmer on
his rounds. Bernard had ridden out below Alexandria to pay a visit and
on his return came upon an overturned chaise containing a man and a
woman. About the same time another horseman rode up from the opposite
direction. The two quickly ascertained that the man was unhurt and
managed to restore the wife to consciousness, whereupon she began to
upbraid her husband for carelessness.

"The horse," continues Bernard, "was now on his legs, but the vehicle
was still prostrate, heavy in its frame and laden with at least half a
ton of luggage. My fellow-helper set me an example of activity in
relieving it of internal weight; and when all was clear we grasped the
wheel between us and to the peril of our spinal columns righted the
conveyance. The horse was then put in and we lent a hand to help up the
luggage. All this helping, hauling and lifting occupied at least half an
hour under a meridian sun, in the