e powers became rather mellowed than decayed by time, for 'his
age was like a lusty winter, frosty yet kindly;' and, up to his
sixty-eighth year, he mounted a horse with surprising agility, and rode
with the ease and gracefulness of his better days. His personal prowess,
that elicited the admiration of a people who have nearly all passed from
the stage of life, still serves as a model for the manhood of modern
times.

"In the various exhibitions of Washington's great physical powers, they
were apparently attended by scarcely any effort. On one occasion, when
quite a young man, he was present while others were trying their
strength in wrestling. He had retired to the shade of a tree, intent
upon the perusal of a favorite volume; and it was only when the champion
of the games strode through the ring, calling for nobler competitors,
and taunting the student with the reproach that it was the fear of
encountering so redoubted an antagonist that kept him from the ring,
that Washington closed his book, and, without divesting himself of his
coat, calmly walked into the arena, observing that fear formed no part
of his being. Then, grappling with the champion, the struggle was
fierce, but momentary, 'for,' said the vanquished hero of the arena, 'in
Washington's lion-like grasp, I became powerless, and was hurled to the
ground with a force that seemed to jar the very marrow in my bones;'
while the victor, regardless of the shouts that proclaimed his triumph,
leisurely retired to his shade, and the enjoyment of his favorite
volume.

"Washington's powers were chiefly in his limbs: they were long, large,
and sinewy. His frame was of equal breadth from the shoulders to the
hips. His chest, though broad and expansive, was not prominent, but
rather hollowed in the centre. He had suffered from a pulmonary
affection in early life, from which he never entirely recovered. His
frame showed an extraordinary development of bone and muscle; his joints
were large, as were his feet; and could a cast have been preserved of
his hand, to be exhibited in these degenerate days, it would be said to
have belonged to the being of a fabulous age. During Lafayette's visit
to Mount Vernon in 1825, he said to the writer: 'I never saw so large a
hand on any human being, as the general's. It was in this portico, in
1784, that you were introduced to me by the general. You were a very
little gentleman, with a feather in your hat, and holding fast to _one
finge