That all these things were a part of their experience we note from
jottings made briefly but methodically by Washington in his diary of
the trip. As to the survey itself, a Virginia title attorney remarked,
many years afterward, that in clearing up old titles the lines surveyed
by Washington were more reliable than any others of their day.
Lord Fairfax was so pleased with its results that he procured for his
protege an appointment as public surveyor. It was his induction into
three years of hard frontier life, which was the finest possible
schooling to him, for his later career as soldier. We find him writing
to a friend:
"Since you received my letter of October last, I have not slept above
three or four nights in a bed, but after walking a good deal all the
day, I have lain down before the fire upon a little hay, straw, fodder,
or a bearskin, whichever was to be had, with man, wife, and children,
like dogs and cats; and happy is he who gets the berth nearest the
fire. Nothing would make it pass off tolerably but a good reward. A
doubloon is my constant gain every day that the weather will permit of
my going out, and sometimes six pistoles."
This would indicate that he was a thrifty lad, honestly pleased with
honest earnings--and no mere adventurer.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25