GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2700, 2 December 1882, Page 3

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

‘ You say,’ I remarked to the old negro who drove the hack, ‘ that you were General Washington’s body servant- ?’ ‘ Dat’s so ! Dat’s jes so, massa. I done waited on Washington sence he was so high—no bigger’n a small chile.’ r You know the story, then, about the cherrytree and the hatchet ?’ ‘ Know it ? Why, I was dar on the spot. I seen Massa Gawge climb de tree after de cherries, and I seen him fling de hatchet at de boys who was a-stoning’ him. I done chase dein boys off de place myself.’ ‘Do you remember his appearance as a man ? What he looked like ?’ ‘ Yes, fndeedy. He was a kinder short, chunky man ; sorter fat, and hearty-lookin’. He had chin whiskers and moustache and spectacles. Mos’ generally he wore a high hat, but I’se seed him in a

fur cap wid ear-warmers/ ‘You were not with him, of course, when he crossed the Delaware —when he went across the Delaware Eiver ? ‘ Wid him ? Yes, sir ; I was right dar. I was not more’n two feet off’n him as he druv across de bridge in his buggy ; dat’s a fac’. I walked Tongside do off hind wheel of dat buggy all do way.’ ‘ You saw him, then, when he fought the British at Trenton ?’ ‘ Sho’s you’re born I did! I hold Massa Gawge’s coat an’ hat while he fought de British at dat worry place. Massa Gawge clinched him and den dey rassled and rassled, and at first he frew Massa Gawge, and den Massa Gawge flung him, and set on him and done hammered him till he cried ’nuff ? Massa Gawge won dat fight. I seed him wid my own eyes ! An’ I come home wid him in de kyars ! ” “ You weren’t with him, though, when he shot the apple off the boy’s head ?” “ Who wa’n’t wid him ? I wa’n’t ? I was de only pusson dar ’cepting one white man. I loaded Massa Gawge’s revolver, and han’ed it to him, and picked up de apple, an’ et it soon as he’d knocked it oft. Nobody can’t tell dish yer ole niggali nulfin ’bout dat circumstance.’ ‘ You knew ■all of the General’s relations, too, I suppose ? Martin Luther and Peter the Hermit and the rest ? ’ ‘ Knowed um all. Many and many’s de time I done waited on de table when Massa Gawge bed um to dinner. I remember dom two gemmen jes’ ’s well’s if I’d seen um yesterday. Yes, sab ; an’ druv ’em out often.’ ‘ I’ve frequently seen pictures of Washington in which ho is represented sitting upon a white horse. Did he really ride a white horse, or don’t you recall the color of his horse ? ’ ‘ Why, bless your soul; ’call do color ob de boss—’ call de color ob it ? Do you see dishyer nigh boss dat I’m drivin’ now, right yer ? Well, dat’a de werry boss Massa Gawge used to ride. He lef’ it to me in his will.’ Just then we reached the station and I dismounted from the hack and paid Washington’s body servant for his services. No doubt a longer conversation with him would have revealed other new and startling facts relating to the father of his country.