The Surveyor
After the plan of allowing him to enter the English service as a naval
cadet had been abandoned, George continued his attendance at school with
the intention of preparing himself to become a surveyor. Until the
completion of his fifteenth year he applied himself to these studies,
principally geometry and trigonometry. During his last Summer at school
he made surveys of the fields and meadows belonging to the schoolhouse,
and also of the neighboring plantations. This business, which was only
practice for him, he carried on as conscientiously as though he were
obliged to take an oath as to its accuracy. Every detail pertaining to
it, such as drawings, calculations, and references, were carefully put
on paper. There was not an inserted word nor a blot to be seen. If he
did make a mistake, he would erase it so cleverly that it could be
discovered only on the closest inspection. One could see that it was a
law of his being to do everything with the greatest neatness. But he was
just as particular with regard to order and oversight. Irving says of
him: “Nothing was left half done, or done in a hurried and slovenly
manner. The habit of mind thus cultivated continued throughout life; so
that, however complicated his tasks and overwhelming his cares, in the
arduous and hazardous situations in which he was often placed, he found
time to do everything and to do it well. He had acquired the magic of
method, which of itself works wonders.” His education was very limited
outside of mathematics. Probably he did not learn even the simplest
rules of grammar in school. We may infer this from his notebooks of that
period, in which grammatical mistakes often occur. But even in grammar
he made himself a master, when once he had fixed his attention upon it.
Careful consideration and comparisons, with attentive reading of
masterpieces of literature, was a training which enabled him later to
express himself in pure and correct language, both in speaking and
writing, and the reader will see from examples which we shall give that
Washington became a master of style. But study alone could not have made
purity, sincerity, and directness the most prominent characteristics of
his writings. His literary style was the mirror of his character.
He appreciated his good fortune in having family connections which gave
him the _entrée_ into several cultivated family circles. His brother
Lawrence was happily married, living in comfortable circumstances on his
estate at Mount Vernon, and George was often there. A few miles away was
Belvoir, the large property of Lawrence’s father-in-law, the
above-mentioned William Fairfax. This man had passed an eventful life.
He was born in England, entered the army early, took part in several
campaigns, and was later appointed by the English government governor
and chief justice of an island of the East Indies. He had now been
living in Virginia for several years, where, for a long time, he had
been president of the royal council of the colonies. The home of this
experienced and kindly man, where there was a number of amiable and
well-educated sons and daughters, was also open to George. Having his
eyes and ears open for all that was improving, George learned many
things at Belvoir. He also became acquainted there with an important and
at the same time interesting personage—a nobleman of the same name from
England, a cousin of William Fairfax, and therefore, since the marriage
of George’s step-brother, a sort of relative of his. This Lord Fairfax
was a man nearly sixty years old, over six feet tall, gaunt and
rawboned, with light gray eyes, sharp features, and an aquiline nose. In
England he had distinguished himself equally in the use of the sword and
the pen. Through his marriage he acquired boundless territories, so to
speak, in Virginia—the whole region between the Rappahannock and Potomac
Rivers, which later was found to extend into the Allegheny Mountains. By
the desire of Lord Fairfax his cousin William had hitherto managed the
property, and Lord Fairfax had only recently arrived in Virginia to
become acquainted for the first time with his truly princely domain. It
was a wilderness, but what a wilderness!
Let us take the opportunity of saying a word about Virginia. The
Allegheny Mountains divide the State into three regions: the mountainous
and romantic one, with the celebrated Natural Bridge, where Cedar Creek
dashes along between perpendicular walls of stone 250 feet below the
rock arch; that portion farther eastward with a sandy, marshy, flat
coast; and the arable, rolling, western portion bounded by the Ohio
River. In the greater part of it the soil is truly luxuriant. There is
fine grazing for sheep, as well as cattle. One sees maples, oaks,
plantains, nut and tulip trees, lindens, elms, ash, magnolia, chestnut,
cherry, and plum trees overgrown with wild grape and other vines in the
beautiful forests, and there is no lack of fish and game.
Lord Fairfax had not dreamed that Virginia could be so beautiful; and
how delightful the task of reclaiming a section of this virgin soil in
the midst of the primeval forest seemed to him! How empty and
purposeless the pleasures of the city compared with the delights of life
and labor in the cultivation of the wilderness! He was never tired of
admiring the estate of his cousin. He no doubt had the same feelings as
Chateaubriand under the same circumstances, to which he has given
utterance in the following words: “What a fascinating mixture of social
and natural life reigned there! By the side of a cypress wood, charming
residue of the impenetrable wilderness, was a nascent vegetation; ears
of corn trembled in golden waves around the roots of a fallen oak; full
sheaves, daughters of a single Summer, stood upon the site of the
ancient forest; thick columns of smoke rose from the burning woods and
floated away over the fertile fields, while the plough slowly cut its
way through the roots of the ancient trees. Surveyors were carefully
staking out the boundaries of the new estate; the wild birds had
deserted their nests, the dens of wild beasts were converted into roomy
cabins, and every blow of the woodman’s axe was a prophecy of the
blessings which were soon to rest upon these fields.”
So the venerable but still vigorous Lord Fairfax resolved to settle down
in the neighborhood and never to return to England. For a time he lived
at Belvoir on the estate of his cousin. We must not conceal the fact
that in spite of his enthusiasm for a planter’s life, Lord Fairfax had
not forgotten to inquire whether the fox was a native of the American
forests. He was passionately fond of fox hunting, and if his question
had not received a favorable answer, it is more than likely that his
newly awakened love for America would soon have waned. However, foxes
were very numerous amongst the forest animals of this region, a
circumstance which lent fresh charm to the country. But there was still
another consideration. On a fox hunt one must have at least one
companion; but where should he find a horseman who could in some degree
compare with the former dashing cavalry officer, especially in this
hilly region, covered with thickets which had never been penetrated by a
human being? The reader may perhaps, ere this, have had an inkling that
our George may have been a most welcome hunting companion for the
grizzled lover of the hunt. And it was so. Lord Fairfax kept horses and
dogs in the English style, and when the hunting season began George rode
out into the woods with him every morning, and they seldom returned
without trophies.
The nobleman had seen but a small portion of his extensive Virginia
estate, neither had he any intention of riding through the wilderness to
inspect it all, but he determined to have it surveyed, especially as he
learned that people had already settled on certain portions of it
without having any right to do so. Therefore he considered it very
necessary to have it surveyed, so that in future the relations of
settler to proprietor might be regulated according to law. Thus he was
anxious to find a capable person to undertake the business. Whoever did
so must, besides having a knowledge of the business, be conscientious
and reliable, and must possess not a little courage. The matter was
thoroughly discussed by Lord Fairfax, William Fairfax, and Lawrence
Washington. The latter was able to show calculations and surveys which
George had made shortly before this on his own property. The result of
the conference was that Lord Fairfax felt perfect security in confiding
the survey to our George, who had just completed his sixteenth year. He
had taken it for granted that George would not refuse, and he was not
mistaken. It is evident that the commission was very flattering to
George, and that the execution of it was calculated to perfect him in
his profession. In addition to this he was to receive a considerable sum
of money for the work which he would have been glad to do for its own
sake. His diary tells us that he was to receive a doubloon for every
full day’s work, which is about $7.50 in our money. He first went home
to get his mother’s permission to undertake the business. Every
ambitious youth will appreciate what his feelings were, how his heart
glowed at the thought of telling his mother of this honor which had
befallen him and which was to be, in every way, so profitable.