4. Reading
a) To JAMES MCHENRY, May 29, 1797.
“… in this detail no mention is made of any portion of time allotted for reading; the remark would be just, for I have not looked into a book since I came home, nor shall I be able to do it until I have discharged my Workmen; probably not before the nights grow longer; when possibly, I may be looking in doomsday book.”
b) To REVEREND BOUCHER, July 9, 1771.
“I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built.”
c) To GEORGE WASHINGTON PARKE CUSTIS, November 13, 1796.
“Light reading (by this, I mean books of little importance) may amuse for the moment, but leaves nothing solid behind.”
5. Students
a) To TOBIAS LEAR, Mount Vernon, November 7, 1790.
“I lay it down as a maxim, that if the number of the pupils is too great for the tutors, justice cannot be done, be the abilities of the latter what they will. What the due proportion, beyond which it ought not to go, is in some measure matter of opinion, but an extreme must be obvious to all.”
6. Scholarships
a) To WILLIAM MINOR, Mount Vernon, June 16, 1785.
“Moral obligations, or the obligations of humanity therefore induced me to bestow a years schooling on Lawce. Posey, and to effect it I was willing to incur the expence of a years board also;”
II. VIRTUE AND VICE, PERSONALITY AND EMOTIONS
A. Virtues & Vices
1. Compassion
a) To BUSHROD WASHINGTON, Newburgh, January 15, 1783.
“Let your heart feel for the affliction, and distresses of every one, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse; remembering always, the estimation of the Widows mite. But, that it is not every one who asketh, that deserveth charity; all however are worthy of the enquiry, or the deserving may suffer.”
b) To the PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, January 26, 1777.
“I hope your new appointment . . . will make the necessary reform in the hospital and that I shall not, the next campaign, have my ears and eyes too, shocked with the complaints and looks of poor creatures perishing for want of proper care.”
c) To JAMES MCHENRY, July 4, 1798.
“Humanity and feeling for the sick and wounded of an army call loudly for skill, attention, and economy in the director of the hospitals.”
d) To JAMES ANDERSON, July 25, 1798.
“I, believing that man was not designed by the all-wise Creator to live for himself alone, prepare for the worst that can happen.”
e) To GEORGE WASHINGTON PARKE CUSTIS, November 13, 1796.
“Never let an indigent person ask, without receiving something, if you have the means.” (emphasis in the original)
f) To LUND WASHINGTON, November 26, 1775.
“Let the hospitality of the house [Mount Vernon], with respect to the poor, be kept up. Let no one go hungry away. If any of this kind of people should be in want of corn, supply their necessities, provided it does not encourage them in idleness; and I have no objection to your giving my money in charity, to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a year, when you thing it well bestowed. What I mean by having no objection is, that it is my desire that it should be done. You are to consider, that neither myself nor wife is now in the way to do these good offices. In all other respect, I recommend it to you, and have no doubt of your observing the greatest economy and frugality; as I suppose you know, that I do not get a farthing for my services here, more than my expenses. It becomes necessary, therefore, for me to be saving at home.”
2. Drunkenness
a) To THOMAS GREEN, Mount Vernon, March 31, 1789.
“… refrain from drink which is the source of all evil, and the ruin of half the workmen in this Country; and next to avoid bad Company which is the bane of good morals, economy and industry. You have every inducement to do this. Reputation the care and support of a growing family and society which this family affords within your own doors which may not be the case with some of the idle (to say nothing worse of them) characters who may lead you into temptation. Were you to look back, and had the means, either from recollection, or accounts, to ascertain the cost of the liquor you have expended it would astonish you. In the manner this expence is generally incurred that is by getting a little now, a little then, the impropriety of it is not seen, in as much as it passes away without much thought. But view it in the aggregate you will be convinced at once, whether any man who depends upon the labour of his hands not only for his own support, but that of an encreasing family can afford such a proportion of his wages to that article. But the expence is not the worst consequence that attends it for it naturally leads a man into the company of those who encourage dissipation and idleness by which he is led by degrees to the perpetration of acts which may terminate in his Ruin; but supposing this not to happen a disordered frame, and a body debilitated, renders him unfit (even if his mind was disposed to discharge the duties of his station with honor to himself or fidelity to his employer) from the execution of it. An aching head and trembling limbs which are the inevitable effects of drinking disincline the hands from work; hence begins sloth and that Listlessness which end in idleness; but which are no reasons for withholding that labour for which money is paid.”
3. Excuses
a) To HARRIOT WASHINGTON, his niece, October 30, 1791.
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
4. Friendship
a) To GEORGE WASHINGTON PARKE CUSTIS, Philadelphia, November 28, 1796.
“‘Tis well to be on good terms with all your fellow-students, and I am pleased to hear you are so, but while a courteous behavior is due to all, select the most deserving only for your friendships, and before this becomes intimate, weigh their dispositions and character well. True friendship is a plant of slow growth; to be sincere, there must be a congeniality of temper and pursuits. Virtue and vice can not be allied; nor can idleness and industry; of course, if you resolve to adhere to the two former of these extremes, an intimacy with those who incline to the latter of them, would be extremely embarrassing to you; it would be a stumbling block in your way; and act like a millstone hung to your neck, for it is the nature of idleness and vice to obtain as many votaries as they can.
“I would guard you, too, against imbibing hasty and unfavorable impressions of any one. Let your judgment always balance well before you decide; and even then, where there is no occasion for expressing an opinion, it is best to be silent, for there is nothing more certain than that it is at all times more easy to make enemies than friends. And besides, to speak evil of any one, unless there is unequivocal proofs of their deserving it, is an injury for which there is no adequate reparation. For, as Shakespeare says “He that robs me of my good name enriches not himself, but renders me poor indeed,” or words to that effect. Keep in mind that scarcely any change would be agreeable to you at first from the sudden transition, and from never having been accustomed to shift or rough it. And, moreover, that if you meet with collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain. My paper reminds me it is time to conclude. Affectionately, &c.”
b) To BUSHROD WASHINGTON, Newburgh, January 15, 1783. “That the Company in which you will improve most, will be least expensive to you; and yet I am not such a Stoic as to suppose you will, or to think it right that you ought, always to be in Company with Senators and Philosophers; but, of the young and juvenile kind let me advise you to be choice. It is easy to make acquaintances, but very difficult to shake them off, however irksome and unprofitable they are found after we have once committed ourselves to them; the indiscretions, and scrapes which very often they involuntarily lead one into, proves equally distressing and disgraceful.
“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence; true friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.”
c) To LAFAYETTE, November, 1784.
“In the moment of our separation upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I felt all that love, respect and attachment for you, with which length of years, close connexion and your merits have inspired me. I often asked myself, as our carriages distended, whether that was the last sight, I ever should have of you? And tho’ I wished to say no, my fears answered yes. I called to mind the days of my youth, and found they had long since fled to return no more; that I was now descending the hill, I had been 52 years climbing, and that tho’ I was blessed with a good constitution, I was of a short lived family, and might soon expect to be entombed in the dreary mansions of my father’s. These things darkened the shades and gave a gloom to the picture, consequently to my prospects of seeing you again: but I will not repine, I have had my day...”
d) To LAFAYETTE, West Point, September 30, 1779.
“…your strict and uniform friendship for me, has ripened the first impressions of esteem and attachment, which I imbibed for you into such perfect love and gratitude, that neither time nor absence can impair. Which will warrant my assuring you, that, whether in the character of an officer at the head of a corps of gallant French (if circumstances should require this), whether as a majorgenl. Commanding a division of the American army, or whether, after our Swords and spears have given place to the ploughshare and pruning-Hook, I see you as a private gentleman, a friend and companion, I shall welcome you in all the warmth of friendship to Columbia’s shores; and, in the latter case, to my rural cottage where homely fare and a cordial reception shall be substituted for delicacies of costly living. This, from past experience, I know you can submit to; and if the lovely partner of your happiness will consent to participate with us in such rural entertainment and amusements, I can undertake, in behalf of Mrs. Washington, that she will do every thing in her power to make Virginia agreeable to the Marchioness . . . . I assure you, that I love every body that is dear to you. . . .”
5. Finishing
a) To THOMAS LAW, Mount Vernon, May 7, 1798.
“It has been a maxim with me from early life, never to undertake anything without perceiving a door to the accomplishment, in a reasonable time and with my own resources.”
6. Golden Rule
