fig-tree free from the bustle of a camp and the
intrigues of a court, I shall view the busy world with calm
indifference, and with serenity of mind, which the soldier in pursuit of
glory, and the statesman of a name, have not leisure to enjoy."

Years before as a boy he had copied into a wonderful copy-book that is
still preserved in the Library of Congress some verses that set forth
pretty accurately his ideal of life--an ideal influenced, may we not
believe, in those impressionable years by these very lines. These are
the verses--one can not call them poetry--just as I copied them after
the clear boyish hand from the time-yellowed page:

TRUE HAPPINESS

These are the things, which once possess'd
Will make a life that's truly bless'd
A good Estate on healthy Soil,
Not Got by Vice nor yet by toil;
Round a warm Fire, a pleasant Joke,
With Chimney ever free from Smoke:
A strength entire, a Sparkling Bowl,
A quiet Wife, a quiet Soul,
A Mind, as well as body, whole
Prudent Simplicity, constant Friend,
A Diet which no art Commends;
A Merry Night without much Drinking
A happy Thought without much Thinking;
Each Night by Quiet Sleep made Short
A Will to be but what thou art:
Possess'd of these, all else defy
And neither wish nor fear to Die
These are things, which once Possess'd
Will make a life that's truly bless'd.

George Washington did not affect the role of a Cincinnatus; he took it
in all sincerity and simpleness of heart because he loved it.

Nor was he the type of farmer--of whom we have too many--content to
vegetate like a lower organism, making scarcely more mental effort than
one of his own potatoes, parsnips or pumpkins. As the pages that follow
will reveal, he was one of the first American experimental
agriculturists, always alert for better methods, willing to take any
amount of pains to find the best fertilizer, the best way to avoid
plant diseases, the best methods of cultivation, and he once declared
that he had little patience with those content to tread the ruts their
fathers trod. If he were alive to-day, we may be sure that he would be
an active worker in farmers' institutes, an eager visitor to
agricultural colleges, a reader of scientific reports and an
enthusiastic promoter of anything tending to better American farming and
farm life.

CHAPTER II

BUILDING AN ESTATE

Augustin