d their master over their thieveries. They were
held to involuntary servitude and if now and then they got the better of
their owner and managed to enjoy a few stolen luxuries they merely did a
little toward evening the score. But it was poor training for
future freedom.

The black picture which Washington draws of slavery--from the master's
standpoint--is exceedingly interesting and significant. The character
he gives the slaves is commended to the attention of those persons who
continually bemoan the fact that freedom and education have ruined
the negroes.

One of the famous "Rules of Civility," which the boy Washington so
carefully copied, set forth that persons of high degree ought to treat
their inferiors "with affibility & Courtesie, without Arrogancy." There
is abundant evidence that when he came to manhood he was reasonably
considerate of his slaves, and yet he was a Master and ruled them in
martinet fashion. His advice to a manager was to keep the blacks at a
proper distance, "for they will grow upon familiarity in proportion as
you will sink in authority." The English farmer Parkinson records that
the first time he walked with General Washington among his negroes he
was amazed at the rough manner in which he spoke to them. This does not
mean that Washington cursed his negroes as the mate of a Mississippi
River boat does his roustabouts, but I suspect that those who have heard
such a mate can form an idea of the _tone_ employed by our Farmer that
so shocked Parkinson. Military officers still employ it toward
their men.

Corporal punishment was resorted to on occasion, but not to extremes.
The Master writes regarding a runaway: "Let Abram get his deserts when
taken, by way of example; but do not trust to Crow to give it to
him;--for I have reason to believe he is swayed more by passion than by
judgment in all his corrections." Tradition says that on one occasion he
found an overseer brutally beating one of the blacks and, indignant at
the sight, sprang from his horse and, whip in hand, strode up to the
overseer, who was so affrighted that he backed away crying loudly:
"Remember your character, General, remember your character!" The General
paused, reprimanded the overseer for cruelty and rode off.

Among his slaves were some that were too unruly to be managed by
ordinary means. In the early seventies he had such a one on a plantation
in York County, Will Shag by name, who was a persistent runaway, and who
w