n that woud not stand the least Wear."

Another time he mentions that his clothes fit poorly, which is not
strange considering that measurements had to be sent three thousand
miles and there, was no opportunity to try the garments on with a view
to alterations. We may safely conclude, therefore, that however elegant
Virginia society of that day may have been in other respects, it was
not distinguished for well fitting clothes!

Most Virginia planters got in debt to their agents, and Washington was
no exception to the rule. When his agents, Robert Gary & Company, called
his attention to the fact, he wrote them, that they seemed in a bit of a
hurry considering the extent of past dealings with each other.
"Mischance rather than Misconduct hath been the cause of it," he
asserted, explaining that he had made large purchases of land, that
crops had been poor for three seasons and prices bad. He preferred to
let the debt stand, but if the agents insisted upon payment now he would
find means to discharge the obligation.

Not all planters could speak so confidently of their ability to find
means to discharge a debt, for the truth is that the profits of tobacco
culture were by no means so large as has often been supposed. A recent
writer speaks of huge incomes of twenty thousand to eighty thousand
pounds a year and asserts that "the ordinary planter could count on an
income of from L3,000 to L6,000." The first figures are altogether
fabulous, "paper profits" of the same sort that can be obtained by
calculating profits upon the geometrical increase of geese as
illustrated in a well known story. Even the last mentioned sums were
realized only under the most favorable conditions and by a few planters.
Much of the time the price of the staple was low and the costs of
transportation and insurance, especially in time of war, were
considerable. Washington himself had a consignment of tobacco captured
by the French.

The planters were by no means so prosperous as is often supposed and
neither was their life so splendid as has often been pictured. Writers
seem to have entered into a sort of conspiracy to mislead us concerning
it. The tendency is one to which Southern writers are particularly prone
in all that concerns their section. If they speak of a lawyer, he is
always a profound student of the law; of a soldier, he is the bravest
tenderest knight that ever trod shoe leather; of a lady, she is the most
beautiful that ever graced a