PERS

Washington was the most methodical man that ever lived. He had a place
for everything and insisted that everything should be kept in its place.
There was nothing haphazard about his methods of business. He kept exact
accounts of financial dealings.

His habit of setting things down on paper was one that developed early.
He kept a journal of his surveying experiences beyond the Blue Ridge in
1748, another of his trip to Barbadoes with his brother Lawrence in
1751-52, another of his trip to Fort Le Boeuf to warn out the French,
and yet another of his Fort Necessity campaign. The words are often
misspelled, many expressions are ungrammatical, but the handwriting is
good and the judgments expressed, even those set down when he was only
sixteen, are the mature judgments of a man.

A year after his marriage he began a formal diary, which he continued
until June 19, 1775, the time of his appointment to command the army of
the Revolution. He called it his _Diary_ and later _Where, & how my time
is Spent_. In it he entered the happenings of the day, his agricultural
and other experiments, a record of his guests and also a detailed
account of the weather.

His attention to this last matter was most particular. Often when away
from home he would have a record kept and on his return would
incorporate it into his book. Exactly what advantages he expected to
derive therefrom are not apparent, though I presume that he hoped to
draw conclusions as to the best time for planting crops. In reading it I
was many times reminded of a Cleveland octogenarian who for fifty-seven
years kept a record twice a day of the thermometer and barometer. Near
the end of his life he brought the big ledgers to the Western Reserve
Historical Society, and I happened to be present on the occasion. "You
have studied the subject for a long time," I said to him. "Are there any
conclusions you have been able to reach as a result of your
investigation?" He thought a minute and passed a wrinkled hand across a
wrinkled brow. "Nothing but this," he made answer, "that Cleveland
weather is only constant in its inconstancy."

We would gladly exchange some of these meteorological details for
further information about Washington's own personal doings and feelings.
Of the latter the diaries reveal little. Washington was an objective
man, above all in his papers. He sets down what happens and says little
about causes, motives or mental impressions. When on his way