inson, immediately arose, and,
commanding silence, addressed Washington in such language of praise as
only true patriotism, united with personal friendship, could dictate;
enlarging upon his heroic deeds for his country in its time of its
greatest peril. As he closed, the whole Assembly rose to their feet,
and saluted the young colonel with a bow.

Had an earthquake suddenly shaken the Capitol to its centre, Washington
would not have been more completely surprised. He was confounded. He
rose to make his acknowledgments, but, alas! his tongue had forgotten
its office. Thrice he essayed to speak, and thrice, in spite of every
effort, his utterance failed him, save faintly to articulate, "Mr.
Speaker! Mr. Speaker!"

The speaker was equal to the occasion, and came to his relief in one of
the best, quick-witted sallies on record.

"Colonel Washington," he exclaimed, "sit down! sit down! Your modesty
alone is equal to your merit."

Soon after the adjournment of the Legislature, Washington removed his
family to Mount Vernon, to devote himself to agricultural pursuits. For
fifteen years he continued to abide there in domestic enjoyment. Every
year of this fifteen he was elected to the House of Burgesses, where
his counsels and great influence became indispensable. Still he was a
farmer on a large scale, and devoted himself to the improvement of his
estates, and the raising of wheat, corn, and tobacco. The landed
estates of both himself and wife must have numbered more than twenty
thousand acres, for his Mount Vernon estate alone amounted to over nine
thousand acres. Then he owned large tracts of land outside, containing
thousands of acres. Add to these extensive tracts the Custis estates,
and we find him one of the largest landholders of North America.

A thousand persons were required to perform the labors of his domestic
and agricultural establishments, including his negroes. The products of
his plantations were shipped to his agent in England; and he came to
enjoy such a reputation there as a successful and upright planter, that
the usual custom-house inspection of all packages and goods marked
"George Washington" was omitted. A record of his products before us for
a single year shows that he raised ten thousand bushels of corn and
seven thousand bushels of wheat. One hundred cows, with oxen, horses,
and mules in that proportion, stocked his immense estate. His farming
implements, carriages, and the nicer materials for