A celebrated riding-teacher used to say that he loved “to see the general ride; his seat is so firm, his management of his mount so easy and graceful, that I, who am a professor of horsemanship, would go to him and learn to ride.”
Since his early boyhood, the only recorded fall from a horse that Washington had was once on his return to Mount Vernon from Alexandria. His horse on this occasion, while an easy-gaited one, was scary. When Washington was about to mount and rise in the stirrup, the animal, alarmed by the glare of a fire by the roadside, sprang from under his rider, who fell heavily to the ground. Fearing that he was hurt, his companions rushed to his assistance, but the vigorous old gentleman, getting quickly on his feet, assured them that, though his tumble was complete, he was unhurt. Having been only poised in his stirrup and not yet in the saddle, he had a fall no horseman could prevent when a scary animal sprang from under him. Vicious propensities in horses never troubled Washington; he only required them to go along.
An amusing anecdote is told of one of Washington's secretaries, Colonel David Humphreys. The colonel was a lively companion and a great favorite, and on one of their rides together he challenged his chief to jump a hedge. Always ready to accept a challenge of this sort, Washington told him to “go ahead,” whereupon Humphreys cleared the hedge, but landed in the ditch on the other side up to his saddle-girth. Riding up and smiling at his mud-bespattered friend, Washington observed, “Ah, Colonel, you are too deep for me!”
On the Mount Vernon estates, during the years of retirement from all public office, his rides of inspection were from twelve to fourteen miles a day, usually at a moderate pace; but being the most punctual of men, he would, if delayed, display the horsemanship of earlier days by a hard gallop so as to be in time for the first dinner-bell at a quarter of three.
A last glimpse of this great man in the saddle, is as an old gentleman, in plain drab clothes, a broad-brimmed white hat, carrying a hickory switch, with a long-handled umbrella hung at his saddle-bow—such was the description given of him by Mr. Custis to an elderly inquirer who was in search of the general on a matter of business.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS
- What is the effect of the opening quotation?
- Point out all the ways in which the article resembles an essay.
- Show that the article does not follow a strictly logical plan.
- Show in what respects the article differs from ordinary magazine articles.
- What characterizes the style of the article?
- How does the writer make the article interesting?
- What hints of the writer's personality does the article give?
- What does the article say concerning the character of Washington?
- Summarize what is said concerning Washington as a horseman.
- How much is said about the biography of Washington?
SUBJECTS FOR WRITTEN IMITATION
| 1. U. S. Grant as a Horseman | 11. William Morris as a Workman |
| 2. Alexander the Great as a Horseman | 12. Charles Dickens as a Humanitarian |
| 3. Napoleon as a Horseman | 13. Shakespeare as a Punster |
| 4. Abraham Lincoln as a Story Teller | 14. Milton as a Husband |
| 5. Longfellow as a Lover of Children | 15. Robert Louis Stevenson as a Traveler |
| 6. Ralph Waldo Emerson as a Neighbor | 16. Samuel Johnson as a Friend |
| 7. Henry David Thoreau as an Explorer | 17. Jack London as a Wanderer |
| 8. Benjamin Franklin as an Originator | 18. Theodore Roosevelt as a Fighter |
| 9. Charles Lamb as a Brother | 19. Mark Twain as a Humorist |
| 10. Queen Elizabeth as a Woman | 20. Edison as an Inventor |
