WASHINGTON SKIPPING THE ROPE FOR EXERCISE.
This story is told of him while he was commander-in-chief of the Continental armies: Colonel Timothy Pickering, to whom Washington was very much attached, had a negro body-servant named “Primus.” Washington visited Pickering’s quarters one day, and found him absent.
WASHINGTON GIVES THE COLT HIS FIRST LESSON.
“It does not matter,” said General Washington to Primus, “I am greatly in need of exercise, and you must help me to get some before your master returns.”
Under Washington’s directions the negro tied a rope to a neighboring tree, about breast high, and Primus was ordered to stand at some distance and hold it horizontally extended. Washington ran forward and backward for some time, jumping over the rope as he came and went, until he expressed himself satisfied with the exercise. It is said that he frequently visited Primus and amused himself in this primitive fashion.
He learned fencing when he was quite young; his teacher being an old soldier who had seen service with his brother in the Indies. His stone-throwing feats across the Rappahannock, over the Palisades, and to the top of the Natural Bridge in Virginia, are mentioned by nearly all his biographers. Charles W. Peale, the artist, tells us that when he was at Mount Vernon in 1772, painting Washington’s picture, he saw him toss a bar very much farther than the most athletic and expert of a number of young men who were, on one occasion, testing their strength in that way. He was then forty years old, and proudly remarked, “You perceive, young gentlemen, that my arm yet retains some portion of the vigor of my early days.” He was a good wrestler, and many stories of his prowess in this respect are told.
LORD FAIRFAX’S COTTAGE.