George Washington: An Historical Biography by Horace E. Scudder

by Horace Elisha Scudder

Excerpt from George Washington: An Historical Biography

With so free and independent a life, the Vir ginian is a generous man, who is hospitable both to his neighbors and to strangers. If he hears of any one traveling through the country and putting up at one of the uncomfortable little inns, he sends for him to come to his house, without wait ing for a letter of introduction. He entertains his neighbors, and there are frequent gatherings of old and young for dancing and merry-making. The tobacco crop varies, and the price of it is constantly changing. Thus the planter can never reckon with confidence upon his income, and, with his reckless style of living, he is often in debt. He despises small economies, and looks down upon the merchant and trader, whose busi ness it is to watch closely what they receive and what they pay out.

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About the author

Horace Elisha Scudder (1838-1902) was a prolific American man of letters and editor. He graduated from Williams College in 1858, taught school in New York City, and subsequently, removing to Boston, he devoted himself to literary work. He is now best known for his children's books and the editorship he held of The Atlantic Monthly. He published the Bodley Books (1875-87) and was also an essayist, and produced large quantities of journalism that was printed anonymously. He was a correspondent of Hans Christian Andersen, and biographer of James Russell Lowell. He also edited The Riverside Magazine. Scudder also prepared, with Mrs. Taylor, the Life and Letters of Bayard Taylor (1884) and was series editor for the extensive American Commonwealths Series for Houghton Mifflin.