Falls of Potomac 



From Colchester we went about twelve miles 

 farther to Mount Vernon. This place is the prop- 

 erty of Colonel Washington, and truly deserving of 

 its owner.* The house is most beautifully situated 

 upon a high hill on the banks of the Potomac; and 

 commands a noble prospect of water, of cliffs, of 

 woods, and plantations. The river is nearly two 

 miles broad, though two hundred from the mouth; 



been a slave from his youth, and had continued to work for his 

 master till age had rendered him unfit for service; that his master 

 had then kindly given him a small piece of ground, and the profits 

 of the ferry, which were indeed very inconsiderable, for his main- 

 tenance; and that with these means of subsistence he awaited the 

 hour when it might please God to call him to another life. I ob- 

 served that he must naturally wish for that hour, as it would re- 

 lease him from his present sufferings. His answer was, no; for 

 he was afraid to die. On my questioning him, why he was afraid 

 to die: whether he had any thing upon his conscience that gave 

 him uneasiness; or whether he had not been honest and faithful to 

 his master? He answered, yes; I have always done my duty to 

 the best of my power: but yet I am afraid to die: and was not our 

 Saviour himself afraid to die \ The answer was so unexpected, 

 and so far beyond what I supposed to be the intellectual capacity 

 of the poor negro, that it sunk deep into my mind, and I was 

 lost for a moment in silence. 



* I cannot omit this opportunity of bearing testimony to the 

 gallant and public spirit of this gentleman. Nov. i, 1753, Lieut. 

 Gov. Dinwiddie having informed the assembly of Virginia, that 

 the French had erected a fort upon the Ohio, it was resolved to 

 send somebody to M. St. Pierre, the commander, to claim that 

 country as belonging to his Britannic Majesty, and to order him 

 to withdraw. Mr. Washington, a young gentlemen of fortune 

 just arrived at age, offered his service on this important occasion. 

 The distance was more than 400 miles; 200 of which lay through 

 a trackless desert, inhabited by cruel and merciless savages; and 

 the season was uncommonly severe. Notwithstanding these dis- 



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