"Miss 'Dudy'" was a neighbor's little daughter Judy, who had beaten a boy larger than herself in a wrestling match.

The earliest and fullest description of Washington was written by a friend, George Mercer, in 1760, before "the Colonel" was thirty:

"He may be described as being straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings, and weighing one hundred and seventy-five pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses in 1759.

"His frame is padded with well developed muscles, indicating great strength. His bones and joints are large, as are his feet and hands. He is wide-shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is neat waisted, but is broad across the hips, and has rather long legs and arms.

"His head is well shaped, though not large, but is gracefully poised on a superb neck. A large and straight rather than a prominent nose; blue-gray, penetrating eyes, which are widely separated and overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than broad, with high, round cheek-bones, and terminates in a good, firm chin.

"He has a clear, though rather a colorless, pale skin, which burns with the sun. A pleas

ing, benevolent, though rather commanding, countenance, dark brown hair which he wears

in a queue.

"His mouth is large and generally firmly closed, but which, from time to time, discloses some defective teeth. His features are regular and placid, though flexible and expressive of deep feeling when moved by emotion. In conversation he looks you full in the face, is deliberate, deferential and engaging.

"His demeanor at all times composed and dignified. His movements and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a splendid horseman."

In 1772, while on a tour inspecting some of his land in the Kanawha region of western Virginia, Mr. Washington was hailed by some Indians who invited the whole party to the lodge of their grand sachem. On the arrival of the white men, the chief received them with great dignity, and, after seating them around the council fire, delivered the following speech in remembrance of the great battle with Braddock, the British general:

"I am a chief, and the ruler over many tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the Great Lakes and to the far blue mountains. I have

traveled a long and a weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day that the white man's blood mixed with the streams of our forest, that I first beheld this chief.

"I called to my young men and said, 'Mark yon tall and daring warrior; he is not of the redcoat tribe; he hath an Indian's wisdom, and his warriors fight as well; himself alone is exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain and he dies!'

"Our rifles were leveled-rifles which, but for him, knew not how to miss. 'Twas all in vain; a power, mightier far than we, shielded him from harm. He cannot die in battle. I am old, and shall soon be gathered to the great councilfire of my fathers in the land of the shades; but ere I go, there is a something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy.

"Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man and guides his destinies. He will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire."

Colonel Washington could not help laughing at the idea that he would be the "founder of a mighty empire," but the old chief's prophecy made a profound impression on all the others,

CHAPTER XVI

MUTTERINGS OF AN APPROACHING STORM

IN 1765 the Stamp Act was passed in England. This law required that certain articles sold to the colonists should be stamped, and the stamps paid for by the purchasers. The people refused to pay this tax. Dr. Franklin, then living in England as the representative of several American colonies, wrote home:

"The sun of liberty is set; you must light up the candles of industry and economy.

His correspondent replied that he was afraid "other lights would be the consequence." This soon came to pass. Some of the colonies were already fired with rage. This flamed up into popular indignation which spread from place to place, and from colony to colony, like a prairie fire. So widespread was the heat of this passion against the power imposing the unjust tax, that it was repealed and another imposed in 1767. This was levied on paints, paper, glass and tea.

The colonies refused to purchase the taxed commodities from the mother country. Mr. Washington wrote to his agents in London not to send him any taxed article. The banding together of the people in America not to use anything that had been taxed "spelt ruin" for many English manufacturers and merchants. They combined their clamor with that of the colonies, and the tax was removed from everything but tea, on which the duty was reduced to three pence (six cents) a pound.

This did not pacify the people of the American colonies. It was not the amount of the tax, they said, but the principle involved. If they admitted the right of England to tax them at all, it would prove only the entering wedge to greater imposts later. To the American mind any impost was an imposition.

The people were roused to a frenzy. Taxgatherers were regarded as outcasts-hated as the publicans were by the Jews in the time of the Christ. They were stoned, abused, tarred and feathered, and threatened with hanging. As usual with the people when aroused, they gave vent to their wrath in songs. Here is part of a long ballad which expressed the popular feeling: