noble and far-seeing statesman, watchful of the evils that threatened his country.[2] [Footnote 1: _Magazine of American History_, 1880, p. 158.] [Footnote 2: For some expressions of Washington's opinions on slavery, see Sparks, viii. 414, ix. 159-163, and x. 224.] After this digression let us return to the Virginian farmer, whose mind was not disturbed as yet by thoughts of the destiny of the United States, or considerations of the rights of man, but who was much exercised by the task of making an honest income out of his estates. To do this he grappled with details as firmly as he did with the general system under which all plantations in that day were carried on. He understood every branch of farming; he was on the alert for every improvement; he rose early, worked steadily, gave to everything his personal supervision, kept his own accounts with wonderful exactness, and naturally enough his brands of flour went unquestioned everywhere, his credit was high, and he made money--so far as it was possible under existing conditions. Like Shakespeare, as Bishop Blougram has it, he "Saved money, spent it, owned the worth of things." He had no fine and senseless disregard for money or the good things of this world, but on the contrary saw in them not the value attached to them by vulgar minds, but their true worth. He was a solid, square, evenly-balanced man in those days, believing that whatever he did was worth doing well. So he farmed, as he fought and governed, better than anybody else.