THE OLD DOMINION To know George Washington, we must first of all understand the society in which he was born and brought up.

As certain lilies draw their colors from the subtle qualities of the soil hidden beneath the water upon which they float, so are men profoundly affected by the obscure and insensible influences which surround their childhood and youth.
The art of the chemist may discover perhaps the secret agent which tints the white flower with blue or pink, but very often the elements, which analysis detects, nature alone can combine.

The analogy is not strained or fanciful when we apply it to a past society.

We can separate, and classify, and label the various elements, but to combine them in such a way as to form a vivid picture is a work of surpassing difficulty.

This is especially true of such a land as Virginia in the middle of the last century.