He kept his accounts rigorously, entering even the cost of repairing a hairpin for a ward.
He was a keen farmer, and it is amusing to find him recording in his careful journal that there are 844,800 seeds of "New River Grass" to the pound Troy and so determining how many should be sown to the acre.

Not many youths would write out as did Washington, apparently from French sources, and read and reread elaborate "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation." In the fashion of the age of Chesterfield they portray the perfect gentleman.

He is always to remember the presence of others and not to move, read, or speak without considering what may be due to them.

In the true spirit of the time he is to learn to defer to persons of superior quality.

Tactless laughter at his own wit, jests that have a sting of idle gossip, are to be avoided.