Page:LA2-NSRW-5-0056.jpg



reminded ourselves of all his lofty virtues and his incomparable services, we have still not expressed the feeling we have for his memory. We are continually admonished to shape our lives and our conduct by the model he has established for us; and to think less of the reward, more of the duty well-done.

The first president of the United States was of the fourth generation of the Washington family in America. His great grandfather, John Washington, came over from Yorkshire, England, in 1657. That he was a man of education, property and good birth is proven by the fact that he took up a large tract of land in Westmoreland County, on the Potomac, laid out a tobacco-plantation, acquired slaves, became a magistrate and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. This property was still in the family when George Washington was born, February 22, 1732, three quarters of a century later. He was the oldest of the five children of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. He had, however, two older half-brothers. The oldest, Augustine, seems to have taken over the estate on the Potomac, and Lawrence to have acquired the Mt. Vernon property through his marriage with a Miss Fairfax. With his second wife and younger children the father removed to a plantation on the Rappahannock, near Fredericksburg. It was here that Washington grew up, under the care of his mother, for his father died when he was under 11. He learned to read, write and cipher in a school kept by the sexton of the parish church, and, later, had private tutoring in geometry and surveying. It was to his wise, lovely, devoted mother that he owed his moral and religious training. Her favorite book was Sir Matthew Hale's Contemplations. It was filled with precepts and maxims, easily memorized and easily applied to daily conduct. From these Washington early compiled his maxims. When he died, his mother's book was found carefully preserved in the library at Mount Vernon.

As was the unjust custom of that time, very little provision was made for the younger children. Washington, Jefferson and Franklin, in forming our government, saw that this law of entail by which the oldest son inherited the estate, was broken. Washington's older half-brother Lawrence, who was rich and influential, did everything he could to further his promising brother's fortunes. A warrant as midshipman in the king's navy was secured for him, but his mother refused her consent for him to go to sea. He then fitted himself for an appointment as surveyor of Lord Fairfax's enormous grant of Virginian land. At 16 he began this work, making his home ever after at Mount Vernon. The traits of character he had displayed in school and among his playmates now came out prominently. In the school-boys' soldier-plays he had always been chosen captain because of natural ability to direct others. In games of skill he was the umpire for his fairness. He excelled in running, wrestling and horseback-riding. His school-papers were models of neatness and accuracy. Now he had to live afoot and on horseback in the wilderness; he had helpers to direct, inferiors to govern; and he had to make out survey-records so complete and accurate that they would be accepted by public officials upon which to base titles to land. When he returned from three years of hardships and danger and exacting work in mountain and forest, he was a handsome youth of 19. He had his full height of six feet two inches. Slender at that time, he added weight with the years. In his later life his appearance was one of the greatest dignity and nobility. He had blue eyes, an abundance of brown hair and a clear, ruddy complexion. His manner was self-controlled, his speech well-considered. Even as a stripling he was considered a man of such remarkable gifts and experience that at 21 he was made major of the Virginian militia at a time when the colonies were preparing for war with France, and was entrusted with a message to a French post, 600 miles distant, by Governor Dinwiddie.

That journey was a severe test of character and capacity. It took him across unexplored mountains, through trackless forests infested with wild beasts and hostile savages. A treacherous Indian guide attempted to assassinate him. He narrowly escaped drowning when crossing the flooded Alleghany on a rude raft. He was looked upon as the rising hope of the colony, and in the French and Indian War he was made an aid-de-camp to General Braddock. His advice as to methods employed by the Indians in border warfare was ignored, and Braddock suffered a terrible defeat. Washington was the only mounted officer in the engagement who was not killed. Two horses were shot from under him and he had four bullet holes in his coat, but he escaped unhurt. He wrote to his mother that he felt he had been preserved by Providence for some great duty. The Indians believed he bore a charmed life. In 1758 he carried the British colors into the smoking ruins of Ft. Duquesne, and helped rebuild it as Ft. Pitt (now Pittsburgh). When, at the end of the war, the speaker of the Virginian House of Burgesses formally thanked him for his military services he was too confused