Page:Lives of the presidents in words of one syllable (1903).djvu/16

 the ponds, fruit on the trees, cows to give milk, lambs to give wool to make clothes would not come by chance.

The boy of five kept in mind that which his fa-ther had taught him.

From the first George had a strong love of truth. He thought it mean to tell a lie. He would say true things at all times.

There was land near his home where fruit trees grew. Some trees bore well and some did not do so. Care and work would help all the trees and this the small boy's fa-ther was glad to give.

A tale is told that one tree was so choice that the fa-ther would walk to it day by day and watch it grow. Once he found a deep cut in the bark of that tree. It was cut so that fruit might not come to it for years. Then the fa-ther said, "Who has done this?"

George knew quite well that he had done that thing with a small axe. He did not think it would do so much harm at the time, but when he found how sad his fa-ther felt, and saw, too, his rage at the act, he was full of pain. It is said that for one short bit of time he hung back in shame.

Then he made up his mind that the right thing to do was to speak the truth at once. So he said, "I can not tell a lie. I did it."

The tale goes on to say that the fa-ther's rage left him when he found that his boy could and would say what was true, though it brought pain with it.

The moth-er of Wash-ing-ton was one score and eight years old when her son was born. She had fine looks, a strong mind, and a kind heart. A wise man has said, "The strong are born of the strong and the good of the