All these exciting experiences which filled his mind soon manifested themselves in his play. In place of ball and games of a like nature, war became the great game. His comrades were divided into companies. He sketched plans of battles, which were carried out. He determined the arms they were to use and held reviews. It never occurred to any of his little comrades to dispute with him the rank which he had bestowed upon himself. These occupations were also, although neither he nor any one else suspected it, more or less of a preparation for his after life. Just as he had before this been the legislator for his little circle, he was now the military chieftain. But even when playing at soldier, the peculiarity of his character, which led him to carry out everything he undertook with the greatest thoroughness, was apparent. He knew what accomplishments a soldier must strive to acquire, and now we see him practising these exercises with unflagging zeal, with the object of making his body strong and supple—such as running, leaping, wrestling, tossing bars, and the like. The leader of the little band strove to be, in reality, the first and foremost, and wished to live up to his title.
After taking part in the siege of Carthagena in the West Indies, Lawrence returned home. One can imagine with what interest George listened to his brother’s recitals! What Lawrence learned of George’s military exercises and play confirmed him in a plan which he had long ago formed and which had George’s hearty approval. He proposed to his parents that as soon as George should have reached his fourteenth year, the boy should be allowed to enter the English service as a naval cadet, and the carrying out of the plan was actually considered. Lawrence himself intended to return to his regiment to seek advancement in the army, but never did so. Instead, he fell in love with the daughter of a rich planter, William Fairfax. His advances were accepted and an engagement took place. His father was very much pleased to have his son enter into an alliance with the rich and highly esteemed house of Fairfax, but was not fortunate enough to live to see the wedding.
George was eleven years old when he stood at the grave of his excellent father. The deceased left considerable property, so that his children from both marriages were well provided for. Lawrence received an estate on the banks of the Potomac, where he took his young bride a few months later. According to the terms of the will, no guardian was appointed for the younger children, but they were left in charge of their mother—a proof of the confidence the deceased had reposed in her. She was worthy of it. Irving says of her: “She was endowed with plain, direct good sense, thorough conscientiousness, and prompt decision; she governed her family strictly, but kindly, exacting deference, while she inspired affection.” She was Washington’s second wife, and George, her first-born, was her favorite. In spite of this, or rather because of it, she was very strict with him, where she deemed it necessary to protect him from excesses, and her faithful care was rewarded. At that time Sir Matthew Hale’s “Contemplations, Moral and Divine” was held in great esteem among the educated English colonists of Virginia. It was the mother’s favorite book, from which she not only drew strength and consolation for herself, but from which she also read aloud to her children. Her friends often found her thus occupied. She not only showed great insight in the selections which she made, but the deep spiritual feeling with which she read aloud from this and sometimes from other writings made a deep impression on her young hearers. Her enthusiasm was communicated to her children, and as the whole life and doings of the household were pervaded by a spirit of moral earnestness, these impressions received by the young minds were not easily effaced, but rather were confirmed. The copy of the above-mentioned work, in which the name of “Mary W.” is written by his mother’s own hand, remained a valued memento in George’s possession all his life, and he often declared that the precepts which it contained, expounded by the soulful voice of the mother, striving for the improvement of her children, had had a decisive influence on his whole life. The book is still preserved in the archives of Mount Vernon.
George continued his school and home studies with unabated industry. It was not necessary to urge him on, but rather to warn him not to go too far in his zeal. He was filled with an ardent desire to acquire fresh insight, knowledge, and skill in something each day of his life. It was a true “thirst for knowledge.” Somewhat farther away than his first teacher, Hobby, lived another, named Williams, who widened the horizon of his schooling a little and to whom he now went to learn something of commercial bookkeeping. Although it was a dry subject, George made astonishingly rapid progress, inspired by the determination to acquire it as quickly as possible. In the realms of knowledge and skill he played the role of conqueror; mind, will, and memory were his weapons, which became sharper and more highly polished the more he used them. Careless and lazy school comrades appeared contemptible creatures to him. At this time he collected examples of all kinds of documents used in business and daily affairs. One of his collections bears the title “Written Extracts,” and we find among them prescriptions, checks, receipts, affidavits, forms of resignation, titles to property, leases, contracts, and wills. All these were copied with great care, the important words written in larger letters so that they were easily to be distinguished.
George had also made great progress in athletic attainments. He had been diligently practising the exercises of which we have spoken ever since it had been decided to let him enter the English service as a naval cadet. He considered it a matter of course that a future soldier must employ himself systematically in strengthening his muscles and acquiring the greatest possible dexterity. The place is still shown, in the neighborhood of his father’s property, where George threw a stone across the Rappahannock. He was also a fine horseman; on one occasion he mounted an unmanageable horse, to the astonishment of all onlookers, and was able to control it. In the meanwhile Lawrence had taken the necessary steps for his brother’s entrance into the English navy. A midshipman’s warrant was obtained and his luggage was packed. But at the last moment his mother, after carefully reconsidering the matter, resolved not to let her son go out into the world so early. It was not a mother’s weakness that led her to this determination. She had heard so much about the roughness of a seaman’s life it is scarcely to be wondered at that she recoiled from a plan which meant removing her son completely from his mother’s influence and cutting him off from the help and advice of his relatives. His love and the respect which he had for her opinions helped to soften the disappointment; later he was able to thank her for having, at that time especially, taken his destiny under such careful and earnest consideration.
Before we follow his life history any further, let us notice a practice of his in early life. He kept a diary in which he noted everything that aroused his interest. Besides this, he recorded significant ideas or thoughts which he found in books or heard from the lips of wise or experienced persons. It would be a very good thing for our young readers to follow his example in this. A portion of his diary bears the superscription: “Rules for Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Among them are some important truths and some of lesser significance. A number of extracts are given as they characterize George’s aspirations so well, and also in the hope that some readers may make a selection from among them and—this is only a suggestion—with it begin a diary of their own. Here are a few examples:
Every action in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those present.
In the presence of others, sing not to yourself with a humming noise, nor drum with your fingers or feet.
Speak not when others speak, sit not when others stand, and walk not when others stop.
Turn not your back to others, especially in speaking; jog not the table or desk on which another reads or writes; lean not on any one.
They that are in dignity or office have in all places precedence; but whilst they are young, they ought to respect those who are their equals in birth, or other qualities, though they have no public charge.
It is good manners to prefer those to whom we speak before ourselves, especially if they be above us, with whom, in no sort, we ought to begin.
Let your discourse with men of business be short and comprehensive.
In visiting the sick, do not presently play the physician, if you be not knowing therein.
Undertake not to teach your equal in the art he himself professes; it savors of arrogancy.
Being to advise or reprehend any one, consider whether it ought to be in public or in private, presently or at some other time, also in what terms to do it; and in reproving, show no signs of choler, but do it with sweetness and mildness.
Mock not, nor jest at anything of importance; break no jests that are sharp or biting and if you deliver anything witty or pleasant, abstain from laughing thereat yourself.
Wherein you reprove another, be unblamable yourself, for example is more prevalent than precept.
Use no reproachful language against any one, neither curses nor revilings.
Be not hasty to believe flying reports, to the disparagement of any one.
In your apparel be modest, and endeavor to accommodate nature rather than procure admiration. Keep to the fashion of your equals, such as are civil and orderly, with respect to time and place.
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.
Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for it is a sign of a tractable and commendable nature, and in all causes of passion admit reason to govern.
Be not forward, but friendly and courteous, the first to salute, hear, and answer, and be not pensive when it is a time to converse.
If two contend together, take not the part of either unconstrained, and be not obstinate in your opinion; in things indifferent be of the major side.
Reprehend not the imperfections of others, for that belongs to parents, masters, and superiors.
Think before you speak; pronounce not imperfectly, nor bring out your words too hastily, but orderly and distinctly.
When another speaks, be attentive yourself, and disturb not the audience. If any hesitate in his words, help him not, nor prompt him without being desired; interrupt him not, nor answer him till his speech be ended.
Be not apt to relate news, if you know not the truth thereof.
When you deliver a matter, do it without passion and indiscretion, however mean the person may be you do it to.
When your superiors talk to anybody, hear them, neither speak nor laugh.
Be not tedious in discourse, make not many digressions nor repeat often the same matter of discourse.
Be not angry at table, whatever happens, and if you have reason to be so, show it not, put on a cheerful countenance, especially if there be strangers, for good humor makes one dish a feast.
When you speak of God or His attributes, let it be seriously, in reverence and honor, and obey your natural parents.
Let your recreation be manful, not sinful.
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.
Chapter II
The Surveyor
After the plan of allowing him to enter the English service as a naval cadet had been abandoned, George continued his attendance at school with the intention of preparing himself to become a surveyor. Until the completion of his fifteenth year he applied himself to these studies, principally geometry and trigonometry. During his last Summer at school he made surveys of the fields and meadows belonging to the schoolhouse, and also of the neighboring plantations. This business, which was only practice for him, he carried on as conscientiously as though he were obliged to take an oath as to its accuracy. Every detail pertaining to it, such as drawings, calculations, and references, were carefully put on paper. There was not an inserted word nor a blot to be seen. If he did make a mistake, he would erase it so cleverly that it could be discovered only on the closest inspection. One could see that it was a law of his being to do everything with the greatest neatness. But he was just as particular with regard to order and oversight. Irving says of him: “Nothing was left half done, or done in a hurried and slovenly manner. The habit of mind thus cultivated continued throughout life; so that, however complicated his tasks and overwhelming his cares, in the arduous and hazardous situations in which he was often placed, he found time to do everything and to do it well. He had acquired the magic of method, which of itself works wonders.” His education was very limited outside of mathematics. Probably he did not learn even the simplest rules of grammar in school. We may infer this from his notebooks of that period, in which grammatical mistakes often occur. But even in grammar he made himself a master, when once he had fixed his attention upon it. Careful consideration and comparisons, with attentive reading of masterpieces of literature, was a training which enabled him later to express himself in pure and correct language, both in speaking and writing, and the reader will see from examples which we shall give that Washington became a master of style. But study alone could not have made purity, sincerity, and directness the most prominent characteristics of his writings. His literary style was the mirror of his character.
He appreciated his good fortune in having family connections which gave him the entrée into several cultivated family circles. His brother Lawrence was happily married, living in comfortable circumstances on his estate at Mount Vernon, and George was often there. A few miles away was Belvoir, the large property of Lawrence’s father-in-law, the above-mentioned William Fairfax. This man had passed an eventful life. He was born in England, entered the army early, took part in several campaigns, and was later appointed by the English government governor and chief justice of an island of the East Indies. He had now been living in Virginia for several years, where, for a long time, he had been president of the royal council of the colonies. The home of this experienced and kindly man, where there was a number of amiable and well-educated sons and daughters, was also open to George. Having his eyes and ears open for all that was improving, George learned many things at Belvoir. He also became acquainted there with an important and at the same time interesting personage—a nobleman of the same name from England, a cousin of William Fairfax, and therefore, since the marriage of George’s step-brother, a sort of relative of his. This Lord Fairfax was a man nearly sixty years old, over six feet tall, gaunt and rawboned, with light gray eyes, sharp features, and an aquiline nose. In England he had distinguished himself equally in the use of the sword and the pen. Through his marriage he acquired boundless territories, so to speak, in Virginia—the whole region between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, which later was found to extend into the Allegheny Mountains. By the desire of Lord Fairfax his cousin William had hitherto managed the property, and Lord Fairfax had only recently arrived in Virginia to become acquainted for the first time with his truly princely domain. It was a wilderness, but what a wilderness!