George was now about seven years old.
* * * * *
III.—HIS SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS.
There were no good schools in Virginia at that time. In fact, the people did not care much about learning.
There were few educated men besides the parsons, and even some of the parsons were very ignorant.
It was the custom of some of the richest families to send their eldest sons to England to the great schools there. But it is doubtful if these young men learned much about books.
They spent a winter or two in the gay society of London, and were taught the manners of gentlemen—and that was about all.
George Washington's father, when a young man, had spent some time at
Appleby School in England, and George's half-brothers, Lawrence and
Augustine, who were several years older than he, had been sent to the
same school.
But book-learning was not thought to be of much use. To know how to manage the business of a plantation, to be polite to one's equals, to be a leader in the affairs of the colony—this was thought to be the best education.
And so, for most of the young men, it was enough if they could read and write a little and keep a few simple accounts. As for the girls, the parson might give them a few lessons now and then; and if they learned good manners and could write letters to their friends, what more could they need?