FOOTNOTES
[1] “There is no doubt that the politics of the family determined the two brothers, John and Lawrence, to emigrate to Virginia; that colony being the favorite resort of the Cavaliers, during the government of Cromwell, as New England was the retreat of the Puritans, in the period which preceded the Commonwealth.”—Life of Washington, by Edward Everett, p. 24.
[2] The pleasing story may easily be perverted. A little boy, having read it, deliberately took his hatchet, went into the garden, and utterly destroyed a valuable young pear tree. Then entering the house, he said, while his face was beaming with satisfaction, “Grandpapa, it was I who spoiled your pear tree.” Inexpressible was the astonishment and chagrin of my dear little grandson, on receiving a severe reprimand, and a prohibition from again going into the garden for a week. He could not understand why he should be censured, for that for which George Washington was so abundantly praised.
[3] “During the last summer that he was at school, we find him surveying the fields around the school house, and in the adjoining plantations, of which the boundaries, angles, and measurements, the plots and calculations, are entered with formality and precision in his books. He used logarithms, and proved the accuracy of his work by different methods.”—Sparks’ Life of Washington, p. 6.
[4] There were fifty-four of these rules. All were important. We give a few as specimens.
Read no letters, books, or papers, in company. But when there is a necessity for doing it you must ask leave.
Show yourself not glad at the misfortune of another, though he were your enemy.
Strive not with your superiors, in argument, but always submit your judgment to others with modesty.
Use no reproachful language against any one.
Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.