“When was he here?” inquired John.
“Why, don’t you know the history of your own country?” spoke up Fred. “Washington came here after the battle of Princeton. That winter was a hard one for the little colonial army. People have talked about Valley Forge just as if there wasn’t as much suffering at Morristown. I don’t know why it is that people start on one line and then forget there are any others.”
“He was here twice,” explained Grant. “That winter of ’77 and ’78 and then too in the winter of ’78 and ’79.”
“Yes,” said George. “The house which is called Washington’s Headquarters is where he lived during his second winter. I’m going to take you first,” he added, “out to Washington Valley. That’s where the most of the soldiers camped.”
In a brief time the Go Ahead boys gained the summit of the hill from which they were able to look down upon the marvelously beautiful valley before them. It was like a great bowl among the hills. The rich and cultivated fields and beautiful homes on the hillsides and the nature of the place itself combined to make a most beautiful as well as interesting picture.
“It looks almost as if it was built for an army to hide in,” said Grant.
“They were pretty well protected here,” explained George. “You see, the hills were as good as forts. Now we’ll go back to Washington’s headquarters,” he added, as he turned around and started once more back toward Morristown.
Not far from the public square the boys found the famous building. Built of brick and covered with boards and shingles, its sides painted white, it produced not merely an impression of age, but also of freshness as well.
“Then this is where the father of his country stayed, is it?” said Fred. “Just look at this picture,” he added as he pointed toward the house and then turned around to George and said, “then look at this. We have fallen from that to this, Washington was the father of his country and G. Washington Sanders is just ‘Pop’.”
“That’s all right,” replied George, joining in the laugh of his friends. “I’ll admit that Pop isn’t the biggest word in the language any more than Pyg is.”