The eldest son in Virginia
According to the custom of those old Virginia days, the eldest son, Lawrence Washington, received the beautiful plantation on the Potomac, which he named Mount Vernon in honor of Admiral Vernon, an English naval officer under whom he had fought in the West Indies.
George studied hard and played hard
To George fell a smaller plantation on the Rappahannock. He could hardly hope to go to England to study, but went to a school near his birthplace. Here he studied hard, mastering mathematics, and business papers of all sorts. The book into which he copied business letters, deeds, wills, and bills of sale and exchange shows how careful he was and how he mastered everything he undertook.
At school, George was a spirited leader in all outdoor sports. He outran, outjumped, as well as outwrestled all his comrades. He could throw farther than any of them. The story is told that he once threw a stone across the Rappahannock, and that at another time he threw a stone from the valley below to the top of the Natural Bridge, a distance of more than two hundred feet.
WASHINGTON DREAMING OF A SEAMAN'S LIFE
Playing war
Washington was captain when the boys played at war. Every boy among them expected to be a soldier some day. George listened to the stories told by his brother Lawrence, who had been a captain in the West Indies.
