V.
FOUR INCIDENTS AND THEIR LESSONS.
Certain incidents occurred in the young life of our hero, which so forcibly illustrate leading elements of his character that we stop here to record them.
His father came home one day so sick that he took to his bed at once. It was a severe attack of an old complaint, which he had vainly tried to remove.
"You must have the doctor," said Mrs. Washington, somewhat alarmed by the severity of the attack.
"Wait a little, and see," replied her husband; "perhaps the usual remedies will relieve me." He kept remedies in the house for such attacks, and Mrs. Washington soon administered them. But the relief was only partial, and a servant was sent for the doctor.
"Go in haste," said Mrs. Washington, as Jake mounted the horse and galloped away. "Tell the doctor to come as soon as possible," were the last words that Jake heard as he dashed forward. Mrs. Washington was thoroughly alarmed. Returning to her husband's bedside, she said:
"I want to send for George."
"Not now," her husband answered. "I think the doctor will relieve me. Besides, George has only just got there, and it is not well to disturb him unnecessarily."
George had gone to visit friends at Chotana, about twenty miles distant, where he proposed to spend his vacation.