I.

CHAPTER cease; and to each of the other sons an estate of six or seven hundred acres. The youngest daughter died when an infant, and for the only remaining one a suitable provision was made in the will. It is thus seen, that Augustine Washington, although suddenly cut off in the vigor of manhood, left all his children in a state of comparative independence. Confiding in the prudence of the mother, he directed that the proceeds of all the property of her children should be at her disposal, till they should respectively come of age.

His mother.

State of edu cation in the Colonies.

This weighty charge of five young children, the eldest of whom was eleven years old, the superintendence of their education, and the management of complicated affairs, demanded no common share of resolution, resource of mind, and strength of character. In these important duties Mrs. Washington acquitted herself with great fidelity to her trust, and with entire success. Her good sense, assiduity, tenderness, and vigilance overcame every obstacle; and, as the richest reward of a mother's solicitude and toil, she had the happiness to see all her children come forward with a fair promise into life, filling the sphere allotted to them in a manner equally honorable to themselves, and to the parent who had been the only guide of their principles, conduct, and habits. She lived to witness the noble career of her eldest son, till by his own rare merits he was raised to the head of a nation, and applauded and revered by the whole world. It has been said, that there never was a great man, the elements of whose greatness might not be traced to the original characteristics or early influence of his mother. If this be true, how much do mankind owe to the mother of Washington.

Under the colonial governments, particularly in the southern provinces, the means of education were circumscribed. The thinness of population, and the broad line which separated the rich from the poor, prevented the establishment of schools on such a basis as would open the door of instruction to all classes, and thus prepare the way for higher seminaries of learning. Young men destined for the learned

1.

professions, whose parents could afford the expense, were CHAPTER occasionally sent to England. But the planters generally sought no other education for their sons, than such as would fit them to be practical men of business. In a few cases, this was derived from a private tutor; in others, from a teacher of the common schools, whose qualifications would naturally be limited to the demands of his employers, and who was seldom competent to impart more than the simplest elements of knowledge. When he had inculcated the mysteries of reading, writing, arithmetic, and keeping accounts, his skill was exhausted, and the duties of his vocation were fulfilled. If his pupils aspired to higher attainments, they were compelled to leave their master behind, and find their way without a guide.

studies and

To a school of this description was George Washington His early indebted for all the aids his mind received in its early dis- habits. cipline and culture. How far he profited by these slender advantages, or was distinguished for his application and love of study, can only be conjectured from the results. Tradition reports, that he was inquisitive, docile, and diligent; but it adds, that his military propensities and passion for active sports displayed themselves in his boyhood; that he formed his schoolmates into companies, who paraded, marched, and fought mimic battles, in which he was always the commander of one of the parties. He had a fondness for the athletic amusements of running, jumping, wrestling, tossing bars, and other feats of agility and bodily exercise. Indeed it is well known, that these practices were continued by him after he had arrived at the age of mature life. It has also been said, that while at school his probity and demeanor were such, as to win the deference of the other boys, who were accustomed to make him the arbiter of their disputes, and never failed to be satisfied with his judgment. Such are some of the incidents of his juvenile years, remembered and related by his contemporaries after he had risen to greatness.

proficiency.

There are not wanting evidences of his early proficiency His early in some branches of study. His manuscript schoolbooks,

I.

CHAPTER from the time he was thirteen years old, have been preserved. He had already mastered the difficult parts of arithmetic, and these books begin with geometry. But there is one, of a previous date, which deserves notice, as giving an insight into the original cast of his mind, and the subjects to which his education was directed. It is singular, that a boy of thirteen should occupy himself in studying the dry and intricate forms of business, which are rarely attended to till the affairs of life call them into use, and even then rather as an act of necessity than of pleasure. But many pages of the manuscript in question are taken up with copies of what he calls Forms of Writing, such as notes of hand, bills of exchange, receipts, bonds, indentures, bills of sale, land warrants, leases, deeds, and wills, written out with care, the prominent words in large and varied characters in imitation of a clerk's hand. Then follow selections in rhyme, more distinguished for the sentiments they contain, and the religious tone that pervades them, than for their poetical beauties.

Rules of Behavior.

Effects of these Rules.

But the most remarkable part of the book is that, in which is compiled a system of maxims, and regulations of conduct, drawn from miscellaneous sources, and arranged under the head of Rules of Behavior in Company and Conversation. Some of these are unimportant, and suited only to form the habits of a child; others are of a higher import, fitted to soften and polish the manners, to keep alive the best affections of the heart, to impress the obligation of the moral virtues, to teach what is due to others in the social relations, and above all to inculcate the practice of a perfect self-control. *

In studying the character of Washington it is obvious, that this code of rules had an influence upon his whole life. His temperament was ardent, his passions strong, and, amidst the multiplied scenes of temptation and excitement through which he passed, it was his constant

* A selection from these Rules of Behavior may be found in the Appendix, No., II.

I.

effort and ultimate triumph to check the one and subdue CHAPTER the other. His intercourse with men, private and public, in every walk and station, was marked with a consistency, a fitness to occasions, a dignity, decorum, condescension, and mildness, a respect for the claims of others, and a delicate perception of the nicer shades of civility, which were not more the dictates of his native good sense and incomparable judgment, than the fruits of a long and unwearied discipline.

school.

He left school in the autumn preceding his sixteenth Leaves birthday. The last two years had been devoted to the study of geometry, trigonometry, and surveying, for which he had a decided partiality. It is probable, also, that his friends, discovering this inclination, encouraged him in yielding to it, with the view of qualifying him for the profession of a surveyor, which was then a lucrative employment, and led to opportunities of selecting valuable new lands. During the last summer he was at school, we find him surveying the fields around the schoolhouse 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.

mathemat

ics

Nor was his skill confined to the more simple processes His skill in of the art. He used logarithms, and proved the accuracy of his work by different methods. The manuscripts fill several quires of paper, and are remarkable for the care with which they were kept, the neatness and uniformity of the handwriting, the beauty of the diagrams, and a precise method and arrangement in copying out tables and columns of figures.

method.

These particulars will not be thought too trivial to Habits of be mentioned, when it is known, that he retained similar habits through life. His business papers, daybooks, legers, and letter books, in which before the revolution no one wrote but himself, exhibit specimens of the same studious care and exactness. Every fact occupies a clear and distinct place, the handwriting is round and regular, without interlineations, blots, or blemishes; and, if mis

I.

CHAPTER takes occurred, the faulty words were so skilfully erased and corrected, as to render the defect invisible except to a scrutinizing eye. The constructing of tables, diagrams, and other figures relating to numbers or classification, was an exercise in which he seems at all times to have taken much delight. If any of his farms were to be divided into new lots, a plan was first drawn on paper; if he meditated a rotation of crops, or a change in the mode of culture, the various items of expense, labor, products, and profits were reduced to tabular forms; and in his written instructions to his managers, which were annually repeated, the same method was pursued.

Educated only at the

common schools.

While at the head of the army this habit was of especial service to him. The names and rank of the officers, the returns of the adjutants, commissaries, and quartermasters, were compressed by him into systematic tables, so contrived as to fix strongly in his mind the most essential parts, without being encumbered with details. When the army was to march, or perform any movements requiring combination and concert, a scheme was first delineated; and at the beginning of an active campaign, or in the preparation for a detached enterprise, the line of battle was projected and sketched on paper, each officer being assigned to his post, with the names of the regiments and strength of the forces he was to command.

During the presidency it was likewise his custom to subject the treasury reports and accompanying documents to the process of tabular condensation, with a vast expenditure of labor and patience; but it enabled him to grasp and retain in their order a series of isolated facts, and the results of a complicated mass of figures, which could never have been mastered so effectually by any other mode of approaching them. Such were some of the benefits of those parts of his education, to which he was led by the natural bent of his mind.

Except the above branches of the mathematics, his acquirements did not extend beyond the subjects usually taught to boys of his age at the common schools. It is