HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge EducT 872.787,460 Harvard University, TRANSFERRED TO Copyright, 1887, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. All rights reserved. The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. PREFACE. THERE are many biographies of Washington, and every history of the United States gives prominence to the facts in the life of the great leader in the war for independence, and the first President of the Union. The city where the Congress of the nation meets is named after the greatest American, and every year on the twenty-second of February the people are given a holiday to remind them of the man whose birth meant so much to the nation. It is of prime importance that a democracy, which recognizes the worth of the person, has for its great exemplar a man so wise, so noble, so unselfish as its first citizen. Character makes character, and the figure of Washington as it looms up in the past is a rebuke to all that is mean and ignoble in American public life. The birthday of Washington, coming in the middle of winter, offers a capital opportunity for schools to take a little rest and enjoy a special celebration. This pamphlet gives in convenient form the most striking passages in Washington's life, told in his own words, with such preliminary notes as are needed to make the circumstances of the writing clear. There is material, therefore, for a celebration, and by a little ingenuity it can be used in a variety of ways. Thus, as part of the exercises, each member of the class may |