"Thy fame is just," the sage replies; LXXXIII.-BOYHOOD OF WASHINGTON. IRVING. GEORGE WASHINGTON was born in the county of Westmoreland, in the State of Virginia, February 22, 1732. His father was Augustine Washington; and the maiden name of his mother, his father's second wife, was Mary Ball. He was the eldest child of the second marriage. The house in which he was born stood upon Bridge's Creek, and commanded a view over many miles of the Potomac, and the opposite shore of Maryland. It had probably been purchased with the property, and was one of the primitive farm houses of Virginia. The roof was steep, and sloped down into low, projecting eaves. It had four rooms on the ground floor, and others in the attic; and an immense chimney at each end. Not a vestige of it remains. Two or three decayed fig trees, with shrubs and vines, linger about the place; and here and there a flower grown wild serves "to mark where a garden has been." Such, at least, was the case a few years since but these may have likewise passed away. A stone marks the site of the house, and an inscription denotes its being the birthplace of Washington. Not long after the birth of George, his father removed to an estate in Stafford county, opposite Fredericsburg. The house was similar in style to the one at Bridge's Creek, and stood on ; a rising ground, overlooking a meadow which bordered the Rappahannock. This was the home of George's boyhood: the meadow was his play ground, and the scene of his athletic sports; but this home, like that in which he was born, has disappeared; the site is only to be traced by fragments of bricks, china, and earthen ware. He received the rudiments of education in the best establishment for the purpose that the neighborhood afforded. It was what was called, in popular parlance, an "old field school house;" humble enough in its pretensions, and kept by one of his father's tenants named Hobby, who, moreover, was sexton of the parish. The instruction doled out to him must have been of the simplest kind-reading, writing, and ciphering, perhaps; but George had the benefit of mental and moral culture at home, from an excellent father, who impressed the ductile mind of his child with high maxims of religion and virtue, and imbued him with a spirit of justice and generosity, and above all a scrupulous love of truth. Augustine Washington, his father, died in April, 1743, after a short illness, and when but forty-nine years of age. George had been absent from home on a visit during his father's illness, and just returned in time to receive a parting look of affection. The children of the second marriage, by their father's will, were left under the guardianship of their mother, to whom were intrusted the proceeds of all their property until they should severally come of age. She proved herself worthy of the trust. Endowed with plain, direct good sense, thorough conscientiousness, and prompt decision, she governed her family strictly, but kindly; exacting deference, while she inspired affection. George, being her eldest son, was thought to be her favorite; yet she never gave him undue preference, and the implicit deference exacted from him in childhood continued to be habitually observed by him to the day of her death. He inherited from her a high temper and a spirit of command; but her early precepts and example taught him to restrain and govern that temper, and to square his conduct on th principles of equity and justice. Tradition gives an interesting picture of the widow, Wi her little flock gathered around her, as was her daily wont, reading to them lessons of morality and religion out of some standard work, Her favorite volume was Sir Matthew Hale's Contemplations, moral and divine. The admirable maxims therein contained, for outward action as well as self-government, sank deep into the mind of George, and, doubtless, had a great influence in forming his character. They certainly were exemplified in his conduct throughout life. This mother's manual, bearing his mother's name, Mary Washington, written with her own hand, was ever preserved by him with filial care, and may be still seen at Mount Vernon. A precious document! Let those who wish to know the moral foundation of his character consult its pages. Having no longer the benefit of a father's instructions at home, and the scope of tuition of Hobby, the sexton, being too limited for the growing wants of his pupil, George was now sent to reside with his brother, Augustine Washington, at Bridge's Creek, and enjoy the benefit of a superior school in that neighborhood, kept by a Mr. Williams. His education, however, was plain and practical. He never attempted the learned languages, nor manifested any inclination for rhetoric or belles-lettres. His object, or the object of his friends, seems to have been confined to fitting him for ordinary business. His manuscript school books still exist, and are models of neatness and accuracy. One of them, it is true, a ciphering book, preserved in the library at Mount Vernon, has some school-boy attempts at calligraphy * — nondescript birds, executed with a flourish of the pen, or profiles of faces, probably intended for those of his schoolmates - the rest are all grave and businesslike. Before he was thirteen years of age, he had copied into a volume forms for all kinds of mercantile and legal papers, bills *Calligraphy, fine or ornamental penmanship. of exchange, notes of hand, deeds, bonds, and the like. This early self-tuition gave him throughout life a lawyer's skill in draughting documents, and a merchant's exactness in keeping accounts; so that all the concerns of his various estates, his dealings with his domestic stewards and foreign agents, his accounts with government, and all his financial transactions are to this day to be seen posted up in books, in his own handwriting - monuments of his method and unwearied accuracy. He was a self-disciplinarian in physical as well as mental matters, and practised himself in all kinds of athletic exercises, such as running, leaping, wrestling, pitching quoits, and tossing bars. His frame even in infancy had been large and powerful, and he now excelled most of his playmates in contests of agility and strength. As a proof of his muscular power, a place is still pointed out at Fredericsburg, near the lower ferry, where, when a boy, he flung a stone across the Rappahannock. In horsemanship, too, he already excelled, and was ready to back, and able to manage, the most fiery steed. Traditional anecdotes remain of his achievements in this respect. Above all, his inherent probity, and the principles of justice on which he regulated all his conduct, even at this early period of life, were soon appreciated by his schoolmates; he was referred to as an umpire in their disputes, and his decisions were never questioned. As he had formerly been military chieftain, he was now legislator of the school; thus displaying in boyhood a type of the future man. BIRD of the heavens! whose matchless eye And, wandering through the radiant sky, Whose ample wing was made to rise On whose chill tops the winter skies When thou hast taken thy seat alone, Bird of the cliffs! thy noble form The mountain and the rock are thine; * Where lowering skies their wrath begin, By the fierce spirit of the blast, The earliest tints of dawn are known, And 'tis thy proud delight to see The monarch mount his gorgeous throne, Throwing the crimson drapery by, That half impedes his glorious way, And mounting up the radiant sky, |