LITTLE GEORGE WASHINGTON, PART I.
"The child takes each story as a conquest, grasps each as a treasure,and inserts into his own life, for his own advancement and instruction,what each story teaches and shows."--Froebel.
Every one of my little children has seen a picture of George Washington,I am sure.
Perhaps you may remember his likeness on a prancing white horse, holdinghis cocked hat in his hand, and bowing low to the people, or his pictureas a general at the head of his armies, with a sword by his side andhigh boots reaching to the knee; sometimes you have seen him in a boatcrossing the Delaware River, wrapped in his heavy soldier's cloak; andagain as a President, with powdered hair, lace ruffles, and velvet coat.
Of course all these are pictures of a strong, handsome, grown-up man,and I suppose you never happened to think that George Washington wasonce a little boy.
But ever so long ago he was as small as you are now, and I am going totell you about his father and mother, his home and his little-boy days.
He was born one hundred and sixty years ago in Virginia, near a greatriver called the Potomac. His father's name was Augustine, his mother'sMary, and he had several brothers and a little sister.
They all lived in the country on a farm, or a plantation, as theycall it in Virginia. The Washington house stood in the middle of greentobacco fields and flowery meadows, and there were so many barns andstorehouses and sheds round about it that they made quite a villageof themselves. The nearest neighbors lived miles away; there were norailroads nor stages, and if you wanted to travel, you must ride onhorseback through the thick woods, or you might sail in little boats upand down the rivers.
City boys and girls might think, perhaps, that little George Washingtonwas very lonely on the great plantation, with no neighbor-boys to playwith; but you must remember that the horses and cattle and sheep anddogs on a farm make the dearest of playmates, and that there are allkinds of pleasant things to do in the country that city boys knownothing about.
Little George played out of doors all the time and grew very strong. Hewent fishing and swimming in the great river, he ran races and jumpedfences with his brothers and the dogs, he threw stones across thebrooks, and when he grew a larger boy he even learned to shoot.
He had a pretty pony, too, named "Hero," that he loved very much, andthat he used to ride all about the plantation.
Some of the letters have been kept that he wrote when he was a littleboy, and he talks in them about his pony, and his books with pictures ofelephants, and the new top he is going to have soon.
Think of that great General Washington on a white horse once playingwith a little humming top like yours!
Many things are told about Washington when he was little; but he livedso long ago that we cannot tell very well whether they ever happenedor not. One story is that his father took him out into the garden on aspring morning, and drew the letters of his name with a cane in the softearth. Then he filled the letters with seed, and told little George towait a week or two and see what would happen. You can all guess what didhappen, and can think how pleased the little boy was when he found hisname all growing in fresh green leaves.
Then another story, I'm sure you've all heard, is about the cherry-treeand the hatchet.
Little George's father gave him one day, so they say, a nice, bright,sharp little hatchet. Of course he went around the barns and the sheds,trying everything and seeing how well he could cut, and at last he wentinto the orchard. There he saw a young cherry-tree, as straight asa soldier, with the most beautiful, smooth, shining bark, waving itsboughs in a very provoking way, as if to say, "You can't cut me down,and you needn't try."
Little George did try and he did cut it down, and then was very sorry,for he found it was not so easy to set it up again.
{Illustration: The letters of his name . . . the soft earth}
His father was angry, of course, for he lived in a new country, andthree thousand miles from any place where he could get good fruit trees;but when the little boy told the truth about it, his father said hewould rather lose a thousand cherry-trees than have his son tell a lie.
Now perhaps this never happened; but if George Washington ever did cutdown a cherry-tree, you may be sure he told the truth about it.
I think, though he grew to be such a wise, wonderful man, that he musthave been just a bright, happy boy like you, when he was little.
But everybody knows three things about him,--that he always told thetruth, that he never was afraid of anything, and that he always lovedand minded his mother.
When little George was eleven years old, his good father died, andhis poor mother was left alone to take care of her boys and her greatplantation. What a busy mother she was! She mended and sewed, she taughtsome of her children, she took care of the sick people, she spun wooland knitted stockings and gloves; but every day she found time to gatherher children around her and read good books to them, and talk to themabout being good children.
So riding his pony, and helping his mother, and learning his lessons,George grew to be a tall boy.
When he was fourteen years old, he made up his mind that he would liketo be a sailor, and travel far away over the blue water in a great ship.His elder brother said that he might do so. The right ship was found;his clothes were packed and carried on board, when all at once hismother said he must not go. She had thought about it; he was too youngto go away, and she wanted her boy to stay with her.
Of course George was greatly disappointed, but he stayed at home, andworked and studied hard. He wanted very much to learn how to earn moneyand help his mother, and so he studied to be a surveyor.
Surveyors measure the land, you know. They measure people's gardens andhouse-lots and farms, and can tell just where to put the fences, andhow much land belongs to you and how much to me, so that we need neverquarrel about it.
To be a good surveyor you have to be very careful indeed, and make nomistakes; and George Washington was careful and always tried to do hisbest, so that his surveys were the finest that could be made.
When he was only sixteen, he went off into the great forest, where noone lived but the Indians, to measure some land for a friend of his.The weather was cold; he slept in a tent at night, or out of doors, on abearskin by the fire, and he had to work very hard. He met a great manyIndians, and learned to know their ways in fighting and how to managethem.
Three years he worked hard at surveying, and at last he was a grown-upman!
He was tall and splendid then, over six feet high, and as straight asan Indian, with a rosy face and bright blue eyes. He had large handsand fingers, and was wonderfully strong. People say that his great tent,which it took three men to carry, Washington could lift with one handand throw into the wagon.
He was very brave, too, you remember. He could shoot well, and almostnever missed his aim; he was used to walking many miles when he wassurveying, and he could ride any horse he liked, no matter how wild andfierce.
So you see, when a man is strong, when he can shoot well, and walk andride great distances, when he is never afraid of anything, that is justthe man for a soldier; and I will tell you soon how George Washingtoncame to be a great soldier.