Sharp County record., 1879-03-27

him the charm of classic letters, no reg
uIar discipline was enforced upon him
by college life; no library lav open to
him. no books, lectures, popular lnstruc-
ton. He was himself his only teacher;
he began almost as a child to lav down
plan of conduct founded upon the
golden rule OF duty; he would be hu-
name, grave, polite, respectful, patient.
[5 is impossible that anv thing should
be more complete than these rules for
the formation of a great character that
shall also be a good one, and Washing
ton at 13 almost fOreshadOws himself.
No one can tell whence he took them,
from what book or author. Ineg con-
clude: " Labor TO keep alive in your
breast that little spark of celestial fire
called conscience" But the student of
Marcus AntoninuS can not doubt their
source.
He was six feet high, strong, we'll
formed, of a fine expression, and diff
dent manners. MOdestv he always felt
and showed; be knew, no doubt, his
own inferiOritv in scholarship, and at
last regretted it. But to one branch of
knowledge his mind turned instructive
lv-he studied mathematics with sue
cess. became a good draUghtsman;
learned regularity, precision; won that
philosophical order In his life, language,
conduct, that neither Adams nor Jetfer-
son. excellent scholars, could attain.
From early youth his mind acted with
mathematical precision; philosophy,
religion, ruled his heart His passions
were violent, and sometimes OverleaDed
the boundaries bv which he would con-
ine them. His temper was stormy. He
loved. and wrote lines 10 his unknown
fair that are intOlerable; he sighed, he
plead; but philosophy and compOsure
soon returned, and his heart was not
one easily broken. Possibly, had he
married the dark-eved mistress of his
youth. he might have been happier and
less renowned, but freedom would have
wanted its preserver, the world its ia
VOrite example. Washington at l3 kept
mis- journal, studied geometry, was fond
of writing out business forms, and even
selections of poetry. It is said his Sc
lectiOns are not good; it is only Won
dertu that at such an age he could have
selected them at all. But we may dis
cover already in all his bovish exercises
the neatness, regularity, minute labor,
that in all his later life only rose to fresh
exactness. For his amusement he sur.
ve7ed the fields around the school-hOuse
he attended; he entered all his results
formally in his boOk-the squares, plots,
calculations.
A life Of hardship, toll, ODsGuritv,
seemed his only prospect when, in his
18th year, he was selectsd by LOr Fair
lax to measure his immense domains in
the Allegheny Valleys; yet thar he
should be chosen for so important a du-
Uy shows what confidence and respect
he had already won from those around
MIN. What boy of l6 in these lower
times would be selected to measure the
wild5 of Dakota, and fix the boundaries
of the unknown wilderness? But Wash
ington set out amidst the melting SHOWS
Of spring, the rocks, the Wltds, and
completed the survey with his usual ac-
Curacv. He was made a public survey
or, AID at Il was already famous in MS
profession. At an age when Jefferson
was coming his Cice. at college, John
Adams teaching unruly boys at WOr-
cester, when Pope had just printed his
pastorals, when Johnson was an IN
calmly student, Washington had taught
himself a trade-sn art-and was al
ready earning a laOOriOus support. He
was already distinguished for MS virtue,
his native strength, his industry, and
his gains we're large. At 19 he was
made an Adiutant- General of the Vir-
ginia Militia, TO inspect and discipline
them; his salary was considerable, the
position important; he filled it well.
Next his brother Lawrence dies. and
Washington aC 2O-such was still his
precOCitV-wss LETT the manager of an
extensive property and of Mount Ver-
non, of which he became afterwards the
heir. At %, appointed a Commission
er by the Governor, he made his way
through hardships almost intOlerable to
meet the French officials in the wilder
ness, was drenched wi rains, half fro
zen amidst the Alleghanies or in the
chill crossings Of the rivers. pursued, in
danger, yet fulfilled his duty. At p
was a Lieutenant Colonel of the Virginia
forces, the wise counselor of the un-
lucky Braddock, the preserver of the
flying troops.
His tall figure, his powerful frame,
were hardened and grew full of nerve in
the painful duties OF his early life. Yet
mis- health was evidently shaken; he
was sometimes seriously i'll he seems to