Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1897-02-20
WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD.
Something OF His Early Training, His
Requirements and His Love of Mastery.

Something OF His Early Training, His
Requirements and His Love of Mastery.
a boy who was much at Mount Yer.
non and at Mr.. Fairfax's seat, Belvoir,
might expect to see not q little that
was worth seeing of the life of the COL
ony. George was kept at school until
he was close upon IL; but there was
ample vacation time for visiting. Mrs.
Washington did not keep him at her
apron strings. lie even lived, when it
was necessary, with his brother Angus
tine, at the old home on Bridges creek,
in order to be near the best school that
vas accessible, while the mother was
tar away on the farm that lay upon the
Raplahannock. Mrs. Washington saw
to it, nevertheless, that she should not
lose sight of him altogether. When he
was IA it was proposed that he Should
be sent 10 sea, as so many lads were,
no doubt, from that maritime province;
but the prudent mother preferred he
should not leave Virginia, and the
schooling went on us before - the
schooling of books and manly sports.
Every lad learned to ride-to ride colt
or horse, regardless of training, gait or
temper-in that country, where no one
went afoot except to catch his mount IN
the pasture. Every lad, black or white,
bond or free, knew where to find and
how to take the rowing game in the for
ests. And young Washington, robust
boy that he was, not to be daunted
while that strong spirit sat in him
which he got from his father and
mother alike, took his apprenticeship
on horseback and in the tangled woods
with characteristic zest and ardor.
He was above all things else a capa-
BILE executive boy. He loved mastery,
and he relished acquiring the most eff
fective means Of mastery in all prac-
teal affairs. His very exercise books
Used at school gave proof of it. They
we're filled, not only with the rules,
formulae, diagrams and exercises of
surveying, which he was taking spe-
cial pains to learn, at the advice of his
friends, but also with careful copies of
legal and mercantile papers, bills of
exchange, bills of sale, bonds, inden-
lures, land warrants, leases, deeds and
wills, as If he meant to be q lawyers
or a merchants clerk. 1t would
seem that, passionate and full of
blood as he was, he conned
these things as he studied the
use and structure of his fowling-piece,
the bride he used for his colts, his
s~addle-girtb. and the best ways OF
mounting. He copied these forms of
business as he might have copied Dev.
erley's account of the way fox or pos
sum or beaver was to be taken or the
wild turkey trapped. The men he most
admired, his elder brothers, Mr.. Fair
fax, and the gentlemen planters who
we're SO much at their houses, were
most of them sound men of business,
who valued good surveying as much ns
they admired good Craftsmanship and
skill in sport. They were their own
merchants, and looked upon forms of
business paper as quite as useful as
plows and hogsheads. Careful exercise
in such matters might well enough
accompany practice in the equally
formal minuet in Virginia. And SO this
boy learned to show in almost every
thing he did the careful precision of the
perfect Observation-Disclosures Wilson,
in Harper's Magazine.