The Story of the Father of his Country

Boyhood Days

We like to call George Washington the father of our country. This title must not make us think of him as connected with the early settlement of America. Fifty years had passed since the settlement of Jamestown, and Virginia was already a flourishing colony when George Washington's great-grandfather crossed the sea to make his home on the western side of the Atlantic.

He bought an extensive tract of fertile land, lying between the Potomac and the Rappahannock rivers. He cleared the forest, ploughed the ground, and cultivated acres of the broad-leaved tobacco, to be shipped to the home country, where it was in great demand and brought a good price.

On this estate, in a house built near Bridge's Creek, his children and his children's children were born and grew to manhood; and here, as every schoolboy knows, on February 22, 1732, George Washington was born.

So, even though the country was still young and undeveloped, Washington enjoyed some of those advantages that we usually think of as belonging only to citizens of older countries. His people were known and respected far and near: and many important planters in that part of the colony were related to his family by ties of blood or marriage.

Though the Washingtons had prospered, they lived very simply. The old-fashioned wooden farmhouse in which George Washington was born had four rooms on the ground-floor. The roof came down almost to the tops of the doors and windows, in front and rear.

At the high-gabled ends of the building were great brick chimneys. The old house was unpretentious, even for that period, but it was dear to the Washington family, for every room in the house, every tree in the garden, had connected with it some oft-repeated story in which a favorite aunt, uncle, or cousin figured prominently.

When little George was about three years old, his father, Augustine Washington, moved from their plantation, on Bridge's Creek, to a large estate on the Rappahannock, near the village of Fredericksburg, and it was not until he was eleven years of age that he went back to the home of his ancestors to live once more.

Augustine Washington was married twice, and George was the first child of his second marriage. George's two half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, were well-grown youths when he was born. They took great delight in their little brother, and his younger brothers and sisters never displaced George in their affections.

They were well-bred, manly boys, and George felt great love and admiration for them. As soon as he was old enough, George was sent to school to one of his father's tenants. This man was named Hobby. He combined with the affairs of schoolmaster that of sexton. He was a man of but little learning.

Still, people were glad to have him teach their children how to read and write and work out problems in arithmetic, for the little ones were in a fair way to grow up ignorant of even these elementary branches of knowledge. Most of the men who were well educated were in demand for other work, and capable schoolmasters were rare in the new country.

It would not seem strange if George Washington had cared very little for books and the work of the schoolroom when he was a small boy; for his schoolmasters were the men he associated with learning, and they were not the sort of men that he cared to resemble. His father and the men who seemed to him important he saw more often in the saddle, booted and spurred, than reading books and writing letters.

Then, too, books and letters and papers were all so rare in that part of the world when he was a boy that they could not seem to him to be an important element in life. Besides, he was strong and full of energy and spirit, and liked much better to be playing ball or racing over the fields on some half-tamed horse than sitting at a desk writing.

But however much he disliked school, he worked faithfully and well at his school tasks. He probably would have done so in any circumstance, for he had a great deal of self-control and believed his elders required of him what was for his good. But he had one strong incentive to study that we must not forget.

In those days the colonists regarded England as the source of nearly all things desirable. From England came the great sailing ships that brought the spinet, the high mahogany dresser, the brass andirons, the tall clock, the brocade gowns, the satin breeches, the silk stockings, the China and silver-ware for the table, the loaves of fine white sugar, the coffee and tea, the carriages and harness, the saddles, whips, pistols and swords—all to be exchanged for bales of tobacco.

It was from England that the Virginia matron procured the fashions for furnishing her house, dressing her hair, and making puddings. It was of the English king and English statesmen and English writers that Virginia gentlemen talked, and it was to the English universities that the well-to-do Virginia planters sent their sons.

When George Washington was a little boy, his brother Lawrence was being educated in England. His letters were watched for eagerly, read many times, and discussed with the utmost interest and no small amount of pride by family and friends. When George was eight years old Lawrence came home.

Tall and handsome, dignified and courteous with his talk of far-away places and interesting people, it is not strange that the elder brother appeared to the younger the very pattern of a gentleman. To be like that one day would be reward enough for hours of adding long columns of figures and laboriously copying rules of deportment and right conduct.

The strong influence of Lawrence Washington on the life of his younger brother was not lessened by his again leaving home. This time he went to war. He had been made captain of a company of Virginia soldiers, and, under Admiral Vernon, acquitted himself gallantly in the campaign against the Spaniards in the West Indies.

This made him more a hero than ever in the eyes of nine-year-old George, who spent his time acting as captain of a company of schoolboys, drilling them or leading violent charges against imaginary Spaniards. After an absence of two years the gallant young captain came home. Preparations were being made for his marriage with the eldest daughter of the honorable William Fairfax. His marriage was postponed, however, by the death of his father.

Augustine Washington had been a man of affairs. Besides large farms, well equipped and stocked with valuable cattle, besides chattels and slaves, he left to his sons important interests in the largest iron works in Virginia.

His fortune was not divided equally among his children, for in those days it was thought very undesirable to break up a family estate, and, however much the younger children might be loved, it was usually the first-born who on the death of the father took the place at the head of the family and inherited the largest part of the property.

Accordingly, Lawrence Washington received the lion's share of his father's property, a beautiful estate on the Potomac. But his younger brothers were not left portionless. To the namesake and second son, Augustine, was willed the old Bridge's Creek homestead. George was to have the farm on the Rappahannock.

Mrs. Washington was entrusted with the care of her own children and their property till they should become of age. Lawrence and Augustine soon married and took possession of their estates. Mrs. Washington was a practical business-like woman.

She saw that with her limited income and large family she could not give her sons the educational advantages their half-brothers had enjoyed. George, the eldest must speedily be trained for some occupation which would enable him to better his fortune.

There was a good school now in the Bridge's Creek neighborhood, so, at the age of eleven, George went back to his birthplace to live with his brother Augustine. He attended Mr. Williams' school and worked diligently to acquire business methods.

He took pains to write a good hand, to master arithmetic, and to learn, by careful and frequent copying, business forms, deeds, bills of lading, and book-keeping. He tried always to be accurate and thorough in his work. He preferred action to study, however, and the sober pains-taking student became an enthusiastic athlete when school hours were over; to work and to sport, in turn, he gave whole-hearted attention.

The result was that he was relied upon by young and old. His comrades pinned their faith in him in contests in running, swimming, or strength of arm. His elders knew he could be counted upon to execute faithfully the most difficult undertakings.

This very practical boy was not without his dreams. He wanted to go to sea. His father had been a good seaman and had commanded a ship. His brother Lawrence had been a naval officer in the expedition under Admiral Vernon. The boy's idea was not to escape the monotony of school and to seek adventure. He looked upon the navy as the open door to a military life and he was willing to undergo some hard experience as a sailor in order to fit himself for naval service.

So strong was his desire that he succeeded in persuading others of the wisdom of his plan. And when he was fourteen some steps were taken to secure for him a place on a sailing vessel. Fortunately, some of his relatives interfered at the last moment, and the would-be sailor went back to school for two years more. Though disappointed he threw himself into his work with characteristic zeal, giving special attention now to surveying.