After the death of her husband, Mrs. Washington left the care and
education of her son George, in no small measure, to the judgment and
discretion of her step-son Lawrence, a young man of twenty-five, and
lately married to Miss Fairfax. The love that had always existed
between these two brothers was something beautiful indeed to
behold,--the more so when we take into consideration the difference of
fourteen years in their ages; and, now that their dear father was no
more, this love grew all the more tender and strong, and George soon
learned to look up to his eldest brother as to a second father.
Mr. Lawrence Washington, besides being a fine scholar and one of the
most polished gentlemen of his day, was also a brave and able soldier;
having served during the late Spanish war as a lieutenant under the
great Admiral Vernon, in honor of whom he had named his fine estate on
the Potomac, Mount Vernon.
At Mount Vernon, then, we find George spending by far the greater
portion of his holidays; and here he often fell in with young
officers, fellow-soldiers of his brother, to whom with eager ears he
was wont to listen as they recounted their adventures, and told of
hard-fought battles by land and sea with the roving pirates, or
sea-robbers, and proud and vengeful Spaniards. These stories so fired
his ardent young spirit, that he longed of all things to become a
great soldier, that he might go forth to fight the enemies of his
country, wherever they were to be found, and drive them from the face
of the wide earth. To give these feelings some relief, he would muster
his little school-fellows at play-time, and take them through the
lessons of a military drill; showing them how to fire and fall back,
how to advance and retreat, how to form in line of march, how to pitch
their tents for a night's encampment, how to lay an Indian ambuscade,
how to scale a wall, how to storm a battery; and, in short, forty
other evolutions not to be found in any work on military tactics ever
written, and at which old Wooden Leg, had he been there, would have
shaken his cocked hat with a dubious look. Then dividing them into two
opposing armies, with himself at the head of one, and the tallest boy
of the school leading on the other, he would incite them to fight sham
battles with wooden swords, wooden guns, snow-balls, and such other
munitions of war as came most readily to hand; in which George, no
matter what might be the odds against him, or what superior advantages
the enemy might have in weapons or ground, was always sure to come off
victorious.
He was a handsome boy, uncommonly tall, strong, and active for his
age; could out-run, out-jump, out-ride any boy three years older than
himself; and, in wrestling, there was not one in a hundred who could
bring his back to the ground. Many stories are told of his wonderful
strength; and the spot is still shown, where, when a boy, he stood on
the banks of the Rappahannock River, and, at its widest part, threw a
stone to the opposite side,--a feat that no one has been found able to
perform since that day. It was said, that, a few years later, he stood
under the Natural Bridge, and threw a silver dollar upon the top of
it,--a height of two hundred and twenty feet; not less than that of
Bunker-hill Monument, and more than double that of the tallest hickory
that ever hailed down its ripened nuts upon your heads. Although there
were none more studious than he in the schoolroom, yet he always took
the keenest delight in every kind of active and manly sport, and was
the acknowledged leader of the playground. But he had qualities of
mind and heart far more desirable and meritorious than those of mere
bodily activity and strength. Such was his love of truth, his strong
sense of justice, and his clearness of judgment, that, when any
dispute arose between his playmates, they always appealed to him to
decide the difference between them, as willing to abide by his
decision, and make it their law. Although he had the courage of a
young lion, and was even more than a match in strength for many an
older boy, he was never known to have a fight at school, nor elsewhere
indeed, that I have ever heard; for such was the respect he ever
showed to the feelings and wishes of others, that he never gave an
insult, and, depend upon it, never received one.
The high ground of Mount Vernon commands a splendid view of the
Potomac up and down for miles, where it makes a noble bend, and winds
its shining course amidst verdant meadow-slopes and richly wooded
hills. Now and then, in the course of the year, some noble ship, with
all its sails outspread and gay banners fluttering to the breeze,
might be seen moving down the majestic stream, hastening in its pride
and strength to stem the billows of the mighty ocean. With the keenest
of delight none but the young and daring mind can ever know, George,
as he stood on the piazza in front of his brother's mansion, would
watch them with wishful eyes, until a bend of the river hid their
lofty masts behind the green tops of the yet more lofty hills between.
Then would there awaken in his heart an earnest longing to become a
sailor; to go forth in some gallant ship upon the face of the great
deep; to visit those far-off countries, where he might behold with his
own eyes those wonders he had read so much of in books. At such
times, it may be, there would arise in his mind enchanting visions of
some desert island, upon whose lonely rocky shores he might some day
have the rare good fortune of being thrown by the angry billows, there
to dwell, like another Robinson Crusoe, many, many years, with no
other company than talking birds, skipping goats, and dancing cats,
and, if so lucky, a good man Friday, to be rescued by his daring from
the bloody clutches of the terrible cannibals.
Lawrence Washington was not long in discovering the thoughts that were
uppermost in the mind of the adventurous boy; and, like the generous
brother that he was, resolved that, should an opportunity offer, a
wish so natural should be gratified. In a short time after, George
being then about fourteen years of age, a British man-of-war moved up
the Potomac, and cast anchor in full view of Mount Vernon. On board of
this vessel his brother Lawrence procured him a midshipman's warrant,
after having by much persuasion gained the consent of his mother;
which, however, she yielded with much reluctance, and many misgivings
with respect to the profession her son was about to choose. Not
knowing how much pain all this was giving his mother, George was as
near wild with delight as could well be with a boy of a nature so even
and steady. Now, what had all along been but a waking dream was about
to become a wide-awake reality. His preparations were soon made:
already was his trunk packed, and carried on board the ship that was
to bear him so far away from his native land; and nothing now remained
but to bid farewell to the loved ones at home. But when he came and
stood before his mother, dressed in his gay midshipman's uniform, so
tall and robust in figure, so handsome in face, and so noble in look
and gesture, the thought took possession of her mind, that, if she
suffered him to leave her then, she might never see him more; and,
losing her usual firmness and self-control, she burst into tears.
"Deeply do I regret, my dear son," said she, "to disappoint you in a
wish you have so near at heart: but I find I cannot bring myself to
give you up yet; for, young as you are, your aid and counsel have
already become to me of the greatest service and comfort; and these
little fatherless ones, now weeping around you, have learned to look
up to you as their protector and guide. You know too little of the
ways of the world, and are too young and inexperienced, to go forth to
endure its hardships, and battle with its temptations, that lie in
wait on every side to entrap the unwary, and lead them down to
destruction. Without you, our home would be lonely indeed: then, for
your mother's sake, and for the sake of these little ones, give up
your darling scheme, for the present at least, that we may all be
happy at home once more together."
Thus entreated, what could he do but yield consent to the wishes of a
loving and prudent mother, and remain at home? where, in a few days,
his noble self-denial was rewarded with a sweet contentment of mind
that he could never have known had he left the dear ones in sorrow
behind him, and gone forth to spend months and years upon the billows
of the lonely seas. Surely a kind Heaven so ordered that the welfare
and happiness of us Americans, and, it may be, that of the whole
world, should be made to depend upon the promptings of a mother's
love; for had the boy Washington realized this early dream, and gone
forth in that gallant ship, he might have perished in the stormy deep,
and we had never known the name we now love so much to praise and
venerate. Or, by his distinguished abilities, he might have risen to
become in time the Lord High Admiral of the British Navy; and, instead
of being set apart to the salvation of his native land, might have
been made an instrument to its destruction, impossible as such an
event may now appear to us, with our knowledge of the glorious work he
did perform when in the fulness of his strength and years, and
accustomed as we are to behold in him our model of all that is great
and virtuous in mankind.