WASHINGTON 



6200 



WASHINGTON 



family home at Bridges Creek, in Westmoreland 

 County, is described as a plain wooden farm- 

 house, with four rooms on the ground floor, an 

 attic with a long, sloping roof, and a great brick 

 chimney. Three years later the family moved 



BIRTHPLACE OF WASHINGTON 



to Stafford County, to an estate on the Rappa- 

 hannock nearly opposite Fredericksburg. There 

 Augustine Washington died in 1743, at the 

 early age of forty-nine, and there his son 

 George spent his boyhood. 



The Boyhood of Washington. Washington's 

 boyhood, like much of his later life, has been 

 the subject of many pleasant fictions. The 

 best known of these is the incident of the 

 cherry tree and the hatchet, a story which has 

 absolutely no foundation. George was early 

 noted as a truthful lad, but there is no evi- 

 dence that he ever cut down a cherry tree and 

 then confessed to his father. Many other 

 stories about him became current even during 

 his lifetime, but most of them were equally 

 without foundation. The real facts known 

 about his boyhood are few. Shortly after the 

 family moved to the banks of the Rappahan- 

 nock, George was placed under the charge of 

 the parish sexton, a man named Hobby, who 

 taught him the alphabet. Soon after his 

 father's death he was sent back to Bridges 

 Creek, to live with his half brother Augustine 

 and to attend a school, in which he received 

 what was the equivalent of a fair, common- 

 school education. 



George was a leader among his boy friends. 

 He was tall and muscular, and matured early, 

 both physically and mentally. He was a clever 

 horseman, and he could outwalk or outrun any 

 of his companions. He was a good boy, but 

 not a "goody-goody" boy, and was liked by 

 all who knew him. His famous rules of conduct 

 were written at the age of thirteen. 



At fourteen George was strong and hearty, 

 and he offered a serious problem to his wid- 

 owed mother. His father had left them well 

 provided with land, but with little money, and 

 Mrs. Washington, with five young children, was 

 naturally anxious to have each begin to earn a 

 living. Shortly after his fourteenth birthday, 

 therefore, an effort was made to get George a 

 place on a merchant ship, in the hope that he 

 might ultimately become a merchant-captain 

 or even possibly get a commission in the Brit- 

 ish navy. But as no chance appeared at the 

 right time, George went back to his studies, 

 particularly mathematics. He studied dili- 

 gently, although he was not naturally a scholar, 

 and at sixteen he was fitted to be a surveyor. 



While learning the art of surveying he was 

 also acquiring knowledge of another sort, from 

 his contact with older men and women. His 

 most intimate friend was his eldest half brother 

 Lawrence, fourteen years his senior. Lawrence 

 Washington was a man of the world, had been 

 educated in England and had fought in the 

 British navy during the War of the Spanish 

 Succession. After the death of his father Law- 

 rence was both father and brother to George. 

 Lawrence Washington was connected by mar- 

 riage with the Fairfaxes, the head of that 

 family being Thomas, the Sixth Baron (1692- 

 1782). Lord Fairfax was a cultured man, dis- 

 tinguished, generous and kind. Between him 

 and young Washington there sprung up a firm 

 friendship, and from him the boy gained a 

 knowledge of men and manners which no 

 school could give. The experienced man of the 

 world saw in Washington not merely a brave, 

 diligent boy, but so much more that he gav.e 

 him his first work. 



Life on the Frontier. It was in March, 1748, 

 that George Washington, accompanied by 

 George Fairfax, a relative of his patron, set 

 forth for the frontier. He was just past his 

 sixteenth birthday. He was tall, already nearly 

 six feet, but rather spare. His light-brown hair 

 was brushed back from a broad forehead, and 

 his open face, with its sober, gray-blue eyes, 

 gave him an appearance of calmness and 

 strength. Washington's task was to cross the 

 Blue Ridge Mountains, work his way up the 

 valley of the Shenandoah, and survey the vast 

 Fairfax estates, whose boundaries had never 

 been defined. So well did he do his work that 

 Lord Fairfax procured for him an appointment 

 as public surveyor. Surveying was a rough life, 

 but Washington thrived under exposure. In a 

 letter to a friend he wrote at this time : 



