FullReads

The day came. His mother, his brothers, his sisters, were all there to bid him good-bye. But in the meanwhile a letter had come to his mother, from his uncle who lived in England.

“If you care for the boy’s future,” said the letter, “do not let him go to sea. Places in the king’s navy are not easy to obtain. If he begins as a sailor, he will never be aught else.”

The letter convinced George’s mother–it half convinced his brothers–that this going to sea would be a sad mistake. But George, like other boys of his age, was headstrong. He would not listen to reason. A sailor he would be.

The ship was in the river waiting for him. A boat had come to the landing to take him on board.

The little chest which held his clothing had been carried down to the bank. George was in high glee at the thought of going.

“Good-bye, mother,” he said.

He stood on the doorstep and looked back into the house. He saw the kind faces of those whom he loved. He began to feel very sad at the thought of leaving them.

“Good-bye, George!”

He saw the tears welling up in his mother’s eyes. He saw them rolling down her cheeks. He knew now that she did not want him to go. He could not bear to see her grief.

“Mother, I have changed my mind,” he said. “I will not be a sailor. I will not leave you.”

Then he turned to the black boy who was waiting by the door, and said, “Run down to the landing and tell them not to put the chest on board. Tell them that I have thought differently of the matter and that I am going to stay at home.”

If George had not changed his mind, but had really gone to sea, how very different the history of this country would have been!

He now went to his studies with a better will than before; and although he read but few books he learned much that was useful to him in life. He studied surveying with especial care, and made himself as thorough in that branch of knowledge as it was possible to do with so few advantages.

V. THE YOUNG SURVEYOR.

Lawrence Washington was about fourteen years older than his brother George.

As I have already said, he had been to England and had spent sometime at Appleby school. He had served in the king’s army for a little while, and had been with Admiral Vernon’s squadron in the West Indies.

He had formed so great a liking for the admiral that when he came home he changed the name of his plantation at Hunting Creek, and called it Mount Vernon–a name by which it is still known.

Not far from Mount Vernon there was another fine plantation called Belvoir, that was owned by William Fairfax, an English gentleman of much wealth and influence.

Now this Mr. Fairfax had a young daughter, as wise as she was beautiful; and so, what should Lawrence Washington do but ask her to be his wife? He built a large house at Mount Vernon with a great porch fronting on the Potomac; and when Miss Fairfax became Mrs. Washington and went into this home as its mistress, people said that there was not a handsomer or happier young couple in all Virginia.

After young George Washington had changed his mind about going to sea, he went up to Mount Vernon to live with his elder brother. For Lawrence had great love for the boy, and treated him as his father would have done.

At Mount Vernon George kept on with his studies in surveying. He had a compass and surveyor’s chain, and hardly a day passed that he was not out on the plantation, running lines and measuring his brother’s fields.

Sometimes when he was busy at this kind of work, a tall, white-haired gentleman would come over from Belvoir to see what he was doing and to talk with him. This gentleman was Sir Thomas Fairfax, a cousin of the owner of Belvoir. He was sixty years old, and had lately come from England to look after his lands in Virginia; for he was the owner of many thousands of acres among the mountains and in the wild woods.