Boys Book of Famous Soldiers | Page 7

incursions of a crafty, savage enemy a line of inhabitants, of more than three hundred and fifty miles in extent, with a force inadequate to the task."
In the winter of 1758 his health broke down completely, and he feared that it was permanently impaired. He resigned his commission and retired to Mount Vernon for a much-needed rest.
Thus closes the first and formative period of Washington's life--the period with which the present brief sketch is chiefly concerned. As we read of those years of adventure and hardship from an early age, we realize that here was being hammered into shape upon the anvil of circumstance a very special weapon for some great need. Washington was not an accident. He was a fine example of what special training can do for the boy who does his bit with all his might. And because he was better fitted for the task than any other man in America, we find him, a few years later, chosen to lead the colonist forces against mighty England. A pen picture of him at the time, from the diary of James Thacher, a surgeon in the Revolution, deserves repeating:
"The personal appearance of our commander-in-chief is that of a perfect gentleman and accomplished warrior. He is remarkably tall--full six feet--erect and well-proportioned. The strength and proportion of his joints and muscles appear to be commensurate with the pre-eminent powers of his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and majestic gracefulness of his deportment impart a strong impression of that dignity and grandeur which are peculiar characteristics; and no one can stand in his presence without feeling the ascendancy of his mind, and associating with his countenance the idea of wisdom, philanthropy, magnanimity, and patriotism. There is a fine symmetry in the features of his face indicative of a benign and dignified spirit. His nose is straight, and his eyes inclined to blue. He wears his hair in a becoming cue, and from his forehead it is turned back, and powdered in a manner which adds to the military air of his appearance. He displays a native gravity, but devoid of all appearance of ostentation. His uniform dress is a blue coat with two brilliant epaulets, buff-colored underclothes, and a three-cornered hat with a black cockade. He is constantly equipped with an elegant small-sword, boots and spurs, in readiness to mount his noble charger."
In this description, somewhat fulsome in its praise, we can read between the lines the confidence and affection which inspired his troops during all the trying days of the Revolution.
Washington has suffered much at the hands of his biographers. They have over-praised him, with the result that many readers of today have come to regard him as scarcely human--a sort of demi-god. But one or two more recent biographers have had the courage and conviction to tear aside the mask, and we can, if we will, see Washington the man--quick-tempered at times, perhaps profane in the heat of battle, fond of display and good living in his hours of ease--but also a man to be trusted in every crisis, cool, courageous, resourceful--a strategist who made the ablest generals that England could send over against him, suffer by comparison.
And when the great fight was won, and the last of their proud generals, Cornwallis, had grudgingly yielded up his sword--it is pleasant to think of Washington writing about it to--whom do you think?--a white-haired old man now ninety years of age, who had given the young surveyor his first start in life. Lord Fairfax was an old Tory, an unreconstructed English gentleman of the old school, who drank the King's health religiously every day at dinner. It must have been with mixed feelings, therefore, that he heard of Cornwallis's surrender. But pride in his protégé must have conquered. We can imagine him as lifting his glass with trembling fingers to another toast:
"Here's to George Washington!"
And to that toast grateful America will ever respond.

IMPORTANT DATES IN WASHINGTON'S LIFE
1732. February 22. George Washington born. 1747. Left school. 1748. Became a surveyor. 1753. Sent by Governor Dinwiddie on a mission to the French. 1754. Appointed lieutenant-colonel and sent against the French and Indians. 1755. Joined General Braddock's staff with rank of colonel. 1757. Resigned his army commission. 1759. Married Martha Dandridge Custis. 1775. Appointed commander-in-chief of American forces, in Revolution. 1781. Receives surrender of Cornwallis. 1788. Became first President of the United States. 1797. Ended second term as President. 1799. December 14. Died at Mt. Vernon.

GRANT
THE MAN WHO "CAME BACK"
"Can a man 'come back'?"
This is a question one frequently hears nowadays; and the answer is, more often than not, a shrug of the shoulders. For the man who has once failed--or even passed his first chance of success--is not considered seriously in this busy day and time. He is a "down-and-outer"; he