George Washington | Page 2

grew up, these fine principles and this skill and accuracy, fitted him to take a great part in the history of America.
All boys in those early days knew how to handle guns and manage horses. George was an expert rider and loved the life of the woods. Being exceptionally tall and strong, he was the champion athlete at school. It is said he could throw a stone farther than any man in Virginia. Besides, he was so fair-minded that the boys always let him settle their disputes and quarrels, knowing he would give every one a square deal. He was the admired and trusted leader of them all.
In addition to his mother's care, George soon had the loving advice and devoted friendship of his brother Lawrence. The war was over and that splendid young gentleman had come home, and had married the charming Anne Fairfax. His house, willed to him by his father, stood upon a hill overlooking the beautiful Potomac River. To this lovely home, surrounded by lawns and stately trees, Lawrence gave the name Mount Vernon, in honor of the Admiral under whom he had served. George spent as much time as possible here, where he met many persons of education and refinement.
While he was still a young boy, he wrote out for himself a long list of rules of politeness and good behavior. He had observed that older people do not like careless children, who forget the comforts and rights of others. As a result, he was well liked by his brother's friends. Among them were often military and naval officers, who told him stories of war and adventure in foreign lands. When he was fourteen, one of these officers would have appointed him midshipman in the British navy. He was eager to go, but his mother needed his help in the management of their property. So he continued two years more at school, studying mathematics, engineering and surveying.
The country was then new and wild and there was much work for land surveyors, whose business it was to measure off boundaries and describe the positions of rivers, mountains and forests in a piece of land. George learned to do this so well that by the time he was sixteen, he was appointed public surveyor of his county. His chief work for the next three years was on the vast tracts of land owned by Lord Fairfax, the uncle of Lawrence Washington's wife. Though very young, George was a great favorite with his lordship, who often took him fox hunting. George was a bold and skillful horseman and rode well after the hounds.
[Illustration: Surveying]
The estate of Lord Fairfax, lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers and extending to the Alleghany Mountains, had been given to his grandfather by King Charles II. These lands had never been settled nor surveyed. People known as squatters were now moving in and taking possession of the best places without permission. It became necessary to have the land surveyed, and these settlers either driven out or made to pay for certain definite parts. Lord Fairfax knew no one who could do this so well as George Washington, for he was strong and fair enough to deal wisely with the rough settlers. It was just what George wanted to do, and he gladly accepted the offer.
In March, George set out for his first trip into the wilderness. He was just sixteen years old, and it was his first big undertaking. George Fairfax, Anne's brother, went with him. They crossed the mountains into the lovely valley of the Shenandoah River. George's letters home were full of the beauty of the country and the richness of the land. After the first night, they found it more comfortable to sleep out under the sky than in the poor, untidy lodgings of the settlers. They lived on wild turkey and other game. They did their own cooking, roasting the meat on sticks over the fire and eating it on broad, clean chips.
They met a party of war-painted Indians, and for the first time George saw an Indian war dance. He studied the Indians carefully, for he wanted to understand their ways so that he might know how to deal with them. All through his life, he was kind and just in his treatment of these people.
The work of surveying grants of land took them long distances among the mountains and through the valleys. They traveled on horseback over the woodland trails, for there were as yet no roads. Sometimes they found the rivers so high that they crossed in canoes, their horses swimming.
George returned in a month, well pleased with his adventures, and Lord Fairfax, delighted with his success, paid him well.
The cordial, friendly, free life of Virginia pleased Lord Fairfax more than did the life in England.