From Farm House to the White House. William Makepeace Thayer
with some warmth.
"And I tell you that Powhattan was her father, and Opechancanough was her uncle. If you can't recite history more correctly than that you had better keep still. Anybody knows that Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhattan; and he was the greatest Indian chief in Virginia."
"And you are a conceited, ignorant fellow, to suppose that nobody knows anything but yourself."
And so the dispute became more heated, until both parties were greatly excited; whereupon a listening school-mate called out:
"Leave it to George; he will settle it."
"Agreed!" responded one.
"Agreed!" shouted the other.
And George was called in to settle the controversy, both parties acquiescing in his decision.
George often acted as umpire among the boys in Mr. Williams' school. Sometimes, as in the above instance, both parties chose him for umpire. Their confidence in his word and judgment led them to submit cases of trial or controversy to him, whether relating to studies or games. Many disputes were thus brought to a speedy termination by his discriminating and candid judgment.
Mr. Weems says of him at this time:
"He carried with him his virtues, his zeal for unblemished character, his love of truth and detestation of whatever was false and base. A gilt chariot with richest robes and liveried servants could not have befriended him so well; for, in a short time, so completely had his virtues secured the love and confidence of the boys, his word was just as current among them as a law. A very aged gentleman, formerly a school-mate of his, has often assured me that nothing was more common, when the boys were in high dispute about a question of fact, than for some little shaver among the mimic heroes, to call out:
"'Well, boys, George Washington was there; George Washington was there; he knows all about it; and if he don't say it was so, why, then we will give it up.'
"'Done,' exclaimed the adverse party.
"Then away they would run to hunt for George. Soon as his verdict was heard, the difficulty was settled, and all hands would return to play again."
Another biographer, Mrs. Kirkland, says, "It is recorded of his school days that he was always head boy; and whether this report be authentic or not, we can easily imagine the case to have been so, not exclusively by means of scholarship, perhaps, but by the aid of certain other qualities, very powerful in school as elsewhere, and which he so exhibited in after life. His probity, courage, ability and high sense of justice were probably evident, even then, for there is every reason to believe their foundations were laid very early. The boys would, therefore, respect him, and choose him for an umpire in their little troubles, as they are said to have done. … He was famous for hindering quarrels, and perhaps his early taste for military manoeuvers was only an accidental form of that love of mathematical combinations (the marked trait of Napoleon's earlier years) and the tendency to order, promptness and thoroughness, which characterized him so strikingly in after life. The good soldier is by no means a man with a special disposition to fight."
George was such an example of order, neatness, thorough scholarship and exact behavior in Mr. Williams' school that we shall devote the next chapter to these qualities.
IV.
METHOD AND THOROUGHNESS.
"These are finely done," remarked Lawrence Washington to George, after an examination of the maps, copy-books, and writing-books, which George brought with him from Mr. Williams' school. "It would be difficult for any one to excel them."
"It takes considerable time to do them," remarked George.
"It takes time to do anything well," responded Lawrence, "but the habit is worth everything to you."
"That is what Mr. Williams says," answered George. "He talks to the boys often about doing things well."
"And no matter what it is that a boy is doing, if it is nothing more than chopping wood, it pays to do it as well as he can," added Lawrence. "Mr. Williams is an excellent teacher."
"I think so," responded George. "He makes everything so plain that we can understand him; and he makes us feel that we shall need all we learn most when we become men."
"Well, if you learn that last lesson thoroughly it will be of great service to you every day," remarked Lawrence. "Many boys never stop to think that they will soon be men, and so they are not fitted for the duties of manhood when it comes."
"Mr. Williams talks much about method in study and work," continued George. "He says that many persons accomplish little or nothing in life because they are neither systematic nor thorough in what they do. 'A place for everything and everything in its place,' is one of his frequent remarks."
"And you must have produced these maps and copy-books under that rule," suggested Lawrence. "They are as excellent in orderly arrangement as they are in neatness."
George spent his vacation with Lawrence, who really had charge of his education after Mr. Washington died. Lawrence married the daughter of William Fairfax three months after the death of his father, and settled on the plantation which his father bequeathed to him, near Hunting Creek, and to which Lawrence gave the name of Mount Vernon, in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he did military service in the West Indies, and for whom he cherished profound respect.
Lawrence was strongly attached to his young brother in whom he discovered the elements of a future noble manhood. He delighted to have him at his Mount Vernon home, and insisted that he should spend all his time there when out of school. It was during a vacation that Lawrence examined his maps and copy-books, as narrated, George having brought them with him for his brother to inspect.
One of George's copy-books attracted much attention in school, because it was unlike that of any other scholar, and it was an original idea with him.
"What do you call it, George, and what do you ever expect to do with it?" inquired a school-mate.
"You can call it what you please," replied George. "I expect that it will be of great service to me when I become a man."
"That is looking a long way ahead, it seems to me," rejoined his companion. "I prefer to know what will be of service to me now. You can scarcely tell what will be best for you when you become a man."
"I know that what I am copying into that book will be of use to me in manhood, because men use these forms. I call it a 'Book of Forms' for the want of a better name." And George's words denoted entire confidence in his original idea of the use of forms.
"Well, the book looks well anyway," continued his school-mate holding the copy-book up to view. "As to that, I should like to see any work of yours that does not look well. But what are these forms, anyhow?"
"They are receipts, bills of exchange, notes of hand, deeds, wills, land-warrants, bonds and useful forms of that kind," answered George. "If I have them here in this book together, they will be convenient for use ten or twenty years hence."
"Yes, I see; you can run a lawyer's office on that book," suggested his friend.
"A farmer's office, you mean. A farmer may find use for every form there is in that book; and if he does not, it will be no disadvantage to him to understand them."
"You are right, George, as you are usually. I shall know where to go for a form when I want to make my will," remarked his companion in a complimentary way.
"And I shall be glad to serve you without charge provided you remember me," responded George. "I predict that many men will live who will be glad to consult this book to help them out of difficulties."
Perhaps the forethought and sagacity of George were foreshadowed more clearly by this