good he had done, and the glory he had acquired, were in part to be ascribed to her guidance and counsels in his tender

years.

Although Washington's father left an ample property, yet when it came to be divided after his death, and the children of the first marriage had taken their portion, there remained to the widow and her young family an estate sufficient for their comfortable support, but not enough for any uncommon expense, and requiring to be managed with care and economy in order to maintain them in a plain way.

Washington could not, therefore, be sent to any distant school to be educated; still less to England, as one of his elder brothers had been. He could only go to such schools as were kept in the neighborhood; and those were of an inferior class. It was not so easy then to acquire knowledge as it is now the country was young and poor; and books all came from England, and were costly and rare.

Washington was not taught many things which boys are now taught; but what he did learn he learned thoroughly and well. There were but few books which he could find to read; but those few he read attentively, so that he understood them perfectly. He was well instructed in writing and arithmetic, and had a natural faculty for both.

Many of the copy books which he used when a boy are still in existence; and every body that can likes to see them. They are all very neatly kept. Some contain the rules of arithmetic, and the most difficult sums under them, all written out in full; another has a whole course of book-keeping; another has copies of the notes, receipts, and other papers used by lawyers and merchants; and in another several pieces of poetry are written. He frequently writes his own name in different ways, and with a great variety of flourishes, as if he were forming his hand.

In one of these books are several pages containing what he calls rules of behavior in company and conversation. They were written out by Washington when he was about thirteen

years old. Whenever he came across any thing in a book which he read, which contained a good piece of advice as to how he should behave, he appears to have written it down in this book, so as to impress it on his memory. These rules include the subject of good morals as well as good manners; and any one who adhered to them could not fail to be a good, a useful, and a happy man.

We copy a few of these rules.

"In the presence of others, sing not to yourself with humming noise, nor drum with your fingers and feet.

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'Play not the peacock, looking every where about you to see if you be well decked, if your shoes fit well, if your stockings fit neatly, and your clothes handsomely.

“When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be seriously and in reverence. Honor and obey your natural parents, though they be poor.

"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."

LII.THE SAME SUBJECT, CONCLUDED.

MANY persons may think, in reading the account of Washington's early days, that he spent too much time in the manual labor of writing, and that it was a pity that so industrious a boy could not have learned other things, such as Latin and Greek, French, chemistry, or natural philosophy. But this constant use of the pen was of advantage to him in many ways. It made the practice of writing easy to him, so that afterwards, when he grew up and was a general and a president, and had much writing to do, it came natural to him, and he could do a great deal of it every day.

Besides, in this way Washington acquired the habit of expressing his thoughts on paper clearly and readily. His style was always simple, manly, and vigorous. Every body could

understand what he wrote, without any difficulty. And he thus learned to write a neat, legible, and flowing hand. And this accomplishment he never lost. All his letters and papers are in a clear and handsome handwriting: the lines are perfectly straight; and the words are nearly as easy to read as print.

This was always a great advantage to him: it is a great advantage to any body to write a distinct and legible hand. When he was a general and a president, the men who had to read his letters and papers never lost any time in finding out what this or that word was.

Bonaparte, a great French general, and emperor of France, wrote a very bad hand. He would sometimes send an order to an officer, requiring him to do something at once; but the poor officer would be utterly unable to make out what some of the most important words were. He would run about from one person to another, to see if they could help him read it; all the time in great alarm lest Bonaparte should be angry with him for not obeying his orders, but not daring to tell him he could not read his handwriting. Washington never gave any body this trouble.

When Washington grew up, he became a planter, or farmer, and had a large estate to manage. The habits he had formed in his school-boy days were now of much service to him. He kept books as carefully as a merchant; so that he always knew how much he was earning, and how much he was spending. Every thing that happened on the farm, or in the family, was set down in a diary. All the letters he wrote when he was a general and president were copied into books; and the letters he received were carefully sorted and filed. All things were done in the most orderly and methodical manner.

Washington was born with a strong frame and a vigorous constitution; and these advantages he preserved and improved by constant bodily exercise. He was the leader of his companions in all their sports. No one could run so fast as he, or leap so far, or throw a stone to so great a distance.

He

was also a very fine and bold rider; delighting to ride the most fiery horses, and subdue their spirit. This physical training was of great service to him; for it made him very strong and healthy. When he was a general, he had a great deal of hard work to do, and was exposed to much bad weather. He was obliged to be on horseback a great many hours at a time; sometimes in rain and snow, and sometimes under a hot sun; but his constitution was so strong that he was never made ill.

The moral qualities which distinguished Washington as a man were also conspicuous in him as a boy. He was a very steady, honest, and truthful boy, obedient and respectful to his mother and teachers, and attentive and diligent in his studies. He was much respected by his companions, and often called upon to settle their disputes; and his decisions were always observed, because they were always just. He was a boy who inspired confidence; and any one who saw him would have said that he was sure to make a useful and respectable man. X

He had by nature a violent temper; but he had the sense to see that no man can be useful or happy who is constantly getting into a passion; and he determined to rule his own spirit. He found this a harder task than to break a fiery horse; but he succeeded in doing it. In after life he always showed great patience and command of temper; and few persons would have suspected that these virtues were not natural to him.

Washington was tall and well formed: his appearance on horseback was very noble and fine. Both as a youth and a man, he was attentive to his personal appearance, and always neatly dressed. His manners were grave and somewhat reserved; and there was something about him which inspired awe in all who approached him. As a youth, he was silent and bashful in mixed company; and at no period of his life was he much of a talker. Nor had he that faculty of public speaking which is so common in our country.

The character and conduct of Washington present a model for the imitation of every American. The more a man is like Washington, the more worthy he is of being a citizen of a free republic, in which the people govern themselves. Our young readers are not old enough to comprehend how much he did for his country, and how grateful we ought to be to him. When they grow up they will read his life carefully they will be able to compare him with the other great men in history, and to see that there is no one on the whole so perfect as he.

The purpose of this and the preceding lesson is to show our young readers that the foundations of Washington's greatness were laid during his boyhood, and that as Washington the man is a good model for the men of America, so Washington the boy is a good model for the boys of America. Every boy can be as truthful, as industrious, as honest, and as steady as he was; can be as obedient to his parents and his teachers; and though no one can hope to be as distinguished, yet in this way they are sure to grow up into useful and respectable men.

'NEXT to Washington, there is no man whose memory is more honored by the American people, or with whose life and works they are more familiar, than Benjamin Franklin. He was about twenty-six years older than Washington, having been born in Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, January 17, 1706. His father was a tallow-chandler and soap boiler and he was the youngest son, and the youngest child but two, of a very large family.

? Boston, at the time of Franklin's birth, was a much smaller place than it is now; but it was a considerable town, containing about eighteen thousand inhabitants, and it had public schools, as it has now. He showed an early taste for reading, and his father desired to educate him for the ministry. With