govern that temper, and to square his conduct on the exact principles of equity and justice.

Tradition gives an interesting picture of the widow, with her little flock gathered around her, as was her daily wont, reading to them lessons of morality and religion out of some standard work. Her favorite volume was Sir Matthew Hale's Contemplations, moral and divine. The admirable maxims therein contained, for outward action as well as self-government, sank deep into the mind of George, and, doubtless, had a great influence in forming his character. They certainly were exemplified in his conduct throughout life. This mother's manual, bearing his mother's name, Mary Washington, written with her own hand, was ever preserved by him with filial care, and may be still seen at Mount Vernon. A precious document ! Let those who wish to know the moral foundation of his character consult its pages.

Having no longer the benefit of a father's instructions at home, and the scope of tuition of Hobby, the sexton, being too limited for the growing wants of his pupil, George was now sent to reside with his brother, Augustine Washington, at Bridge's Creek, and enjoy the benefit of a superior school in that neighborhood, kept by a Mr. Williams. His education, however, was plain and practical. He never attempted the learned languages, nor manifested any inclination for rhetoric or belles-lettres. His object, or the object of his friends, seems to have been confined to fitting him for ordinary business. His manuscript school books still exist, and are models of neatness and accuracy. One of them, it is true, a ciphering book, preserved in the library at Mount Vernon, has some school-boy attempts at calligraphy *- nondescript birds, executed with a flourish of the pen, or profiles of faces, probably intended for those of his schoolmates the rest are all grave and businesslike. Before he was thirteen years of age, he had copied into a volume forms for all kinds of mercantile and legal papers, bills

*Calligraphy, fine or ornamental penmanship.

of exchange, notes of hand, deeds, bonds, and the like. This early self-tuition gave him throughout life a lawyer's skill in draughting documents, and a merchant's exactness in keeping accounts; so that all the concerns of his various estates, his dealings with his domestic stewards and foreign agents, his accounts with government, and all his financial transactions are to this day to be seen posted up in books, in his own handwriting - monuments of his method and unwearied accuracy.

He was a self-disciplinarian in physical as well as mental matters, and practised himself in all kinds of athletic exercises, such as running, leaping, wrestling, pitching quoits, and tossing bars. His frame even in infancy had been large and powerful, and he now excelled most of his playmates in contests of agility and strength. As a proof of his muscular power, a place is still pointed out at Fredericsburg, near the lower ferry, where, when a boy, he flung a stone across the Rappahannock. In horsemanship, too, he already excelled, and was ready to back, and able to manage, the most fiery steed. Traditional anecdotes remain of his achievements in this respect.

Above all, his inherent probity, and the principles of justice on which he regulated all his conduct, even at this early period of life, were soon appreciated by his schoolmates; he was referred to as an umpire in their disputes, and his decisions were never questioned. As he had formerly been military chieftain, he was now legislator of the school; thus displaying in boyhood a type of the future man.

LXXXIV. THE AMERICAN EAGLE.

C. W. THOMPSON.

BIRD of the heavens! whose matchless eye
Alone can front the blaze of day,
And, wandering through the radiant sky,
Ne'er from the sunlight turns away;

Whose ample wing was made to rise
Majestic o'er the loftiest peak,
On whose chill tops the winter skies

Around thy nest in tempests speak!
What ranger of the winds can dare,
Proud mountain king, with thee compare?
Or lift his gaudier plumes on high,
Before thy native majesty,

When thou hast taken thy seat alone,
Upon thy cloud-encircled throne?

The earliest tints of dawn are known,

And 'tis thy proud delight to see

The monarch mount his gorgeous throne,

Throwing the crimson drapery by,
That half impedes his glorious way,
And mounting up the radiant sky,
Even what he is the king of day!

* Eyry, an eagle's nest.

Before the regent of the skies

Men shrink, and veil their dazzled eyes;
But thou, in regal majesty,

Hast kingly rank, as well as he;
And with a steady, dauntless gaze,

Thou meet'st the splendor of his blaze.

Bird of Columbia! well art thou

An emblem of our native land;
With unblenched front, and noble brow,
Among the nations doomed to stand;
Proud, like her mighty mountain woods;
Like her own rivers, wandering free;
And sending forth, from hills and floods,
The joyous shout of liberty!
Like thee, majestic bird! like thee
She stands in unbought majesty,

With spreading wing, untired and strong,
That dares a soaring far and long,

That mounts aloft, nor looks below,

And will not quail though tempests blow.

LXXXV.-WASHINGTON AND HIS MOTHER.

JUVENILE MISCELLANY.

It is impossible to visit the shades of Mount Vernon, (where Washington resided, and now lies buried,) to stand near the tomb where the father of his country reposes, to see the gardens which he cultivated, the mansion where he rested from the toils of the war, the piazza where he so often lingered to view the setting sun gild the mighty River Potomac, without desiring to be acquainted with his domestic life, and save from oblivion every circumstance respecting him. Many anecdotes

of his early years are treasured in this land of his nativity. Some of the most interesting ones were derived from his mother, a dignified and pious matron, who, by the death of her husband while her children were young, became the sole conductress of their education. To the inquiry, what course she had pursued in rearing one so truly illustrious, she replied, "Only to require obedience, diligence, and truth." These simple rules, faithfully enforced, and incorporated with the rudiments of character, had a powerful influence over his future great

ness.

He was early accustomed to accuracy in all his statements, and to speak of his faults and omissions without prevarication or disguise. Hence arose that noble openness of soul, and contempt of deceit in others, which ever distinguished him. Once, by an inadvertence of his youth, a considerable loss had been incurred, and of such a nature as to interfere immediately with the plans of his mother. He came to her with a frank acknowledgment of his error, and she replied, while a tear of affection moistened her eye, "I had rather it should be so, than that my son should have been guilty of a falsehood."

She was careful not to enervate him by luxury or weak indulgence. He was inured to early rising, and never permitted to be idle. Sometimes he engaged in labors which the children of wealthy parents would now account severe, and thus acquired firmness of frame and a disregard of hardship. The systematic improvement of time, which from childhood he had been taught, was of great service when the weight of a nation's concerns devolved upon him. It was then observed by those who surrounded his person, that he was never known to be in a hurry, but found time for the transaction of the smallest affairs in the midst of the greatest and most conflicting duties. Such benefit did he derive from attention to the counsels of his mother. His obedience to her commands, when a child, was cheerful and strict; and as he approached to maturer years, the expression of her slightest wishes was a law.

Her common influence over him was strengthened by that