struct such an asylum; and Franklin advised Whitefield to build the house at Philadelphia, and send the Georgia orphans to it. "But," says he, "he rejected my counsel, and I therefore refused to contribute. I happened soon after to attend one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and I silently resolved that he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the coppers. Another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of that, and determined me to give the silver. And he finished so admirably that I emptied my pocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all." 23

His character was singularly simple and healthy. He used the homage of France, and of all Europe, and utilized his praises that were in the lips of men, so as to serve the great purposes of his country. His life shows the necessity of time to make a great character, a great reputation, or a great estate. You want a long summer to produce a great crop. His old age was beautiful. Honored and admired as no other man, he went to the house he had built a quarter of a century before, with his friends and descendants. around him. He continued in public office till within six months of his death, and in the public service till within twenty-four days of it.

The warning he gives is plain to beware of excess in early youth, of trifling with the most delicate sensibilities of woman, and of ever neglecting the most sacred duties of domestic life. Few men understood the art of life so well as he. He took great pains to

correct his faults. All remember the day-book, in which he kept an account of his virtues, arranging them under thirteen heads, until he had put under his feet those lusts that war against the soul. The guidance he gives is also plain. He shows the power of industry, by which he obtained a large estate of money, and still more a manly endowment of learning. At twenty-one he has had two years' schooling, and no more; at forty he is master of English, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and German; at sixty, the greatest universities in the world, and whole nations, agree in calling him the greatest philosopher then living. He was not ashamed of the humblest industry whereby he made his fortune, his reputation, and his character.

What a life it was! Begun with hawking ballads in the streets of a little colonial town, continued by organizing education, benevolence, industry; by conquering the thunders of the sky, making the lightning the servant of mankind; by establishing Independence; by mitigating the ferocity of war, and brought down to its very last day by his manliest effort, an attempt to break the last chain from the feeblest of all oppressed men. What a life! What & character! Well said a French poet,

"Legislator of one world! Benefactor of two!

All mankind owes to you a debt of gratitude."

II

GEORGE WASHINGTON

In the beginning of the eighteenth century, in the colony of Virginia, Westmoreland County, between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, at a spot called Bridge's Creek, there was living an obscure farmer, named Augustine Washington. He was born in 1694, and came of a short-lived family, which had emigrated to America in the year 1657. He inherited but little, and by his own diligence and thrift acquired a considerable property, which chiefly consisted of wild land, negro slaves, and cattle. In the rude husbandry of the time and place, he raised corn, horned beasts, swine, and tobacco. Augustine Washington was first married at the age of twenty-one, to Jane Butler, who became the mother of four children. But she died, 4th November, 1728, only two of her children, her sons Lawrence and Augustine, surviving. Fifteen months later, 6th March, 1730, the elder Augustine, for a second wife, married Mary Ball, said to be beautiful, and the belle of the neighboring country. She became the mother of six children.

George Washington was the eldest, the fifth child of his father, and the first of his mother. He was born on Saturday, February 22nd, 1732, a day famous in the political annals of America. At his birth, his father was thirty-eight years of age; his mother twenty-eight. He first saw the light in a rude farmhouse, steep-roofed, with low eaves, one story high, having four rooms on the ground floor, and others in the attic. There were huge chimneys at each end,

41

which were built up outside the house.

outside the house. It was old and rickety then; not a trace now remains; only a plain stone marks the spot as "The Birthplace of Washington."

George Washington was descended from the common class of Virginia farmers. No ruler of the AngloSaxon stock has obtained so great a reputation for the higher qualities of human virtue. For more than one thousand years no statesman or soldier has left a name so much to be coveted. None ever became so dear to the thoughtful of mankind. In the long line of generals, kings, and emperors, from the first monarch to the last president or pope, none ranks so high for the prime excellence of heroic virtue. His name is a watchword of liberty. His example and character are held up as the model for all men in authority.

This is the ground-plan of Washington's life - the map of facts and dates, the headlands only being sketched in.

Born, on Saturday morning, February 22, 1732, he was baptized on April 3rd, of the same year, in the authorized Episcopal Church of the parish. His father soon after removed to Stafford County, on the left bank of the Rappahannock, opposite to the town of Fredericton. There George attended a poor private school, there was no other, kept by the parish sexton. At sixteen years of age, in 1748, Washington became a public surveyor of land, and found it a profitable business, earning a pistole each day (about $3.60), and sometimes more than that. He continued in this work for about three years, but had always a turn for military affairs.

There were continual troubles with the French, who

were advancing their frontier outposts from their settlements in the Mississippi Valley towards the western Virginia borders. Also the Indians, who dwelt and wandered through the valley of the Ohio River, and along the great lakes, took part in the expeditions and forages thence arising. Hence it became necessary to enroll a militia, which might, from time to time, be called to active duty. In this militia Washington, at the age of nineteen, in 1751, was commissioned by the Governor of Virginia, as adjutant-general, with the rank of major an office about equal to that of a militia captain in New England. In 1752, he went to the West Indies with his consumptive brother Lawrence, rather a distinguished person in the eastern parts of Virginia, who died in 1752, leaving a large estate for George to settle, of which a considerable portion fell to him. In this way he became possessed of the handsome property of Mount Vernon, which the brother had named for the gallant British Admiral Vernon, under whom he had served in early life. Washington continued to hold his commission in the Virginia Army until the peace in 1758, in which year, about the end of December, he returned to private life as a farmer at Mount Vernon.

On the 6th day of January, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha Custis, the widow of John Parke Custis, a woman distinguished for beauty, accomplishments, and riches. He thus added about one hundred thousand dollars to his estate, which was already considerable. By her previous marriage she had a son of six, and a daughter of four years of age. From 1759 to 1775 he attended to the details of a country gentleman's life in Virginia, improving his land and adding to his property. He managed his large estate with