Her thorough knowledge of practical life enabled her not only to superintend, in person, the complicated and important pecuniary affairs of her children, and the general interests of her household, but, also, by her indefatigable industry and ingenuity to supply, in a good degree, whatever was necessary to the welfare and comfort of her family.

Mrs. Washington had, henceforth, the exclusive direction of the primary education of her children. At once their companion, mentor, counsellor, and friend, she encouraged them to mental exertion, to moral culture, to athletic exercise. She taught them self-respect, respect for the rights and feelings of others, self-control, and patience under fatigue and suffering; she stimulated in them a fondness for labor and for knowledge; she inspired them with affection for each other, and for their country, and with the fear and love of God. In short, it was her systematic and unceasing endeavor, to illustrate and enforce willing compliance with the all-wise and immutable laws by which the physical, intellectual, and moral nature of man should be, harmoniously and unitedly, governed. Thus order, regularity, and occupation, sympathy, cheerfulness, and

unity, reigned supreme among the youthful denizens of her little world of home. She exacted implicit obedience from her children, and she tempered maternal tenderness by strict domestic discipline; but we are told by one* who, as the companion of her son, occasionally shared her care and hospitality, that she was "indeed truly kind."

In that genuine and judicious kindness lies the secret of the power always maintained by this venerated mother over the minds of her offspring. If she assumed the right to direct the actions of others, her daily life exhibited such powers of self-control and self-denial as convinced her children, by more irresistible evidence than mere words could convey, of the justice and disinterestedness by which she was habitually actuated.

That she rendered their home, simple, nay even

* Laurence Washington, Esq., of Chotank, who thus described his distinguished relative: "I was often there with George, his playmate, schoolmate, and young man's companion. Of the mother I was more afraid than of my own parents; she awed me in the midst of her kindness, for she was indeed truly kind; and even now, when time has whitened my locks, and I am the grandfather of a second generation, I could not behold that majestic woman without feelings it is impossible to describe."

humble, though it might be, endearing to her children, is proved in some degree, by the frequency and pleasure with which, as we gather from much incidental testimony, the happy band that once rejoiced in the comfort and security of her well-ordered abode, in after years revisited the maternal roof. Indeed, we are expressly informed, upon the best authority, that an interdiction of the innocent amusements and relaxations, a taste for which is so natural to the young, formed no part of the system of juvenile training practised with such preeminent success by Mrs. Washington.

She never rendered necessary restraint and discipline needlessly distasteful or repulsive by ascetic sternness or harsh compulsion. The power that sometimes gently coerced the subjects of her guidance was a moral suasion far more effective and beneficial than influences such as those can ever exert.

Of all the mental qualities of this celebrated woman, perhaps none was more constantly illustrated in her life than her native good sense, the practical effects of which were infinitely more useful and precious to her children than she could

possibly have rendered volumes of theoretical precept, however philosophical and profound.

To her possession of this unpretending, but invaluable characteristic, emphatically, her illustrious son was indebted for the education that formed the basis of his greatness.

This it was that taught the great WASHINGTON those habits of application, industry, and regularity, that were of such essential service to him, alike in the camp and in the cabinet, and which so materially contributed to render his character a perfect model, bequeathed to successive ages.

This it was, that, by inculcating and enforcing habitual temperance, exercise, and activity, strengthened and developed the wonderful physical powers that were rivalled only by the indomitable will and stupendous wisdom of her son.

To his mother Washington owed the high value he attached to "the only possession of which all men are prodigal, and of which all men should be covetous:" and from her early instructions he imbibed that love of truth for which he was remarkable, and which is so pleasingly and forcibly illustrated in some of the favorite anecdotes of our childhood.*

* Our juvenile readers can scarcely fail to be familiar with

Trained to unvarying respect for the truths of revealed religion, in which she was herself a firm believer, and rigidly regardful of the dictates of an enlightened conscience, her gifted son was indebted to Mrs. Washington for his quick moral sense, and the unflinching adhesion to principle that so strongly marked every act of his public and private life.

The noble friend and pupil of Washington, and others among her numerous panegyrists, have likened the mother of the "Hero" to a Spartan matron. With due deference to the high source whence the comparison emanated, it seems scarcely just to her who was its subject. Her life reminds us rather, of those celebrated women whose names are recorded with grateful affection and respect by St. Paul, in his Epistles,—those heroic, self-sacrificing friends and champions of early Christianity, and its devoted advocates, who were "succorers of many," who scorned not to "bestow much labor" upon the temporal necessities of the Apostle and his fellow-martyrs, and

the stories of "The Little Hatchet," and of "The Sorrel Colt," almost the only authentic anecdotes of the childhood of the great American hero, and which also incidentally illustrate more than one of his youthful habits.