care of the five children. His mother and sister and little brothers were half broken-hearted when he went away on horseback beside his brother, for an absence of years.

Augustine was a larger, heartier and stronger man than Captain Lawrence; he was more like their father, whose name he bore. He and his wife, already very fond of young George, did all in their power to make his long stay with them pleasant and helpful. Doubtless what the boy enjoyed most of all was the fine stable at "Wakefield," in which there were no less than thirty horses, many of them thoroughbreds. Of course, George had a horse for his own to ride to school, four miles and back, every week-day, and for an occasional gallop of twenty miles to visit his mother and the children at "Ferry Farm" over Sunday.

IN THE OAK GROVE SCHOOL

At Oak Grove School George took what would now be called the business course. He was always a poor speller, and weak in grammar, but strong in mathematics. Young as he was, he studied hard, although he was as fond of out

door games as any boy could be. Lewis Willis, a schoolmate, used to relate that while the rest "were playing at bandy and other games, he (George) was behind the door ciphering;" but that, on one occasion, the Washington boy was seen "romping with one of the largest girls; this was so unusual that it excited no little comment among the other lads"-for George, at this age, was overgrown, awkward, and shy.

Bashful he may have been with the girls, but George Washington was at home with the boys, and several stories are told of his running foot races, and leaving them behind every time in a way that was discouraging to the rest. As at "Hobby's," he soon became a leader, and the other boys believed so firmly in his fairness that they sometimes appealed to him as umpire in their disputes, and were always willing to stand by his decisions.

Of all the branches taught in his school, land surveying seems to have been a favorite with Mr. Williams. He used to go out with a class of older boys, carrying the transit, pole and chain, measuring the land along the river.

From the first George was interested in surveying. Of course, he liked any study that

would keep him out of doors. Before he enough along in mathematics to underst science, the teacher allowed him to ca measuring chain or set up the pole to be through the transit by the surveyor. time George had advanced so far as to stand the theory of mathematics he had a the necessary knowledge of the field wo nected with surveying.

It was fortunate that the lad had dis so early in life, how much he liked su It is important for a youth to find out as he is able what study he wishes to through life, for he is almost sure to what he likes to do, and to do anything w be on the high road to success.

Within a few years George had an op ity to apply the knowledge gained in M iams's school. It paid him very well, in long as he needed to work for a living, an afterward a means of opening the way wonderful career.

When the Door of Opportunity George Washington walked right in, bu a great deal to do with opening that do self. As the boy "Abe" Lincoln said a

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ing President while he was only a farm hand: "Oh, I'll study and get ready, and then the chance will come," so George Washington also studied and got ready, and when the opportunity came he made it more than mere chance.

"THE YOUNG MAN'S COMPANION"

When George was ten years old he owned a kind of hand-book designed to teach many things learned in the schools and colleges. The title of this book was "The Young Man's Companion: or, Arithmetick Made Easy."

Across the top of its title-page was written, in a cramped, boyish hand, "George Washington, 1742."

"The Young Man's Companion" was compiled by W. Mather, as stated on its quaint titlepage, “in a plain and easy Style that a young Man may attain the same without a Tutor." It covered so many branches as to make it a forerunner of the modern correspondence school, for the benefit of those who cannot go to school or college.

"The Young Man's Companion" claimed to show how to read, write, and figure. It was a

5-Washington.

"complete letter writer," giving the proper forms for business letters, and the titles by which "persons of quality" should be addressed. It showed how to survey land, navigate the sea, and build houses. It gave recipes for making ink and cider, and prescriptions for many diseases and ailments. It was a cyclopedia for the pioneer and planter, and designed to take the place, in the backwoods, of the lawyer, the doctor, and the schoolmaster, for America was nearly all backwoods in those days.

It would be easier to tell what the "Young Man's Companion" did not contain than to enumerate all the branches it pretended to teach. George must have taken this compendium to Oak Grove, for it is full of rules, tables, and land measurements acquired in school.

On the blank pages provided for the purpose he wrote in his neat, flowing hand, forms of notes, deeds, wills and other legal documents. In it were also copies of his letters, drafts of crude poetry, boyish caricatures of his schoolmates, and even, with many a scrawl and a flourish, strange-looking birds that never flew o'er sea or land.

"The Young Man's Companion" also "speaks