objections, such as a fond, unthinking mother habitually suggests."

It was a noble sacrifice, the crushing of his own heart to save his mother's. She must have referred to such memories as this when, at the height of his brilliant career, she said of her son, "George has always been a good boy, and I am sure he will do his duty.

99

That was the true knighting of a hero.

CHAPTER V

THE FAIRFAX FAMILY

AFTER his giving up going to sea Mary Washington allowed George to spend most of his time at Mount Vernon, where Lawrence engaged several tutors that the lad might keep on with the studies he liked. Although he did not wish George to become a professional surveyor, as that would not be considered as respectable as the life of a planter, he allowed him to drown his disappointment, as far as possible, by studying

under the direction of James Genn, the licensed surveyor of Westmoreland County.

George's practical progress in this line is shown in several plots and drawings, still preserved, of actual surveys on the Mount Vernon estate made when he was only fifteen years of

age.

About this time George made the following entry in his expense account:

"To cash pd ye Musick Master
for my Entrance..

.3/9"

This music teacher could not have been a private tutor, or Lawrence would have paid the fee, as it would have amounted to a great deal more than 3 shillings and 9 pence. As Washington never showed special ability in music, it is likely that he entered the neighborhood singing school for the fun of it. He probably sat there evening after evening, listening to "ye Musick Master” talk about quavers and semiquavers, wishing all the while that he only dared to ask one young lady if he might ride home with her. Even then he would rather face a loaded cannon than one little "battery of bright eyes!"

6-Washington.

After he became famous some one started the story that Washington was a skillful flute player (as President Jefferson was an expert violinist), but it was not true, for he was never a performer on any musical instrument.

Four miles below Mount Vernon was "Belvoir," one of the most elegant estates in all Virginia, commanding a fine view of the Potomac. It had been the home of Anne Fairfax, now Mrs. Lawrence Washington. The Hon. William Fairfax, the proprietor of "Belvoir," was a courtly English gentleman. He had been governor of the island of New Providence, one of the West Indies, and a collector of customs in New England.

Wealthy, cultivated, and hospitable, the Fairfaxes were as popular as any of the "First Families of Virginia." The Lees, the Masons, the Byrds, the Carys, and others came often to visit them, and they sometimes entertained distinguished guests from "home," as England was called. Lawrence Washington, by his marriage to their daughter, was now a member of the Fairfax family There was a son, George Fairfax, several years older than George Washington. Between these two Georges a friendship

sprang up which lasted through life, even after they were widely separated in opinions and patriotism. George Fairfax soon married one of the Miss Carys and long afterward went to live in England to avoid the War of the Revolution.

It was on an autumn day, bright and clear, that George saw, for the first time, a certain elderly gentleman riding enthusiastically after the dogs in a grand fox-hunt. He was tall and thin, with a ruddy face, and bent forward over the pommel of his saddle with the intense, eager expression which near-sighted people often have. He wore a green hunting-jacket, buckskin riding-breeches, and top-boots. His gray hair was waving in the wind from under his black velvet cap.

After the hunting party had dashed past with a great hue and cry, George asked the name of the distinguished stranger. He was told, what he had already inferred, that it was Thomas, the sixth Earl of Fairfax, descended from the famous Fairfax in Cromwell's army, cousin of the owner of "Belvoir," and proprietor of an immense tract of land in Virginia, covering about one-fifth of the present State. The Earl of

Fairfax was the first "real lord" George Washington ever saw.

When he was introduced to his lordship, the old nobleman sympathized with the boy in his shyness. Although he himself was in his sixtieth year, a graduate of Oxford, a member of the fashionable set in London society, a friend of Addison and other great English authors, and had even written for The Spectator, that literary magazine of the age, Lord Fairfax had never been able to conquer his own diffidence before strangers.

Indeed, it was because he was weary of London life and society that he had come to visit his cousin and to seek "a lodge in some vast wilderness" on his own estate. As soon as he could he built a hunting lodge, which he called "Greenway Court," in the lovely Shenandoah Valley.

From the very first, Lord Fairfax took an interest in young George. It was not long before the lad was invited to join in a fox hunt. Being a daring and skillful rider, he enjoyed the sport immensely. This made another bond of sympathy, and the earl and the Washington boy were often seen riding across country together, sometimes pell-mell, in an exciting chase, and