University of Virginia Library

Washington, when at old Master Hobby's school, was so well liked by his playmates, and they had so much confidence in his judgment and honesty, that when they fell into any trouble among themselves they very often called on him to act as judge, and to decide how the affair should be settled.

When Washington was fourteen years of age, he had a great desire to enter the British navy. It was necessary, however, to first get the consent of his mother, his father having died when he was eleven years old. After a great deal of urging, she consented to let him go; and his brother obtained for him the position of midshipman on a vessel of war, which, at that time, was anchored in the Potomac River, just below Mount Vernon. His baggage was all on board the ship, and he came to his mother to bid her good-bye; but at the last moment her heart failed her, and she took back her words of consent, and begged of him not to go. Rather than grieve her so sadly, he gave up his plan, had his baggage brought back to the house, and staid at home. Had he entered upon a sailor's life, he might never have become the leading general of the American Revolution.

After the War of the Revolution was over, and the Americans had gained their independence, the question arose, Who should be the first President? Washington was elected to the place, and, much against his wishes, consented to serve. When peace was declared, he had gone back to his home at Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River, and hoped to spend the rest of his life there, quietly and easily, as a farmer. But the country would not consent to that; and, on the 16th of April, 1789, he started for Philadelphia, which was then the capital of the United States, to be inaugurated as President. His way took him through Trenton, New Jersey, where, a number of years before, he had spent a gloomy night, trying to outwit the British general, Cornwallis, and had succeeded in doing so. On a bridge, crossing the stream which flows through that city, the ladies had raised an arch, twined with evergreens and laurels, under which he was to pass. Upon it were the words, “The defenders of the mothers will be the protectors of the daughters.” A number of young girls, dressed in white, marched before him, and strewed flowers, singing, meanwhile, a song in his praise. The day was clear; the sun shone brightly; crowds of happy people were present; and Washington could not help noticing and feeling the difference between this beautiful day and the gloomy night he had spent upon the same river with his little army, twelve years before.