OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE NATION'S HISTORY.

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GEORGE WASHINGTON,

IRST President of the United States, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia,

on the 22d of February, 1732. He was the son of Augustine Washington, a wealthy planter, and his second wife, Mary Ball. John Washington, the great-grandfather of the illustrious subject of this sketch, emigrated from England and settled in Virginia about 1657. George Washington's father died when he was in his eleventh year, leaving him in the care of his mother, a woman of marked strength of character. She was worthy of her trust. From her he acquired that self-restraint, love of order, and strict regard for justice and fair dealing, which, with his inherent probity and truthfulness, formed the basis of a character rarely equaled for its simple, yet commanding nobleness.

Apart from his mother's training, the youthful Washington received only the ordinary country

school education of the time, never having attended college, or taken instruction in the ancient languages. He had no inclination for any but the most practical studies, but in these he was remarkably precocious. When barely sixteen Lord Fairfax, who had become greatly interested in the promising lad, engaged him to survey his vast estates lying in the wilderness west of the Blue Ridge. So satisfactory was his performance of this perilous and difficult task, that, on its completion, he was appointed Public Surveyor. This office he held for three years, acquiring considerable pecuniary benefits, as well as a knowledge of the country, which was of value to him in his subsequent military career.

When only nineteen, Washington was appointed Military Inspector of one of the districts into which Virginia was then divided. In November, 1753, he was sent by Governor Dinwiddie on a mission. to the French posts, near the Ohio River, to ascertain the designs of France in that quarter. It was a mission of hardship and peril, performed with rare prudence, sagacity, and resolution. Its brilliant success laid the foundation of his fortunes. "From that time," says Irving, "Washington was the rising hope of Virginia."

Of Washington's services in the resulting war, we cannot speak in detail. An unfortunate military expedition to the frontier was followed by a campaign under Braddock, whom he accompanied