"
Such things sound somewhat priggish today; but in those days they were
a necessary part of one's education. Washington was probably neither
better nor worse than the run of Virginia boys, of gentle stock, in
those days--just a good-natured, fun-loving youngster, not especially
bright as a scholar, but known as a plodder. One of his early
playmates was Richard Henry Lee, who also grew up to be a famous
Virginian; and between the two some droll schoolboy letters passed.
Washington was to be, like his father, a Virginia planter; and this may
have had something to do with the sort of education he received, which
was not very extensive. But along with his early training for farm
life there were many echoes of the military, which must have had a
lasting influence on the growing lad. His brother, Lawrence, had been
a soldier in His Majesty's service, and his stories of campaign life so
fired George's imagination that he was for throwing his books away, at
fifteen, and going into the navy. He was too young for the army, but
Lawrence, who rather encouraged him, told him that he could get him a
berth as midshipman.
It is related that the young middy's luggage was actually on board a
British man-of-war anchored in the Potomac, when Madam Washington, who
all along had been reluctant to give her consent, now withdrew it
altogether; and the "dutiful son" was saved from the navy for a larger
arena.
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