PERSONAL APPEARANCE-STRAIGHT WALK. 61 1744.] ingly we hear that he was not such; but his great length of limb preserved him from being like the jockey who "always walked as if he had a horse under him." He had a direct, business-like manner of walking. Mr. Custis says, "a straight, methodical, Indian walk," but as an Indian walks with his toes turned in, it seems hardly probable that Washington's appearance would have been as dignified as we know it to have been, if he had allowed this strikingly ungraceful fault in his carriage to become habitual. He was very careful of his appearance, being a person of great natural taste; and one who had a just estimate of its importance in regard to the impression we make on strangers. His personal appearance was sure to be the theme of strangers who saw him for the first time. They were always impressed by it, not so much in the form of admiration as of reverence, though it was said, again and again, that whatever the splendor of the company or the procession, George Washington attracted every eye, so that others were hardly seen. CHAPTER VII. Washington little indebted to books-Early reading limited, but good-His mother's idea of true kindness-Habit of writing a great deal-Its advantages and possible disadvantages-How it affected Washington's after life-Poetry book—“Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior"-Their influence on his character-His style of writing, excellent, plain, pure English. WASHINGTON was comparatively little indebted to books. We find in a memorandum of 1748, at which time he was sixteen years old, "Read to the reign of King John. In the Spectator, read to No. 143." But whatever he learned, he learned well. He was very industrious as well as ambitious, and he had no opportunity, in his school-days, of slipping through a great school, getting other boys to do his tasks for him, or wheedling out of his mamma a "written excuse," wholly invented for the occasion, thus acquiring, in the most effectual way, habits of both idling and falsehood. His mother was not one of those who so mistake the nature of true kindness, and his second schoolmasterthe only one besides "old Hobby," was not without enthusiasm in his profession. He left a very good name behind him in his part of the country. He often boasted-and how natural it was for Washington's 1744.] CIPHERING BOOK-POETRY BOOK. 63 teachers to boast!—that he had "made George Washington as good a scholar as himself." That he exacted a good deal of application and exactness, is evident from the manuscript books which Washington wrote when under his care. It used to be, much more than it is now, the fashion for teachers to require of their scholars a great deal of writing, besides that of the copy-book. To the "ciphering-book" we have before alluded. Into it all the rules of arithmetic, and the most difficult sums done under them, were copied with great care and elaborate flourishes, by way of exercise of the hand, and particularly for the sake of improvement in writing numerals. Another book contained the whole course of book-keeping, with imaginary accounts and names, picked up by the writer as he went along, all drawn up in the scholar's grandest style, with ranks, phalanxes and spaces, so as to look not a little like plans of battle. This was intended to bring bookkeeping to a sort of practice, and also to exercise the pupil in ornamental writing, and in the art of making elegant and fanciful capital letters. Then there was, not so generally, but often, a "Poetry-book," into which the pupil was allowed, by way of privilege, in leisure hours, to copy poetical pieces which he admired and wished to preserve or commit to memory. These books, many of which are still extant, yellow with age and use, in careful old families, are often very curious, as showing the floridness of youthful taste, before criticism has chastened, or the fear of ridi cule suppressed it. A short piece copied in Washington's hand we shall insert here, because it is characteristic, and seems to embody a common-sense, unromantic idea of domestic life, such as he always cherished. It is not very poetical; if it had been, he would not probably have selected it. We could wish it otherwise in this great and good life, for "the experience of any one's own mind may teach the inadequacy of mere actual truth. Has not every one felt, at the time when any deep emotion stirred him, or any lofty thought animated him, what imperfect exponents of such emotions or thoughts his words or actions are?" It would have been a comfort and support to Washington to love and study poetry. But he was preoccupied, and did not recognize the want of it. These homely lines enclose a convenient formula, about as compact and comprehensive as the immortal memory-verses, "Thirty days hath September," &c., easy to remember and carry about with one. TRUE HAPPINESS. These are the things, which, once possessed, A good estate on healthy soil, Not got by vice, nor yet by toil; A quiet wife, a quiet soul; A mind as well as body whole; * Henry Reed. |