correctness; but, by reading and perseverance, he gradually overcame these defects, and learned to express himself with force, clearness, and propriety. He had a decided turn for mathematical studies; and the last years of his school career were devoted to the mysteries of geometry, trigonometry, and surveying. For the last he felt a singular partiality; and he gratified the taste by measuring the neighboring fields and plantations, entering all the details and particulars in his note-books. This was done with systematic precision; he used his pen with the most scrupulous care, and acquired habits which were of inestimable value when he ascended to posts of peril and responsibility. Meantime, his father had been cut off in the prime of life; but this early deprivation was, in Washington’s case, almost counteracted by the character of his surviving parent, who, being a woman of sense, tenderness, vigilance, a strong mind, and prudent management, reared her family with the utmost discretion and success. She had the satisfaction of living to witness the splendid position to which the abilities, conduct, and energy of her son ultimately elevated him. Washington went no longer to school after his sixteenth year. His relations had previously entertained the intention of entering him as a midshipman in the navy; and with this view had successfully exerted their influence to procure him a warrant. It appears that the future hero of a continent joyfully acquiesced in this scheme for his advancement in life; and had it been persisted in, he would no doubt have borne himself with credit and distinction. This was unquestionably a critical juncture in his career, and in the history of America; but it was terminated, imprudently in the opinion of his friends, by the interference of his widowed mother, who little relished the thought of her darling being sent “to rough it out at sea.” She therefore authoritatively forbade his departure. Perhaps the incipient hero was not altogether disconsolate at the maternal veto being thus exercised; for about this date he proved himself not insensible to the magic power of female grace, and became vehemently enamored of some rural beauty. He celebrated her perfections in love-ditties, and confessed his pangs in letters to a confident; but, with a modesty surely rare under such circumstances, he ventured not to reveal the state of his agitated heart to the fair being whose image was stamped on its tablets.