ersonality the full requirements of the prodigious task than
which no greater was ever laid upon the shoulders of man. Through
trials, sufferings, discouragements, disappointments, abuse, ill
treatment, opposition, and misunderstandings, he never lost heart; his
lofty patriotism was never quenched; his sublime faith in God and the
destiny of his country never wavered, and, seeing with the eye of
undimmed faith the end from the beginning, he advanced with serene
majesty and unconquerable resolve to the conclusion and perfection of
his mighty work.

It has been said of Washington that he embodied within himself the
genius of sanity and the sanity of genius. We can conceive of Lincoln,
Grant, or any other great man losing his mind, but like the snowy crest
of a mountain, rising far above the plain, he stood by himself, and it
is impossible to think of him as losing even in the slightest degree the
magnificent attributes of his personality. As has been stated, his was
the single example in our history in which the fate of our country
rested with one man. Had he fallen in battle at any time between
Lexington and Yorktown, the Revolution would have stopped and
independence been postponed indefinitely. But when Heaven selects its
agent, it shields him in impenetrable armor, and, though Washington was
exposed to innumerable personal perils in the wilderness and in battle,
when his comrades were smitten with death around him, he never received
the slightest wound, and lived to see his work finished, when, in the
quiet of his own home at Mount Vernon, he lay down, folded his arms, and
passed to his reward.

[Illustration: GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-1799.) Two terms, 1789-1797.]

George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, February
22, 1732. There is a general misunderstanding as to his family. He had
three half-brothers, one half-sister, and three brothers and two
sisters. His half-brothers and sister, children of Augustine Washington
and Jane Butler, were: Butler (died in infancy), Lawrence, Augustine,
and Jane. His brothers and sisters, children of Augustine Washington and
Mary Ball, were: Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles, and Mildred
(died in infancy).

Washington's father died when the son was eleven years old, and his
training devolved upon his mother, a woman of rare force of character.
He received a common school education, but never became learned in
books. He early showed a liking for military mat