on George was but ten years old, she fully realized
the very great responsibility resting upon her as sole remaining
guardian of her children, and set herself to watch the bent of their
inclinations, and to direct their energies into a proper channel.
Respecting the influence she exerted upon them, her daughter-in-law, the
wife of the President, many years afterward remarked: "You speak of the
greatness of my husband. His dear mother ever looked well to the ways of
her household. She taught him to be industrious by her example."

By her mild but firm management of her boy, she established a hold upon
his affections, which strengthened instead of decreasing with years;
and when, in the later part of his life, honors and distinctions were
heaped upon him, he considered them rather as tributes to the worth of
his mother than to his own. As was natural to so adventurous a spirit,
George early manifested a predilection for the sea, and his elder
brother encouraged him in thinking he might attain distinction as a
gallant mariner. A midshipman's berth was procured for him, at the age
of fifteen, on board of one of his majesty's ships, then off the coast
of Virginia; and it seemed as if the ardent desire of his boyhood was
about to be realized. But when all was ready, his mother gave expression
to her disapproval of the expedition. Though sorely disappointed, he at
once acquiesced, and yielded to the representations made by her. Nor did
she expect him to give a ready acquiescence to her views without giving
him valid reasons. She deemed him quite too young to be removed from the
salutary restraints of home, and from the influences of its dearer
ties. Years after, the colonists of Virginia and the North-west blessed
the day upon which Mrs. Washington refused her consent to her son's
entering the navy, and thus kept him to do them invaluable service in
driving back from their territories the hostile Indians, or more hostile
French. Though a genuine F.F.V., she was never arrogant in her demeanor.
In her intercourse with those by whom she was surrounded, or with whom
she came in contact, she was simple and unaffected, the model of a true
lady and a Christian.

Even in old age, she still watched carefully over the interests of her
son. During the Winter of 1777-1778, when the American soldiers were in
such extremity at Valley Forge, she, as well as the wife of Washington,
spent her time in preparing comfortable clothing for them. He