cher named Williams.
It is probable that, as he taught him his daily lesson, he little
anticipated the figure which his pupil was destined to make in the
world. While he became thorough in what he learned he became expert in
manly and athletic exercises. As he advanced in years he was a frequent
guest at Mount Vernon, and became familiar with the Fairfax family at
Belvoir, (called in England Beaver,) a few miles below, on the Potomac.

In the year 1747, when George was in his fourteenth year, a midshipman's
warrant was obtained for him by his brother Lawrence. His father-in-law,
William Fairfax, in September of the preceding year, had written to him:
"George has been with us, and says he will be steady, and thankfully
follow your advice as his best friend." From his promise to be steady,
it may be inferred that he was then not so. And from his consenting to
follow thankfully his brother's advice, it would appear that the plan of
his going to sea originated with Lawrence, and not from George's strong
bent that way, as has been commonly stated.

While the matter was still undetermined, his uncle, Joseph Ball, who,
having married an English lady, had settled as a lawyer in London, wrote
as follows to his sister Mary, the mother of Washington, in a letter
dated at Strafford-by-Bow, May the 19th, 1747: "I understand that you
are advised, and have some thoughts of putting your son George to sea.
I think he had better be put apprentice to a tinker; for a common sailor
before the mast has by no means the liberty of the subject; for they
will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings a month, and
make him take twenty-three, and cut, and slash, and use him like a
negro, or rather like a dog. And as to any considerable preferment in
the navy, it is not to be expected, as there are always so many gaping
for it here who have interest, and he has none. And if he should get to
be master of a Virginia ship, (which it is very difficult to do,) a
planter that has three or four hundred acres of land, and three or four
slaves, if he be industrious, may live more comfortably and have his
family in better bread, than such a master of a ship can. He must not be
too hasty to be rich, but go on gently and with patience as things will
naturally go. This method without aiming at being a fine gentleman
before his time, will carry a man more comfortably and surely through
the world than going to sea, unless it be a great chance indeed. I p