other;
which, however, she yielded with much reluctance, and many misgivings
with respect to the profession her son was about to choose. Not
knowing how much pain all this was giving his mother, George was as
near wild with delight as could well be with a boy of a nature so even
and steady. Now, what had all along been but a waking dream was about
to become a wide-awake reality. His preparations were soon made:
already was his trunk packed, and carried on board the ship that was
to bear him so far away from his native land; and nothing now remained
but to bid farewell to the loved ones at home. But when he came and
stood before his mother, dressed in his gay midshipman's uniform, so
tall and robust in figure, so handsome in face, and so noble in look
and gesture, the thought took possession of her mind, that, if she
suffered him to leave her then, she might never see him more; and,
losing her usual firmness and self-control, she burst into tears.

"Deeply do I regret, my dear son," said she, "to disappoint you in a
wish you have so near at heart: but I find I cannot bring myself to
give you up yet; for, young as you are, your aid and counsel have
already become to me of the greatest service and comfort; and these
little fatherless ones, now weeping around you, have learned to look
up to you as their protector and guide. You know too little of the
ways of the world, and are too young and inexperienced, to go forth to
endure its hardships, and battle with its temptations, that lie in
wait on every side to entrap the unwary, and lead them down to
destruction. Without you, our home would be lonely indeed: then, for
your mother's sake, and for the sake of these little ones, give up
your darling scheme, for the present at least, that we may all be
happy at home once more together."

Thus entreated, what could he do but yield consent to the wishes of a
loving and prudent mother, and remain at home? where, in a few days,
his noble self-denial was rewarded with a sweet contentment of mind
that he could never have known had he left the dear ones in sorrow
behind him, and gone forth to spend months and years upon the billows
of the lonely seas. Surely a kind Heaven so ordered that the welfare
and happiness of us Americans, and, it may be, that of the whole
world, should be made to depend upon the promptings of a mother's
love; for had the boy Washington realized this early dream, and gone
forth in that gallant ship, he might hav