Among all the numerous life stories written by Ferdinand Schmidt for the delectation and education of German youth, none surpasses that of Washington. The author has condensed his material, drawn from the most authoritative sources, in a masterly manner, and presents it in a very attractive form. He has accompanied it by moralization which is pertinent, but never becomes tedious. It is questionable, indeed, whether any story of Washington’s life written for young people excels Schmidt’s in accuracy, conciseness, and general interest. As such this sketch of the Father of his Country from a German point of view is commended to American youth.
By : Ferdinand Schmidt (1816 - 1890), translated by George Putnam Upton (1834 - 1919)
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The contemplation of the wonders of the universe is always inspiring and uplifting—the crystalline purity of the sky, the splendor of the sunrise and sunset, the grandeur of the starry night, the fragrant forest, the smiling landscape, the tree, the flower, the boundless ocean, and all the countless manifestations of nature. But how much greater our admiration and inspiration when we reverently contemplate the progress of a noble human soul toward ever higher and higher planes of perfection! Some of the good seed which it scatters may take root in our minds to strengthen and develop the best that is in us. We perceive the possibilities of the race and what we may ourselves become if the will to strive keeps pace with a love for what is good.
In ancient times thoughtful people compared great and good souls to the stars. They rise in the spiritual firmament with a pure radiance and, ever anew breaking through the mists and clouds which obscure them, remain visible to later generations. Thus they become guiding stars for struggling human beings here below. The particular star which the reader who has the wisdom and the inclination to perfect himself is invited to study in these pages arose in the forests of Virginia on the twenty-second of February, 1732. It was there that little George first opened his eyes and looked out upon a world in which he was to play so great a part. There his negro mammy sat with him on the bench before the door, throwing crumbs to the turkeys and pigeons to amuse him, and there, under the rustling trees, he whittled his first horse out of hazelwood.
George’s father, Augustine Washington, was a planter of English extraction. His first ancestor had emigrated from England when North America was still the undisputed property of the Indians. The territory which later became the United States is almost as large as the continent of Europe. Two hundred years ago the whole country was a trackless forest, broken only by enormous morasses, cane-brakes, and savannas or grassy prairies. In the prosperous plantation house on the east bank of the Rappahannock in which George was born, piety, industry, and probity had made their habitation. That was the first blessing with which heaven dowered the boy. Of course, living in a pure and healthy moral atmosphere is not in itself all that is required to guide a youth into paths of rectitude; the will to do the right and the continual struggle to attain it can alone accomplish the greater part. Reprobates have sometimes come out of the best environments. The voice of conscience is awakened very early in the human breast and we soon know right from wrong. However, it is a great boon and a wonderful help to be surrounded by people who are examples of virtue in word and deed, and he who strays into the paths of sin in spite of such surroundings is doubly to be censured.
At that time the English immigrants lived scattered in the forest, but neighbors had already formed themselves into parishes and founded schools and churches. The schools were of course of a very simple type, nothing but reading, writing, and arithmetic being taught. Most of the settlers found this quite sufficient for their children and rich planters sent their sons to England to be educated. Lawrence Washington, George’s eldest step-brother, enjoyed these advantages. He was fourteen years older than George, who was a babe in arms when Lawrence set out on his first voyage to England, so that he could not remember his step-brother. When George was eight years old, Lawrence, now in his twenty-second year, returned. The arrival of the well-educated and well-bred young gentleman was a welcome event in the family circle, and George loved him from the first moment. Their affection was mutual, and indeed Lawrence showed a truly paternal interest in the bright, alert boy.
Their father had no intention of sending another son abroad. He looked upon Lawrence as the natural head of the family after his death and was satisfied that his probable successor had received a liberal education. Accordingly George was sent to the parish school. He applied himself eagerly to his tasks and thus laid a firm foundation, at least, for the studies which he afterward prosecuted by himself. One trait of his character showed itself very early—he did all his work with the greatest conscientiousness and neatness. Not a stroke of his pen betrayed carelessness. Some of his school books, which have been preserved, bear witness to this. He showed the same care when any work about the house was required of him. He endeavored to do whatever he had to do, however insignificant it was or might seem to be, as perfectly as possible. Of course he was not capable of appreciating at that time how important this was in the development of his character. It was simply his early awakened sense of duty, reinforced by his earnest efforts to practise what he knew to be right. It was not until later that he realized the deeper significance of work as a means of strengthening the powers of the soul. There is no kind of work which may not be either well or ill done. If you put all your capabilities into it, and the result is more or less satisfactory, you have accomplished even more than the success of the moment; you have been working for the growth of your inner self. For one who realizes this, the greatest drudgery has lost its sting. George was just as conscientious in everything which pertained to morals. He had a passionate disposition, but we learn that early in life he strove to curb his hasty temper by exercising deliberation and will power. It was therefore customary, among his school-fellows, when disagreements arose, to take them to him, and his verdict was generally accepted, for they knew that he was willing to acknowledge himself in the wrong when his fiery temper had carried him away. It was justice and not the person that had weight with him.
Another of his qualities, military talent, was early recognizable. It was an inheritance. There had been warriors among his ancestors, men of note, of whom English chronicles tell us. Several of these had so distinguished themselves as to have been knighted. George’s brother Lawrence was of a like temper, and it now happened that he had an opportunity of becoming a soldier. British commerce in the West Indies had suffered heavy losses through piratical attacks by Spain and the English government determined to avenge itself. A fleet was fitted out, and as England was the mother country of the Virginians, the recruiting drum was heard in the colony also. Lawrence volunteered and was given a captain’s commission. It was no wonder that there was considerable excitement over all this in the home of the Washingtons. George took the liveliest interest in his brother’s equipment. He thought it very proper that the robbers, of whom he had heard many dreadful stories, should be punished, and gazed at his brother’s bright sword with delight and respect. He vowed that he too would sometime help to right the wrongs of his injured countrymen in time of need. He was told many tales of his valiant ancestors. It is no wonder then that the picture of his brother as he had left home, in his war trappings, was constantly in his mind; nor that he begged for his letters, after his father had read them to the assembled family, to pore over them, especially when they had something to tell of the soldier’s adventures.
All these exciting experiences which filled his mind soon manifested themselves in his play. In place of ball and games of a like nature, war became the great game. His comrades were divided into companies. He sketched plans of battles, which were carried out. He determined the arms they were to use and held reviews. It never occurred to any of his little comrades to dispute with him the rank which he had bestowed upon himself. These occupations were also, although neither he nor any one else suspected it, more or less of a preparation for his after life. Just as he had before this been the legislator for his little circle, he was now the military chieftain. But even when playing at soldier, the peculiarity of his character, which led him to carry out everything he undertook with the greatest thoroughness, was apparent. He knew what accomplishments a soldier must strive to acquire, and now we see him practising these exercises with unflagging zeal, with the object of making his body strong and supple—such as running, leaping, wrestling, tossing bars, and the like. The leader of the little band strove to be, in reality, the first and foremost, and wished to live up to his title.
After taking part in the siege of Carthagena in the West Indies, Lawrence returned home. One can imagine with what interest George listened to his brother’s recitals! What Lawrence learned of George’s military exercises and play confirmed him in a plan which he had long ago formed and which had George’s hearty approval. He proposed to his parents that as soon as George should have reached his fourteenth year, the boy should be allowed to enter the English service as a naval cadet, and the carrying out of the plan was actually considered. Lawrence himself intended to return to his regiment to seek advancement in the army, but never did so. Instead, he fell in love with the daughter of a rich planter, William Fairfax. His advances were accepted and an engagement took place. His father was very much pleased to have his son enter into an alliance with the rich and highly esteemed house of Fairfax, but was not fortunate enough to live to see the wedding.
George was eleven years old when he stood at the grave of his excellent father. The deceased left considerable property, so that his children from both marriages were well provided for. Lawrence received an estate on the banks of the Potomac, where he took his young bride a few months later. According to the terms of the will, no guardian was appointed for the younger children, but they were left in charge of their mother—a proof of the confidence the deceased had reposed in her. She was worthy of it. Irving says of her: “She was endowed with plain, direct good sense, thorough conscientiousness, and prompt decision; she governed her family strictly, but kindly, exacting deference, while she inspired affection.” She was Washington’s second wife, and George, her first-born, was her favorite. In spite of this, or rather because of it, she was very strict with him, where she deemed it necessary to protect him from excesses, and her faithful care was rewarded. At that time Sir Matthew Hale’s “Contemplations, Moral and Divine” was held in great esteem among the educated English colonists of Virginia. It was the mother’s favorite book, from which she not only drew strength and consolation for herself, but from which she also read aloud to her children. Her friends often found her thus occupied. She not only showed great insight in the selections which she made, but the deep spiritual feeling with which she read aloud from this and sometimes from other writings made a deep impression on her young hearers. Her enthusiasm was communicated to her children, and as the whole life and doings of the household were pervaded by a spirit of moral earnestness, these impressions received by the young minds were not easily effaced, but rather were confirmed. The copy of the above-mentioned work, in which the name of “Mary W.” is written by his mother’s own hand, remained a valued memento in George’s possession all his life, and he often declared that the precepts which it contained, expounded by the soulful voice of the mother, striving for the improvement of her children, had had a decisive influence on his whole life. The book is still preserved in the archives of Mount Vernon.
George continued his school and home studies with unabated industry. It was not necessary to urge him on, but rather to warn him not to go too far in his zeal. He was filled with an ardent desire to acquire fresh insight, knowledge, and skill in something each day of his life. It was a true “thirst for knowledge.” Somewhat farther away than his first teacher, Hobby, lived another, named Williams, who widened the horizon of his schooling a little and to whom he now went to learn something of commercial bookkeeping. Although it was a dry subject, George made astonishingly rapid progress, inspired by the determination to acquire it as quickly as possible. In the realms of knowledge and skill he played the role of conqueror; mind, will, and memory were his weapons, which became sharper and more highly polished the more he used them. Careless and lazy school comrades appeared contemptible creatures to him. At this time he collected examples of all kinds of documents used in business and daily affairs. One of his collections bears the title “Written Extracts,” and we find among them prescriptions, checks, receipts, affidavits, forms of resignation, titles to property, leases, contracts, and wills. All these were copied with great care, the important words written in larger letters so that they were easily to be distinguished.
George had also made great progress in athletic attainments. He had been diligently practising the exercises of which we have spoken ever since it had been decided to let him enter the English service as a naval cadet. He considered it a matter of course that a future soldier must employ himself systematically in strengthening his muscles and acquiring the greatest possible dexterity. The place is still shown, in the neighborhood of his father’s property, where George threw a stone across the Rappahannock. He was also a fine horseman; on one occasion he mounted an unmanageable horse, to the astonishment of all onlookers, and was able to control it. In the meanwhile Lawrence had taken the necessary steps for his brother’s entrance into the English navy. A midshipman’s warrant was obtained and his luggage was packed. But at the last moment his mother, after carefully reconsidering the matter, resolved not to let her son go out into the world so early. It was not a mother’s weakness that led her to this determination. She had heard so much about the roughness of a seaman’s life it is scarcely to be wondered at that she recoiled from a plan which meant removing her son completely from his mother’s influence and cutting him off from the help and advice of his relatives. His love and the respect which he had for her opinions helped to soften the disappointment; later he was able to thank her for having, at that time especially, taken his destiny under such careful and earnest consideration.
Before we follow his life history any further, let us notice a practice of his in early life. He kept a diary in which he noted everything that aroused his interest. Besides this, he recorded significant ideas or thoughts which he found in books or heard from the lips of wise or experienced persons. It would be a very good thing for our young readers to follow his example in this. A portion of his diary bears the superscription: “Rules for Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Among them are some important truths and some of lesser significance. A number of extracts are given as they characterize George’s aspirations so well, and also in the hope that some readers may make a selection from among them and—this is only a suggestion—with it begin a diary of their own. Here are a few examples:
Every action in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those present.
In the presence of others, sing not to yourself with a humming noise, nor drum with your fingers or feet.
Speak not when others speak, sit not when others stand, and walk not when others stop.
Turn not your back to others, especially in speaking; jog not the table or desk on which another reads or writes; lean not on any one.
They that are in dignity or office have in all places precedence; but whilst they are young, they ought to respect those who are their equals in birth, or other qualities, though they have no public charge.
It is good manners to prefer those to whom we speak before ourselves, especially if they be above us, with whom, in no sort, we ought to begin.
Let your discourse with men of business be short and comprehensive.
In visiting the sick, do not presently play the physician, if you be not knowing therein.
Undertake not to teach your equal in the art he himself professes; it savors of arrogancy.
Being to advise or reprehend any one, consider whether it ought to be in public or in private, presently or at some other time, also in what terms to do it; and in reproving, show no signs of choler, but do it with sweetness and mildness.
Mock not, nor jest at anything of importance; break no jests that are sharp or biting and if you deliver anything witty or pleasant, abstain from laughing thereat yourself.
Wherein you reprove another, be unblamable yourself, for example is more prevalent than precept.
Use no reproachful language against any one, neither curses nor revilings.
Be not hasty to believe flying reports, to the disparagement of any one.
In your apparel be modest, and endeavor to accommodate nature rather than procure admiration. Keep to the fashion of your equals, such as are civil and orderly, with respect to time and place.
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.
Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for it is a sign of a tractable and commendable nature, and in all causes of passion admit reason to govern.
Be not forward, but friendly and courteous, the first to salute, hear, and answer, and be not pensive when it is a time to converse.
If two contend together, take not the part of either unconstrained, and be not obstinate in your opinion; in things indifferent be of the major side.
Reprehend not the imperfections of others, for that belongs to parents, masters, and superiors.
Think before you speak; pronounce not imperfectly, nor bring out your words too hastily, but orderly and distinctly.
When another speaks, be attentive yourself, and disturb not the audience. If any hesitate in his words, help him not, nor prompt him without being desired; interrupt him not, nor answer him till his speech be ended.
Be not apt to relate news, if you know not the truth thereof.
When you deliver a matter, do it without passion and indiscretion, however mean the person may be you do it to.
When your superiors talk to anybody, hear them, neither speak nor laugh.
Be not tedious in discourse, make not many digressions nor repeat often the same matter of discourse.
Be not angry at table, whatever happens, and if you have reason to be so, show it not, put on a cheerful countenance, especially if there be strangers, for good humor makes one dish a feast.
When you speak of God or His attributes, let it be seriously, in reverence and honor, and obey your natural parents.
Let your recreation be manful, not sinful.
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.
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