From Farm House to the White House - 912 Freedom Library

Farm House to the White House, by William M. Thayer 31
He was famous for hindering quarrels, and perhaps his early taste for military manoeuvers was only an
accidental form of that love of mathematical combinations (the marked trait of Napoleon's earlier years) and
the tendency to order, promptness and thoroughness, which characterized him so strikingly in after life. The
good soldier is by no means a man with a special disposition to fight."
George was such an example of order, neatness, thorough scholarship and exact behavior in Mr. Williams'
school that we shall devote the next chapter to these qualities.
IV.
METHOD AND THOROUGHNESS.
"These are finely done," remarked Lawrence Washington to George, after an examination of the maps,
copy-books, and writing-books, which George brought with him from Mr. Williams' school. "It would be
difficult for any one to excel them."
"It takes considerable time to do them," remarked George.
"It takes time to do anything well," responded Lawrence, "but the habit is worth everything to you."
"That is what Mr. Williams says," answered George. "He talks to the boys often about doing things well."
"And no matter what it is that a boy is doing, if it is nothing more than chopping wood, it pays to do it as well
as he can," added Lawrence. "Mr. Williams is an excellent teacher."
"I think so," responded George. "He makes everything so plain that we can understand him; and he makes us
feel that we shall need all we learn most when we become men."
"Well, if you learn that last lesson thoroughly it will be of great service to you every day," remarked
Lawrence. "Many boys never stop to think that they will soon be men, and so they are not fitted for the duties
of manhood when it comes."
"Mr. Williams talks much about method in study and work," continued George. "He says that many persons
accomplish little or nothing in life because they are neither systematic nor thorough in what they do. 'A place
for everything and everything in its place,' is one of his frequent remarks."
"And you must have produced these maps and copy-books under that rule," suggested Lawrence. "They are as
excellent in orderly arrangement as they are in neatness."
George spent his vacation with Lawrence, who really had charge of his education after Mr. Washington died.
Lawrence married the daughter of William Fairfax three months after the death of his father, and settled on
the plantation which his father bequeathed to him, near Hunting Creek, and to which Lawrence gave the name
of Mount Vernon, in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he did military service in the West Indies, and
for whom he cherished profound respect.
Lawrence was strongly attached to his young brother in whom he discovered the elements of a future noble
manhood. He delighted to have him at his Mount Vernon home, and insisted that he should spend all his time
there when out of school. It was during a vacation that Lawrence examined his maps and copy-books, as
narrated, George having brought them with him for his brother to inspect.
One of George's copy-books attracted much attention in school, because it was unlike that of any other
scholar, and it was an original idea with him.