A first book in American history with European beginnings . plunged. The other boysfairly held their breath, expecting each moment to seeGeorge thrown. Still he held on. Finally the wild furi-ous animal gave one mighty leap into the air, burst ablood vessel, and fell dead. Just then came the call tobreakfast, and the frightened boys walked toward thehouse asking each other, What shall we do? Who willtell what we have done? As luck would have it, at the table Mrs. Washingtonasked, Have you seen my horses this morning? I amtold my favorite is in excellent condition. The boys exchanged a glance,
A first book in American history with European beginnings . plunged. The other boysfairly held their breath, expecting each moment to seeGeorge thrown. Still he held on. Finally the wild furi-ous animal gave one mighty leap into the air, burst ablood vessel, and fell dead. Just then came the call tobreakfast, and the frightened boys walked toward thehouse asking each other, What shall we do? Who willtell what we have done? As luck would have it, at the table Mrs. Washingtonasked, Have you seen my horses this morning? I amtold my favorite is in excellent condition. The boys exchanged a glance, and then George said,Your favorite, the sorrel, is dead, madam, and went onto tell the whole story. First an angry flush came to Mrs. Washingtons face;but when George had finished she proudly raised her head 219 A FIRST BOOK IN AMERICAN HISTORY and said, It is well. While I regret the loss of my favor-ite horse, I rejoice in my son who speaks the truth. When George was fourteen he took up the study ofsurveying, as that seemed to give the best promise for. From an old print. Washington Surveying. the future. Then in the autumn of 1747, Washingtonsschooling came to an end, and he went to Mount Vernon tolive with his brother Lawrence. THE SURVEYOR Lord Fairfax, a relative of Mrs. Lawrence Washing-ton, owned large tracts of land in the beautiful valley of 220 WASHINGTON BEFORE THE REVOLUTION the Shenandoah. All this land had to be surveyed, andto his young friend George Washington, Lord Fairfaxgave the work. Of course Washington was delighted withthe opportunity; and in March, 1748, when he was sixteenyears old, he set out on horseback with a small companyof assistants. A hard month was before him. The rivers were soswollen from the spring thaws that fords were out of thequestion, and it was necessaryto swim the horses acrossthe ugly streams. The weather was cold. Fires were notalways to be had. Food was none too plentiful. Whatthere was, each man must cook for himself on forked st
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