. Washington, the man of action . ride well was no distinctionin Virginia, but even as a very littlelad Washingtons horsemanship at-tracted attention, and as he grewolder he steadily improved until hewas regarded as a veritable shooting and fishing he was notso proficient, but he learned a gooddeal concerning the habits of ani-mals and fish from the Indians whohaunted the neighborhood, and fromthe same instructors he likewise ac- WASHINGTON quired much of his knowledge ofwoodcraft, all of which informationstood him in good stead in the hunt-ing field and, many years later, inhis mili
. Washington, the man of action . ride well was no distinctionin Virginia, but even as a very littlelad Washingtons horsemanship at-tracted attention, and as he grewolder he steadily improved until hewas regarded as a veritable shooting and fishing he was notso proficient, but he learned a gooddeal concerning the habits of ani-mals and fish from the Indians whohaunted the neighborhood, and fromthe same instructors he likewise ac- WASHINGTON quired much of his knowledge ofwoodcraft, all of which informationstood him in good stead in the hunt-ing field and, many years later, inhis military campaigns. It was a sad day for the boy whenthe house on Hunting Creek burneddown, for with the move to hisfathers third plantation on the Rap-pahannock River, near Fredericks-burg, his freedom was seriouslycurtailed by the necessity of attend-ing school. He had no reason tocomplain, however, when he mountedhis pony and rode off to the logcabin which housed his first school, 8 Washington Riding to the Old FieldSchool (1740). WASHINGTON for few youngsters reach the age ofeight untroubled by lessons or booklearning of any kind. But the wis-dom of his parents in exemptinghim from all study up to thatage was fully demonstrated by thebodily strength which he acquiredin those vitally important years,and by the ease with which he as-similated his primary education onceit was begun. His first instructor was a mantransported from England for someminor offense and sold to Mr. Wash-ington or his neighbors, who hadmade him sexton of the church and 13 WASHINGTON master of the local Old FieldSchool. It is not probable that thisqueer schoolmaster was much of ascholar, but he apparently had aknack for teaching, and he certainlyhad an apt pupil in the lad had not been atschool very long before he was ableto write his name in a good, roundhand, as is clearly proved by an oldbook of sermons (now in the BostonAthenaeum), on the fly leaf ofwhich the young penman, evidentlypro
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