men’s minds, not only in those days but even in present times. But such honorable men as Lawrence and Augustine Washington were prominent in that company, and it was not long till Lawrence had chief management of the company.

A very significant controversy concerning freedom of conscience arose in the endeavor to induce the Dutch from Pennsylvania to settle on the new land grants. These Pennsylvanians were what is known as dissenters. They had a religious belief of their own. If they moved into the territory of the Ohio Company they would have to attend Episcopalian service and contribute taxes to the support of the Church of England.

Lawrence Washington was opposed to the English laws that demanded such sectarian contribution of means and life.

“It has ever been my opinion,” he argued, “and I hope it will ever be, that restraints on conscience are cruel in regard to those on whom they are imposed, and injurious to the country imposing them.... Virginia was greatly settled in the latter part of Charles the First’s time, and during the usurpation, by the zealous churchmen; and that spirit, which was then brought in, has ever since continued; so that, except a few Quakers, we have no dissenters. But what has been the consequence? We have increased by slow degrees, whilst our neighboring colonies, whose natural advantages are greatly inferior to ours, have become populous.”

This view may look as if it had been taken from the old saying that nothing succeeds like success, and yet this may, in the long run, be the necessary proof found in a thing being true as it works. In any event, the Washington idea was that of individual freedom, and this was the first essential in a mind that was to have such a large share in founding the government of America.

The romantic contest was now on for the possession of the great region of the Ohio and its tributaries. It was a vast wilderness of pathless forests, rich in the wild game that was then the fortune of new-world traders. The friendship of the Indians was of the highest importance to both sides. Every effort was made by both French and English to form alliances with the Indians. The French addressed themselves in all their meetings as “Fathers” to the Indians, while the English always used the term “Brothers.” It was clear to all that if the “Fathers” won the allegiance of the Indians, the “Brothers” would have to go, or likewise “t’other way ’round.”

While Mr. Gist, the surveyor of the Ohio Company, was finding the boundaries of their territory, he was met by an old Delaware Sachem who asked him a very embarrassing question.

“The French,” said the old Indian chief, “claim all the land on one side of the Ohio, and the English claim all the land on the other side, now where does the Indian’s land lie?”

The question was answered at last by time. The French “Fathers” and the English “Brothers” took it all, after which the new government of the United States came into possession; and the orator and the poet could fittingly say of the Indians, “Slowly and sadly they climb the distant mountains and read their doom in the setting sun.”

But American responsibility, if not its humanity, at last settled “The Indian Question,” and the “good Indian” became a new American.

III. THE STRUGGLE OF NATIONS FOR THE INDIAN’S HUNTING GROUNDS

The wild struggle between the French and English that now took place in the wilderness, for the possession of the Indian’s hunting ground could hardly be dignified enough to be called war, and the holiness of its cause could hardly be raised higher than rival commercial interests working for something in which neither had any clear claims. But it had a most momentous consequence on whether America should be French and Spanish or English and Spanish. In those dark forests where the dusky savages held the balance of power, to make the “Fathers” or the “Brothers” successful, was played the tragic scenes deciding the political destiny of the new world.

The French began to build forts and supply stations along their northern lines from Canada, and the English began to drill volunteers for the purpose of defending the Ohio Company’s territory, if not even further to expel the French entirely as a menace to the peace of the company.

Virginia was divided into military districts whose commander-in-chief was an adjutant-general, having the rank of major. Lawrence Washington secured one of these military districts for his brother George, who was then only nineteen years of age. Manhood of mind as well as of body had come to him rapidly and there is no evidence but that he fulfilled these high duties with complete satisfaction to all concerned. To American interests, these experiences were indeed a providential training for the priceless responsibilities to come.

Method, accuracy and persistence were prime characteristics of George Washington. He did not assume to know it all without any need of preparation. He believed he could take a job for which he was not fitted with the profound belief that before the job got to him he would be fitted. This reminds us of how Lincoln took the job of surveyor before he knew how to survey, but when he began the work of surveying, even with the rudest instruments, his work was correct.

There was a Westmoreland volunteer, Adjutant Muse, who had served through the Spanish Campaigns with Lawrence Washington. He was well informed by both experience and study in the art and theory of war. George brought him to Mount Vernon and became under him a strenuous student in military tactics. There was also Jacob Van Braam, a soldier of fortune, who was an expert in fencing, and who had likewise been through the West Indies with Lawrence. Jacob was speedily added to the military academy at Mount Vernon with its one student. But these teachers might well feel like Plato at the Academy in Athens. The story is that a stormy day had kept all of Plato’s pupils away but one. Nevertheless, Plato arose and began his lecture as usual. The pupil protested but Plato continued, saying, “It is true that only one pupil is here, but that one is Aristotle.”

Adjutant Muse and Swordmaster Van Braam had only one pupil for their distinguished instruction, but that one was George Washington.

It was probably about the time when George had learned all he needed of these teachers, that Lawrence’s health broke down, and his physicians ordered him to go to the Barbadoes for the winter. It was necessary for George to go with him, and he did so, writing a journal of all the occurrences and observations he considered worthy of note.

Within two weeks, after he arrived in that happy-go-lucky colony where no one was interested in anything but pleasure and pastime, George was struck down by the smallpox. He recovered in three weeks and was slightly marked for life, but with no other consequence than a disagreeable experience.

Lawrence decided to leave the Barbadoes for Bermuda, and so he sent George home to bring Mrs. Washington to Bermuda. But she did not go. Lawrence returned, and died soon after, at the age of thirty-four years.

This noble man and genuine American did much toward preparing his half-brother George for the immortal work to be done, and the name of Lawrence Washington should ever remain sacred in the memory of the American people.

CHAPTER IV
THE RIVALRY AND DIPLOMACY OF THE FRONTIER

I. THE