The mother of General Washington is as much the mother of the Great
Republic as was Mrs. Susannah Wesley the mother of Methodism; for
Washington owed the distinction to which he rose, and the high niche he
occupies in the history of the world's heroes, to the early and careful
training of his mother. Left a widow in a comparatively new and wild
country, when her son George was but ten years old, she fully realized
the very great responsibility resting upon her as sole remaining
guardian of her children, and set herself to watch the bent of their
inclinations, and to direct their energies into a proper channel.
Respecting the influence she exerted upon them, her daughter-in-law, the
wife of the President, many years afterward remarked: "You speak of the
greatness of my husband. His dear mother ever looked well to the ways of
her household. She taught him to be industrious by her example."
By her mild but firm management of her boy, she established a hold upon
his affections, which strengthened instead of decreasing with years;
and when, in the later part of his life, honors and distinctions were
heaped upon him, he considered them rather as tributes to the worth of
his mother than to his own. As was natural to so adventurous a spirit,
George early manifested a predilection for the sea, and his elder
brother encouraged him in thinking he might attain distinction as a
gallant mariner.
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