Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB
[graphic]

WASHINGTON AND HIS MOTHER

WASHINGTON AND HIS MOTHER

"THE LAST FAREWELL."

Rarely has a great man and a man of action been so profoundly influenced by a mother as was George Washington. It was his mother who formed his character and directed his education. And it was her wise counsel that decided him against the naval career by which he was tempted after a brief service in the expedition against Carthagena, under Admiral Vernon, after whom Mount Vernon was named; and his filial devotion to her throughout his glorious career is one of the tenderest legends of American history. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Washington made a new and safer home for his mother at Fredericksburg; there she spent the remainder of her days and there he parted with her for the last time, when, in 1789 he left for New York to take the oath of office as President of the United States. The fear that this would be their last meeting on earth intensified the interest of the interview. "You will see me no more," she said. "I trust in God; I am prepared for a better world. But go, George, and fulfill the high destiny which Heaven appears to assign you. Go, my son, and may that Heaven, and your mother's blessing, be always with you." Her prophecy proved true. His mother survived only a few months longer, and her son never saw her again.

[merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »