ry _t_ crossed, and every comma and period nicely made and
placed.

All these copy books, with other proofs of George's thorough scholarship
and progress, can now be seen at Mount Vernon, where he lived and died.

Irving says of these: "His manuscript school-books still exist, and are
models of neatness and accuracy. One of them, it is true, a ciphering
book, preserved in the library at Mount Vernon, has some school-boy
attempts at calligraphy; nondescript birds, executed with the flourish
of a pen, or profiles of faces, probably intended for those of his
school-mates; the rest are all grave and business-like. Before he
was thirteen years of age he had copied into a volume forms for all
kinds of mercantile and legal papers, bills of exchange, notes of hand,
deeds, bonds and the like. This early self-tuition gave him throughout
life a lawyer's skill in drafting documents, and a merchant's exactness
in keeping accounts; so that all the concerns of his various estates,
his dealings with his domestic stewards and foreign agents, his accounts
with governments, and all the financial transactions, are to this day to
be seen posted up in books, in his own handwriting, monuments of his
method and unvaried accuracy."

There was yet another manuscript more important, really, than those of
which we have spoken. It contained one hundred and ten rules for
regulating his conduct, to which he gave the title, "RULES OF BEHAVIOR
IN COMPANY AND CONVERSATION."

When Lawrence Washington examined this manuscript he remarked to his
wife, "It is remarkable that a boy of his years should make such a
collection of rules as this. They are creditable to a much older head
than his."

"They are not original with him, are they?" responded his wife.

"I think not; they must be a collection which he has made from time to
time. It would not be possible for a boy of his age to produce such a
code of manners and morals out of his own brain. Hear this," and he
proceeded to read some of the "Rules."

"Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your
reputation, for it is better to be alone than in bad company."

"Good counsel, surely, and well expressed," remarked Mrs. Washington.

"It shows a degree of thoughtfulness and desire to be correct, beyond
his years," added Lawrence. "The other rules are no less practical and
significant." He continued to read:

"Every action in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those
pres