His school-mates were moved to tears on parting with him, and so
was his teacher. And those tears were a sincere tribute to the unsullied
character of the boy.

V.

FOUR INCIDENTS AND THEIR LESSONS.

Certain incidents occurred in the young life of our hero, which so
forcibly illustrate leading elements of his character that we stop here
to record them.

His father came home one day so sick that he took to his bed at once. It
was a severe attack of an old complaint, which he had vainly tried to
remove.

"You must have the doctor," said Mrs. Washington, somewhat alarmed by
the severity of the attack.

"Wait a little, and see," replied her husband; "perhaps the usual
remedies will relieve me." He kept remedies in the house for such
attacks, and Mrs. Washington soon administered them. But the relief was
only partial, and a servant was sent for the doctor.

"Go in haste," said Mrs. Washington, as Jake mounted the horse and
galloped away. "Tell the doctor to come as soon as possible," were the
last words that Jake heard as he dashed forward. Mrs. Washington was
thoroughly alarmed. Returning to her husband's bedside, she said:

"I want to send for George."

"Not now," her husband answered. "I think the doctor will relieve me.
Besides, George has only just got there, and it is not well to disturb
him unnecessarily."

George had gone to visit friends at Chotana, about twenty miles distant,
where he proposed to spend his vacation.

Mrs. Washington yielded to her husband's desire, although intense
anxiety filled her heart. She seemed to have a presentiment that it was
her husband's last sickness. Back and forth she went from door to
bedroom, and from bedroom to door, awaiting with tremulous emotion the
coming of the physician, at the same time employing such remedies as she
thought might afford relief.

"A very sick man," was the doctor's verdict, "but I think we can relieve
him soon." His encouraging words lifted a burden from Mrs. Washington's
heart, although she still apprehended the worst, and yet she could
scarcely tell why.

"You think that he will recover?" she said to the doctor, as he was
leaving the house.

"I think so; he is relieved for the present, and I hope that he will
continue to improve," the doctor answered; and he answered just as he
felt.

Still Mrs. Washington could not disguise her fears. She was a devout
Christian woman, and she carried her burden to the Lord. She found some
r