s.

There lived an educated English gentleman in Fairfax County by the name
of William Fairfax. He had charge of a very large estate belonging to
his cousin, Lord Fairfax, of England. This William Fairfax had a
daughter, Anne, as well educated and accomplished as Lawrence. Mutual
respect between Lawrence and Anne ripened into mutual love, and they
became engaged. This unexpected episode in the lives of the promising
couple changed the plans of Lawrence; and he voluntarily abandoned the
idea of returning to the army.

The martial spirit of George did not abate when Lawrence came home from
the war; it rather increased than otherwise. For his ears were regaled
with many stories of army life, in which bravery, peril, bloodshed, and
hairbreadth escapes were strangely mixed. There was a singular
fascination in these tales of war to George; and he never tired of
listening to them. The more he heard, the more he enjoyed playing
soldier. He was constantly learning military tactics, too, from the lips
of his brother. Being a bright, intelligent boy, he readily comprehended
and appropriated information upon a subject that was so congenial to his
heart. Lawrence was impressed by the precocity of his little brother, as
well as his tact at soldiering, so that he was all the more gratified to
nurture his martial spirit by rehearsing his experience in war. Lawrence
was twenty-four years of age, and George but ten, so that the latter
looked up to the former somewhat as a son looks up to a father, drinking
in his words as words of wisdom, and accepting his experience as that of
an officer of rank. Lawrence became his military teacher, really; and
the opportunity to George proved a sort of West Point.

Lawrence, and others, too, were very much charmed by George's manly
bearing, even before he was ten years old. John Fitzhugh said of him,
"He was born a man."

He was very handsome, large of his age, tall and straight, graceful and
dignified in his movements. These qualities were so conspicuous as to
attract the attention of strangers.

He was very athletic, too, and loved more active sports than playing
marbles. He excelled in running, wrestling, leaping, and throwing the
bar, sports that were popular at that time. In these things he took the
lead.

John Fitzhugh said of him, as a runner: "He ran wonderfully. We had
nobody hereabouts that could come near him. There was a young Langhorn
Dade, of Westmoreland, a clean-made, light youn