f the learned professions."

"He can't be too well educated, whether he enters a learned profession
or not," responded Mr. Washington. "Too much education is quite as
impossible as too much honesty; and I do not expect he will ever have
too much of the latter."

"I shall not deny that," replied Mrs. Washington. "I shall rejoice as
much as you in the best opportunities he can have. I was only suggesting
what might be if absolutely necessary to save time or expense."

Their conclusion was (as stated in the second chapter), to send Lawrence
to England as soon as his wardrobe could be made ready, in which
determination the lad rejoiced more than his parents ever knew. His
ambition for an English education was strong; and, boy-like, he coveted
a residence in England for a while.

Within a few weeks he sailed for the mother country, leaving a sensible
void in the family. George did not interest himself particularly in the
affair, although he might have added an occasional "coo"; for he was
only one year old when his big brother left for England. His
inexperience was sufficient excuse for his indifference to so important
an affair.

George went to school when he was five years of age. A man by the name
of Hobby lived in one of his father's tenements, and he served the
public in the double capacity of parish sexton and school-master. It is
claimed that he was a wounded soldier with a wooden leg, a kind,
Christian gentleman, whose very limited education may have qualified him
to dig graves and open the house of worship, but not to teach the young.
However, he did teach school quite a number of years, and some of his
pupils called him "Old Wooden Leg"--a fact that confirms the story of
his having but one leg. He could "read, write and cipher" possibly, for
that day, but beyond that he made no pretensions. Yet, that was the best
school George could have at that time.

"We hope he will have a better one sometime," his father remarked. "I
may not be able to send him to England, but I hope we shall see better
schools here before many years have passed."

"Mr. Hobby can teach him A, B, C, as well as any body, I suppose,"
answered Mrs. Washington; and he can make a beginning in reading and
writing with him, perhaps.

"Yes, and he may give him a start in arithmetic," added Mr. Washington.
"Hobby knows something of addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division. But a bright boy will run him dry in two or three years."

"M