began to put his knowledge into
practice by taking surveys of the farms lying in the immediate
neighborhood of his school-house.

"Assisted by his school-mates, he would follow up and measure off, with
the help of his long steel chain, the boundary lines between the farms,
such as fences, roads, and water-courses; then those dividing the
different parts of the same farm; determining at the same time, with the
help of his compass, their various courses, their crooks and windings,
and the angles formed at their points of meeting or intersection. This
would enable him to get at the shape and size not only of each farm, but
of every meadow, field and wood composing it. This done, he would make a
map or drawing on paper of the land surveyed, whereon would be clearly
traced the lines dividing the different parts with the name and number
of acres of each attached, while on the opposite page he would write
down the long and difficult tables of figures by which these results had
been reached. All this he would execute with as much neatness and
accuracy as if it had been left with him to decide thereby some gravely
disputed land-claim."

Irving says of him as a surveyor: "In this he schooled himself
thoroughly; making surveys about the neighborhood, and keeping regular
field-books, in which the boundaries and measurements of the fields
surveyed were carefully entered, and diagrams made with a neatness and
exactness, as if the whole related to important land transactions
instead of being mere school exercises. Thus, in his earliest days,
there was perseverance and completeness in all his undertakings. Nothing
was left half done, or done in a hurried and slovenly manner. The habit
of mind thus cultivated continued through life; so that however
complicated his tasks and overwhelming his cares, in the arduous and
hazardous situations in which he was often placed, he found time to do
everything, and _to do it well_. He had acquired the magic of method,
which of itself works wonders."

One day a dispute arose between two pupils respecting a chapter of
Virginia's early history--Captain Smith and Pocahontas.

"She saved his life," exclaimed one.

"Very true; but she was not the daughter of King Opechancanough, as you
say," replied the other.

"Whose daughter was she, then?"

"She was Powhattan's daughter; and her father was going to kill Captain
Smith."

"No, she was not Powhattan's daughter; I tell you that Opechancanough
was