carrying her infant charge. "Please, sir, here's
a bairn was named after you."

"What is his name?" asked the President.

"Washington Irving, sir."

Washington put his hand upon the child's head and gave him his blessing,
little thinking that "the bairn" would write, as a labor of love, a life
of Washington.

While at his Newburgh headquarters the General was approached by Aaron
Burr, who stealthily crept up as he was writing, and looked over his
shoulder. Although Washington did not hear the footfall, he saw the
shadow in the mirror. He looked up, and said only, "Mr. Burr!" But the
tone was enough to make Burr quail and beat a hasty retreat.

A man who, well for himself, is nameless, made a wager with some friends
that he could approach Washington familiarly. The President was walking
up Chestnut Street, in Philadelphia, when the would-be wag, in full view
of his companions, slapped him on the back and said, "Well, old fellow,
how are you this morning?" Washington looked at him, and in a freezing
tone asked, "Sir, what have I ever said or done which induces you to
treat me in this manner?"

_Thoughtfulness_

After Washington's retirement from the Presidency, Elkanah Watson was a
guest at Mount Vernon. He had a serious cold, and after he retired he
coughed severely. Suddenly the curtains of his bed were drawn aside,
and there stood Washington with a huge bowl of steaming herb tea. "Drink
this," he said, "it will be good for that cough."

Washington possessed in a peculiar degree the great gift of remembering
faces. Once, while visiting in Newburyport, he saw at work in the
grounds of his host an old servant whom he had not seen since the French
and Indian war, thirty years before. He knew the man at once, and
stopped and spoke kindly to him.

_Modesty_

Any collection of anecdotes about Washington is sure to refer to his
extreme modesty. Upon one occasion, when the speaker of the Assembly
returned thanks in glowing terms to Colonel Washington for his services,
he rose to express his acknowledgments, but he was so embarrassed that
he could not articulate a word. "Sit down, Mr. Washington," said the
speaker, "your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the power
of any language which I possess."

When Adams suggested that Congress should appoint a general, and hinted
plainly at Washington, who happened to sit near the door, the latter
rose, "and, with his usual modesty, darted into the library room."